#I may be able to do that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anipgarden · 11 months

Text

Things to Do that Aren't Related to Growing Plants

This is my second post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps!

Some of us just don’t have much luck when it comes to growing plants. Some of us simply want to aim for other ways to help that don’t involve putting on gardening gloves. Maybe you've already got a garden, but you want to do more. No problem! There’s a couple of options you can look into that’ll help attract wildlife in your area without even having to bring out any shovels!

Provide a Water Source

Oftentimes when I see ‘add a water source’ in informational articles about improving your backyard for wildlife, it’s almost always followed by an image of a gorgeous backyard pond with a waterfall and rock lining that looks expensive to set up, difficult to maintain, and overall just… not feasible for me. Arguably, not feasible for a lot of people. And that’s okay! There’s still ways to add water in your garden for all kinds of creatures to enjoy!

There’s tons of ways to create watering stations for insects like bees and butterflies. A self refilling dog bowl can work wonders! Add some stones into the receiving tray for insects to land on or use to climb out, and you’ve got a wonderful drinking spot for all kinds of insects! You can also fill a saucer or other dish with small stones and fill it, though it’ll likely need refilling daily or even several times a day during hot times.

I've seen people online use all kinds of things to make water features. Some go with terra-cotta pots, pebbles, and a cheap pump to get a small and simple fountain. Others use old tires, clay, and a hole in the ground to create an in-ground mini pond system. If all else fails, even a bucket or watertight box with a few plants in it can do the trick--though do be wary of mosquitoes if the water isn’t moving. In situations like these, a solar-powered fountain pump or bubbler are great for keeping the water moving while still making it a drinking option for wildlife (it not even more appealing for some)--and these items can be obtained fairly cheap online!

Bird baths are an option as well--a classic way to provide for birds in your area, they can be easy to find online or in a gardening store! The only downside is that a good, quality bird bath can be pricey up-front. However, a nice stone bird bath should last a long time, be easy to clean and refill, and be enjoyed by many birds! I’ve also seen tutorials on how to make your own with quickcrete! Bird baths will be a welcome sight to birds, as they provide a space for them to drink and bathe to regulate the oils in their feathers for flight and insulation. Putting a stone in the middle will also help insects to escape if they fall in, and provide a place to perch so they can get their own drink. You’ll want to change the water and clean the baths regularly--as often as once a week, if you can manage it.

If possible, it’s highly encouraged to fill and refill water features with rainwater instead of tap water. Tap water is often treated, so instead of using hoses or indoor kitchen water, collecting some rainwater is a great alternative. Collecting rainwater can be as simple as leaving cups, bins, or pots outside for awhile.

Butterflies and other creatures will also drink from mud puddles. If you can maintain an area of damp soil mixed with a small amount of salt or wood ash, this can be fantastic for them! Some plants also excel at storing water within their leaves and flowers (bromeliads come to mind), making them an excellent habitat for amphibians as well as a drinking spot for insects and birds.

Bird Feeders and Bird Houses

Some of the fancy, decorated bird feeders are expensive, but others can be pretty low-cost--I got my bird feeder from Lowe’s for around 10 dollars, and a big bag of birdseed was around another 10 dollars and has lasted several refills! If you don’t mind occasionally buying more birdseed, a single birdfeeder can do a lot to attract and support local birds! If you’re handy, have some spare wood, and have or can borrow some tools, you may even be able to find instructions online to make your own feeder. You may not even need wood to do so! Even hummingbird feeders, I’ve found, are quick to attract them, as long as you keep them stocked up on fresh sugar water in the spring and summer!

An important note with bird feeders is that you have to make sure you can clean them regularly. Otherwise, they may become a vector for disease, and we want to avoid causing harm whenever possible. Also keep an ear out and track if there’s known outbreaks of bird diseases in your area. If local birding societies and scientists are advising you take your birdfeeders down for awhile, by all means, do it!

