Charlene's Salon

I choose Peggy! 💙

Thoughts??

What is your favorite hair styling products??

https://amzn.to/4rgzfHv
Check beauty links on AMAZON!!!

What is a “change notice” and why could it matter in Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearings? Former DOJ pardon attorney @lawyer_oyer breaks down the document she says could become a key issue as Todd Blanche faces Senate confirmation hearings to become Attorney General this week. Watch the full conversation on my YouTube channel or at the link in bio.

definitely

“My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.”
Maya Angelou

Hancheng Li - Mongolian Child.

Beautiful!

Thoughts

BIODIVERSITY 🦋🐸🐦🫐🌼🌱🐝🍄🐼🐾🍓🧕🫛🫘🍃
"Biological diversity is the sum total of all living organisms that exist on our planet, the remarkable variability among organisms and ecosystems that comes down to us from hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history. We can see it in humans, but many people have difficulty distinguishing variables in the earth beneath their feet, and the wall of green they see when they look at nature. Genetic diversity among plants is critical, for the same reasons that captive animal breeding programs need to introduce new mates from wild populations. Species with wide genetic diversity tend to produce a wider variety of offspring, some of them potentially the most fit variants. In contrast, a species with little or no genetic diversity will produce offspring that are genetically alike and therefore more susceptible to diseases.

Similar circumstances occur in the plant world. The potato famine that drove nearly two million people to flee Ireland, my paternal grandmother among them, may be traced to the lack of genetic diversity among potatoes. There was only one “lumper,” and when it became blighted, all its genetic clones did, too. A lesson we would have done well to learn from. Yet instead, over the last hundred years, we have lost more than ninety percent of the genetic diversity among crops that fed the world. A recent United Nations biodiversity report confirmed that species loss is due to human activity, and scientists report that we are losing almost two hundred species per day. We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.

Biodiversity can seem daunting, beyond us as caring gardeners, parents, educators, and consumers to mend; yet collectively, we are equipped to be a successful worldwide frontline to rebuild genetic and ecosystem diversity. One yard at a time. One community at a time. Many among us were raised with an inheritance of garden stories and recipes. The genesis of these stories is kept alive in heirloom seeds, which remind us all of who we are and where we come from. The skills that meant we could feed ourselves throughout the seasons are increasingly important if we want to ensure good nutrition and food security in this problematic world.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers fruit and vegetables specialty crops; corn, wheat, soy, and rice are considered commodity crops. American agribusiness values commodity crops more because they are publicly traded on a commodities market and most require processing—two things that serve corporations but not the health of the environment, our health, or biodiversity. Farmers that receive subsidies for growing commodity crops are even prevented by law from growing any fruit or vegetables—or diversity—in their landscape.

Historically, we knew over twenty thousand plants that could be eaten or used for textiles, cordage, or medicinal, cosmetic, and creative purposes. Every county had a favorite bean, early berry, or nutritious salad green that extended the growing season; but most of that was lost when we allowed chemical companies to hybridize and patent the seeds handed down to us as our nation began corporatizing agriculture. Today the world primarily relies on about two dozen commodity crops that appear, ad nauseam, on grocery market shelves.

We all know that specialty (fruit and veg) crops are healthier for us, yet commodity crops have literally been shoved down our throats. Sixty-eight percent of Americans understand that organic is healthier for them and the planet, but less than one percent of farming in America is organic, and organic products represent only four percent of goods sold. It’s why our gardens and family farms are more important than ever, and it’s why organic is the largest-growing market share. Unfortunately, we cannot realistically shift conventional agriculture without a major overhaul to agribusiness, or the reintroduction of a nationwide network of biodiverse organic farms. And the latter is where I am seeing the greatest (agri)cultural shift.

Gardeners and farmers know that when our plantings are diverse and the soil is rich, the worm is fat—and the early bird gets the worm. The flock eats the grubs, borers, and caterpillars, and the corn grows more disease resistant, yielding a healthier crop. A healthy crop benefits all our beneficial co-conspirators, from the microbes in healthy soils to birds, bees, and small family farmers. Gardeners also know that the food on our plate can become one of the key ways by which we support biodiversity. Gardening inspires many of us to cook instead of purchasing processed foods, which most often rely on the lowest common denominator of ingredients. Produce like the russet potato, 08B2084 sweet corn, and Cavendish banana are not so much bred for consumption as genetically engineered to be uniformly shaped, mechanically harvested, and capable of enduring several thousand shipping miles before arriving at market. Cultivating heirlooms and supporting small, diverse agricultural enterprises (instead of vast monocultural conglomerates) are two ways we can help to revitalize ancient grains, digestibility, flavor, crops that self-fertilize, and plants adaptable to a changing world.

Fortunately, seeds remember better than we do. Seed saving is an ancient garden craft that engages each of us as backyard preservationists, working to improve our lot with each passing season and every generation. We have long understood that if we saved the seed of our best produce, it would broaden biodiversity and continue to increase yield, disease resistance, and vigor.
Conventional crops call upon farmers to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides to contend with the difficulties that arise when you grow contiguous miles of the same agricultural crop in the same place, year after year. Remedies that are generally worse than the cure. Treatments that kill every living organism in the field—good, bad, or indifferent.

