Hello friends! I love being a lesbian and it's my favorite week of the year. What is your favorite lesbian novel? What's your favorite thing about being a lesbian?

I have to go with Emily Austin as my favorite lesbian novels! And my favorite thing about being a lesbian is de centering men and mixing masculine and feminine qualities

Hoping this brings some joy and love to your feed :)

mäder mentioning glyphosate several times alerted my brain to the disastrous call this administration is making to increase domestic production of glyphosate and elemental phosphorous. the company, bayer (makers of RoundUp, the ‘weed killer’), is the only producer of elemental phosphorus in the US and is also being slammed with thousands of exposure lawsuits. this administration is also calling for a ‘liability shield’ which means any company that makes, uses, promotes, etc. this chemical is NOT liable for anything that occurs after the fact. it’s truly disgusting how the rich can continue to ‘play god’ and avoid consequences

I love the section about the hedgerows and what a gift they are to the surrounding area. They can be a windbreak as well as a home for so many creatures!

Is this book inspiring anyone else to do some planting this spring? I have an area toward the back of my yard that is begging to be planted with local plants, including milkweed varieties, instead of serving as the place where I toss fallen branches after storms 😅

There is a local organization where I live that sells native plants for a great discount to encourage restoration—and they’re going to have one more customer this year 🙌🏻

Even so, female colbalt beetles mate a lot; one scientist recorded a female that mated 60 times.

Nature is amazing 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

"Even among insects, oleander aphids are extraordinary. Rather than laying eggs (as most proper invertebrates do), the females give birth to live offspring. Those offspring are born already pregnant and ready to give birth themselves."

Male aphids of this species aren't found in the wild. It's all women, self-replicating like some kind of scifi horror novel. 🤯 If the food source runs out, they develop wings and fly away to find more food. The text is not clear if the adults just pop out wings, or if they boot up an alternate code when replicating the next generation.

BUGS ARE SO COOL AND TERRIFYING

I have driven through California's Central Valley and it is exactly as the author describes it -- actually it's worse, he doesn't mention the stench of the cattle feedlots. Maybe that stretch of I-5 doesn't count as the Central Valley?

I'm contrasting my memories of driving through the Valley in the 21st century against John Muir's 1894 essay and sighing.

Here, though rarely seen, queen bumble bees dig themselves down into cozy beds of fluffy soil and earthy dead vegetation. They remain groggy and inactive throughout winter, like hibernating bears. Pumped full of their own biochemical antifreeze, they withstand repeated freezing and thawing and the massive pressure of heavy snowpack. Some bee researchers believe that bumble bee queens select cool, north-facing slopes, the last places to warm in spring. This lets them remain in hibernation until the aboveground world has flowers ready for them.

I am constantly amazed by how intelligent and efficient bees are! I have a question, though: do all bees go into the soil to wait for winter to be over? And why is the queen bumblebee alone? I always assumed that the other bees accompanied queen bees at all times, and that they stayed in their hive for the winter, or is it that bumblebees act differently? Or maybe this is the usual procedure for all bees, and I wasn't aware.

Since page bound doesn't have a widget for your phone to check your streak, what app do you guys use to track your streak through a widget? I've been using fable but, i keep forgetting to check in somehow 😭 Like I'll look at the widget and go-oh time to check into page bound. 🤣 I love this app and community so much ok.