iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Gratitude. I find that gratitude is near the center of every viable spirituality I've ever engaged with.

Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My wife has recently gotten re-obsessed with Genesis and I as a newbie get to hear all the commentary. Yeah, pretty weird song for sure! But a great tune!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Interestingly, from what I've read about it, as with so many other "newly discovered" creatures, the native people in the area knew about the cat for however long and had a name for it....so they acknowledged that at least by including that name in it's new Latin name.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The calla lilies! All of them, and their close cousins the skunk cabbages. I've loved them since I was 14 or 15. Many other plants have come and gone, but they've been always right up there.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Most of those things are difficult to sell or directly make profit from; or else there are ways to enjoy them for free in addition. Also when we are busy enjoying them, we are distracted from work and consumption. So the powers that be see them all as "standing in the way of business".

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Just when the flying fireflies disappear, it's time to look down! Every night now, there are glowworms, firefly larvae, in the grass! Though not as bright or fast as the adults, they will be there for months, till it freezes hard; and again in the spring.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In many places I've lived, I've tried to contrive to have some water....like a garden pond or even a bowl strategically placed outdoors or in, so as to throw a reflection into the house through a window. I call these reflections "water lights" and often imagine them as small living entities.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Brugmansia is a cool plant that I want in my life again! It is especially amazing when it can grow over head tall, such as in a greenhouse or tropical climate, such that you look up into the open, downward hanging flowers. The smell of it in an enclosed space is overwhelming!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Oh I've read bunches of Buhner and like him too (even though some witchy folks cancel him, forget why). I may have been thinking of George Washington Carver, who I think was a contemporary of Burbank.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

wow really?? I didn't know that about him! I thought he talked to the plant spirits!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

That's bigleaf maple! I can guess where you are now! Fall must be early there! I've still got several more 90's days here in the Midwest.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

So I woke up from a weird dream with an odd insight....encountering anything paranormal is a bit like playing with a cat and a laser pointer. The cat thinks there's a real object there to chase, and it goes after it till confused or frustrated or exhausted. But it's an image cast by something else

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I've never gotten beyond the simple three stone method for yes/no questions taught by Althaea Sebastiani.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Oh, yeah, it's almost like there's a pipeline. I can think of 3 or 4 well known names myself...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

One of my favorites! It even grows wild (though sparingly and not invasively) all through the South and East/Midwest.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

oh no!!! Reminds me of my distant cousin in Denmark, for whom a favorite holiday meal consists of salmon simmered in vodka! To me, that seems like a good way to completely ruin both!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

will you be able to see it? I got to see the one in America a couple years ago....truly spectacular!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Cool that it's more officially known now. When I lived in Georgia and Florida (80's-'00's) crunchy gardeners and edible plant people knew it and passed it along under various names, one of which was "Florida lettuce", since, like purslane, it's edible raw, unusual for a tropical green.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Though I've planted this multiple times, it just does not thrive for me. Even the wild type is uncommon. I actually have better luck with their distant tropical relative Talinum triangulare. The stalks are so thick and succulent that I cut them at first frost and throw them in a box for winter.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

One time a vegan told me "I don't eat anything that tries to get away!" and I replied "You must not eat any zucchini, then!"

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

What's wrong with stevia? I grow it myself and use it on the daily in my tea and other things. It's probably gone a long way to saving my teeth over the years as contrasted to sugar, since I like my tea and coffee sweet!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

what's up? Has something new happened?

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There are people in the modern world making and using flying ointments. One is the owner of the site thepoisongarden.com. They used to actually make and sell them, but has now quit doing that. Classes and info are still available there I believe.

thepoisongarden.com

The Poison Garden

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

oh awesome! So many people don't know about eating sweet potato greens! They are my summer fall-back when even the chard quits growing...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I finally have 2 or 3 plants of this, after several sowings! Maybe it's my predilection for cheap mailorder seed. Where do you get seed for most of your exotics?

