agorism, gardening, homesteading

Finish Work

Finally, the fruits of Their/his labor move into the observable by the layman. I’m meaning both here at home, in our bathroom reconstruction, as well as on the grander stage, the Global Reset.

The temporary a/c unit has been so necessary! For the grunt work post, click here. https://kenshohomestead.org/2026/06/17/growth-vs-comfort/

the latest in moisture prevention, perhaps to become the next generation’s asbestos?

Once the global AI Governance is finally visible to the public at large, and we are ruled over officially by cartoon cutouts, at least we will have a gorgeous new bathroom in which to adjust to our Wizard of Oz overlords.

I think it’s fitting that this moment in the latest rewriting of global history we will forever connect it to these long sweltering months of bowel movements in our larvae-infested poop-with-a-view. It’s just too bad the long drop isn’t pasted with the photos of our current parasites-in-charge, that could become a new genre of target practice.

Global AI ‘governance’ aka surveillance, warned about for decades by many researchers whose work was then disseminated by a great many more for decades, is now being noticed by the masses and academia as the final act moves to the center stage.

Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) now shapes many aspects of security and intelligence work. The European Union and NATO have moved in different directions in how they handle its use. The EU leans heavily on law and ethics to keep AI under democratic control, while NATO treats it mainly as a way to speed up operations and strengthen cooperation between allies. Drawing on policy documents and two case studies—biometric surveillance and automated signals intelligence (SIGINT)—securitization and co-production theory are used to show how these choices affect daily collaboration. Governance differences often create friction but can also lead to complementarity in intelligence practice. Coordination should be improved through shared certification standards, secure data-sharing protocols, and the establishment of a permanent EU–NATO working group on AI in security so that innovation supports, rather than divides, transatlantic cooperation.”
Artificial Intelligence Governance and Intelligence Interoperability: Diverging EU and NATO Approaches in National Security Contexts: International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence: Vol 39 , No 3 – Get Access
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08850607.2025.2578461

In both cases . . .

The grunt work was longer and far dirtier than expected. There were clogged and sloped pipes, some caught only by chance, and luckily so, because they would’ve proven to be disastrous down the road for sure. I was actually a useful idiot more than once. There’s much to be said about the usefulness of a complete but curious novice asking stupid questions to see the hidden in plain sight yet somehow overlooked details.

In the political parallel I’m crafting, the grunt work has also been laid, the architecture of the system has moved from spy novels and science fiction flicks and of course, conspiracy theories, to a bonafide subject of academia, the final stage of normalization. The scafolding is replaced with bricks and cement. Now it will take far more than proverbial monster hurricanes to blow the house down. Ominous continuity. And now they no longer have to pretend they’re pretending!

“Performative power and strategic illusion in Russian foreign policy: geopolitical spectacle and the domestic construction of legitimacy”
Ana Jović-Lazić
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08850607.2025.2578461

ABSTRACT
“Russia uses performance to project strength abroad and sustain legitimacy at home. This article analyses how the state stages media events, rituals and official narratives to construct power beyond its material capacity. Drawing on Bourdieu, Scott, Foucault, Ringmar, and Weber, it examines military parades, Putin’s speeches, state media coverage of the war in Ukraine, narratives of NATO encirclement, and the choreographed 2014 annexation of the Crimea. These performances create what Stoner calls a “myth of authoritarian competence”. Internationally, they signal great power status; domestically, they foster unity and normalise authority. Yet, economic strain and military setbacks expose this performative power’s fragility.”

Here and abroad, it’s all a very expensive and deadly charade.

The US Military is a paper dragon.
“If there’s one thing the war with Iran has revealed, it’s that the U.S. government is woefully underprepared for any sustained conflict, despite spending more on its military than China, Russia, and many more countries combined.
In the first few months of the war with Iran, the U.S. military used up over 1,000 tomahawk missiles, leaving only 2,000 in stockpiles. A third of its inventory, for a war with no strategic benefit to the U.S., that Americans are paying for at the pump and Iranians are paying for with their lives.
The U.S. military budget is now over $1.5 trillion dollars for 2027. An eye-watering amount for a nation running an annual deficit of $1.9 trillion, exceeding the entire annual spending of the British government.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/thelibertylookout/p/the-us-military-is-a-paper-dragon?r=87pg2k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

But, like our DIY project, in for a penny, in for a pound! Who really cares about budgets anyway?

Here’s what just one arm of our miitary industrial complex does with our tax dollars, develops weapons by experimenting on the defenseless public, with our own money! Oh the irony!

Department of War FY 2027 Budget Estimates ARMY

26 July 2026 | ZEROGeoengineering.com | Conflicts of interests due to U.S. Federal entanglements with foreign governments and foreign militaries make this funding particularly problematic. The following FY 2027 Army Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E Program) budget plan through September 30, 2028, is $18,708,826,000.00. Funding “supports the Army’s collaboration in the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS), which was chartered in 2020 per the “Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017” (Public Law 115-25, April 18, 2017).”
Other research programs include: Unmanned Aerial Systems, applied research, research critical and unique to the Army and DoW (e.g., atmospheric modeling and meteorological technologies), open-air field experimentation, Air Platform Enabling University Applied Research, techniques, methods, and models for the characterization of ambient atmospheric and threat aerosols, aircraft systems, sensors, passive, persistent sensing technologies, novel micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) / aka “smart dust,” genomic research, High Power Microwave and Directed Energy weapons, Electronic Warfare Advanced Technology, 5G, Next G, antenna systems, Golden Dome, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) technologies, Radar Digital Twin (EXHILARAMA), classified programs, and many more areas of experimentation.
Department of War FY 2027 Budget Estimates ARMY – Zero Geoengineering

Those doing the grunt work have been at it for over a century, usually with no questions asked, all for a paycheck and a pension.

