Christine Herrmann

Tereza Okava wrote:It is a great time to grab some handles for permaculture-- right now there isn't much. I have been there a few months as well and it's starting to explode as anyone who hadn't left Twitter yet is finally making their way over.

(it's basically just like twitter)

i'm actually following a few permaculture people on there that i found initially on Youtube. but it's true - could always use more

Cade Johnson wrote:... they have big numbers may be a misguided way to judge the quality of one's social media experience. I also think that my earlier comment about corporate-platforms' need to eventually return a profit is timeless: nothing has fundamentally changed to make BlueSky immune from profit-motive, so the fact that they are "not yet profitable" must mean that things will change. Where are you going to invest your personal time in developing a network?

i understand your point, but i don't agree with it. the merit of a social network partially lies in how large it is; that fact is inescapable. the idea that Mastodon is bot-less? i'm not sure i agree, though my residence there was very short-lived, and long ago. it's possible that there are very few bots, true. and Bluesky has the issues of every young social network: bots, trolls, insane posting, etc. the difference is that Bluesky (from my observations) makes it incredibly easy to tailor your feed and block trolls and bots. has the presence of troll accts inflated Blueksy's numbers? *absolutely*. is Bluesky revving up to knock out those accounts? have i seen troll accounts disappear before i could even report them? also absolutely.

so my advice to the OP is that your mileage may vary. try it and see what you think.

i never used Twitter, but friends encouraged me to try Bluesky and i've been liking it for news and memes. ever since i got locked out of Facebook (lost password/they seem to want to send my login info to Whatsapp) i've missed just looking at memes and photos sometimes. Mastodon was/is a great idea, but it never gained traction; Bluesky went from 10 million users to 25 million users in the last couple months. it's here to stay, i think. and, given what's going on in the US, having a place to unify and share news could end up being critical.

EDIT: oh! https://bsky.app/profile/sirhcwarrior.bsky.social

Elizabeth Echeverria wrote:I had a garden bed roughly 10 feet from a willow  tree that was 10 or 15 feet tall—not sure the kind of willow. The roots totally invaded the raised bed with its rich soil and really stunted any veggies we attempted to grow. That was an actual tree, not a fence, but I’’ll certainly hesitate to grow willow near veggies after that.

yeah, i second this. i had a willow plant itself in my "bird food" permaculture hedgerow and i've had to uproot baby willows more than once. i'm trying to come to detente - where it exists as a small stand, but so do my various dogwoods, Aconia, serviceberry, elderberry, etc. if you introduce willow, be prepared to monitor it and uproot what your area can't handle every few years. i truly believe no-mow is the way, but if you want to maintain some biodiversity in the face of forest succession, you have to be ready to apply a selective stressor once in a while.

i had a peach tree pass of rabbit damage and ended up replanting another peach - an Iowa peach/non-rootstock/cold-hardy - in the same spot and it was fine. i think the bigger issue might be finding a peach that can handle Zone 4. i also co-planted with garlic and Russian comfrey because my soil can get a bit soggy and is rather clay-ey. plus, of course, liberal compost.

also, i didn't see anyone post it, but i might have missed it: i've given tons of plants to people through Freecycle, and pots too - i have SO MANY extra pots. i suggest everyone support Freecycle if they have one in their area. and anyone in the Central NY area, i have pots and seeds for you if you can get to me. *lol*