Nettle Liquid Feed
Crush nettles to bruise and rip.
Mix with equal weight of brown sugar.
Cram in sterile jar to ferment.
Cover with sugar.
Weigh with stone. Leave air gap.
Cover with breathable cover like sourdough.
Leave cool and dark 5-7 days.
Strain off liquid and that’s your plant food.
Dilute 1 in 500 or for delicate plants 1 in 1000.
She says it doesn’t smell bad like some liquid feeds!
via Francis Tophill at Damson Farm
BBC Gardeners World 2025: 14
“Please enjoy this post from about a year ago; I’m sick, and my message stands.”
Great idea from Seth Werkheiser.
Note to self: Try this.
“A polyculture is one of the easiest and most productive way of growing your own food. It is the opposite of a mono culture (which is one crop per growing space) and this diversity of plants increases biodiversity, soil health and yields, as well as reducing pest pressure and you don’t need a lot of space. 👍🌱
To sow a polyculture simply prepare any bed or growing container by top dressing it with a layer of organic compost and then around mid-to-late April (here in zone 9a) I just broadcast (or scatter) a diverse array of seed within it at the some time that produce at different points throughout the season.
I’m sowing: Rocket, which will produce first,
Mixed lettuce, which will be harvested second,
then Rainbow chard, spring onion, beetroot, parsley and carrots, and later in the season the Chicory (Radicchio) and parsnips will be ready to harvest. 🥕🧅🥬”
via nettlesandpetals on Instagram
I’ve been considering writing weekly newsletters, but spending less time on them?
(My usual being 5 hours.)
Could I write four short check in emails and one longer one each month? 🤔
From A Railway Carriage
by Robert Louis Stevenson [1885]
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
via Oliver Jeffers
Sometimes being an artist means preserving paper towels with blueberry stains.
This resource library focuses on autism, ADHD, and hypersensitivity as these are my lived experience.* This area of research has been a passion of mine for nearly a decade. I’ll do my best to organize things so you can find what is helpful to you.
Hi, I’m Sarah Shotts. A late diagnosed autistic adult, author, artist, home educator, and erstwhile academic. Over the last several years I’ve been doing self directed research and collecting resources to better understand myself and my neurodivergent family. To learn more about me and my work click here.
Choose your adventure.
I made this video to share my experience of overstimulation.
I also find that my autistic traits are almost always rooted in sensory differences. So this a helpful place to start when discussing autism. Overstimulation can also be experienced by ADHDers.
(There’s also a shorter 30 second version here.)
When we talk about autism or neurodivergence we often mention a spectrum. Sometimes this is misunderstood as a range of intensity from “more” to “less.” But you cannot be “more” or “less” autistic or neurodivergent.
I made a zine to illustrate the complexity and nuance of being “on the spectrum.” You can read it here.
You may also enjoy the picture book I’m co-creating with an autistic illustrator Gracie Klumpp. How it Feels to Me is an introduction to sensory processing for readers of all ages.
* I have been professionally diagnosed with autism, but also have traits of ADHD such as time blindness and difficulties with object constancy. Having knowledge of these traits and functional coping strategies I have no interest in pursuing an ADHD diagnosis at this time.
Added cardboard and mulch to the Wendy House.
My work was recently in the Local Color Gallery in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Here are some photos of their lovely space. I love the paint all over the bathroom sink.
I’ve accepted that I can’t always work in my lovely studio. So earlier this year I set up a workspace in the living room. And I am getting SO much done.
Today I worked 3 hours here passing on copy edits for my anthology.
Thankfully, the way my brain works, physical space becomes invisible if I can enter hyperfocus. Sound is more challenging for me, but I’m learning to work with the Zelda soundtrack.