The governance channel has always been subservient to the financial channel, and we have never been a democracy. Can we call it good news that at least the masks have fallen?

“The clearing architecture reached the post-war institutions through a different route as well, one that had been turning the logic of clearing from finance into governance since before the First World War.
In 1916, Leonard Woolf published International Government, a blueprint for permanent international bodies to manage trade, communications, health and labour standards through functional co-ordination above national governments. His key insight was that once essential functions became international, national governments would gradually lose their grip on the day-to-day running of economic and social life. He proposed that these organisations would work through ‘soft law’ — international recommendations that would steadily harden into binding obligations, because participation would eventually require compliance with international standards. It was clearing logic applied to governance rather than money: membership was voluntary on paper, but functionally impossible to avoid.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/escapekey/p/the-foundational-myth?r=87pg2k&utm_medium=ios

“Quinn Slobodian’s Globalists documents what Röpke and the Geneva School were building: supranational institutions designed to shield economic governance from national electorates, permanently. Their aim was deliberate and unapologetic. These economists believed that democratic populations would make economically foolish choices — protectionism, inflation, capital controls — so the solution was to place the rules governing economic life in institutions that electorates could not touch. Slobodian calls this ‘encasement’. He maps the walls but does not identify what they protect: the clearing function, operating through conditional settlement, safely beyond democratic revision.”

The public observes, but are ignorant as to what they are observing, as ignorance has become a weapon of war against us.

“The third is ignorance as active construct — the deliberate manufacture of doubt, uncertainty, and confusion by parties with an interest in keeping the public unclear. This is the tobacco strategy, the climate-denial strategy, the manufactured uncertainty of product-defense firms. It is ignorance as engineered achievement, and it is the type this volume most wants to make visible.”

The fourth, It is ignorance produced not by concealment but by exhaustion.
https://open.substack.com/pub/unbekoming/p/agnotology-the-making-and-unmaking?r=87pg2k&utm_medium=ios

Question (8): How large is the classified universe of documents, and how does its acquisition rate compare to the open literature held in libraries?
Answer: The classified universe is not a small strongbox in the corner of human learning. It is, on the best available estimates, five to ten times larger than the entire open literature held in the world’s great libraries. The Library of Congress holds roughly 7.5 billion pages across 120 million items. Estimates suggest that as many as a trillion pages may be classified in the United States alone — the equivalent of two hundred Libraries of Congress. In 2001, some 33 million classification actions were taken, adding roughly 330 million pages to the closed archive that year alone. By comparison, the entire Harvard library system, comprising over a hundred libraries, adds about 60 million pages of unclassified material per year. Five times as many pages enter the classified realm as enter the world’s great open depositories combined.
The people involved match the paper. Roughly four million Americans hold security clearances, against about 500,000 college professors in the country. The Information Security Oversight Office reported spending $5.5 billion in 2001 just to keep classified documents secure. The commonsense picture — that a modest domain of state secrets sits adjacent to a vast open commons — is inverted. The open literature is the modest information booth. The vast classified empire sits behind it, unseen, its contents unknowable by definition. This is not a marginal fact about modern knowledge. It is the shape of modern knowledge.”

The on-screen constant political theater and media circus has been so stupidly surreal and exhausting, not only to divide and distract, but also so the pubic welcomes their AI replacements. Anything will be better, right? ‘Voluntarily’ led from the frying pan into the fire by State-manufactured ignorance.

Try to focus on the pretty tiles, not the brick wall

Well, when it comes to our bathroom remodel, it’s definitely going to be a huge improvement and I’m SO excited to finally be seeing the finish work. Finally my hard-earned observation skills and esthetic sensibiities can be put to good use.

I do not have a parallel certainty for life under global techno-fascism, unfortunately.

Don’t Mess With Amos!

This Substack post has made my day!

The Amish Farmer the Feds Can’t Stop by The Liberty Lookout

Exit & Build – Amos MillerRead on Substack

In the year 2000, an Amish farmer named Amos Miller attended a Weston A. Price Foundation conference with his father. He listened to Sally Fallon talk about traditional food: raw milk, grass-fed meat, fermented vegetables, the way humans ate for ten thousand years before the USDA decided it was dangerous. He went home to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and started selling it.
Twenty-six years later, his farm has been raided by federal agents, subjected to three consent decrees, slapped with $85,000 in fines, and dragged through nearly a decade of litigation across federal and state courts. His products have been blockaded, detained, and ordered destroyed.

If you need some good news, continue reading . . .

He’s still selling. His food club has over 4,000 members nationwide. And an appeals court just ruled that Pennsylvania can’t stop him from shipping across state lines.
This is the story of the underground real food economy, and why the government keeps losing to a man who doesn’t use electricity.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thelibertylookout/p/the-amish-farmer-the-feds-cant-stop?r=87pg2k&utm_medium=ios

There is a better way and it’s been here all along.

Imagine if this could go viral, not just the article, the practice.

