Latest Posts by thegreenkeeper - Page 8

“A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.”

Franz Kafka

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll This is 1 of 15 vintage paperback books that comprise our current giveaway.

Bigby Wolf - Sean Gordon Murphy

Sounds like be

endless list of my kids ♡ richard gansey III 

They were always walking away from him. But he never seemed able to walk away from them.

I need a collection of bookmarks.

I got a couple new bookmarks today, and I thought it would be a good time for a bookmark appreciation post featuring some of my favorites.

From Pop Chart Lab + Pottermore, this print catalogues the many magical objects of Harry Potter mythology, both important and incidental.

Book envy

You are never fully moved in until you unpack the books. How I missed my library.

Loved this!

tbh the most unrealistic thing in harry potter is when mrs weasley in the first book asks “now what’s the platform number?”

like this woman has been going to that school for seven years and then dropped kids off on the same place for nearly ten like why on earth would she forget the platform number

I'd like to have this; Irish folklore is one of my favorite folklore/mythologies that I've researched.

Hilarious!

Get that shit outta here! My website – My Facebook page – See me on LINE Webtoon!

Loved this book as a kid.

Book of the Day

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl

Some of these sound really good, and I'm usually not really into murder mysteries/true crime stories, or historical fiction.

Gates of Janus by Ian Brady, Peter Sotos, Colin Wilson

“Easily one of the creepiest books ever written. Convicted Moors Murderer Ian Brady justifies serial murders and critiques his peers. This guy murdered five children! A valuable document of narcissistic psychopathology.” - Chan

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

“If The Silence of the Lambs took a trip in the wayback machine, this might be the result. Historical fiction with a true crime feel, this atmospheric novel will appeal to fans of both.” - Tove

Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen

“A fascinating turn-of-the-century story of medical malpractice and murder. If you liked The Alienist, you’ll find Starvation Heights all the more gripping because this story is true.” - Michael Connelly

People Who Eat Darkness  by Richard Lloyd Parry

“Parry, as Asia chief of the Times of London, is uniquely placed to shed light on the Japanese phenomenon of the hostess club and the serial rapes and murders of young western women by wealthy, difficult to catch sexual deviants.” - Chan

The Man from the Train by Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James

“Creepy, cozy, brilliant, and sincere, The Man From the Train solves the century-old slaying of families across America by a train-hopping, axe-wielding deviant. This is unputdownable!” - McKenzie W.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

“Sprinkled with hatchet misadventures, potential poisonings and odd fascinations with pears and fingernail clippings, Schmidt’s storytelling is mind-blowingly atmospheric and unsettling.” - Shelf Awareness

Small Sacrifices  by Ann Rule

“If you were of TV-watching age in the 80s, you probably remember Diane Downs. Hers was one of the most bizarre, unsettling, and talked about trials in Oregon history, and Ann Rule’s account of it is riveting stuff.” - Tove

I Will Find You by Joe Kenda

If you liked Homicide Hunter, then try I Will Find You by Detective Lt. Joe Kenda.

The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Gary L. Stewart and Susan Mustafa

“Stewart and Mustafa straight-up solved the Zodiac Murders.” - Chan

Whoever Fights Monsters  by Robert K Ressler

If you liked the Netflix Series Mindhunter, then try Whoever Fights Monsters by Robert K. Ressler (the inspiration for Agent Bill Tench).

The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale

“A fascinating and creepy report of turn-of-the-century London and the crime that petrified its residents in the summer of 1895.”

Lost Girls by Robert Kolker

“A haunting and powerful crime story that gives voice to those who can no longer be heard. It is a story that you will not be able to forget.” - David Grann

The Skeleton Crew by Deborah Halber

“Readers are brought the real-life cases of missing persons, the unidentified dead, and the network of people that gives them their names… proving once again what I said at the conclusion of every episode of America’s Most Wanted: ‘One person can make a difference.’” - John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted

The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

"New York City’s Jazz Age bubbled under the surface with sadistic criminals who went day-to-day undetected. With the advent of the Periodic Table, our notions of criminal investigations were forever changed. This book does an excellent job taking you through the true story of forensic science and toxicology, and its experimental origins in solving the unsolvable.”

Death’s Acre by William Bass and Jon Jefferson

“There’s probably something wrong with me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.” - Mary Roach

The Run of His Life The People v O J Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin

“Everyone has an opinion about O.J. Read the very best account of his murder trial to find out how much you never knew about the Trial of the Century.”