Bird houses are naturally paired with bird feeders as biodiversity promoters for backyard spaces, and it makes sense. Having bird houses suited to birds in your area promotes them to breed, raise their young, disperse seeds, and generally engage in your surrounding environment. Setting them up takes careful selection or construction, preparation, and some patience, but sooner or later you might get some little homemakers! Keep in mind, you will need to clean your birdhouses at least once a year (if not once per brood) to make sure they’re ready and safe for birds year after year--you wouldn’t want to promote disease and parasites, after all. But they could be a valuable option for your landscape, whether you purchase one or construct your own!

Again, do make sure you're putting up the right kind of boxes for the right kinds of birds. Bluebird boxes are some I see sold most commonly, but in my area I believe they're not even all that common--a nesting box for cardinals or chickadees would be far more likely to see success here! And some birds don't even nest in boxes--robins and some other birds are more likely to use a nesting shelf, instead! Research what birds live in your area, take note of any you see around already, and pick a few target species to make homes for!

Solitary Bee Houses

A bee house or bee hotel is a fantastic way to support the solitary bees in your area! For a few dollars and some annual cleaning, you can buy a solitary bee house from most big box nurseries. Alternatively, you can make one at home, with an array of materials you may already have lying around! You can even make them so that they’ll benefit all kinds of insects, and not necessarily just bees.

Though you don’t even necessarily have to break out the hammer and nails, buy a ton of bricks, or borrow a staple gun. Making homes for tunneling bees can be as simple as drilling holes in a log and erecting it, or drilling holes in stumps and dead trees on your property. You might even attract some woodpeckers by doing this!

Providing Nesting Area

There are tons of different kinds of bees, and they all make different kinds of homes for themselves. Not all of them make big cavity hives like honey bees, or will utilize a solitary bee house. Bumblebees live in social hives underground, particularly in abandoned holes made by rodents--some others nest in abandoned bird nests, or cavities like hollow logs, spaces between rocks, compost piles, or unoccupied birdhouses. Borer, Ground, and Miner bees dig into bare, dry soil to create their nests. Sparsely-vegetated patches of soil in well-drained areas are great places to find them making their nests, so providing a similar habitat somewhere in the garden can encourage them to come! I do talk later in this document about mulching bare soil in a garden--however, leaving soil in sunny areas and south-facing slopes bare provides optimal ground nesting habitat. Some species prefer to nest at the base of plants, or loose sandy soil, or smooth-packed and flat bare ground. They’ve also been known to take advantage of soil piles, knocked over tree roots, wheel ruts in farm roads, baseball diamonds and golf course sand traps. You can create nesting ground by digging ditches or creating nesting mounds in well-drained, open, sunny areas with sandy or silty soil. However, artificially constructed ground nests may only have limited success.

Providing Alternative Pollinator Foods

Nectar and pollen aren’t the only foods sought out by some pollinators! Some species of butterflies are known to flock to overripe fruit or honey water, so setting these out can be an excellent way to provide food to wildlife. You may want to be cautious about how you set these out, otherwise it can help other wildlife, like ants or raccoons. Butterflies may also drop by to visit a sponge in a dish of lightly salted water.

Bat Houses and Boxes

Big or small, whether they support five bats or five hundred, making bat boxes and supporting local bats is a great way to boost biodiversity! Not only will they eat mosquitoes and other pest species, but you may also be able to use the guano (bat droppings) as fertilizer! Do be careful if you choose to do that though--I’ve never had the opportunity to, so do some research into how strong it is and use it accordingly.

Provide Passageway Points

If you want your area to be more accessible for creatures that can’t fly or climb fences, allowing or creating access points can be an excellent way to give them a way in and out. Holes in the bottom of walls or fences can be sheltered with plants to allow animals through.

In a somewhat similar manner, if you’re adding a water fixture, it’s important to provide animals a way to get into and out of the pond--no way in, and they can’t use the water. No way out, and they may drown. Creating a naturalistic ramp out of wood beams or sticks, or stepped platforms out of bricks, stones, or logs can do the trick.

