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Sunbeam City is a anticapitalist, antifascist solarpunk instance that is run collectively.

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@tty @sunflower_avenue .... oh my gosh how did it not occur to me that someone teaching another to do this is a pretty good indicator that the teacher probably spends a bunch of time and effort on this sort of topic, and therefore may post about that sort of topic.

Thanks for pointing that out more explicitly!

@certifiedperson @tty ya!! Ive been super interested in exploring uses for invasive plants! Mainly around weaving and dyeing, but also food, laundry detergent, medicine, papermaking....
If you want to tell me some of the plants around you i can tell you if i know if anything to do with them!

@sunflower_avenue oh thank you! We don't have much capacity for Doing right now - barely managing the basics, let alone any new projects - but i would be curious on what you know for gorse? (No need to go your of your way to find anything! It's not of high importance.)

We know gorse-flower wine is a thing (which we've never tried, nor would we have the equipment for.) but aside that... There's so much of it here (NZ), it'd be neat to find a (semi-)practical use for it.

@certifiedperson ooh! I haven't encountered gorse, but it looks really interesting!
It looks like the most common use is as kindling. Apparently it burns hot and fast without leaving tons of ash. So it was used for baking and such.
The flowers are apparently edible. I've seen mention to making tea or wine with them. Or pickling the flower buds like capers.
The flowers apparently dye a yellow/orange colour with an alum mordant. And the bark can dye a green.
Apparently the wood isnt great for big projects. But for ornamental things or cutlery it could work really nicely.
Livestock can also graze on it, especially the young shoots. Which it looks like some places are using as part of the management strategy. Cut the plants down to stumps, then bring some grazing animals through every so often to keep the new growth at bay (i now really want to learn more about grazing animals in invasive plant management, so that's another rabbit hole!)

@certifiedperson since its similar to scotch broom (which i have worked with) i wonder if it could be used in a similar manner to make coiled baskets. Although perhaps the thorns would get in the way🤔

(NZ) Invasive plants / gorse, 1/?

(NZ) Invasive plants / gorse, 2/?

(NZ) Invasive plants / gorse, 3/3

(NZ) Invasive plants / gorse, 3/3