You are experiencing various emotions
August 29, 2022 8:44 AM Subscribe
Huh. I had flashbacks to the time I had to meet The Grandmaster.
Oh, wait, that wasn’t me.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 9:10 AM on August 29, 2022
Oh, wait, that wasn’t me.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 9:10 AM on August 29, 2022
That second video is really interesting.
posted by gwint at 9:30 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 9:30 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Roasted lupin seed snacking in Portugal — I am experiencing amazement and curiosity!
posted by jamjam at 12:00 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 12:00 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's nice to see that old Casio keyboards are still being used even today.
posted by JHarris at 12:02 PM on August 29, 2022
posted by JHarris at 12:02 PM on August 29, 2022
Lupins are a really emotional topic for a lot of people in Iceland. Basically, until maybe a decade ago, humans were slowly, but surely, turning Iceland into a desert. Around nine-tenths of the country was affected by soil erosion, and a quarter of it was fully a desert. The lupin plant is an incredibly powerful weapon in the fight against soil erosion, because it pumps the ground full of nitrite, which other plants can then make full use of.
However, it strikes a lot of Icelanders a bit oddly that in our national quest to deoverfuck the land we collectively fucked over for over a thousand years, we've filled the landscape with an invasive plant. So quite a number of us would like them eradicated.
Personally, I understand both sides. There's a desire to keep the original flora and fauna of Iceland as is, and not toss all kinds of foreign species into the environmental mix. On the other hand, we've been fucking with Icelandic nature from the moment we got there, so it's not like we're every going to recover the pre-settlement ecology. And lupins to repair a lot of damage.
But perhaps that's why they're such a touchy subject, because they're a vibrantly blue reminder that we fucked up, and fucked up badly, in our stewardship of our land. They're like a monument to our failure.
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 PM on August 29, 2022 [12 favorites]
However, it strikes a lot of Icelanders a bit oddly that in our national quest to deoverfuck the land we collectively fucked over for over a thousand years, we've filled the landscape with an invasive plant. So quite a number of us would like them eradicated.
Personally, I understand both sides. There's a desire to keep the original flora and fauna of Iceland as is, and not toss all kinds of foreign species into the environmental mix. On the other hand, we've been fucking with Icelandic nature from the moment we got there, so it's not like we're every going to recover the pre-settlement ecology. And lupins to repair a lot of damage.
But perhaps that's why they're such a touchy subject, because they're a vibrantly blue reminder that we fucked up, and fucked up badly, in our stewardship of our land. They're like a monument to our failure.
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 PM on August 29, 2022 [12 favorites]
They will probably try to take Greenland over too, as the ice melts off, and Greenland will finally live up to its name!
But the landmass of Greenland will undoubtedly rise up out of the Earth considerably once all that ice is no longer pushing it down, and GOK what that will do.
posted by jamjam at 2:37 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
But the landmass of Greenland will undoubtedly rise up out of the Earth considerably once all that ice is no longer pushing it down, and GOK what that will do.
posted by jamjam at 2:37 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Invasive species can potentially be considered climate change refugees.
posted by Jane the Brown at 3:13 PM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Jane the Brown at 3:13 PM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
The distinction between non-native vs invasive is important here!
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:30 PM on August 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:30 PM on August 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I was just talking to my therapist about trying to find a guided meditation I don't hate. I think I just found it?
posted by brook horse at 4:15 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by brook horse at 4:15 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
My long-divorced parents have both become Master Gardeners in their retirement, both focused on native plants. Excited to clandestinely send this to both of them. Thanks, clawsoon!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 6:15 PM on August 29, 2022
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 6:15 PM on August 29, 2022
For a couple of years now I've been collecting a pod or two from local native wild lupine plants while out hiking and exploring and bringing them back to plant at home. I've been trying (with some success - it starts well from seed) to generate enough stock to plant a patch of it in the wild backyard of a property we're trying to rehabilitate, because it's too steep for a lawn but we'd like it to feature something other than salmonberries (which otherwise expand to fill most available space around here).
Which is a long-winded way of saying: I'm team "Love the Lupine."
A friend brought me a small baggie of seed that she collected for me, and I ought to go harvest the pods growing on the plants that are in containers on my deck - they're probably ready, though maybe I will wait until we have a dry day. But anyway, more lupine!
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:47 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which is a long-winded way of saying: I'm team "Love the Lupine."
A friend brought me a small baggie of seed that she collected for me, and I ought to go harvest the pods growing on the plants that are in containers on my deck - they're probably ready, though maybe I will wait until we have a dry day. But anyway, more lupine!
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:47 PM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I saw the second video a few days ago, it is really interesting.
Katullus raises a good question: what if your land is permanently ruined, and can't be brought back to its original state in any kind of short term (not decades, not a century, maybe many centuries? My granddad planted a lot of what turned out to be an invasive species of prunus, and they have spread so much I cannot remove them (within my limited means). For years, I've been very annoyed with them. But this year I've sort of changed my mind. The wildlife clearly loves them. One reason he planted them, which works perfectly, is that they bind moisture to the ground. In the summer heat, the forest is cooler where they stand, which is much appreciated by every wild animal. The birds like the berries. And they are a good nursing plant for oak, which is one of the original forest trees here. In a hundred years, the oaks will begin to take over, along with their friends, but it will take more centuries for the original vegetation to reappear, and who know what climate change will have wrought in the meantime?
I have always loved lupines. I have tried to grow them in my garden, but almost nothing survives the deer in my garden. Maybe I should try to spread some lupine seeds in the forest instead. (Deer live in my garden because it is safe from both wolves and men with guns, and also they have probably lived here before humans came along. In ancient times, people built their houses where deer slept, because it was sound land. I can't decide wether I love or hate them -- they are so sweet but also they eat everything I try to grow and they spread ticks all over the place).
posted by mumimor at 10:23 AM on August 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Katullus raises a good question: what if your land is permanently ruined, and can't be brought back to its original state in any kind of short term (not decades, not a century, maybe many centuries? My granddad planted a lot of what turned out to be an invasive species of prunus, and they have spread so much I cannot remove them (within my limited means). For years, I've been very annoyed with them. But this year I've sort of changed my mind. The wildlife clearly loves them. One reason he planted them, which works perfectly, is that they bind moisture to the ground. In the summer heat, the forest is cooler where they stand, which is much appreciated by every wild animal. The birds like the berries. And they are a good nursing plant for oak, which is one of the original forest trees here. In a hundred years, the oaks will begin to take over, along with their friends, but it will take more centuries for the original vegetation to reappear, and who know what climate change will have wrought in the meantime?
I have always loved lupines. I have tried to grow them in my garden, but almost nothing survives the deer in my garden. Maybe I should try to spread some lupine seeds in the forest instead. (Deer live in my garden because it is safe from both wolves and men with guns, and also they have probably lived here before humans came along. In ancient times, people built their houses where deer slept, because it was sound land. I can't decide wether I love or hate them -- they are so sweet but also they eat everything I try to grow and they spread ticks all over the place).
posted by mumimor at 10:23 AM on August 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
I just realized what that first video reminds me of.
posted by JHarris at 10:05 PM on August 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 10:05 PM on August 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by mhoye at 9:04 AM on August 29, 2022