Get or Keep Logs and Brush Piles

I’ve already mentioned logs a good handful of times so far in this post. To be used as access ramps, or as nesting areas for solitary bees. But they have value as much more than that! Logs on the ground provide shelter for all kinds of animals, especially depending on size--anything from mice, reptiles, and amphibians to things like turkey vultures and bears will use fallen logs as shelter. Inside of a decaying log, there’s a lot of humidity, so amphibians are big fans of them--meanwhile, the upper sides of them can be used as sunning platforms by things like lizards. Other animals can also use the insides of logs as nest sites and hiding places from predators too big to fit inside. Fungi, spiders, beetles, termites, ants, grubs, worms, snails, slugs, and likely much more can be found inside rotting logs, using the rotting wood as food sources or nesting places. They can then provide food for mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. They can also be regarded as a landmark or territory marker as wildlife get more familiar with your space.

So how do you get logs for cheap? Try Chip Drop! I talk about them more in a future post, but you can mark saying that you’d like logs in your drop, so they’ll give you any they have! In fact, you may even get a drop faster if you're willing to accept some logs. You may also be able to approach arborists you see working in your area and ask for logs. There may also be local online listings for people selling logs for cheap, or just trying to get rid of them. If there’s land development going on near you, you may be able to snag logs from trees they cut down to make space. Do keep in mind, you don’t need to have huge gigantic logs laying around your property to make an impact--even small logs can help a lot.

If possible, creating and leaving brush piles on the edge of your property can be a great boost to biodiversity--even if you may not see the wildlife using it. They’ll provide shelter from weather and predators, and lower portions are cool and shady for creatures to avoid the hot sun. The upper layers can be used as perch sites and nest sites for song birds, while lower layers are resting sites for amphibians and reptiles, and escape sites for many mammals. As the material decays, they also attract insects, and as such they’ll attract insect-eating animals too. As more small animals find refuse in your brush pile, their predators will be attracted to them as well. Owls, hawks, foxes, and coyotes are known to visit brush piles to hunt. Making a brush pile can be as simple as piling branches and leaves into a mound, as big or as small as you want. You can even use tree stumps or old fence posts near the base, and keep stacking on plant trimmings and fallen branches. Do note that you don’t want to do this near anything like a fire pit.

Don't forget, with all of these, your mileage may vary for any variation of reasons, so don't worry if you can't take all of even any of these actions! Even just talking about them with other people may inspire someone else to put out a bat box, or leave a few logs out for wildlife!

That's the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about ways to get seeds and plants as cheaply as possible. For now, I hope this advice helps! Feel free to reply with any questions, success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!

#biodiversity #solarpunk #environmental stewardship #gardening #outdoor gardening #(i know this is literally the Dont Gotta Garden post but these could also be excellent additions to a preexisting garden so)#ani rambles #out of queue #the biodiversity saga #here in the tags to once again emphasize your mileage may vary with all of these #my mom is scared of bats theres no way in hell shes gonna let me put up a bat box #but I have been able to put out a shallow bird bath and a little solarpowered hummingbird bath fountain #do what you can! every bit counts! You may be able to do something that I or your neighbors can't!#for example my nextdoor neighbors have literally no trees in their backyard where the hell would they put a bat box #meanwhile i have trees in my backyard but still can't put up a bat box. maybe the neighbors next to me could!#similarly brush piles are a no go for my family but someone somewhere else could set one up!#i am rambling in the tags now uh long story short do what you can don't stress about what you can't

4K notes · View notes

ami-v-dragnire · 11 months

Text

they like holding hands

Ineffable May Day 16 - thank you @blairamok for the prompt list!

#good omens #good omens fanart #ineffable may #ineffable partners #they like holding hands #won't be able to do all the prompts but i still wanted to participate #ineffable husbands #ineffable may 16 #sooo hype #ami v art #av art

3K notes · View notes

uncanny-tranny · 8 months

Text

I think a lot of discussions would be made better by recognizing that masculinity and femininity aren't inherently preferred, but adherence to cishet standards is, which is slightly different.

This is why a masculine trans man* or a feminine trans woman* often still face stigma - it isn't that they aren't gender conforming to the gender they are. It is that cishetero standards do not want trans people to exist at all, in any capacity.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #mtf #nonbinary #transphobia #transphobia tw #it's just frustrating when the conversation is 'oh well [x] is ALWAYS rewarded!'#because in certain contexts it won't be #the sweeping generalization and assumptions will only alienate others who may have similar interests and goals #whenever i see these conversations it does feel pretty antagonistic toward people percieved as 'rewarded' for the way they're treated...#...and it's odd to me because it's not challenging any systems in any way. challenging the systems itself is a very momentous task...#...so while i do understand if somebody isn't ready or able to challenge those systems that doesn't mean the answer is going after...#...individuals. basically this is a branch off the tree of 'is this punching up or just attacking somebody?'