Name your kids Amos, that could be the trick, seems they take no shit! 😆😏

Purple: The Color of Special

Eggplants and an eggplant-jalapeno ferment

I endured the heat just long enough to harvest more eggplants and tomatoes, pretty much the only thing besides peppers still surviving. It was feeling a bit depressing, pretty normal for me this time of year. I really hate watching everything die and/or get over-taken by the pernicious grasses and vines, which thrive in the heat while I wither.

And then I saw it! Instantaneous mood booster: the first passion flower from a variety given by a friend, which I’ve planted in numerous locations. Stunning!

That got me thinking, and rummaging through my photo files for all things purple.

Of course we know purple is the color of nobility. I remember reading somewhere that’s because the dye was so expensive that only royalty could afford it. So I looked it up.

According to AI, that is true.
Tyrian purple was among the original most-favored, called Imperial purple, originating in Tyre, ancient Phoenicia, which is modern-day Lebanon.
From Wiki:
The pigment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, and items coloured with it became associated with power and wealth. This popular idea of purple being elite contributes to the modern day widespread belief that purple is a “royal colour”. The colour of textiles from this period provides insight into socio-cultural relationships within ancient societies, in addition to providing insights on technological achievements, fashion, social stratification, agriculture and trade connections.
Tyrian purple – Wikipedia

Poke berries stain purple, but I guess that was not the proper shade for Byzantine royalty? Or perhaps it just sounded more elegant to them that the proper shade required monumental manual labor to extract the dye from special snails sacrificed for their purpose of pleasure for the leisure classes?

Anyway, I’d love to wear a gown made of purple passion flowers! Flower Haute Couture is another thing I just learned is a real thing.
The wonders of the internet!

Royal influencers aside, there really is something special about purple. It would seem this little wren nesting in my purple wandering jew might agree.

Purple seems quite plentiful in nature. Purple grapes, purple berries, purple flowers, purple peppers, onions and potatoes.

Being so plentiful it shouldn’t feel so special. Yet somehow it still does.

Is the special of purple in the eye of the beholder, or is it somehow ‘objectively’ special, what do you think?

Don’t Help, Please!

I really mean it, for all, not just the government. You seriously over-estimate yourselves, all ye who cling to the coping, helping, giving categories.

At 12 I asked my ballet teacher to help me improve my lacklaster turnout. I have hip problems to this day from her suggested, prolongued, insufferable positions.

At 20 I asked my professor to help me with a chapter of my novel. That was asking a lot, but rather than saying ‘no’ she redirected me from my natural aptitude toward her personal literary preferences.

At 23 I asked a close friend to teach me to snow ski. Big mistake, I loathe downhill skiing to this day after he ‘accidentally’ led me down the black diamond run instead of the bunny hills.

At 33 I asked my sister for advice on a very sensitive issue. Big fucking mistake, again.

At 40, oh yes, more bad advice. Not long after that crisis I was given ‘help’ after asking for it, in the form of drama from disturbed individuals. Ask for help, receive drama, that’s the pattern.

And more at 45, indeed still at 55, plus!

The solicited advice is bad enough, then there’s the constant stream of unsolicited advice.

The latest offense coming laughably not too long ago. “Don’t say yes to things that will drain you.”

Classic condescending cuntery! From a so-called friend! That will be going on a permanent plaque in the forefront of my mind, forever.

So many (not) thanks!

Will I ever learn? Can I ever learn?!

Let me give y’all some really hard-earned, yet totally unsolicited advice.

Most advice sucks! Most advice proferrers are FOS.

We-means-I . . .

Hopefully, maybe overtime we recognize and can more easily sift the rare and precious advice from the . . . might we dare to say . . . the profane?

Self-satisfaction is king and his queen is self-delusion!
And you can quote me on that!

And all that bitched, here’s my best-ever advice based on a lifetime of bad advice, and now featured eternally on Youtube: Choose reality over fantasy.

Rocket science, eh?

And that’s all folks!

Thanks for stopping by.

Reality over fantasy. Where’s my dinner, boss?

Looks Be Deceiving

It’s more than mere marketing.

That disgusting-looking melon is the first one to be halfway decent this year. We nearly fed it to the pigs out of looks alone. Our cucs and melons have been crap. We don’t know why. The cucs were bitter by their first harvest, the melons are ripening in a most bizarre haphazard sort of way that half rots while the other half remains unripened.

It’s not quite the same as the old adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’

that ugle cheese on the plate is a first-time cheese experiment success. and damn how I needed that yesterday. a soft, non-renneted fresh cheese wrapped in fig leaf and aged for 6 weeks.

I love cherries so much I display them over our own grapes, also coming in half-ripe, half-spoiled, on the same bunch.

That is, cherries from Walmart, on special at an irrestible $2/pound! On my once-a-month town run, which I mostly loathe, especially when it includes Walmart!

We call it a ‘bad year’.

I’m exhausted.

Hubby barrels on in the heat on our new bathroom, while I wither.

Bad years are to be expected, yet . . .

What will it take to see it through fresh eyes?

Tomatoes and feta, ugly, but still pretty tasty!

We don’t typically expect how that will feel.

Whether good or bad. It sort of molds into a morph-space best called ‘unexpected.’

I was not raised to be a ‘tough times’ sort of girl. I struggle every summer here, I complain in writing every summer. I think it helps, but, only because it helps me, to carry-on.

