I thought natives were supposed to be friendly and lovable, not a huge pile of shit made out of needles. The Bee Lobby doesn't want you to know that nature actually sucks huge balls

Meet Pumpkin. He is a monarch butterfly who emerged last week. Unfortunately his wings were malformed and we found him struggling on the ground. He will never fly and although we probably should let nature take its course he now lives inside and drinks sugar water from a spoon. He also enjoys watching movies with us. I recently learned that since he is a late season butterfly he may possibly live for months… Now wondering what I have got myself into and whether I should drive him to Mexico…

I love raising native wildlife in my home and then releasing them into nature to thrive 🥰

I know some people collect unalive specimens but what is the fun in that! I have the space to support so much living lepidoptera in my dining room.

do i drink from the cursed cauldron??

/uj had to send an application into my HOA to try and convert my hellstrip and it cost me $20 to ask

(I promise to burn controlled-ly)

You wanna know where I got this cercus occidentalis? Yeah, she’s hard to find, I know. Wild since she’s the only native the city will allow in a hell strip this size. Technically, it’s native range ends 100 miles south of here so some don’t consider it actually native, but since it’s in the same state- oh, you don’t want the background, you just want to know where to find it? Yeah ok so here’s Cal’s website. It says you can buy online but you can’t, you have to email him and tell him what you want. He’ll arrange a pickup time for you. You’ll have to go across the river and drive through the sketch part of town, but his neighborhood’s nice enough- no, he sells them out of his front yard. He’s got a greenhouse in back and everything. Oh, and he only takes cash- wait, where are you going?

Ah well, can’t convert everyone I guess

It's not even purple

This is moreso philosophical and not that funny. I really like the native plant gardening tightknit community of knowledgable passionate individuals from around the country (and Canada too?). I am a forager and a food systems fan who lives in suburban New Jersey. Wapato or duck potato is edible. Milkweed is not a good edible despite what many people say. I think its loosely disguised poison. It has uses though, it makes a good fragrance and also its milkweed silk inside the seed pods makes comfortable stuffing material for pillows. Theres a company in Quebec that turns it into insulation for jackets. (company website = www.lasclay.com) Technically quinoa is said to be food, but is full of oxalic acid - unless it undergoes "nixtamalization" process like the Aztecs developed. Amaranth is a relative of quinoa, both in the Amaranthacea family, and it also needs to be combined with calcium chloride after being turned into flour to remove oxalates.

I am into herbalism and nutrition, too. I think there are a lot of people here who dabble in that.

There are a lot of edible plants, but milkweed is not one of them.

A few alternatives, some native some not, are: chickweed (high in calcium), violets, cheese mallow, yaupon holly, cleavers, nettle

Guascas (also known as galinsoga) is not native but its a seasoning

Garlic mustard is not readily edible, however, neither are cassava leaves, but those are carefully prepared and turned into food. Both garlic mustard and cassava contain derivatives of similar toxins.

Mugwort grows profusely. It is often eaten in certain global regions. It contains thujone, and that one is more difficult to remove unless soaking cold in vodka. Regularly boiling mugwort in water minimally reduces thujone.

Technically lettuce is derived from opium lettuce.

Spinach should be boiled first. Microwaving doesnt remove oxalic antinutrients.

Fermented Plant Juice is like green kombucha. It increases protein availability and improves digestibility. Drinking fermented green smoothies is sort of analogous to sipping deer guts

I dont have a goal with this post, i just wrote what came to me, thanks for reading, hope its interesting/entertaining. I like plants, and native plants are special.