Congrats! Thick leather gloves are fantastic for thorns, so that’s what I would recommend. I’m a glutton for punishment, though, and when I don’t have my leather gloves I’ll still dig through thorny plants, albeit veeeery gently. That’s normally if I’m just pruning small patches of blackberry or roses, though and also I’m a masochist lol.

If a ton of the thorny plants are blackberry, it might be a good idea to hire someone to clear it. I’ve never done so but they are voracious growers. You may know this, but any branch that touches the ground can put off new roots and grow even more and so on. Unless you can dig out all of the roots, just going through and cutting is a losing game, unless you get it cut back to where it’s manageable and you don’t mind pruning regularly.

As for garden clippings, composting is the way. You do want to make sure that you aren’t getting any weeds in your compost, though, otherwise they will profilerate and your compost soil will just spread more weeds. Again, you may know this, but for browns, save any unbleached paper that you can. Torn up cardboard, newspaper, napkins,coffee filters, paper grocery bags, chopped up twigs/wood chips/shavings, dryer Lint. If you can shred your brown foliage that’s great as well. If there is a farm/feed store somewhat close to you, you can buy straw for fairly cheap and that will last forever depending on the size of the compost pile.

Also, if you can look into native flowers for your area and scatter a ton of seed once you’ve cleared out weeds, they can help to eventually keep the weed population under control. Clover helps with this, too and can be good ground cover. Just wanna make sure it’s not invasive in your area and it doesn’t choke out your natives

Dang that’s cool, I’ll have to try some! Yeah, I mean they do affect how your brain functions in the moment, similar to coffee, green tea, alcohol, etc. But it seems that there may be more long term changes, if we look at the lions mane example. Sounds like a super interesting thing to do a deep dive on, though! Idk if there is a whole lot of scientific literature on them but I like to find peer reviewed scientific articles. If you read just the abstract and the conclusion you usually are able to get the info you’re looking for

So there are a bunch of different things in this post thay seem to need answers so Ill try my best to find resources for you.

First off, neuroprotection is defined as “the relative preservation of neuronal structure and/or function”. So we have thousands if not millions of neurons in our body, and each neuron releases neurotransmitters such as endorphins, serotonin, dopamine etc. To be absorbed by other neurons which affect our mood and bodily functions.

Some fungi, such as Lions mane mushrooms have been shown to potentially aid in neuron growth and improve symptoms of alzheimers. In this way they can be neuroprotective.

Now, it has been found that autistic people experience synaptic pruning at a much, much lower rate than neurotypical people. Synapses are like little connectors that help neurons communicate with eachother. As infants we all experience synaptic overgrowth, then we experience synaptic pruning which gets rid of less efficient connections.

Knowing that, my brain goes to thinking that if anything Lions mane might reinforce some aspects of autism! That’s just my first thought though and is probably inaccurate.

I don’t know much about how adaptogens work, and I’ve never really considered a connection to autism before but I did a little digging but there seems to be no real research on this. From my limited understanding, adaptogens seem to work similar to how ingesting vitamins and minerals might work, or coffee or tea. They also cover a broad range of herbs and fungi and they all work differently.

Do you mind explaining how the cordyceps tea made you feel “less autistic”? So far there is no research indicating that there is or will be any “cure” for autism or way to “rewire your brain” to get rid of your autism. If anything, it is likely that adaptogens might help you feel calmer or more focused, where the stress or anxiety might be caused by overstimulation experienced due to autism. So like the overstimulation may remain but they may help to manage it more effectively. Does that make sense?

Dude I had sega channel, it was so cool! I believe you could play games all the way through and they grouped them by different genres, and the games changed monthly. They also had contests where you could win prizes. I won a backpack for one! Wish I still had it

Had this convo a while ago, and afterwards I thought: why do people need these big ass trucks, when for decades we’ve had powerful enough trucks that did the same things newer giant Rams do? Like people gave been hauling work equipment, farm supplies and campers long before they got as big as they are now.

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