I only became a fantasy tough-times type through marketing. So, forty years later I really understand its power.

My maternal grandfather was a salesman who used to try to warn us about marketing. He used to turn down the commercials on the constantly-on TV. The commercials were often the only part of the selected programming that I liked.

moisture in the cheese from fridge failure

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or, so the slogan says.

I liked this sewing lady’s take, she seems more aware and accepting of the times than I am. Sometimes inspiration comes from the oddest places. Thanks for that.

Luxury comes at great costs we rarely acknowledge, especially the appearance of it.

And thanks for stopping by!

Bubba with Beautyberries, 2025

Growth vs Comfort

A homestead happenings post complete with dirty DIY pics, jungle-garden updates and my attempts at calm amidst the chaos.

While I see others around the world are thrilled with finally warm temps and blossoming gardens, we’ve already hit the hot mess stage. I’m embarrased a bit to include pics of the jungle that just a few weeks ago had several brag-worthy elements.

It’s so hot, wet and fertile here the seeds are coming up anywhere!

Oddly, not the cucumbers nor the onions. We’ve had bad onion years before, but cucs are our biggest no-brainer. I can’t recall ever having a bad year, normally they are so prolific they become pig food by this time, but this year we haven’t even had a big enough harvest to pickle, and they’re already dying back in the swelter. I’ve succession planted and can only hope whatever fluke has hit them, the youngens will bounce back by next month.

I guess it’s relative, when I see the onions displayed like that in Hubby’s hand-crafted bins, it seems ok.

The green beans in Hubby’s monster row are producing by the bushel and I’m already sick of them. We’re too unsettled with the bathroom DIY to do any canning and have even stopped harvesting them. Such a shame, I do hate to see them go to waste, but it’s all I can do to keep up with all the other chores.

Like the flowers! I know, it sounds rather frivolous compared to beans, to devote my painfully precious hours of manual labor to flowers instead of food, but they make me so happy I’ve gotten over it.

These Black Hopi sunflowers were actually volunteers from last year’s seed gift from Gavin Mounsey who sends heirloom seeds to those who buy his book or become a paid subscriber to his Substack newsletter–so worth it, a gift that really does keep giving! 😘

They are so rewarding and of course very functional as well. These giant sunflowers are not only gorgeous, but they serve as mid-day shading for the tomatoes and there are pollinators all over them. I even saw a squirrel up there eating the seeds. Too bad I didn’t have the tablet, it would’ve been a great shot, but I didn’t even see him until he started barking at me when I was picking tomatoes right underneath him.

First bloom of the lovely Blackberry Lily

Meanwhile, while I’m goofing off, Handy Hubby gets to experience male priviledge. Mr. Know-it-All likes to impress me and the dogs with all his savoir-faire. I know he secrectly delights in sweating and rolling in the dirt under the house with Buttercup. He’s totally thrilled that the bathroom remodel has turned into dirt to rooftop overhaul and his fancy tile project has been delayed by a month and tidy unplanned sum.

But not only was the subfloor coated in mold and mildew, but the piers and beams were sagging and unaligned and the drainage was partially blocked. He had to dig all that out and replace some and add more and while unexpected, it wasn’t terribly surprising. It was built as a camp cottage in the 80s, no one ever lived here full-time until us.

Considering that, Hubby says they did a good job and that the quality of materials for a camp cottage back then was leagues better than what goes into the pre-fab modern construction. We’re really lucky we got on this whim to remodel when we did, because that mess was only going to get more ugly with time.

That’s the bad news. The good news is the other development that grew spontaneously out of this project–I now have a real flex-room–a place for fermenting and seedlings and maybe just lounging. Considering how small our place is, I know it sounds a little crazy, but considering we’ll most likely never move again, why not? There was a big bed in there that just made for useless space, now it’s full function. Or rather, it will be, whenever the bathroom gets done.

Hubby is never so impressive to me than when he is in Mission-Man-Mode. He has a single-minded, goal-oriented side to him that perks up with such vigor suddenly you’d think he was once again a 30-something in hot pursuit of a sexy young thang (and by that I mean me). 😂

Seriously though, it is impressive and he can work leagues past my breaking point when he’s in the zone. And Youtube is another godsend sometimes, the two of them in lockstep is like any DIYers dream couple. Between that and the regular influx of inspiration from the home shows on TV, there’s really nothing a devoted follower can’t learn, it seems. How marvelous to be learning so much still at our age!

Like, when choosing between new toilets, humor helps.
https://youtu.be/O7x5g2VFc50

Hubby says he’s leaving it there until I plant flowers in it.

I’m so excited to share the before and after photos, someday. Until then, here’s what the deconstruction looks like.

Our current facilities . . . I don’t mind the poop-with-a-view, and the outdoor shower is actually delightful.

How nice it is to smell the citrus blossoms and hear the birds and watch the bees while I shower!

A sneak preview of the future tile for our imminent zero-threshold shower in our completely dirt-to-ceiling sweltering summer bathroom renovation.

How serene and lovely is my Zen water feature gift to myself for Hubby’s birthday!

Herbal Explorations: Chinaberry Tree

Melia azedarach

Persian lilac is my favorite of its very many common names. In fact, seeing how popular it is globally, I’m really surprised it took me SO much effort to identify it.

