No, everyone in this thread is correct about foliage, bloom structure, petal count, etc. I never know how much info to give with plant ID corrections without coming off as an arrogant plant nerd, lol. But as a former flower farmer and florist - and knowing you like the info! - yes, those are pansies. They are not violas (although all pansies descend from violas) because they are orange; violas only appear in blue, white, purple, and yellow. Additionally, pansies have been bred for bicolor and streaky appearance which these seem to have. You will notice pansy/viola foliage is compact, low, with oblong leaves. They are prolific volunteers so look forward to more!

Those look like pansies! Very cold hardy cuties :)

Brining chicken for salads! I eat a salad every day for lunch, which sounds boring. But if you brine your chicken breasts in a salt solution for about an hour before baking, it gives you amazing salad chicken, like you’d get in a restaurant. Just pat dry, brush with olive oil, season with your vibe of the week, and bake for like 45 minutes. Then you can mix up what else you put on your salad greens - different nuts, cheeses, veggies, dried and fresh fruits, etc. I also eat pretty seasonally/locally so salads change with the seasons. But in general, brining meat is a game changing kitchen hack that few people take the time to do.

I am a flower freak, so I would just plant a ton of hellebores. That is what I’ve done with a very shady spot in my backyard, and now I have hundreds of blooms I can cut from and bring inside from January to April. They are never going to be super tall, but they are massive now! I also have hydrangeas (including oak leaf, which give pretty autumn foliage), astilbe, heuchera, sanguisorba, ferns, and rhododendrons in shade, as others have mentioned.

You may know this already, but mints, raspberries/blackberries, and lemon balm will completely take over a space over time. You are probably okay for this year since it’s a new planting, but I would highly recommend repotting it at the end of the season into a separate, contained pot. It can still hang out near your bed and provide some pest management! Just best to keep it separate so you’re not pulling it up constantly.

Buying seeds is always an exercise in optimism! There’s always next year…

Ha. Anyone who’s farmed knows that ag leases are such a different scenario and very negotiable, especially if you are working with someone who wants to see the land in production or help young farmers etc. I WISH there had been more willing landlords when I was farming, it took me two years to find a place at all. Lemmings can hate once they’ve negotiated their own ag lease 👀 👩🏻‍🌾

For now? Lease as much of that land as you can. Cover crop the rest. You do not want bare, tilled soil sitting there for a year+ as you figure out bigger plans.

Dank u wel!!

Thanks so much for these links. I haven’t had time to look into Dutch sources. I have two good female friends doing their PhDs in other universities in the Netherlands in the sciences, and I’ve never heard anything even remotely close to this! They love their positions.

Name dropping TU Delft is surprising to me! ETA: found more info here, but not about the lawsuit piece.

https://delta.tudelft.nl/en/article/a-no-thank-you-to-the-person-who-assumed-i-was-the-coffee-lady

We were recently in Vancouver, and people were happy to have us! You shouldn’t worry. We did some extra shopping in solidarity and they appreciated our support.

Yes!! I love picking up little tidbits in other languages while traveling.

It’s also amazing how ubiquitous English has become in the last 20 years, thanks to the internet. Back in the day, French or Spanish was required for some countries that spoke zero English, and that isn’t really the case anymore.

I had to preempt it because there is always such a circlejerk about how awful Paris is to tourists and to the rest of France etc., but that hasn’t been my experience at all. Parisians went out of their way to be kind to us (Americans) on several occasions. I do speak French relatively well, but that doesn’t account for the times people were genuinely so so nice in Paris, or also having this experience in cities like NYC and Amsterdam. Anywhere you go, the average person is really nice and helpful.

Speaking a foreign language badly, not knowing a word for something, or only knowing the most basic greetings. People all over the world are generally delighted that you bothered at all, and are eager to teach you more. This has been true for me in big cities (even Paris) and tiny villages. The more obscure the language, the more delighted they will be. I have botched so many languages and conversations with strangers at this point that I am immune from embarrassment about it.

Cool! You answered my question above, just wasn’t sure what exactly we were looking at in terms of media :) good luck with the patent process!

This is super cool! How did you do it? I’ve learned a bit of monoprinting but never on metal!

Also in N Seattle, also got some TJ’s eggs for $3.99 today! Hi neighbor!

Sierra Leone is gorgeous once you get out of Freetown! Bureh, Tokeh, Tacugama, and all the inland rural areas are all genuinely beautiful. But Sierra Leone is so hard to get to. They built the airport super far from Freetown, so it’s either a 3-hour drive or a chaotic 45-minute ferry ride (plus time to load the boat etc.) after you land at the airport. Not exactly what you want to deal with after flying! I think they would have more tourism if they solved that.

Becky Chambers’ monk and robot series is also really cozy good reading!