Forensics  by Val McDermid

If you liked shows like CSI, Forensic Files, Bones, and NCIS, then try Forensics by Val McDermid.

Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton

“A thrilling and devastating reflection of one woman’s life spent in a terrifying cult, leading up to her narrow escape and attempts to warn the public about the impending dangers that loomed in the near future…”

Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

“Clarice Starling is a badass, and this masterfully crafted, tense, and disturbing novel is the very definition of suspense.” - Tove

Mindhunter by John E Douglas, Mark Olshaker

If you liked the Netflix series Mindhunter, then try the book that inspired it! Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

The Crime of the Century by Dennis L Breo, William J Martin

“In 1966 Richard Speck broke into a townhouse in Chicago and murdered eight young nurses in a sexual rampage. Includes account of his bizarre and chilling videotaped confession.” - Chan

The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial by Maggie Nelson

“THIS is one of my favorite books of all time. Poet, critic, and creative writer Maggie Nelson feels a connection to her aunt Jane, whom she never met. Jane’s unsolved murder is reopened for investigation 50 years later due to new DNA evidence. Nelson documents the trial through its confounding twists and turns, all the while begging the reader to reflect on larger implications of sexism, media and violence in our society.”

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

“A gripping, keep-you-up-all-night, real-life whodunit; a testament to McNamara’s inimitable resolve; and an extraordinary parting gift from a talented writer.” - Tove

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

“Before Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial murderer who kept human heads in his freezer he was a weird, sad kid. Graphic novelist Backderf, a former classmate of Dahmer, gifts us a portrait of the cannibal as a young man.” - Chan

Powell’s Grim Reader Patch

Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun

If you liked the My Favorite Murder podcast, then try Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who… series, in which Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum help their owner solve murders!

My Sweet Audrina by V C Andrews

In loving memory: the My Favorite Murder book club, episode 95-episode 97.

Lady Killers by Tori Telfer

“Even grandmothers get in on the serial killing game! Tori Telfer writes about female murderers as if they’re bedtime stories, quick and irresistable.” - McKenzie W.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

“A true crime history that entertains even as it forces the reader to confront the evils of our national past and the uncomfortable parallels visible today.” - Rhianna

Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

“Imagine you are a budding true crime writer working at a suicide hotline to make ends meet when it gradually dawns on you that the nice, handsome guy who works next to you might be a prolific serial killer named Ted Bundy.” - Chan

The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber

“Put this one on the shelf next to Ann Rule’s classic about Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me. It’s that good.” - Entertainment Weekly

Columbine by Dave Cullen

“This school shooting shocked America when it occurred almost twenty years ago. Who would have been cynical enough to guess that mass shootings would be an almost daily occurrence in 21st Century U.S.A.?” - Chan

Perfect Murder Perfect Town by Lawrence Schiller

“A thoroughly researched, detailed report that takes you moment by moment through one of the most complex, chilling investigations of all time.”

Cases That Haunt Us by John E Douglas

If you liked the Netflix series Mindhunter, then try The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas (the inspiration for Agent Holden Ford) & Mark Olshaker.

Psycho by Robert Bloch

“Loosely inspired by real-life monster Ed Gein (who was arrested in a town not far from Bloch as he wrote the book), Psycho is a chilling tale of one man’s, um, relationship with his mother.” - Tove

Anne Perry & the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham

“The great Peter Jackson/Kate Winslet film Heavenly Creatures is based on this true story of infatuation and matricide. The murderess, Juliet, eventually became the mystery novelist Anne Perry.” - Chan

The Grim Sleeper by Christine Pelisek

“A dark and disturbing story that reveals the failure of the police and the justice system in impoverished communities of color, The Grim Sleeper is a must-read for true crime fans who want to see how crime reporting can make a difference.” - Bustle

After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry

“When the author was 12 her single mother was murdered in their home in rural Maine. After the Eclipse is a memoir of Sarah’s exploration of not only her mother’s death, but her life. Perry brings the reader into her personal losses and triumphs during her coming of age and in turn, tells her mother’s life story with compassion and clarity. This book is impossible to put down.”