Located in an abandoned lot among several Mimosa trees and lots of very prickly bramble

‘Free, or noble tree’ –I like that one, too. I noticed it on an abandoned lot behind a relatively new grocery store in town. It was so striking, with its dark trunk, high, feathery and deep green foliage with druping yellow fruits. I pulled over in the late summer Texas heat, during extreme drought, walked through some crispy grass and aggressive bramble to reach it, and I was sure I’d never seen one before.

Though not at all surprised by the fact that, once identified, I saw it’s another of those ‘highly controversial’ medicinals.

Photo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melia_azedarachtext from Wiki

Melia azedarach, popularly known as the chinaberry tree, Pride of India, bead-tree, Cape lilac is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. The plant is native to China, Japan, the Indian sub-continent, south-eastern Asia and large parts of northern and eastern Australia. Cape-lilac, Chinaberry, Indian lilac, Persian lilac, Sichuan pagoda tree, Texas umbrella-tree, bead tree, chinaberry-tree, margosa tree, pride of India, syringa berrytree, tulip-cedar, umbrella-cedar, umbrella-tree, white cedar, Bastard Cedar, Bakain, Drek, Deikna, China Tree, Maha Neem, Bakain, Bakarja, Bakayan, Betain, Deikna, Drek and Azad-darakht are the few synonyms for the tree Melia azedarach. It is an ornamental tree with multiple uses. It possesses significant medicinal properties but these are not much appreciated in India by the people and are neglected in favor of the more well-known Neem.

The genus name Melia is derived from μελία (melía), the Greek word used by Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC) for Fraxinus ornus, which has similar leaves. The species azedarach is from the French ‘azédarac’ which in turn is from the Persian ‘āzād dirakht’ meaning ‘free- or noble tree’. Melia azedarach should not be confused with the Azadirachta trees, which are in the same family, but a different genus. This tree’s fruit is poisonous to humans. Once the fruit is ingested in quantity (so a few too many of this tree’s berries), depending on its toxicity, the person eating it may die after about 24 hours of ingesting the fruits. Its flowers are a respiratory irritant and its leaves, bark, flowers and sometimes fruit are poisonous.

While I do credit the Master Gardener who informed me of the name, which was essential to doing further research, it’s unfortunate our learned experts are so myopic. She also repeated the common mantra of so many of our unfairly demonized plants–it’s toxic, it’s invasive, it’s dangerous.

She said the berries are really sharp and children and pets can hurt themselves when stepping on them. She did not say what I later learned, that folks around the world make jewelry with them

Chinaberry necklaces, a popular ‘Indian’ and ‘folk’ craft

It is also an ancient medicinal with many healing properties.

Historical records of Melia azedarach date back centuries in Sanskrit manuscripts like Kalpa-raksha (16th century), where it was referred to as “Bakayantra.” Ayurvedic sages documented its bitter fruit as “kaya-hara,” implying body-cleansing qualities. In medieval South India, the Tamil Siddhars praised chinaberry oil for its ability to relieve arthritic pain; some palm-leaf notes from 14th-century Kerala mention powdered berries mixed in ghee for parasitic infestations. In Persia, around the 10th century under Avicenna’s influence, Persian lilac extracts were recommended to promote healthy digestion and as a mild vermifuge. Chinese herbalists of the Ming dynasty classified jin chen (Chinese for Chinaberry) among top measles remedies, attributing antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties to its root bark. Over time, European colonists introduced Melia azedarach to the Americas and Africa; by the 19th century, American settlers used it in decoctions against intestinal worms, calling it “Southern chinaberry.” Doubts arose in late 1800s European herbal compendiums about its safety due to reports of livestock toxicity—hence many modern traditions prefer leaf extracts to avoid seed hazards. Despite that, rural communities in Brazil and Mexico continue using controlled doses of the fruit internally for dysentery and topically as poultices on insect bites. Usage shifted after Pasteur’s germ theory: 20th-century Ayurvedic scholars began exploring its antibacterial potential rather than purely digestive effects. Today you can still find village healers in Maharashtra making chakra pestanas—herb-laden fomentations with boiled chinaberry leaves to treat rheumatism.

Melia azedarach in Ayurveda | Benefits, Uses & Healing Properties

As popular as it is I was twice given misidentifications by AI

Therapeutic Effects and Health Benefits

Melia azedarach is credited with a spectrum of health benefits—each anchored in tradition and backed by varying degrees of research:

Anti-parasitic: Ethnobotanical surveys (Kashmir, 2018) report village healers using fruit decoctions against intestinal worms. Modern rodent data confirm significant anthelmintic effect with minimal adverse reactions when dosage is controlled.
Anti-inflammatory: Triterpenoids in leaf extracts have reduced paw edema in rat models (Indian J. Pharmacol., 2017). Real-life application: I once prepared chinaberry leaf poultice for a friend’s sprained ankle—noticed marked reduction in swelling after two applications.
Antimicrobial: In vitro studies against Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli show up to 70% inhibition (Phytotherapy Res., 2019). Topical ointments featuring chinaberry bark oil have been used for minor wound care in Marathi folk medicine.
Digestive support: Bitter principles enhance gastric secretion. Anecdotal accounts from Maharashtra cite a pinch of powdered dried berries in warm water relieving occasional bloating and gas.
Analgesic: Leaf-infused oil used in traditional massages to ease rheumatic pain. Clinical pilot (2020) noted a 45% pain score reduction in volunteers applying 2% chinaberry oil twice daily.
Antioxidant: Flavonoid-rich extracts demonstrate free-radical scavenging in DPPH assays, suggesting potential in adjunctive therapy for oxidative stress-related disorders.