Every year, gardeners have a fresh chance to become backyard heroes and heroines working to preserve the regional success stories embedded in the plants our ancestors used to feed themselves and the world. In the process of caring, we become global participants in a movement to restore some of the diversity lost over the last century of big ag. As we establish community and school gardens, we can link up new fertile green corridors that help to restore genetic and ecosystem diversity, much as Victory Gardens during World War II helped feed our nation and improve homefront morale.

Fortunately, we are once again seeing successful regional models crop up again from coast to coast. Many remind us that planting flowers is essential for the mutual success of our pollinators. Many rekindle local agriculture and foodways by embracing the Slow Food movement, the basis for building a delicious revolution—one by which we relearn how to garden, farm, forage, cook, and preserve from a place of diversity.

A new revolution that comes from a joyful place of discovery and reconnection to community and landscape. We are not obliged to live with systems that harm biodiversity. The overwhelming majority of the population does not want GMOs. It’s time to turn the compost pile. If we are unable to access the organic food we want, we must become part of the undercurrent. Use the language of history, indigenous knowledge, and the wisdom of our kith and kin from the natural world to say enough. We know a better way. We are defending the natural world that supports all life.

Biodiversity speaks in many languages. Bumblebee and Bangladeshi bitter melon. Zebra and zucchini. Languages that speak of earth as our mother, oak trees as brothers, and rivers as veins that course with life. Kin that require respect for all they do to enrich our habitat, nourish our bodies, and replenish our spirits. I am happier to anthropomorphize and elevate my fellow citizens of the earth— whether green, scaled, feathered, or furry—and the web we share than to grant a corporation personhood. I am more comfortable trusting my gardener’s instincts for living in a reciprocal relationship with the land than I am trusting a corporation to “do the right thing.”

In our own lifetimes, environmental degradation and a loss of genetic diversity has meant the disappearance of bugs on our windshields, whip-poor-wills on our windowsills, and unmown fields and roadsides teeming with native grasses, milkweed, autumn asters—and life. It has narrowed the selection of foods on our plate; caused food allergies, diabetes, and bee colony collapse; and devastated habitat for monarch butterflies and other bellwether species worldwide. Every species lost is another broken strand in the web that supports us.

The voices of diversity all need to be heard in solidarity. Voices of women, children, indigenous, elderly, minorities, and the impoverished. Biodiversity brings breadth and depth to our conversation. It helps to foster interdisciplinary explorations that can open up new pathways and creative solutions. Creativity, inspired by evolution and adaptation, holds the keys. Even the best bioengineers can only manipulate genetic codes. Nature created them, and biodiversity programmed the key code.

Gardeners know that the green path is medicine for our mind, body, and spirit. We can’t forget the skills, seeds, and kinship to be learned from our ragged history—the good, the bad, and the ugly. All can guide us forward as we work to regenerate landscapes that support critical biodiversity. Too often these days, building a house means overbuilding a lot. We strip every tree from the landscape. We scrape away the native soil and every sign of life. Every microbe. Mycelia and morels. Flickers and partridgeberries. We erase all evidence of nature simply because we had the tools to dominate it. Simply because we enable the contractors, insurance agents, and land speculators to dictate how it’s done, instead of making it a crime against nature. So many of our technologies can be tied back to weapons of war, and now we turn them against the earth. Fortunately, biodiversity offers a counterbalance to the monocultural landscapes of recent years. A refreshing movement is afoot to renounce the ten billion blades of identical grass that make up each of the estimated forty to fifty million acres of lawn in America. A shift that is taking root, one tiny patch of clover, daisy, and meadow at a time.

A fresh look at biodiversity is helping motivate us to resurrect local farms that cultivate a diversity of crops. These local farms are helping to lead the way back to operating without the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are killing off pollinators and destroying habitat. If society declares that corporations should be afforded the rights of personhood, we should do the same for our environment and all the diversity contained within it. Clearly corporations can and do take care of themselves, but it is equally clear that fields, fisheries, and rainforests also need investment. Fortunately, the easiest place to start is in our own backyard compost pile"

Art by Mariann Johansen-Ellis, contemporary printmaker ‘In my garden’
Quote, from my book which is available at your local bookstore or here: https://www.amazon.com/Heirloom-Gardener-Traditional-Plants-Skills/dp/1604699930

Just in case... Stay safe everyone! Tomorrow is the big day. It's official. Signed at 6:00 am. It even made it on TV. I just got so sad! Don't forget that Facebook's new rule (aka Meta) comes into effect tomorrow, allowing you to use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!.
According to 60 Minutes:
In case you missed it: a lawyer advised us to publish this. The violation of privacy can be punished by law NOTE: Facebook Meta is now a public entity. All members should post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be understood that you authorize the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.
I DECLARE THAT I DO NOT AUTHORIZE FACEBOOK OR META TO USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA.
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