Pinned
Reblogged wellship
#i feel like this happens to more popular artists#but occasionally i've had people come into my dms like this#the zosan fandom really burned me out in ways i cannot describe#internal and external pressure to cater to People and the Algorithm bro i this isn't even my job and i felt it#also there are these bots coming into my replies and asking abt my commissions and its disheartening because i was expecting an real person
Reblogged fivedayslater
May he plow the Lord’s fields in heaven
Dave Brandt was probably the longest running no-till farmer in the state; he'd been running his land no-till since 1971. He experimented with fertilizers, cover crops, and different irrigation techniques and he'd been doing all of that for a very long time.
The guy was an institution all on his own; look at this.
- The “A” profile in his soil is now 47 inches deep compared to less than 6 inches in 1971 and acts like a giant sponge for water infiltration and retention.
- From 1971 through 1989 David used an average of 150-250 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre to grow his corn crops. After adding peas and radishes as a cover crop mix, he cut his nitrogen needs in half and was able to get it down to 125 pounds per acre.
- When he added multiple species and became more aggressive with his cover crop mixes, he was able to achieve an additional drop in applied fertility. His starter fertilizer is now just 2 lbs of N, 4 lbs of P, and 5 lbs of K. His corn crop now only requires 20-30 lbs of N throughout the entire growing season. He requires no fertility for his soybeans, relying on fertility gained solely through his cover crops. He uses only 40 lbs of 10 N – 10 P – 10 K for his small grains.
- Ten years ago (source study published 2019) David stopped using any fungicides and insecticides. This occurred at a time when fungicide and insecticide use has increased significantly with the average commodity farmer.
- Four years ago he stopped using any seed treatment, including neonicotinoids.
- His cash crop yields have been increasing by an average of 5% annually for the past 5-6 years, with far less fertilizer and no fungicides, insecticides or seed treatment.
- What started as a basic heavy clay soils when David purchased the farm in 1971 have been officially re-classified by Ohio State University soil scientists as a highly fertile silty loam soil.
I know I've said it before, but--that first point, there, about the "A" profile of his soil? Every time I think of it, I am taken aback with genuine awe.
So this is a picture of the soil horizons. The O profile/O horizon is stuff like fallen leaves, sticks, and so on, which are biodegrading into the A profile. A fair amount of soils might have no O profile at all.
If you are a gardener, the A profile is what you're concerned with most of the time; it's what we also call "topsoil." Your seeds germinate into it, and shallower plants might root into it alone without ever reaching the B profile. Worms and other small delvers live in it. It's what you're amending, what you're testing, what you're tilling, what you're trying to fill up with good microorganisms to work with your plants and provide you with food or flowers or cover.
I see this quote around sometimes, attributed to radioman Paul Harvey: Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.
Without the topsoil, bluntly, we starve. And there are other problems, in places with a lack of it; without the topsoil, when the rains come, the water strikes hard soil. Hard soil doesn't accept water easily, so instead it pools and runs downhill. That action makes flooding, makes flash floods, makes standing water that carries disease, it contaminates the water table. Cholera is a huge problem in places with a low A profile that receive too much water at once.
We are seeing topsoil depletion across the US. I can't speak for other countries, but the heavy-tilling agricultural habits we've adopted here have obliterated inch after inch of our topsoil; in the 1800s the average depth was fourteen inches! Today it is six. Many suburban lawns have even less. This has knock-on effects we don't even consider on the day-to-day (for instance, there's some suggestion that the lower amounts of various minerals in vegetables and fruits today in comparison with earlier decades might be because of the lower amount of minerals in the soil for the plants to take up into themselves).
And this gentleman took soil that had been that abused and not only returned it to what it had been before the aggressive, destructive European agricultural policy had its way, but trebled that earlier depth.
His land protects the land around it from flooding. His land grows plants less susceptible to disease, because of all the various stressors and pressures those plants aren't confronted with. His land almost certainly has a considerably higher concentration of microorganisms and it would follow that we'd also see greater diversity of macroorganisms thereby.
Honestly, it just takes my breath away.
Reblogged
💛Greetings, Trainers! This is Lear's SYNC Mod Team, here to introduce our Cover Artist, @beasttrash!
They are a slowpoke enthusiast, and who wouldn’t be! We are excited to see which sync pairs they will feature on the cover!
oh hey thats me, hi!!!
Reblogged
Anonymous asked:
hey spike! ive been posting art on the internet for almost 2 years now, but i had the realization that i post nearly EVERYTHING online. it made me feel rather sad that i dont really have a lot of private art stuff for myself. as much as i like sharing my stuff, i have halted posting as much as i did since that realization. i guess what i wanted to ask you is do you ever experience that sort of feeling? Or would you say you draw enough to keep enough private stuff? sorry if this doesnt really make a lot of sense ><;
it sounds like you might be putting sharing stuff online over drawing for yourself. and i get it, i feel like being an artist on social media comes with this pressure to Post Content™ but always remember that you're creating for yourself first and foremost. try not to fall into the trap of "gotta do all the trends, gotta draw what people like to see" because that's gonna suck the fun out of making art real fast and you'll burn out.
i've been drawing for many many years (i started posting art on the internet all the way back in 2004) and not everything i draw ever sees the light of day. it doesn't need to. stuff like bad sketches, studies, personal art, experiments and even nsfw remains private. i guess i could compile this stuff in a zine someday and offer it as a paid download? but even then there's still stuff i would leave out. honestly now that i think about it, the only time i ever take how much unshared art i have into consideration is when i try to figure out if offering exclusive tier rewards for my ko-fi would be a good idea lol
anyway what i'm trying to say is you can continue sharing art AND still have art that you keep to yourself. you're just getting started so i understand feeling like you have to share everything you make, but you actually don't have to share everything you make. let yourself have messy sketches or experiments or studies where you can let loose without worrying about making them "presentable" enough to post. art first, and then think about whether or not you want to post it. it's fine if you don't. it's your art!
Reblogged millidew
everyone start telling me in the reblogs when did you start drawing why did you start drawing and what will you do with drawing. you want to start drawing. there are no right or wrong answers
Reblogged yaaadooon
thanatopraxy
Ethan:
the three genders
How about 10 and 23 for the artist asks?
hiya three!!! :D
10. I've collaborated with quite a few people, especially on zines and the like... i would like to collab with more people especially on art trades or doing that thing where i color in their art and vice-versa.
23. i find that i'm my least inspired when i am isolating myself and alone. i seek others for inspiration and to keep pushing myself to my absolute limits. people are so gd talented and you can always learn something from others. art will always inspire me to work better on my art!!
11 & 14?
hiya dawningwinds!!
11. here's a wip! i was really inspired by the after epochs mv from project voltage. unfortunately time got away from me. I still... might come back to this... (i love how miku came out 😩 that's why it's languishing in my firepit folder.)
14. gdhfjhd probably everything! but i think in particular my focus is on making more dynamic compositions.
6, 12, 20, 21
hiya marina!!
6. less so these days, but i used to really hate drawing hands. you kinda just gotta get used to it!! they got a lot of personality to them.
12. on average i can spend about 15-20 hours working on one piece. maybe more for elaborate pieces (especially w/ dense backgrounds.)
20. nah, i usually have something on in the background. today i have season 2 of the simpsons on lol.
21. these days i use procreate for about 90% of things. clip studio has gone the way side again but i find it useful for resizing things. (especially if i'm posting on forums.)