Despite these promising applications, it’s critical to note that effective benefits rely on proper preparation. In raw or high-dose forms, seeds can be mildly toxic (contained saponins). Documented case reports (J. Med. Toxicol., 2013) detail nausea and dizziness after overconsumption of fruit tincture. Hence, therapeutic use demands precision in extraction and dosing.

Melia azedarach（Traditional Chinese medicine）_Baiduwiki

Apparently the ‘toxic’ part is the only part some scholars and experts read before claiming it illegal, which it is in Texas.

And of course that it is supposedly ‘invasive’. A little ridiculous since I’ve been here 20 years and it’s the first one I’ve seen. Since asking around locally I’ve found another one, which the owner really likes and has been attempting to propagate more.

‘Invasive’ is now at the top of my list of Corporate-State nonsense words used to intimidate and control populations for the sake of industrial preferences–usually agricultural and phamaceutical.

And just for fun, I’ll share my ‘crazy conspiracy theory’ notion here for the first time. I believe this region was once under the rule of the Persian Empire and that ‘native’ is another nonsense word, these supposed invasive species brought by Europeans is a false history used to cover up the truth that our ‘Native Americans’ were in fact actual Indians, and like the Indians there presence here predates European colonization.

Chinaberry is on the Texas Dept. of Agriculture’s list of Invasive Plants which are illegal to sell, distribute or import into Texas.

How to Eradicate

For information on how to eradicate this invasive, view our statement on herbicide use and preferred alternatives for invasive plants.

So while most around the world are learning to appreciate and cultivate this useful and beautiful specimen, we are expected here to kill them.

Melia azedarach – Native Plant Society of Texas

Chinaberry is most invasive in riparian zones or disturbed sites. The tree can form a monoculture, outcompeting native vegetation due to its high relative resistance to insects and pathogens. The tree grows rapidly from several root sprouts and can create dense thickets that crowd out native plant species. The tree’s leaf litter raises the nitrogen level and pH in the soil, which can prevent germination and growth of native plants. Chemicals in leaves inhibit insects’ digestion. All parts of the plant, especially the fruit, are poisonous to humans, some livestock and mammals, including cats, dogs and horses. Cattle and some birds can eat the berries without harm.

For more technical research into Melia azedarach

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dr-Dharmendra-Arya/post/what_is_the_best_method_to_extract_and_evalute_the_antimicrobien_activity_for_calotropis_procera/attachment/5bbcf9153843b006753d80db/AS%3A679895759851521%401539111189704/download/EVALUATION+OF+ANTIMICROBIAL+ACTIVITY+OF+DIFFERENT+SOLVENT+EXTRACTS+OF+MEDICINAL+PLANT+MELIA+AZEDARACH+L..pdf

I’ve also read it has been interplanted with crops as a pest deterrant, or trap crop, but I’m still researching that angle. It seems the bias against this tree in the south-east U.S. is tainting our academic research and we must look to the scientific research of other countries to learn more about the many uses of this beautiful tree.

http://innerpath.com.au/matmed/research/Melia%5Eazedarach.pdf

My little Chinaberry foraged/stolen from the abandoned lot where I first fell in love with it.

It’s the Mindset, Stupid

I nearly made the same mistake with the Chinaberry tree as I did a decade ago with the Mimosa tree.

I must make even greater efforts to De-institutionalize my mind.

It’s like with the official Farmer’s Market, in the small city 40 minutes away, which grows along with the city, but doesn’t get any better, because there aren’t enough farmers and there are too many regulations.

A treasure from a local plant swap now starting to bloom, Plumeria, how exciting!

how it will hopefully look one day! It’s the tropical delight used for making leys in Hawaii, with a delightful fragrance.

Meanwhile the very localized, small, rural events have been well worth the time. At one we got several new plants I’m still excited about.

Catalpa tree is another I’ve been longing to grow, but only found available through a local swap.

Catalpa blossoms, the ‘worm tree’ as it’s called in these parts I’ve just learned from a local angler

And at another we ate better tacos than we’ve had in years. And at the last one I gave away lots of cheese, because I’m still too apprehensive about selling or even bartering it. Giving it away to strangers felt a baby step closer to that potential future possibility.

So it goes with the Chinaberry, too. At least this time I didn’t waste an entire decade believing the official nonsense that these trees are invasive and toxic and in the case of Chinaberry, even illegal.

But I did still waste almost a year, and that’s why I’m complaining now.

I’m disappointed with myself. I thought I knew better by now. But damn if old habits don’t die hard.

It’s not the same story exactly, but it sure does rhyme, and the refrain harkens back to a very common problem, not just my own.

I still did not trust my instincts, wisdom and preferences quickly enough.

Put into perspective, and relatively speaking, I have come a long way. I’m much better than I used to be and considering I know folks who still think vaccines are safe and effective, I could afford to be a bit more self-forgiving.

But I’m not getting any younger and time’s a wastin’! Trees don’t grow overnight, you know!

Instead of spending that year trying to identify the tree and wasting lots of precious time, I should’ve said at first sight–I love it, I want it, I will have it.

