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Rachel Mitchell

@funeco.bsky.social
905 followers 1.9K following 168 posts

Plant ecologist at University of Arizona, professor, plant and pet lover, parent, baker. Expect ecology, pet, plant, and baking content.

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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
We have two maniacs but Midge the border is the real killer. These three have really held up well! a.co/d/8GlsH8t a.co/d/4e8sUrT a.co/d/gRt81Eo
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Just in case you ever forget that #rejectionistherule this was the ranking on a grant declined yesterday by the NSF.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
#terriertuesday #outoffocus Midge says "smile!"
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Check out it's black-bellied cousin, the Kaibab squirrel!
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
A nice apricot sourdough loaf today #breadsky
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Taught Fire Ecology for the first time this past semester. Just checked my course reviews: my work here is done.
Student review stating "I WILL NEVER MIX UP SEVERITY AND INTENSITY"
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Post an insect that looks like it's generated by AI, but isn't! I found one of these in my yard for the first time ever after being an Arizona resident for 30 years. Giant mesquite bug (5th instar; Thasus neocalifornicus) Glamor shot vs the one in my yard. #inverts
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
#terriertuesday #terriertuned Midge's theme song is Donna Summer's "Bad Girl", deployed liberally when she is chewing something she stole underneath a bed
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Smart, snuggly, with jaws like a hyena. I've had dogs for 24 years and I will never have another breed after having a border. Midge, murderer of lizards.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
We have #nokings in #tucson #arizona
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Sprocket; leopard gecko lady, Aged 12-13.
A yellow spotted lizard head poking out of a hole in an artificial rock hide.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
#terriertuesday portraits
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
I asked Gemini to create conceptual diagram of ecological adaptive plasticity. Anyone who is relying/heavily leaning on this better comb through the slop they get. And "get used to it", as the newest, most costly and wasteful versions apparently hallucinate the most!
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
I saw a painting in the Netherlands that also featured a very BT looking dog, perhaps in that very museum (I can't remember)
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
And just like that, Midge is down to her pajamas for the summer #btposse
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Are you a #scientist worried about #AI taking your job? Don't hold your breath...I asked Gemini to make a conceptual diagram of adaptive plasticity, and got this breathtaking nonsense...
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
#terriertuesday #thenandnow. Two terriers could not be more different. Dexter the schnauzer is "Mr.Perfect", always minding, while Midge the border arrived full of chaos, and while she has mellowed, she will never be rid of the bees in her brain.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Little cactus crowns everywhere in my garden
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Both of mine are in a state...
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Experiments: they don't always work!! But you can pivot! We had very low germination of our seeds, but we are now assessing moisture retention directly in our seedballs
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Are we still doing that #rejectionistherule thing? Because I had a grant rejected today! But also, my hamster is cute. So who really won today?
Black and white hamster sleeping in his nest
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Spotted in the 520
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Little mammillaria nestled at the base of a saguaro in a tiny crack within a drainage.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
When saguaro are drought stressed, they self prune and drop limbs. It's been a very dry year at Saguaro National Park.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Not to distract from the current unpleasantness, but it looks like we may have gone a little overboard on water-retaining polymers in our seedball mix...
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
#terriertuesday frolicking in our household is full contact from under the couch
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Dissociation via baking. Made a versunkener apfelkuchen. A fast and easy (and fairly healthy) bake. If you can find eggs.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
And then we went on a field trip to our local USDA plant materials center!
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
180 seedballs created with different moisture holding agents! Polymers, sea moss, loofa, and wool, plus a few others
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Does shit feel fucked right now? May I humbly suggest a transporting musical masterpiece for you health and well-being:
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
I actually took four separate pictures of the little underbed gremlin, for scale
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
#terriertuesday with midge, it's how you sleep, not where: like an ewok, with a favorite toy, like a bedbug, and blep
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I am genuinely freaked out by the world presently but I can at least command yeast around to share with good friends tonight. Seeded white load #breadsky
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Life is tough and so are exams. May I humbly suggest displaying cute animals during exams?
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
The world is a lot right now. But there are still small parrots stealing toast.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
I did absolutely zero stretch and folds on this loaf, so it lacks some gluten and spring, but it still turned out pretty nice. Could have used a few more minutes in the oven.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Weekend #breadsky post. Cute little double ears on this #sourdough loaf!
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
Can't complain about the structure on this rosemary loaf #breadsky #sourdough
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
One "indestructible" toy lasted about five minutes in the jaws of Midge. This caterpillar, however, is a winner and cannot be out of Midge's sight/touch. #btposse
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
Oops, only 4 pictures allowed! Heres the tart crust and whole wheat loaf.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
Baking mania! Rosemary sourdough, cinnamon rolls with chestnut cream (before baking and after decimation). Oopsie cranberry tart with intact before shell, and a whole wheat sourdough with Barrio Blend flour from Barrio Bread, Tucson.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Santa apparently employs gremlins filled with the Devil's mischief #borderterrier
Border terrier wearing elf hat
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
It's apparently #terriertuesday on bsky. I promise not to do this often but Midge (border terrier) and Dexter (Schnauzer) are wearing holiday collars so it seemed appropriate.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Parenthood pushes your boundaries in weird ways. Despite general love of nature, arthropods gross me out. My friend and colleague @rjbca.bsky.social especially will be surprised to find we now have not two thriving colonies of isopods at home. They are, dare I say it, kinda cute. #isopods
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
The border terrier is described as a "tough working terrier" hailing from the anglo-scottish border. It is currently 72 degrees inside and Midge has created a cocoon complete with favorite toy tucked under her chin.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Today I have wasted time dealing with a person who is deliberately misunderstanding work done in our lab in an attempt to dismiss and undermine it. This is, at times, why land management fails. People bring Ego to the table, and not an open mind. I present my favorite sticker:
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Our department holds an annual bake off. Last year I baked a sophisticated orange chocolate gateau that took a lot of effort...and came in second to a tres leches dump cake. This year, I am going with technically easy and in your face flavor. Extreme chocolate cookies.
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Rachel Mitchell @funeco.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
This week I had a big proposal I was co-I on rejected and another put on "hold" in hopes that funds materialize to support it. And it's only Tuesday. But I did bake a great loaf of sourdough...
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