Severe thunderstorms with wind gusts to 60 MPH and one inch diameter hail are possible late this evening and overnight tonight. Skywarn Spotter activation is not anticipated.

via Washtenaw EOC via email
for Ann Arbor Ypsilanti and vicinity

#miwx

Kalamazoo protesters cite lack of due process, DEI cuts at Economic Blackout Day
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2025/04/kalamazoo-protesters-cite-lack-of-due-process-dei-cuts-at-economic-blackout-day.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Michigan local news: Kalamazoo @michigan-local-news-kalamazoo-MLivecom

Thousands of pilgrims trek through New Mexico desert to historic adobe church for Good Friday
https://apnews.com/article/good-friday-pilgrimage-catholic-church-new-mexico-9283699d129d4a72a519ae21df0240cf?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into U.S. News @u-s-news-AssociatedPress

If you intend on saving seeds, now is the time to start planning it.
Saving seeds is very satisfying because it’s like getting free food. After the harvest for bought seeds, you have used the monetary value. When you save seeds further on, it’s all free.
Make sure you are saving seeds from open pollinated plants, not hybrids. If you can get hybrids to germinate, the resulting plant may not resemble what you expected to get. This is especially true for things like squash. So, be aware of this when purchasing seeds for future seed saving.
You can try saving any seed but my favourite seeds to save are the following:

Peas- there are always pea pods that got missed in the harvest and I pull the plants, hang them in a dry spot and when the lingering pods have dried, shell them, leave them to dry further on a baking sheet then jar and label.

Scarlett Runner beans- these are easy to let a few get too big to eat and they are well able to be germinated the following year. Be sure to pick the seed pods before a hard frost so as to not damage the seeds. The best seeds are the huge purple mottled ones that release without hesitation from the pod when the pod is split open. Be careful to not accidentally slice the seed with your fingernail when opening the pod. Dry the seeds on a sheet then store in a jar. Use the same the method for other bean varieties such as black turtle beans.

Dill, fennel and onion- these all will go flying off the plant when they are fully ripe so JUST before that, I pick them and put them into paper bags, then you can catch the seeds as they fully ripen and fall from the plant. Otherwise, they just reseed all over the ground which is fine but you have to move them to where you want the plants in the spring.

Garlic- the key to saving garlic for seeds is in the harvest. Garlic is picky to harvest so that it lasts in the pantry until the following year. I pick the scapes when they have done 2 full circles but not yet begun to uncurl again. Then, stop watering the garlic 2 weeks before harvest, so the paper covering has a chance to develop. Hang them in loose bunches out of the sun in a breezy spot outside until they are very dry and the green tops are all brown. Then, trim the roots, and store inside in a cool, dry breezy spot. Choose the heads with the largest cloves to plant later that year a couple of weeks before the ground freezes just so they can develop roots but not grow up out of the soil.

Marigold, Nasturtium, Coreopsis, Morning Glory-(NOT wild bindweed)- these flower seeds are all easy to save, just don’t deadhead the tops you want to save for seeds and wait until they are very dry, gently pull the seed heads into your palm and carefully rub the seeds from their casings. Make sure they are fully dry, then jar and label.

Carrot, Beets, Parsnips- the seeds from these plants don’t develop until the second year so you have to leave your desired plants in the ground and let the plant grow again in the spring. Then, let the plant go to flower and save the seeds from that. You usually will need to save many more seeds than you think you will need because the germination rates are a little lower for these plants.

Potatoes- You can just let a few missed ones grow the following year but this does not allow for crop rotation and often the missed potatoes are small and don’t make good plants the following year. Save some perfect undamaged large potatoes until the following spring. Chit them, that is let the seed potatoes sprout a tiny bit in the light before planting them. Most storage potatoes will have started to sprout in the spring anyway. I have found that planing the whole potato and not cutting it into separate eye/sprouting sections results in a bigger and more robust plant. Keep in mind that buying and planting certified seed potatoes does help prevent potato diseases from persisting year to year.

Sunflower- make sure you let them fully ripen on the flower head so the seeds come off with only a gentle coaxing.

Walking or multiplier onions- these are great, they do their own thing but have to be re-situated as they will end up where they want.

Plants to be wary of: mustard, common oregano and mints, will all end up taking over your yard with no help from you. Be aware of this if you want to grow these plants.

#gardening #homesteading #gardenmagic #prepping

3 good things:

1) a couple years ago i bought a stovetop water distiller. it's stainless steel and can also be　used as a double boiler, stock pot and to render fat in.

it's *fantastic*! i use it on my single eye induction burner and i can get a gallon of water every 3-4 hours as well as humidify my house.

2) my perennials survived the winter! this is my third year experimenting with perennials in bins with lids over winter and they're doing amazing now that they're out of the garage and on my porch.

3) got some more degoogling done today. i'm deleting (backed up) photos from the cloud and it's been a fun trip down memory lane.

man, i save so many memes, lol.

#water #distilling #diy #zeroWaste #grannySkills #poorSkills #herbs #herbalism #growYourOwn #perennials #containerGardening #gardening #spring #degoogling #3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings

Tired: Teachers using tools to find students cheating with AI.

Wired: Teachers using tools to figure out how many of their new students are bots who are just there to submit enough AI-completed assignments that they can claim financial aid in someone else's name.

This story from the Voice of San Diego is worth a read:

"When the spring semester began, Southwestern College professor Elizabeth Smith felt good. Two of her online classes were completely full, boasting 32 students each. Even the classes’ waitlists, which fit 20 students, were maxed out. That had never happened before. "

"By the end of the first two weeks of the semester, Smith had whittled down the 104 students enrolled in her classes, including those on the waitlist, to just 15. The rest, she’d concluded, were fake students, often referred to as bots."

"The bots’ goal is to bilk state and federal financial aid money by enrolling in classes, and remaining enrolled in them, long enough for aid disbursements to go out. They often accomplish this by submitting AI-generated work. And because community colleges accept all applicants, they’ve been almost exclusively impacted by the fraud."

"That has put teachers on the front lines of an ever-evolving war on fraud, muddied the teaching experience and thrown up significant barriers to students’ ability to access courses. What has made the situation at Southwestern all the more difficult, some teachers say, is the feeling that administrators haven’t done enough to curb the crisis."

https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/04/14/as-bot-students-continue-to-flood-in-community-colleges-struggle-to-respond/