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I'm processing lettuce seed right now. I try to save seeds of most veggies when I can, their prices are getting outrageous.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

It has been shown in many places in America at least that the very best way to restore wetlands is to reintroduce beavers, which were mostly eradicated for their fur long ago.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

First fig of the year, and the first fig on a new tree; grown from a cutting of the tree at the old place. Planted tucked up on the south side of the aboveground pool-turned fish pond....this winter will see if that makes a difference as to how much it dies back, if at all.....

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I've wondered about black currant for me, since it's apparently so nutritious and productive, but I think our summers are too hot for it usually. Blackberries are good and I'm looking forward to figs and persimmons...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This is a good lesson in resiliency....in how brittle many modern "systems" are, and how lacking in any kind of backup. For most people this lesson comes in the form of economics, or possibly electricity, but water is infinitely more important than both. I bet you'll stash some jugs of water now!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

One wonders where they are coming from. Pistachios don't grow in Britain, they are a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern thing, like almonds.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I've heard that if you want to sample the wide diversity of Indian food, then London is the place to go, not India. In India one would have to travel hundreds of miles to experience all the different variations, whereas in London they are all right there next to each other.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

One time a vegan told me "I don't eat anything that tries to get away.", and I replied "You must not eat zucchini, then! :)

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

In the state of California, where I used to live, there is a law that any oak tree over a certain size must be preserved in a development project. The new WalMart that was built in the nearby town has a big one right in the middle of the parking lot! Alas that all states do not have this rule...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

to think of them as living entities or spirits.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I particularly enjoy noticing, and creating or arranging opportunities for sunlight and other light to reflect off of water onto a surface....such as placing a garden pool or even a bowl near a sun facing window to throw a reflection into the space. I call these "water lights" and sometimes like...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

ooohh....I hope you save enough seed to sell!! I had a red version of these years ago, and after years of saving seed and letting them reseed, they mostly reverted to single flowers.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I've actually long held the opposite opinion. I say let them all go! All the billionaires and fascists and religious fanatics too. Let them go have a country on the moon or Mars or somewhere else far away. Maybe then the rest of us will have half a chance at cleaning up the mess they've left!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

and found it growing everywhere, with people relying on it for a large part of their subsistence, famine and exile resulted....most famously in Ireland, but it happened all over northern and western Europe to some extent.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

with one's own thoughts....really a sort of revolutionary idea. It probably contributed more to progressive and democratic thinking than we know. But it's downfall was that little of it's original genetic diversity was brought over, and when disease caught up with it....

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

in the grain-based, more broadscale systems that existed before. Moreover, one could produce that subsistence alone, whereas grain agriculture required a cooperative and/or delegated effort most of the time...for milling the grain if nothing else. But a potato could be grown, cooked, and eaten....

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

The potato may well have been partly responsible for both. It's introduction to Europe after the "discovery" of the New World led to the possibility of someone generating a large part of their subsistence from a very small amount of land....a revolutionary thing that was impossible before...

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

wow....learned something new! I had to go look this up!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I have participated in this miracle nearly every year since I was 16....digging up way way more potatoes than I planted in the early spring. But these, in black Midwestern soil, are just about the best ever.

Photo shows me with 3 beds of newly dug potatoes.

Photo shows size and abundance of potatoes after turning over the bed.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

When I see this, along with stars as well, I call it a view of "three lights"---three natural lights of completely different sources---and think of it as a good omen :)

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Not a course, but the book "Alive with Spirits" has certainly been influential. I think it is the only resource I've seen that claims a human-made object can have a spirit.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Fun fact I learned not long ago, several species of adult fireflies forage on milkweed for nectar and latex, which enables their toxicity to predators. So having milkweed around encourages two of nature's wonders....butterflies and fireflies!

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Wow, afternoon and it's only 70F/21C out there! Apparently our Midwest summer is taking a vacation in Europe.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Last night a view of "three lights" at once: stars, distant lightning, and fireflies. Three natural lights of entirely different origins.

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Alder Burns @adiantum.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

It was a workshop all around traditional acorn processing actually. Boiling the mush in the basket was just part of it. Then and there acorns became part of my diet, and that of my chickens and sheep, the whole of the rest of the time I lived in the West.

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