Foraging the Japanese Knotweed

Hey, if you're in the US or anywhere where Japanese knotweed grows, now is the time to pick it and make delicious baked goods. When mixed with sugar and stuff, it tastes pretty much just like rhubarb pie. I just made some, can't recommend this recipe enough. It's only tasty when it first starts shooting up; after that it gets dry and fibrous. It looks like this; I'm sure you've seen it before:

Here is the size at which you should pick it:

It's pretty unique in appearance, so it's not like mushrooms, which require extreme caution. At no point is any part of it toxic. One thing to note, however, is that it is VERY invasive, so if you pick it, make sure you don't drop any shoots or leaves anywhere outside of the patch where it grows. Boil the leaves and all the leftovers if you compost it to make sure it's truly dead. One benefit is that it's so invasive that no one will care if you pick it, and it grows, like, well, a WEED, so you can harvest the same patch several times.

Make sure wherever you grab it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides/herbicides too.

There are other recipes you can make, I've just had most success with baked goods. It's a bit of a pain to peel, but you can peel it like a cheese stick if you're one of those people who enjoys the satisfaction of peeling things.

kinda funny that my posts get reblogged now more than they have in a while and yet I don't think I've gotten a new follower who wasn't a porn bot or whatever in 6 months. I honestly think it's cuz everyone on this platform has been on this platform for 10 years and they're not interested in following anyone new. I'm in the same bucket.

Chapter 9 is up!

Mikayel Simonian was a fledgling vampire once, though he doesn’t remember how he was turned. What he does remember is waking up in the year of 1986 to a group of magical misfits with the ability to cure vampirism—with exceptions, of course. Their history as fledglings themselves combined with the power of their magic enables them to do what no normal human can: hunt vampires. Over forty years, Mikayel has brought an end to more fledglings than he can count, and even a few full-fledged vampires. He’s seen most things. What he’s never seen before is a vampire deliberately seeking his coven out with a new fledgling in tow to beg them for a cure. Because a cure for the fledgling would mean turning her into a vampire hunter. But this handsome and unusually principled vampire named Eric Krüger seems insistent, so Mikayel and his team agree to try.

People have started dying on Mikayel’s home turf, and new fledglings are the cause. Whoever is controlling them is wily and secretive, and neither Mikayel nor his fellow hunters can track the fledglings down once they vanish into the night. It may require the help of a foe. Erich claims to know the vampire villain and has insight into what he has planned. But no one has ever teamed up with another vampire to hunt a vampire—Mikayel may be the only one crazy and desperate enough to try. 

Contains: mxm with some light fxm, blood (obvs lol), gore, murder, sex scenes, slow burn romance, some nazi shit (bigotry, homophobic/transphobic slurs, etc)

Genre: Horror/romance/thriller

Rating: 18+

EXCERPT:

          Eventually, Erich ended up at the keyboard. He cranked the volume down so as not to disturb anyone, but he couldn’t say he was a fan of the sounds it made. Then again, it was hard to compete with the vibration of an entire church. How long had it been since he’d touched piano keys? He couldn’t recall playing since he was changed—not just because it brought back memories but because one could not fit a piano inside a van. Even keyboards required an electric source. As he slid his fingers along the plastic, he tried to recall one of the many concertos he’d memorized as a university student, but there wasn’t much there to recall. Whatever he’d had was now just a torn tapestry of loose threads. It made more sense to start over again than try to put anything back together. But how? Erich went on the hunt for any sheet music Mikayel had stored, but after twenty minutes of tearing into boxes and folders, Erich could say with confidence that if Mikayel had any, it wasn’t in the bedroom. He doubted it was anywhere else either. Maybe he was stereotyping based on appearances, but Mikayel didn’t seem like the sort to read sheet music.

            All of this meant he had to figure it out on his own. But after a few minutes staring blankly at the keyboard and tapping out a few notes, Erich wasn’t sure he was up for it. Whatever song had been in him in 1931 no longer existed. The passion that had driven him to play for hours had died along with everything else.

            With a sigh, Erich stood up and went to the futon. After collapsing onto the lumpy cushion, he folded his hands over his stomach and stared at the popcorned ceiling. Maybe he couldn’t sleep deeply, but he could attempt something in between. Anything seemed better than handling the despair he felt upon realizing just how much damage time had done to the man he used to be.

so many misconceptions about corsets want you to believe that they just squeeze your organs into a vice, but once you wear one you realize "oh it's just pushing me up and down to make just one part of me smaller". Corsets are made to be small in the waist but have a gap beneath the waist for your stomach to fill. The boobs are HOISTED and the belly is simply pushed lower. This is the magic of illusion.

This is what the stays look like with a skirt beneath; i look very snatched:

Meanwhile, this is what my stomach's doing. You'll notice it is not constricted.

this is why corsets are much more comfortable to wear than Spanx or anything that's spandex. Spandex squeezes you EVERYWHERE; you get no relief from it. Where as corsets/stays only squeeze you in one location, giving your body plenty of room elsewhere.

i had to take my dog to the emergency room last night because he was very wobbly and would flinch whenever i reached toward him. I thought he might be having a stroke or something. Anyway the vet was like "well we don't know what it is exactly but his symptoms are very similar to weed ingestion"

first of all, no clue how the fuck this dog ingested WEED, I do not partake in the devil's plant. My roommate took him for a walk around the park so maybe he found some in the grass? I dunno. but second of all, you're telling me a dog that lays on the floor of the hospital like THIS is stoned?

anyway, $350 later he's fine and not high anymore.