2K notes · View notes

bitchfitch · 26 days

Text

Recommendation on this April fools:

Enter a death pact with a mutual and boop each other into jelly to get the Boop Breaker Badge by booping each other 1000 times. Forge a Bond Today. Fucking Kill Eachother.

#(tbh i just wanted the badge and to not terminally annoy someone)#having said that. even if we are not mutuals. this is me. Zach #giving you full 100% permission to boop me as much as you like to get that badge. I may not be able to reciprocate all boops #but it is Vital to me that we tank the rareness of this thing #i want it to be a Flat Line. If you were here on april first 2024 you have 3 cat themed badges #Boop me until i am Fucking Dust #my notifications have been broken for Years. Do Not Worry Do Not Pitty. Boop.

514 notes · View notes

tubbytarchia · 4 months

Note

MAY I HUMBLY REQUEST MORE RENDOG.... I really love your design for him <3

Dude I'm so sorry I drew Tango instead idk what happened

Surprise shiny duo!!! :)

#for real though I hope you dont mind anon!!! I really wanna draw more Rendog but also Ive been wanting to draw him in silly pink clothing #ever since I drew him for the first time #rendog #renthedog #tango tek #tangotek #trafficblr #secret life #secret life fanart #Ren is so sweet and silly I love him so dearly #red winter and bloodshed and stuff like ok whatever you say little guy #You see a sign warning you of a mean violent guard dog and the dog is just Ren asking if he may bite you. “is that alright if I bite you.”#How do Tango's clothes fit on him? Please do not ask me that. We both know Tango's not gonna be able to wear those clothes again though #I will draw more Rendog for sure!!!#tubby art

544 notes · View notes

livwritesstuff · 3 months

Text

wanted to give steve's take on how his and eddie’s kids take after them. very different vibe tho hope that’s okay with everyone

eddie’s version

If Steve was asked which parts of fatherhood he enjoyed the most, he would say that it was when he got to catch glimpses of himself and Eddie in the people his children are becoming.

Especially when it’s Eddie – like how Hazel has a penchant for collecting things and Robbie has all sorts of opinions about music and Moe is a trivia wizard and somehow knows at least a little bit about practically everything.

Robbie in particular is...well, she’s Eddie. She’d been Eddie since the moment she started becoming a real person and, for a while, Steve loved it. How could he not? He loves Eddie and all his wild ways and his loud intricacies and the way he’s himself without a care in the world for whatever anybody else might think, so when Robbie started turning out just like him, Steve couldn’t be more thrilled.

But then Robbie started high school and it started to become a problem.

Steve sometimes wonders if parents of boys have it easier – not that being a parent is easy by any stretch of the imagination, but without any sons, he can never know the difference (if there's even a difference to be known).

Steve knows that his and Eddie’s daughters are perfectly capable people. They’re tough and they’re smart – Moe is independent to a borderline-scary extent, and Robbie hasn’t taken shit from anyone since the moment she was born, and Hazel…well, Hazel is the baby, and the one Steve is gonna have the hardest time letting go of, but she can take care of herself just as well as her sisters.

He knows this.

Still, there’s a part of Steve that just wants to keep them all in a little glass box and never let the world touch them.

He’d never had that feeling about anything before.

Steve surprised himself by becoming particularly protective over Robbie – his Amelia Robin, his tough as nails middle kid – because she plays her music just this side of too loud and she gets in trouble for arguing with her teachers and once she was caught giving out stick-and-poke tattoos in the locker room and she rants and raves about all the problems with today’s society to any available audience.

Because Steve had seen Eddie do all those things, and he’d seen how it put a target on his back, and then he’d seen him nearly dead because of it.

He hadn't handled that well and he hadn't even been in love with him yet.