The Black Dahlia Files by Donald H Wolfe

“Of all the books written about this still unsolved crime, this one, by Donald Wolfe who had fresh access to LAPD files, comes closest to the heart of this fascinating and disturbing crime.” - Chan

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

“Serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes is long dead, but Larson’s evocative storytelling had me peeking into closets and burrowing under the covers as I read, late into the night.” - Rhianna

Who Killed These Girls by Beverly Lowry

“Gripping, moving, and as good as any depiction of a murder case since In Cold Blood… This transcends the genre. Brilliant.” - Ann Patchett

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

“Capote’s masterpiece is the standard by which every other work of true crime reportage must be judged. But did he break faith with his "friends” the killers to get his great scoop? You decide!“ - Chan

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

"If you liked law & order procedurals, "hippie music,” and cult classics, then try Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.

The Girls by Emma Cline

“A fictional account of a young woman’s brush with a murderous cult, Cline’s The Girls is a compulsive read and a crystal clear transmission from the brain of a teenage girl.” - Tove ga

I remember having to memorize/recite this poem in middle school after reading The Outsiders.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

-Robert Frost

A beautiful quote from Longfellow.

“Into each life some rain must fall.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The perfect poem for spring

Blessed Full Moon

It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes And roofs of villages, on woodland crests And their aerial neighborhoods of nests Deserted, on the curtained window-panes Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests! Gone are the birds that were our summer guests, With the last sheaves return the laboring wains! All things are symbols: the external shows Of Nature have their image in the mind, As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves; The song-birds leave us at the summer’s close, Only the empty nests are left behind, And pipings of the quail among the sheaves. - Longfellow

Just read this quote: it may be one of my new favorites. I might even read the book it came from, just for this quote.

“The only darkness we should allow into our lives is the night, for even then, we have the moon.”

— Warsan Shire, Our Men Do Not Belong To Us

Plant cathedral, Remedios Varo

Oooh.. I've never seen this Magritte painting before, but I love it. This would make a really cool tattoo.

Almayer’s folly, 1951, Rene Magritte

~The Dream~

I would love to be more self-sufficient and have my own little homestead one day.

How much land do you really need to be self sufficient?

With a world food crisis, drought and civil unrest over escalating food prices, around the world, we all have concerns about food security and the ability to feed our own families.  An info-graphic is circulating the internet that tells us that we need a full 2 acres to be self sufficient in food on a omnivore diet, implying less land if one is vegan.  The problem with a graphic like this is that it discourages experimentation, and assumes a one-size-fits all family eating style.  It uses yield estimates taken from mono-cultural commercial agriculture and imposes them on the homestead.  This discourages people who want to attempt to be self sufficient and live a more sustainable life.  2 acres is a substantial investment in a highly productive agricultural belt or near an urban area. And this info-graphic assumes highly productive land — expensive land.

So is 2 acres a reasonable estimate?  That depends where you live and what you mean by “self-sufficiency”.  When Canada was being divided up in homesteading grids — it was assumed that on the Prairies an average family would need a section of land (over 1,000 acres) to be self-sufficient.  In those days, self-sufficient meant to survive to the next year, without grocery stores to fall back on.  In Ontario and B.C. the amount of land necessary to feed and cloth a family was considered a ¼ section — 160 acres.  That area provided water, food, energy, and a livelihood.  Along the St. Laurence and in the Maritimes the amount of land needed was less — due to the proximity of fishing and water.  The closer one is to fresh water, whether a stream or through rainfall, the less land that is necessary to sustain  a family.

Those in the North or at higher elevations need more land to be self-sufficient.  Its hard to grow food — other than livestock and hay — in a growing season that’s shortened by intermittent summer frost.  But it can be done.  Land in these areas is cheaper, too.  You will need 5 to 15 acres to be productive in a Northern area and you will have more land dedicated to raising livestock and hay and less land dedicated to vegetables and fruit.

How much land do you need?

So what’s a reasonable estimate for how much land you really need to sustain your family?

Skip the 2,000 square foot house.  Its unnecessary.  A smaller footprint that builds upward  is a better use of space, and is easier to heat and clean.  Solar panels?  Possibly if you are far enough south and have a good exposure.   Wind? Micro-hydro?  Methane?  Wood?  All are possibilities to explore for energy efficiency.  Each property has to be assessed individually.  There is no one-size-fits-all solution — except the grid.  Cut the house footprint in half.

