Just Witching About

shoutout to those with chronic illness, physical handicaps, genetic disorders (yo that’s me!!), paralyzed folks, amputees, people who were disabled in accidents, those who were born with their condition, those with mental disorders, those with ptsd, blind folks, deaf folks, people who use wheelchairs, those who have to lug around equipment or else they die (hey that’s me again) and people who have a whole shelf in their fridge or pantry dedicated to their meds. we are loud and beautiful and diverse and incredible. may we finally get the same rights as our abled counterparts

Women’s clothing sizes are the work of the devil, mean nothing, and are inconsistent from brand to brand. My pant size varies from 12 to 18 depending on brand. Whatever random number is on that tag means nothing.

Clothing that looks good on hangers may not look good on you. This is not your fault. Its bad design. Move on.

Comfort above all else.

If you find a shirt / style of jeans / bra that you really really like, buy it in several colors if you can.

Trying something on and not liking it isnt a failure on your part. It just means that you put it back. Thats what dressing rooms are for.

Nothing beats a good tank top and a sturdy pair of jeans with pockets (check the men’s section. They keep the good jeans there) you can use accessories (scarfs, jewelry, jackets, whatever) to dress it up or down.

Dont be afraid to try something on. Worse case, you dont like how it looks.

Ready made clothing will never fit you perfectly. Humans do not come in discreet convenient sizes.

Look at the size of those hoop earrings. Look at that choker. Look at the horse fetish, and the intricate plant pattern on his chest below it. Look at those braid wraps.

heritage breed chickens must average over six years to be considered heritage. they’re hardy birds that lay fewer eggs, often 250 or less. there are many breeds bred for meat, but they grow slowly and breed on their own. they can live long, full lives. there are dual purpose breeds. these heritage breeds have valuable, unique genetics that not only benefit us humans, but their species as well! we have breeds that can withstand frigid winters, fight off disease thanks to breeders breeding for immunity, live far longer than junglefowl (what chickens were bred from thousands of hears ago), and all sorts of cool things. these unique genes hugely benefit science.

One thing that I think a lot of Environmentalists in America really overlook is that humans are supposed to be part of an ecosystem.  Humans are part of the food web; we fill an environmental niche, just as much as beavers and wolves do.   

We are SUPPOSED to interact with the environment- the problem arises when we begin interacting with the environment in UNSUSTAINABLE ways. This idea that we should try to “return” the environment to the way it was “before” humans so so so often ignores the way that Indigenous people all over the world were (and are) an important part of their environments- and trying to “preserve” those places without people filling their ecological niche can cause harm in super weird ways. 

You know how its shitty for deer populations if you take out all of the wolves? It’s just as bad if you stop all human hunting too. Humans hunting deer has been an important part of the food web for thousands and thousands of years! Deer populations NEED hunters- human, wolf, cougar- to stay healthy. 

Yes- massive clear cutting of forests and strip mining is bad. HOWEVER, not allowing Indigenous people to practice traditional controlled burns of grass lands? Not only makes wildfires worse, but ALSO fucks up the bio-diversity of those grasslands. Totally unmanaged “pristine” grasslands without humans are actually less healthy than grasslands that are sustainably managed by people.

Mono-crop super farms are not good- but humans have been farming for thousands of years- tending for plants and increasing their yield, monitoring the soil, in ways that benefit those plants and the other animals that eat them, and the other plants that use that soil, and the insects that make their home there. Sustainable, diversified farming isn’t bad. 

Laying out acres and acres of asphalt and oil pipelines? Bad. But digging natural cisterns in the dessert that catches rainwater for grazing animals to use? Benefits the entire ecosystem and all the animals in it. 

We are part of the environment. We belong here. And the ecosystems that human beings evolved in and lived in need us just as much as we need them. We aren’t parasites on the planet, we are a part of it. It’s just that global capitalism has thrown us terribly out of balance.  Colonialism and profit-seeking are the problem- not human beings existing.  

Blue spruce needles are hard and very pointy—they can stab you easily. I have micro stab wounds on my hands from handling them yesterday that sting when I apply hand sanitizer. They are “square”, and you can roll them between your fingers, plus they often have a bluish tint and papery scaled cones:

Douglas fir does not stab you. The needles are flat and soft and smell wonderful. There’s no mistaking full-grown trees (in part because Douglas fir often grows 200 feet tall or taller), but if you’re just looking at branches, the cones are unique and instantly recognizable—they have a little three-pointed bract hanging down on top of each scale, which sort of looks like the read end of a tiny mouse:

Sorry if that was a bit of a roller coaster. I have strong opinions about evergreen trees. (I love them all but the blue spruces often were the bane of my existence)

We had a Western Red in the front yard of the rental house I grew up in, but when I was in elementary school we had a massive storm with heaving rains and crazy strong winds and it pulled the tree out of the ground. The thing was well over 20ft tall and had a massive root system but the next morning it was resting on the power lines.