There is something magnificent about that speckled mahogany bark, those tropical-looking yellow berries, the glossy deep green foliage surviving even in drought in the dead of summer, that sleak curve of the trunk and the little grove it’s trying to form. I must have it. Pure instinct.

Instead of trying to germinate the berries, which is so much more challenging with many trees, I’d have taken cuttings right away. Instead of going to official sources, online and through various experts and professionals, I’d have gone to the most local source I could find, folks living in these parts for many generations.

I was given wrong identifications online, and from our university extension service that is the Master Gardeners, the usual Corporate-State fear propaganda of ‘invasive’ and ‘toxic’ and unsafe.

Because if they don’t sell it at Walmart or Lowes, it’s got to be bad. Because if it’s an ancient medicinal, it’s got to be poison.

They think they mean well, I suppose, sometimes.

But othertimes I think nope, not at all. They don’t mean to do well at all, they mean to stay compliant with the authorities. They mean to collect their paychecks and their pensions. They mean to think themselves well-meaning without ever examining themselves.

When we first came here and first becoming gardeners and stewards of this land, I vowed beyond our veggies I’d grow only ‘native species’. I didn’t know any better and that sounded to me like an admirable approach to a new venture.

I now think the term ‘native’ is itself highly suspect and what’s considered ‘invasive’ is highly relative and shifts with the breeze of the current oligarchy.

I will be satisfied when my intuition (I want that tree!) trumps my logic (what’s it called?) at the speed of the mind of a 3-year old.

It really is about the mindset, but not in the relentless Positivity sense of ‘everything is possible’ of the pop psychologists paid to entrain us to the status quo, but rather in the learn to Trust Yourself First mindset. Even in baby steps, even prolonged over decades, even against the tides more often than not.

No, not everybody, but enough to make it miserable for the few malcontents who just want to be left in peace and who care for truth and beauty over comfort, convenience, or malignant and uniformed collaboration.

Next post, all about the splendid, but illegal in Texas, Chinaberry tree.

Homestead Happy Snaps

That’s all this post, just some photos I like with a bit of commentary.

My first year growing Cosmos and I’m loving them!

I started to look up what sort of moth this is enjoying the Cosmos and I stopped myself. I’d like my first impulse to evolve from always wanting to name and label and define, often before I even truly and deeply experience. I think that chimes back to the old adage, ‘Stop and smell the roses.’

Another first flower for me in the garden–Tythia Mexican Sunflower–my how the bumblebees are loving it!

Our bees are remiss to allow me to split them lately, even though they appear to need more space.

In years past I’ve complained I have too little dill to last the year and it bolts so quickly in the heat. This year I swung in the opposite direction and have so much I don’t know what to do with it all.

We agreed to have an easier garden seadon since we are very busy remodeling the bathroom, which has already grown into remodeling the 2nd bedroom/office/cheese room/seedling space, but somehow that never works out.

We’re getting loads of green beans from Hubby’s super green wall which also includes Trombetta squash, luffa, sunflowers and volunteer tomatoes.

The lettuces and peppers are doing great and we’re getting loads of tomatillos already. We decided on those over tomatoes this year because the green salsa is so delicious.

And the chanterelles are abundantand the Mimosas are blooming, and I just can’t resist.

I’ve been working on the latest addition to the Herbal Explorations pages, another demonized tree I’ve finally been able to identify and start growing and I’m so excited, the Chinaberry tree, called invasive and deemed illegal to buy, sell or import into these parts. The usual official nonsense that attempts to destroy the reputation of yet another beneficial and medicinal species.

More on the gorgeous Chinaberry, of Persian lilac in the next post.

That’s a photo from online, but I hope mine looks like that someday!

Here is the happily growing young Mimosa I dug up from the road 2 years ago.

Some wild flowers on my route to my milk lady’s house.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dos Rancheros Extraños

Two odd ranch stories in one day, one a local tradition new to us, the other a strange sort of scam and also new to us.

We don’t get out much, but when we do what fun it is to have a little impromptu adventure. We’re just about to start the bathroom demolition and have been scatter-brained with the necessary prep. We have only one bathroom, which means we go back once again to our early years here, needing an outhouse and outdoor shower.

We headed to town yesterday to select the tile, but the shop was closed. We stopped by the Farmer’s Market, having heard it has recently grown, in step with the small city’s population.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t improved, only grown in vendors. It’s dissapointing to live rural and still not have a decent farmer’s market in any nearby town or city. I’ll refrain from complaining further, but one question first.

Should they be able to call it a farmer’s market when there are no farmers there? No fruits, no vegetables, no herbs, no dairy. One tiny ranch, not exactly local, offering beef shares, some jam and honey sellers, one stand selling really expensive breads, that was it besides the very many stalls of crafters.

Anyway, from those two disappointments we soon headed back home and along the way comes our fun ranch story.

We took the back route for a nicer country drive, one we’ve taken very often over the years. There are mostly woods and rolling hills dotted with small farms and ranches, cows mostly, very few people.

So when we caught sight of a parking lot full of trucks we got curious. Hubby pulls into Los Pinos Ranch, which we’ve never seen full of cars before, had hardly even noticed before among all the other ranches. We followed the line to a couple of security guards.

“Hi!” Hubby says to a well-built and well-kitted black man, “We’re just driving by and being nosy neighbors.”

Being we were still about a 10 minute drive from home, neighbors might sound like a stretch, but around here that’s still considered neighboring territory.

