Haustoria House

Aside from some very Adar-appropriate *big moves* we're hoping will finally happen ASAP (stay tuned!), we are, in the meantime, gearing up for "Purim season" with a vengeance!

So if you're still seeing notifications from this page, great! Please like or comment to indicate 😅
Because now's a good time especially to invite anyone&everyone you know that's Jewish (or "indigenously informed," interested in tradish practice if not already familiar, and at least allied with Jews in MT), especially if located in Missoula or nearby, to like and follow this page for what is hopefully about to be *a whole lot more activity* and events/opportunities here...

But in the Purim spirit of course, this means everything from shindigs & shenanigans, to services & social justice calls, and everything in between 🤪

More soon!

Whelp, big unexpected and confusing threat of losing our home here for the past month, and still uncertain what is going on 😅
But... hopefully getting back into posting updates and pretty plants will help? If not directly then at least in terms of focusing on what positives and gratitude we can 🙃
So for now: the sunflower labyrinth is finally taking off! And this raised bed looks positively delicious 😋

SYMBIONTS!
Upon watering the baby willow this morning I noticed some ants were grouped up on a few of their branches. I looked closer and sure enough they were grouping around sap-feeders (often known as "scalebugs" I think?) protecting them and drinking that good good ButtJuice (or "Honeydew," which is one of my all time favorite biological "euphemism" terms ever 😂).
Which means somehow, one of the most popular examples of symbiosis used globally/historically is going on (in part at least) right here in my Montana yard?? 🤯

In Africa (and Israel) Acacia trees are hugely important for a range of indigenous uses and teachings that already *know* about this as usual, but in the colonized world of modern science the Acacia-Ants-Scalebug symbiosis is one of the most prevalent examples taught and studied extensively in evolution and ecology worldwide - https://new.nsf.gov/news/between-ants-acacias-timing-everything

The basics: Acacia trees are at risk from large herbivores, and despite having thorns it's not always enough to deter said herbivores, so the tree itself has some of its thorn tissue swell to provide shelter for specialized ant colonies that then live in the tree, farming and overall adorably *protecc*ting the lil scalebugs that feed on sap from the tree, via holes they make, which the ants cannot make themselves anyway (nor metabolize the sap directly). The ants main food supply is thus the "honeydew" (ButtJuice™) that extrudes from scalebug butts as they rapidly metabolize the sugars from Acacia sap (literally not enough room in their tiny bodies to store the byproduct made as they go about their normal forage/feeding so it's highly efficient "farming" for the ants xD). Well-fed by ButtJuice and given shelter by the tree's specialized structures, these ants thus provide a VERY effective (and highly aggressive) defense system against herbivores, because said ants will auto-swarm and start biting after even a tiny nibble of tree/branch is attempted.

It's a very deeply intertwined 3-way symbiotic relationship with deep evolutionary history, and a lot of fascinating details&findings over the past decade or so especially (the article above is just one of many, I highly recommend going down a rabbit hole online about this!)

Anywho, unfortunately...we uh...don't have Giraffe or Elephants or other large herbivores trying to eat and potentially destroy this tree...and the ants here don't seem like any of the African/Mideast species I'm familiar with that farm and overall protecc their scalebugs and tree-homes. So I had to look things up locally and apparently this is a common enough thing in "home and landscaping pest control" contexts. Genuinely curious if anyone has made the connection to the Acacia systems (bc usually the scalebugs are ignored and it's traditionally known as a 2-way mutualism between ants and acacia).
So for now...I just have to keep spraying the ants and scalebugs off of this poor baby willow tree that doesn't have sap to spare and is definitely not "consenting" to this technically early-stage "symbiotic service" the ants are obviously eager to develop 🤣

(I just didn't even know we had scalebugs in MT or even North America xD like, I only knew about this from study systems in South America, Africa, and a few other spots around the world. The fact that MT ants are grouping around MT scalebugs for Honeydew seems...worth further investigation? Honestly this is just a cool and unexpectedly personal example of like, my life's work in pointing out how myopic and silly modern science *without* indigenous knowledge approaches can be, and how much it does *not* always do what we colloquially tend to assume in "connecting people with nature more via education." The ant-acacia system is famous because it's considered so "unique," and in a LOT of research systems that's the issue- the most unique aspect of the phenomenon is that there are a bunch of foreign randos being paid by some govt. and/or highly privileged private institution to come in and measure/sample/etc, so they can prove something about "evolution" in precisely the same ways scientists were trying to prove God/Intelligent Design before the Transcendentalists gave way to Darwinian Evolution as the leading top-down, still hyperdogmatic theoretical paradigm. Which is not all it's cracked up to be tbh 🙄 but try having that discussion with anyone in the US =\).

There's something special about lilacs in the Rockies...

Sarah wanna try this? 😜

🍄🏆 Contest time‼️

🙏 This contest is in honor of one of the founding members of the WMMA, Robbie Flynn, who was fascinated by the creative potential of fungi for craft and remediation. It is through her generous financial gift that this contest is born and we thank her for all she has given to this community throughout her colorful life. ✨

Please share this far and wide and know that anyone who would like to enter will have the support of the WMMA throughout! Game on!

Such a l o n g g g b o i i i 🌱😳🌱
Comment below with your best "grassroots" puns 😜

(Eventually I'll make a bunch myself, when I can finally come out publicly with the story of precisely how this place/project was started and what has happened since ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

Garden is coming along fast! It's been mainly weeding to get the beds ready for tilling/planting, but I always feel kinda bad after a session of yeeting the giant mutant dandelions bc they ah...bleed a lot?
Gardening is pretty metal 😆🤘🏼🌼