Growing Wild

Unfortunately, Google is right in this case - onions/Alliums aren’t nitrogen fixers. In fact, planting them near nitrogen fixers can actually keep the nitrogen fixers from putting nitrogen back into the soil. That’s because the nitrogen-fixing process relies on a bacteria that can pull nitrogen out of a plant’s roots and into the soil, and Alliums’ mild antibacterial/antimicrobial properties kill off those bacteria. They also require a lot of nutrients in general to grow (although the root/bulb-based Alliums more so than green onions), so they’re actually likely to deplete nitrogen in the soil.

If you’re interested in learning more about nitrogen fixers, this article has a big list of nitrogen-fixing plants, and this article talks more about the science behind nitrogen fixing in general. I hope this helps!

Agro-Eco Services is a young startup based in Benin, specialising in the production and marketing of a green fertiliser called "Maggot-Compost". It is based on black soldier fly larvae and is enriched with biochar. Website in French

The soldier fly larvae are grown using recovered organic waste, such as animal waste. They are then processed to produce chitosan, a polysaccharide made by treating the insects with an alkaline substance.

The final product is a highly effective organic fertiliser and natural pesticide that speeds up crop growth and helps soil retain water.

Agro-Eco is already the second largest producer of organic fertiliser in Benin. The startup is currently supplying nearly 2,000 market gardeners and 500 small-scale organic pineapple producers, enabling farmers to double, and in some cases quadruple, their yields. source

AND, they're not the only ones...

Its the hottest thing in Africa, as the war in Ukraine rages on - Ukraine was among the largest suppliers of fertilizer to the continent. Lack of supplies is pushing people to discover indigenous organic substitutes to chemicals.

EDIT: THIS IS A CARRD NOW! it's updated and organized!!

use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.

use firefox or librewolf (open-source fork of firefox) instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).

use mega instead of google drive

get rid of bloatware

use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite

get free stuff with the help of r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH, r/piracy and r/roms

use trakt (for shows and movies), letterboxd (just movies), or TMB instead of IMDB (owned by amazon).

use storygraph instead of goodreads (owned by amazon).

use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions

use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp

make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge

use search for a cause, ecosia, or ocean hero to support the environment instead of google

use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)

use flashpoint to play archived online flash games

find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books

burn your music onto cds

use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe

use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, or tuta instead of gmail

remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X

remove bloatware on samsung X

use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta

use project gutenberg for free public domain books, and librivox for public domain books and audiobooks

use the seal app (android only) to download video and audio

use ellipsus instead of microsoft word or google docs

use mastodon instead of twitter

use peertube to create a network of small video hosting providers (disclaimer: not a 1:1 alternative to youtube)

use threema and signal for encrypted communication, on mobile and desktop

use qwant and startpage for secure internet browsers

use syncthing to securely transfer files between devices

learn how to jailbreak your kindle/ereader if you have one (wiki and video walkthrough)

use riseup’s email and VPN for secure communication (aimed towards activists)

use cryptpad and collabora instead of the microsoft office suite

use google takeout to export the data on your google account

use library extension to look for books on online stores and find them at your library

remove paywalls with removepaywalls

install the open-source adblocker ublock origin

install sponsorblock to skip sponsored segments on youtube videos

use bookfinder to look for the cheapest available listings of books, including textbooks

learn a language through mango (duolingo laid off some of its employees and now relies on AI translations) for free with a library card or through your school

edit photos with photopea

edit pdfs with foxit and sumatrapdf

download music with doubledouble

take notes offline and collaborate securely with obsidian

for android tv, use smarttube and cloudstream (ad-free, open-source)

change your OS to linux

After six mass bleaching events between 2016–2025, the world’s largest coral system got a much-needed break this year, thanks to a monsoon that brought cloud cover and cooler waters

According to AIMS’ latest report:

Coral cover increased 16.7% in the Northern region

Up 10.2% in the Central region

Southern region saw a slight 2% dip, but all areas are near or above long-term averages

Scientists surveyed 121 reefs and most had moderate to high coral cover, and only 3 were below 10%.