Livestock?  Skip the pigs — they produce only meat and take up valuable space.  Skip the corn unless you live in the South, where your summer has the heat value to ripen corn easily.  The livestock doesn’t need it and its low on food value — 2 goats and 5 chickens can live on garden surplus, grass and weeds.  5 chickens will feed a family 2 dozen eggs a week in the peak laying season.  They don’t need their own dedicated space.  Put them in a movable chicken tractor and let them till the garden, eating bugs and weeds.  Move them every morning during the growing season and it will improve your soil quality, too.

Goats can be housed in a shed near the house, a lean to onto the house or even the back of the garage.  They only need a small bedding area and can be taken for walks in the hedgerows of your neighbourhood to feed on browse.  They can be given a loafing area or be tethered in different spots around the yard to help keep down weeds.  Protect them from stray dogs and predators and they will give you 8 to 10 years of the highest quality raw milk for drinking, cheese, yogourt and ice-cream.  They can be fed with garden waste.  Or share your field peas and produce with them, in exchange for their milk.  Their manure will increase the fertility of the garden space.  2 full size dairy goats will give your family a gallon of milk a day and 3 kids for 90 lbs. of meat every fall. Live in an urban area? Invest in Nigerian Dwarf goats and half the production rates, as well as the food inputs.

Instead of corn in cooler regions, grow potatoes.  They offer more calories and can be grown in more climates and take up less space.  You can follow a crop of potatoes with kale for a longer harvest season, even in a colder climate.

Don’t forget the orchard

Fruit and nut trees are a must. Nut trees take a while to mature but the increase in protein is beneficial to you, and your livestock — plant them if you have the space.  Dwarf fruit trees will grow on a 6 foot centre and can be trellised along a fence to increase yields per space. If space is at a premium, do consider trellising them — planting 6 feet apart in a one foot wide row.  One dwarf tree will yield 75 lbs. of fruit, once it is mature.  10 trees trellised along a fence with a Southern exposure, blossom sooner in spring and have an extended growing season, and will give you enough fruit for a family for jamming, canning and preserving.

Berries and small fruits take up little space and can offer high vitamins and antioxidants to your diet.  If wild roses and wild strawberries grow in your area than other berries will as well.

Sunflowers are an annual crop that provide an increase in protein for your diet, and can grow on the borders of the garden, taking up very little space.

Raised beds for vegetables

Vegetables, grown in raised beds or containers, give high yields and can be rotated for 3 season gardening — greens from spinach to lettuce to kale can rotate through the growing season to keep your plate full for daily salads and vegetables.  We grow all the greens we need in about 20 square feet this way.  Other vegetables, like cabbage, beans, carrots and beets, need a full growing season but can be inter-cropped with flowers and herbs to feed bees, and provide medicinal plants for the family first aid kit.  With raised bed gardening you could cut down the vegetable area square footage by ½ to 2/3rds   Add a greenhouse and train vines to grow up instead of out and you can increase the growing season and the yields in the available space.

Community is essential

This chart fails to take into account the sharing that inevitably happens between gardeners — zucchinis, squash, lettuces and other prolific growers provide a bountiful harvest that many families can share, at the peak of the growing season.

Rabbits?  Chickens? Ducks?

Put in some rabbit hutches – Each rabbit needs 2 feet by 3 ft. space.  You can give them a grass run and build rabbit condos that offer them a wonderful, natural lifestyle.   3 female french angora rabbits and 1 male will provide your family with a meal of rabbit meat once a week and enough angora to keep your family in mittens and hats for the winter.  They will eat your garden surplus, and grass hay.  In Europe, during WWII, families with back yard rabbits would make hay by harvesting the grass from vacant lots and roadsides all summer.  And they make affectionate pets, too.  Are we eating our pets? No, as a farmer you make pets out of the breeding animals and give the best possible life and respect to the young that end up on your plate.

You don’t need meat every day, but you do need high quality protein every day and this kind of gardening will give you that.

Consider planting field peas for increased protein.  Field peas increase the fertility of the soil and the crop is ready to harvest in August when the ground can be cleared and a second crop can be planted of either peas or a winter vegetables.  The straw from peas is relished by goats and rabbits.