Steve knows that he’s tough on Robbie in a way he isn’t with her sisters, and he knows that goes directly against the promise he’d made to himself to treat the three of them as close to the exact same as he possibly could, but his traitorous brain (which might have never been on his side to begin with) can also twist the image of Eddie bleeding out in the Upside Down into one daughter more than it can the other two.

And Steve knows it's not really even possible to be a perfect parent anyways, so if this is where he's losing some points –

Whatever.

Sue him.

#steve hears about all the ‘romanticizing girlhood’ trends and is like *how are you able to do that?!?*#it doesn't help that robbie is named after robin and steve almost saw her dead too #lol poor steve #idk this feels unfinished - i may revisit down the line #steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steddie dads #steve harrington #eddie munson

409 notes · View notes

dollarstoreartsupplies · 4 months

Text

something I think we as a fandom don't talk about enough is the fact that during his first guide mission grover was 14. And satyrs age half the rate of humans.

grover was emotionally and mentally seven years old. seven. of course he couldn't save everyone he was seven years old!!!!

#he was a BABY #I feel like this is wrong in some way because it feels like an insane thing to never be recognized in the text #so if I am PLEASE let me know #but they age HALF THE RATE-- in the first book grover is 24 but he's emotionally and mentally 12 in human years #even if he was 14 like STILL-- but god.... he was essentially seven years old why was that his JOB #boy was a BABY and then blamed himself for YEARS for this thing that he COULD NOT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED TO BE ABLE TO DO #he WOULD BE SEVEN TOO LUKE BE A SINISTER BIG BROTHER FIGURE FOR THAT LITTLE GOAT #grover underwood #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #it must be stated I am bad at math this may be wrong

969 notes · View notes

skin-slave · 5 months

Text

I wanna say something and all I ask is that you read the whole thing before burning me at the stake.

There are always horrible things happening. There are always ppl who are suffering and dying. There are always corrupt politicians. There are always human rights violations. There are always tragedies. There is always misinformation and exploitation. War is always looming on the horizon or busting in the back gate. The world is always fucked up.

That fact does not mean that the lives affected matter any less than our own. It does not mean that we don't do what we can to help. It does mean that we cannot afford to put our lives on hold while a horrible thing consumes us.

I'm sure that, if your parent/sibling/partner/best friend had a medical emergency, you would gladly do whatever you needed to do to be there. I'm sure that you would sacrifice sleep, skip meals, call in to work, and be by their side until they were stable. You can afford to do that when those emergencies are infrequent and relatively brief.

You cannot do that with the world's emergencies. They are not infrequent. They are not relatively brief. You have to sleep, eat and shower. You have to pay your bills. You have to survive.

Daily life goes on.

It feels unjust. Of course it does. How can you possibly go about the mundane like nothing's going on? You Don't. You go about the mundane like there are horrible things happening. You make the adjustments you can sustain without sacrificing your well-being. You make drastic changes for as long as you can, when you simply can't take it anymore, and then you step back, take a breath, and go grocery shopping. You have to. If you don't, you won't survive the horrible thing.

No one who is going thru a horrible thing wants you to self-destruct. There's so much good you can do over the course of your life if you maintain that life. Adding your name to the list of casualties will prevent all of that good from happening. You have to survive.

And that includes the things that seem optional, bc those things aren't actually optional at all. You need to laugh. You need to watch movies and love your pets and go for walks. You need food that tastes good and clothes that make you feel confident. You need that show you'll regret not seeing. You need to get takeout and take naps. You need to have the weight lifted frequently, so you can heal the parts of you that get worn.

If you aren't living as well as you can, while making adjustments you can afford to make, you will not survive.

Please survive.

#zesty take #i guess?#idk i just feel so sad #theres so much guilt going around #so much judgement of ppl for continuing to live #the horrible things are constant and overlapping #if we waited until they were over we would starve in every way #survival btw isnt just breathing its living as well as you can #if you only chuck gas in your car when you abdolutely have to and put off the maintenance and cobble it together when it needs a real fix #it may still turn over but it will not be able to function well #pls do not buy into the bullshit that gas is enough and if you do any more youre selfish or evil or whatever #it is not true

720 notes · View notes