Искусство выжигания по дереву с любовью к морскими обитателями. The art of wood burning with love for marine life.

Develop the muscle of generosity like you are training for a giving ultra-marathon. Share everything you can with anyone who asks, and ask for what you need.

Get in touch with your body. You will need it, and it knows things. Pay attention to what is happening below your neck.

Tell the truth. Tell it to yourself first.

Sit at the feet of your most vulnerable neighbors and your own most vulnerable places. They have the most to teach you about survival.

Listen. Remember your ancestors, and the things they survived. Find the resilience that is your birthright and the courage that made way for your life.

Practice taking risks. Show up in every struggle where someone is fighting for their dignity, because that is how we will all survive.

Learn about reparations, and native sovereignty. Double down on exorcising supremacy systems from your soul.

Learn to be tender. Refuse to be hardened. Let your heart be moved. Every damn time.

Root in the place you are. Learn its history. Learn its geography. Learn its seasons.

Sing. A lot. And dance. Make art. Make love. Rest luxuriously. Eat pie. …

The world is ending and beginning now. We are surviving now.

Let us love, let us connect, let us fight like hell for the dignity of each and all

——-

From the Rev. Molly Housh Gordon,

My friend, are you in for a treat! The lake sturgeon, which is the sturgeon found in the Great Lakes, can grow to be two meters long and weigh 90 kilograms! It is the biggest fish found in the Great Lakes!!

But, see, the lake sturgeon isn’t the biggest sturgeon species. That would be the beluga sturgeon, which regularly grew to be four to six meters long before overfishing took a toll on their populations. Belugas are a lot younger on average nowadays — these fish can live to be over 100 years old — and seldom exceed three meters, but I mean, even that isn’t anything to scoff at. The very biggest beluga sturgeon ever caught was a jawdropping 7.2 meters long, and weighed 1 571 kilograms!! Other beluga sturgeons of such sizes have been caught too, and some unverified sources say that there has even been belugas that exceed 10 meters! They are the biggest freshwater fish in the world, and are up there among the biggest bony fishes in the world. That’s so big, it’s hard to even grasp or imagine. Seeing pictures of sturgeons puts it in a better perspective, I think. Here is a 800 kilogram sturgeon, a bit more than half of what the biggest sturgeon weighed:

Like, look at that. You see this?? That’s so fucking insane!!! Sturgeons never cease to amaze me with how… impossible they seem. These fish are like aquatic dragons or prehistoric beasts from days long gone, and in a way they are the latter! Sturgeons have been around as a group for over 160 million years, so they did indeed live in the age of the dinosaurs. Whenever I see pictures like this I can only wonder what the humans who first saw big sturgeons must’ve thought. I know what sturgeons are but I still have trouble grasping their gargantuan sizes, imagine seeing the dark form of a giant in the water and not having the faintest idea of what it is, or even that it's entirely harmless to humans.

Other sturgeon species are also very really big! The lesser-known kaluga isn’t that far behind at a maximum length of 5.6 meters and maximum weight of about a ton. Several white sturgeon that have exceeded three meters and even just shy of four meters and weighed over 400 kilograms have been caught, and the biggest, but unverified white sturgeon even caught was around six meters long and weighed 900 kilograms. The critically endangered Chinese sturgeon maxes out around five meters and 600 kilograms. All this to say, these old fishes are massive!!!

A lupine, which one I’m not exactly sure. The hot pink color says harlequin lupine (Lupinus stiversii), but the rest of the buds and stem look very much like annual collared lupine (Lupinus truncatus).

not a good photo but look at this fat ass bumblebee

The American bumblebees really go for the partridge pea (chamaecrista fasciculata) which is great because partridge pea can be successfully grown by just throwing the seeds on the ground. And it grows in very harsh areas like roadsides. They have the pretty yellow flowers but also extrafloral nectaries that I see ants and little wasps visiting.