Aquaponics

Consider the addition of an aquaponics greenhouse in the vegetable growing area.  This will yield fish fertilizer, vegetables, and fish for a well rounded diet for you and your garden — along with year round vegetables.  Add a methane digester and you can supply some of your own energy needs as well.  If you can grow meat and vegetables year round, you reduce your dependence on a freezer, which lowers your electrical needs.

My estimate is that in a highly productive area with adequate rainfall, the average family could raise all their food needs on 1 acre of land.  Many did just this during WWII with just a large city lot, by walking their goats and moving their chickens around the vegetable garden.  The key to making this work is to eat what you can grow in your climate — using heritage seeds that are adapted to your growing conditions. With more land — 5 acres — you can move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture and begin to make some money from your productivity.

If you have more land, grow more food and expand your self sufficiency. But if you only have a balcony in a city apartment, grow where you are planted.  And start in a small way to be more sufficient now.  On the Joybilee Farm Facebook Page, I post periodic links to urban agricultural projects to inspire your urban efforts for self sufficiency.

One of my favorite resources for urban farm is the Urban Farm Guys. Their videos are practical step-by-step guidelines to help you harvest more food from a small amount of land. –joybileefarm.com

“I confess I do not know why, but looking at the stars always makes me dream.”

— Vincent van Gogh

God I love him and his work! He was a brilliant yet sadly troubled man. P.S. just watched Loving Vincent: It was Brilliant!

@wordsnquotes

Sounds interesting

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (2016)  

“In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths such as:

“Columbus Discovered America”

“Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed Pilgrims”

“Indians Were Savage and Warlike”

“Europeans Brought Civilization to Backward Indians”

“The United States Did Not Have a Policy of Genocide”

“Sports Mascots Honor Native Americans”

“Most Indians Are on Government Welfare”

“Indian Casinos Make Them All Rich”

“Indians Are Naturally Predisposed to Alcohol”

Each chapter deftly shows how these myths are rooted in the fears and prejudice of European settlers and in the larger political agendas of a settler state aimed at acquiring Indigenous land and tied to narratives of erasure and disappearance. Accessibly written and revelatory, “All the Real Indians Died Off” challenges readers to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and history.”

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Get it here

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother, and has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades. She is the author or editor of eight other books, including An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, which was a recipient of the 2015 American Book Award. Dunbar-Ortiz lives in San Francisco.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is an award-winning journalist and columnist at Indian Country Today Media Network. A writer and researcher in Indigenous studies, she is currently a research associate and associate scholar at the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She lives in San Clemente, CA.

[Follow SuperheroesInColor faceb / instag / twitter / tumblr / pinterest]

Good quote, would make a good illustration/tattoo concept

“Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose.”

—

Neil Gaiman

My favorite book quote that I am prone to misquoting.

This one really tripped me up when I first saw it. Amazing use of perspective and foreshortening in this work though. He was a master at it, foreshor.

In Praise of Dialectics, 1937, Rene Magritte

Size: 54x65 cm Medium: oil, canvas

On Portals and Trees...

So, the general consensus I’ve found concerning lore with trees and portals concerns faefolk! This made a lot of sense to me actually, as I’ve always associated this concept with the fae. There are more natural structures (like faerie rings) that once a mortal steps into or passes through, they are thus thrusted into another realm unlike our own. I found in a post on the internet that “an entrance to the faerie lands can be found at the trunk of a tree.” With that, many people often leave offerings to the fae at their favorite trees, usually an oak or hawthorn tree. Hawthorn trees are especially important to the Celts and the lore concerning fae folk. (I may make a post about this later because it was interesting). I also found other folklore of odd structures made from trees, and people claiming they are portals to the devil and whatnot. Nonetheless, people are seemingly fascinated but fearful of these structures, and consider them portals into other realms and a nexus of supernatural occurrences. Trees in a span of mythology and humanity are hubs of knowledge and creation, so the origin of these myths and folklore are not unusual.

Sources; https://www.paganspath.com/meta/faeries.htm

https://backpackerverse.com/heres-why-locals-call-the-devils-tree-a-portal-to-hell/

Mesmerizing; he's one of my favorites.

The seducer, 1953, Rene Magritte

Size: 46x38 cm

Some ghostly creative inspiration today. I Would really like to hear the story behind this one.

Bankersin Action, Remedios Varo

I could use a good brew right now to wake me up.

Something’s brewing! 

https://aw-my-books.tumblr.com/

Me too ♥