The man was cordial, not exactly friendly, but not at all off-putting, so Hubby continued his inquiry, and I also began to chime in, now with curiousity well-piqued since seeing how large this event actually was.

“What’s all the crowd here for, some sort of festival?” Besides the security duo we appeared to be the only gringos in sight, which later upon entering we learned to be true. There were no signs at all, in Spanish or otherwise.

Looking around while Hubby was speaking, I spotted a track, and horses, but still, it was all so foreign, while practically in our backyard. I interupted them.

“Oh, is it a horse show or training or something?” My confusion was probably obvious, but the guard’s reply only engendered more of the same. Neither Hubby or I had yet to clue in to the nature of the event.

The guard was attempting to tell us, but without speaking the precise words, I understood only later.

Well, he said, they like to compare.

Huh? OK. Still clueless.

Then he pointed to a couple of ladies down the path aways and said they were the organizers and we should talk to them.

So we did and they were very nice, just the one spoke English, but she was as friendly as could be and said we should go on in, they want more locals to participate, in fact. Participate in what, we did not know. And, there were food stands on the other side of the tracks, so we were sold.

Then, crossing the track, it suddenly dawned on me. Horse racing, duh! And the odd words of the guard came back with a flash of clarity. They ‘like to compare’ was his gringo euphemism for ‘they bet on the races.’

We don’t gamble and we’ve never been to a horse race, so perhaps our severe ignorance can be excused?!

Although in hindsight it’s so obvious. Now, I’m not judging, but I do believe that sort of gambling is illegal in these parts. Not that we really care a hoot about that, especially once we got a whiff of the taco stand.

The simplest of setups you could imagine, why can’t they manage that at the farmer’s market? Charring beef, frying onions, our senses led us in a beeline. Fresh diced tomatoes, two kinds of salsa, cilantro, boiled potato side served with a chunk of grilled onion. Delish!

Better tacos than we’ve had at any establishment in town, cooked and served out of the back of a trailer.

A bit of reasearch once home and the tradition is alive on social media (like we would know!) and we can look forward to more excellent tacos and racing festivities next month.

@rancho.los.pinos7
Finalistas del Maturity “El Mero Mero” en su primera edición exclusivo del Carril Ramcho Los Pinos 🌲, si señor‼️#paratiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii #viralvideo #CuartosDeMilla #CarrerasEstelares
♬ sonido original – Rancho Los Pinos

Think what you like about horse racing in general, or gambling in particular, but it’s a huge deal better than what was the thing among dudes where I grew up, which was car racing and monster truck pulls. Loud, noxious, destructive and, well, just REALLY loud.

This was fun! You could hear the music and it was catchy mariachi, not depressing country ballads like they play in the local farm and ranch stores.

Of course we did stick out like the gringo sore thumbs we are. Ball caps, not cowboy hats. Crocks, not cowboy boots. Cringy, I know. But we’re committed to taking it down a notch next time we go, for the tacos, of course, not the gambling.

For Hubby that will mean absolutely no shorts. Mexican men are not short-pant people. There seems to be a certain amount of pride attached to that fact, but it’s lost on me.

For my part, a bit of more feminine appeal would be in order, if I can muster that anymore. Case still open.

Which leads me to the next ranch story. And the mystery of the sexy bras I’d never have worn, or even purchased on a huge whim, even in my sexiest days full of youthful vigor.

I was not nearly as dumb-struck by this oddity as I was by the impromtu ranch races. Clearly it was some very strange mistake, not a surprise hinting gift from Hubby, who would know me far better, and never dare make such a vulgar assumption.

Green and bedazzled, come on! Meant for a harem girl, no doubt!

Come to find out after some perplexing Google searches that there is currently a large scam going on, and I’ve just been ‘brushed’. WTH?!

From the return sender’s address, it comes from a fancy ranch in California. Far too fancy for me! But according to the news, this scam, which is becoming more common, probably uses both fake addresses and fake names. Yasfara does sound kind of fake.

But what could they be after sending me free stuff? I now realize this happened already twice before, I just never chalked it up to a con.

Several years ago I received seeds I never ordered. So did a lot of folks. I often order seeds, folks sometimes me seeds, I just brushed it off. Brushed?

Then a couple months ago I got two pairs of shorts. Because I’d recently ordered shorts from Amazon, I figured it was them, just not exactly what I’d ordered. They weren’t too bad, so I kept them, only receiving the correct order weeks later.

After Hubby’s sleuthing he discovered the “Brushing scam” with the objective of inflating the products’ ratings by collecting ‘verified purchases’ and giving fake reviews with them, apparently.

Here is our ‘Yasfara’ of the ‘Rancho Cucamongo’ reported on at the Better Business Bureau, along with a news clip about the fraud.

What to know if a mysterious empty white mailing envelope shows up at your house

Scams Details Better Business Bureau

Strange times, indeed. Just for the record, we don’t mind feeling like foreigners five miles from home, it’s rather a pleasant nostalgic feeling for us both, recalling our own pasts of living as illegal immigrants in other lands.

But, if you’re going to send me bras, please send the comfortable variety, padless, without jewels or sequince, cotton, white, for those rare occassions I still wear one.

Or, if that’s all you’ve got on hand, may I suggest sending them to a more appropriate recipient, like a still-young sexy lady at the Rancho Los Pinos right down the road?

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