The Wordsmith's Forge

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...


* Commented on TV Tuesday: Where Are We? in tv_talk.

* Commented on Just one thing: 04 November 2026 in awesomeers.

* Commented on Solovember Bingo in solottrpgs.

* Posted Meme on meta_warehouse.

Vines Produce Bigger, Healthier Wine Grapes When Grown Under Solar Panels

Solar panels grown above grapevines substantially increased the development and fruit production of the crop—all while generating clean energy.


Well, that's awesome. :D If you have solar panels on the ground, rather than on a roof, then you can test this at home with grapevines or other crops. I would suggest it for things that tend to wilt or bolt under baking summer sun -- peas, spinach, lettuce, etc. Also flowers or foliage that recommend some protection from sun, like hostas (which are also edible).

Saving water in the West could come with a hidden wildfire risk

Retiring farmland in the western U.S. saves water but may increase wildfire risk by removing natural firebreaks that help stop advancing flames.

Letting a thirsty field go dry in a drought looks like a clean trade: less water pumped, more left in the river. The field doesn’t stay empty, though. Across most of the West where farmland has gone out of production, grass and brush grew back in its place, and both burn more readily than a crop does.

Farmland, meanwhile, often acts as a barrier to advancing wildfires. Retiring farmland therefore involves another trade-off: water saved at the potential cost of a natural firebreak.


O_O White people are so stupid. If you just quit cropping a field, you get weeds and brush -- the bandage plants, because it's their job to cover bare ground as fast as possible -- and some grasses. You're not supposed to do that.

You need to restore the ecosystem. Put back at least some native plant species. Return native herbivores -- especially keystone species like prairie dogs and buffalo. These will help recreate a grassland ecosystem that is resilient to locally appropriate amounts of water and fire.

If you want firebreaks, restore wetlands. In much of Northern America you can recruit beavers to do this for free.

Today is cloudy, mild, and damp. It rained a little last night, off and on.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 11/4/26 -- I harvested the last of the summer herbs to dry.

EDIT 11/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

This is today's freebie, inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and gs_silva. It also fills the "worldview" square in my 11-1-26 card for the Ryan Gosling Movies Bingo fest. This poem builds on "Come Together to Learn and Create," "A Dangerous Thing to be a Doll," and "Acknowledging the Complicated Truth" so read those first or this won't make much sense.

( Read more... )

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this space as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Intentional Community." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for communards, neighbors, communitarians, hippies, Native American tribes, caregivers, first responders, clergy, outreach workers, artists, writers, polyfamilies, ethicists, activists, volunteers, handyworkers, repairmen, teachers, parents, comares, immigrants, superheroes, supervillains; from Daughters of the Apocalypse: armeys, carneys, muneys, naveys; other communal people, starting a community, living together, moving into a new home, welcoming the neighbors, lending a hand, responding to emergencies, volunteering, making donations, supporting people in hard times, learning to trust others, offering crash space, helping someone move, recommoning (creating space where people can share and tend land in relationship), placemaking, planting trees, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, intentional communities, communes, artist colonies, cohousing, sharehouses, boarding houses, common houses, planned communities, other polyhomes, Native American reservations, Triton Teen Centers, the Peace Store, food coops and other cooperatives, amenity floors, charities, homeless shelters, clothing banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, sobering centers, community clinics, mentor circles, support groups, churches, gay bars, feminist bookstores, social justice departments in schools, clubs, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, Rutledge, Emerald Mountain Glen (a hippie commune near Rutledge), LunaRest (an art colony near Rutledge), Ville de Roses (a French intentional village near Rutledge), Homemade Families classes, community gardens, other communal hangouts, intentional neighboring, interfaith work, diversity, inclusivity, housewarming parties, First Year clubs for people new in town, participatory decision-making, altruism, family dynamics, alternative family structures, partnerships not based on sex/romance, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Ryan Gosling Movies Bingo Card 11-1-26


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One has most people living in tight-knit communities because they are in space.

Arts and Crafts America includes the Draft Dawgs Veteran Shelter.

