iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Lily Hislop

Jonathan @renewableenergy.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

The North America’s largest wildlife corridor over a freeway has been completed! Elk, pronghorn, mule deer, black bears, mountain lions and a variety of other species are now able to cross the I-25 Greenland wildlife overpass, in Colorado. #greensky #nature #environment

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

We have gotten currants in the ground under solar panels! going to test different varieties of currants under different kinds of solar panels. #energysky 🌾🧪🌱🫐

Two workers wearing PPE planting seedlings underneath solar panels on a sunny day

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

I'm trying lots of different bagging methods and securing methods and seeing what I like best. That means my pollination apron from my time doing corn is coming in handy. As are my cool new specs

Person in field clothes will a loaded up utility belt in a sunny field

Person in field clothes and a brimmed hat wearing magnifying glasses that distort their face

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Blooms are starting to open up in my currant plants and I am trying to cross pollinate them for the first time. They need to be "emasculated" meaning before the flower can open, I have to carefully remove all the parts of the flower that make pollen, leaving only the stigma and ovary

Small closed currant flowers pinched between fingers

Emasculated currant flowers pinched between fingers

Currant flowers with one set inside a white bag

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Reposted by Lily Hislop

Savanna Institute @savannainstitute.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

“I don’t think this plant is a lost cause,” said Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social, who runs the only institutionally backed #blackcurrant breeding program in the West at the Savanna Institute. #Blackcurrants showing up in Ambrook Research! ambrook.com/research/cro... @jessehirsch.bsky.social

ambrook.com

A Taste of the Forbidden Fruit - Ambrook Research

Banned by the federal government a century ago, black currants were cast to the fringes of U.S. agriculture. Agroforestry advocates and berry connoisseurs are urging a revival.

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Reposted by Lily Hislop

Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment @granthamicl.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

"For 90% of the things we need to do to address [#climatechange], we have a technical solution... The bulk of the #innovation is in making solutions practical, implementable & scalable." Read more in this Q&A with @undaunted-hq.bsky.social's Alyssa Gilbert ▶️ buff.ly/3QjMaIz

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I got to go in the @cimmyt.bsky.social seed bank! They maintain and store seeds from thousands of corn and wheat varieties for food and genetic diversity security. Huge honor!

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Cool insight: when restoring landscape that had been agricultural land back to prairie, often a small number of fast growing natives dominate. Maybe due to soil microbes! If you inoculate with soil from older intact prairie, the planting may become diverse and support slow growing plants again.

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

This conference I'm trying to monitor CO2 concentrations to help me decide when to take anti-viral precautions. Hopefully, I won't come home ill. It's wild the difference between rooms at the end of sessions. Context: 400-500 ppm is similar to CO2 outside. 1400ppm is a stuffy slept-in bedroom. 😷

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

The Land Institute is another amazing organization that does research on perennial agriculture. They are co-hosting the "Pathways to Perennial Future" conference. Listening to a talk by then now about making sorghum perennial.

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

It's amazing to remember how new of a crop soybeans are. In 1902 it was used as an animal forage (a plant to graze on). Growing soybeans for the beans wasn't done. So much has changed in the last 100 years and so much can change in the next 100. @cimmyt.bsky.social

Figure showing the expansion of soybeans growth area from 1920 to 1980

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

At a conference all about perennial grains in Mexico. CIMMYT, the amazing organization dedicated to corn and wheat improvement is hosting. Scientists from all over the world are here connecting. @cimmyt.bsky.social

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Last summer, I taste-tested dozens of currant varieties. I'm finally writing down my voice-recorded notes. Some particularly funny comparisons: "Good Meaty-Jelly insides", "Strong wine-y flavor, but not good wine-y", "Very burst-y","Not Inedible", "Not very flavinoid-y", "Old British Flavor"

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

I'm researching the history of currants and a fungus disease that it gets, White Pine Blister Rust /Cronartium ribicola/. The disease kills white pine trees and needs both white pines and currants to reproduce. 🧵🌾 🧪#history #horticulture

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Reposted by Lily Hislop

Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Do you know these three Russian agronomists? If you're interested, you're in for a real #ScienceDrama in four acts! 🧪🎭 Their story is the central piece of my Short History of Vernalization, but let me tell you about them here: 👇🧵🧵🧵🧵 #PlantScience #ScienceHistory

Portraits of three famous Russian agronomists.

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

This was my first year of establishing our breeding programs for elderberry and currants with the Savanna Institute. It's been a packed year!

Orange background, illustrated images of currant and elderberry plants with the title "2024 currant and elderberry wrapped"

Black text on orange background. Text Reads: "Why? At the Savanna Institute,
we’re breeding new varieties of Currants and Elderberries for agroforestry. Agroforestry means putting trees on farms, on purpose.Currants and Elderberries can grow well in the Midwest, are flavorful, nutrient dense, and work well in agroforestry systems."

Black text on orange background with two photos of elderberry flowers and plants. Text reads "3500+ elderberry seedlings planted for evaluation. 50+ unique elderberry varieties collected, propagated, and planted"

Black text on orange background. Photo of figure holding elderflowers in front of elderberry plants. text reads "Evaluated 12 elderberry varieties for fruit quality, yield, disease resistance, and harvestability.This trial was held in 5 locations across the midwest"

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

A joy of my jobs is visiting farms to talk about how the farmers grow their berries and what their challenges and wishes are. A secondary joy is meeting the piglets at such farms. 🐖

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

I'm a scientist working for a non-profit. My research supports farmers, eaters, and the curious without being profit driven. My work is supported by normal people who think trees are cool. It's wonderful! Right now, donations of all sizes are being matched. www.savannainstitute.org/donate/

savannainstitute.org

Donate - Savanna Institute

From research and resources to events and adoption, we depend on the generosity of donors like you.

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Harvesting currant plants with our sister organization Canopy Farm Management. These are currant bareroot plants. Each stick is a single plant that gets dug out of the ground.

Close up of a muddy field. Foreground includes bare sticks pointing out of the soil. Background includes farm workers bending over to gather plants. It is an overcast day.

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Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Hello! I'm a plant breeder, meaning I'm developing new kinds of plants. I work with berries, specifically currants and elderberries. I want to make berries easy to grow in the Midwest, I want them to taste great, and I want them to not get diseases.

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