The Bear Tunnels features historic tribal villages.

The Blueshift Troupers travel the galaxy helping colonies solve problems.

A Conflagration of Dragons leaves people to rely on each other or die.

Coracle Shores features people fleeing climate change into a faeryland of small villages.

Daughters of the Apocalypse relies a lot on mutual aid for survival. Armeys are military bands. Carneys travel together in caravans. Muneys share a commune. Naveys are nautical bands.
* Lazarus Lake
* Nadie's family farm
* Ninovan from "The Trail of Hope"
* Rainbow Hills

Fiorenza the Wisewoman lives in a small, tight-knit village.

Frankenstein's Family has diverse subgroups interacting to help each other.

Hart's Farm is a free love commune.

The Moon Door features a women's chronic pain support group, which involves a lot of intentional neighboring.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis involves a close religious community.

Peculiar Obligations includes Quaker communities and pirate islands.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along together. Relevant threads include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, the Big One, Cuoio and Chiara, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Pain's Gray, Rutledge, Shiv , and Trichromatic Attachments. I encourage readers to prompt for any of the large casts and complex settings that I have already developed, such as:
* the bohemian folks at Hanson Hall in Omaha, Nebraska
* Prairie Meadows Cohousing Community and Mayfield Meadows Farm near Omaha, Nebraska
* Fertile Acres Farm just outside of Omaha, Nebraska (introduced in "So Monumental and Still")
* Woolgather Hill near Omaha, Nebraska
* Cowlick Ecovillage, Washington introduced in "A Human Scale, Full-Featured Settlement"
* the Mori no Tami and their allies at Mori no Mura in Humboldt County, California
* the hippies of Emerald Mountain Glen in Vermont
* the people and place of Fire Mountain Farm in Vermont
* Lazy Maple Lane near Rutledge, Vermont
* Bumbleberry Acres, a farm just southwest of Rutledge, Vermont (introduced in "Do Something Different Inside")
* the rescued sexbots in Thalassia
* the rescued primals now at the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana
* Havre Hobby Habitat in Montana
* the Withering Heights LARP in Colorado
* the Solace polycule in Atlanta, Georgia
* Nicholson family farm near Bluehill, Missouri
* the cohousing and polycule in Portland, Oregon
* the various polycules from "A Celebration and a Consolation" out east

Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they take care of each other.

Walking the Beat is lesbian romance with a lot of intentional neighboring.

Or you can ask for something new.

Boosting the signal will reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

Today is cloudy, a little cooler than yesterday but still mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I pulled weeds from the tulip bed so we can spread leaves later.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- We hauled 4 wheelbarrows full of leaves to cover the tulip bed and daffodil bed along the west edge of the parking lot, for winter protection.

I saw a toad hopping out of the leaves as we were working.  :D

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I pulled weeds to clear a space for planting irises by the septic garden.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I planted two irises by the septic garden.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I cut grass to clear a space for planting irises by the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I planted the last five irises by the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I spread extra soil over the irises by the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 11/2/26 -- I watered the newly planted irises from today, the telephone pole garden, and the new picnic table garden.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
 

I made these today, which will be sent to a friend's cookout tomorrow.


"Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies"

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup quick oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup Ghirardelli Premium Baking Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

( Read more... )

Here is my card for the Ryan Gosling Movies Bingo fest. It runs from November 1-30. Celebrate all the spooky people and things of fall! (See all my 2026 bingo cards.)

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. I've had a few requests for this and the results have been awesome so far. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I may still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.

Underlined prompts have been filled.

RYAN GOSLING MOVIES BINGO CARD

special	"You look lonely. I can fix that."	"You'll find a solution." "You are my solution."	"You look like you’re hard to work with."	wanted
decisions	worldview	"You’re not very good at this are you?"	peace	words of encouragement
joy	memories	WILD CARD	"I’m a liberated man. I know crying is not weak."	warmth
ideas	danger	"Sometimes I feel okay about things. Not often."	information	commitment
beautiful	"Your history isn’t over yet. There’s still a page left."	"My hands are a little dirty." "So are mine."	safer	alternative