free as a bird.

Straightened my hair (kinda) to see how long it was. Niceee.
Grow, grow!

16th May 2013✧12:126 notes

“During the first years of the sixteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci made careful observations of the Black Kites, larks, and other species common to the Italian countryside, jotting down his ideas in a private notebook that came to be called Codex on the Flight of Birds. Leonardo’s designs for flying machines included a now-famous illustration of a primitive helicopter, as well as a flapping Icarus-style flier, but the most important pictures in the book may be a series of small birds sketched casually in the margins. They look like pigeons in flight, showing a variety of postures and depicting the birds with lines of air passing under and over each wing. Combined with his text on the “thickness” and “thinness” of air, these pictures make plain that Leonardo had begun to intuit the importance and function of airfoils.”

Thor Hanson, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle.

12th May 2013✧09:1911 notes

leonardo da vinci feathers evolution of flight airfoils science nature illustration scientific illustration Codex on the Flight of Birds aviation

The pithouhi secretes a powerful neurotoxin that covers it’s sleek feathers to help fight off parasites. It is the only bird that has evolved a way to make it. Its thought that they harnessed the ability to do this by a co-opting a chemical from certain beetles in their diet. It’s the same poison produced by dart/arrow frogs.

10th May 2013✧18:4935 notes

science biology nature pitouhi bird zoology

9th May 2013✧20:3921,742 notes

(via ittybittyliving)

8th May 2013✧13:4515,823 notes

Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle, is my newest read thanks to a wonderful friend who sent it to me in a package. I cannot WAIT to start it. It’s been on my list for quite some time.
You can read a nice article about the book and it’s significance over at Scientific American.

8th May 2013✧09:15

zoology book feathers birds evolution science biology

(via Queen Anne’s Lace / candace jean)
In Second Nature, Pollan speaks about “weeds” a lot. In fact, he dedicates a whole chapter. He has changed my perspective on them. He says,

“a weed is simply a plant whose virtues we haven’t discovered yet. ‘Weed’ is not a category of nature but a human construct, a defect of our perception.”

Take the “weed” drawn in this lovely illustration above, commonly known as Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota). I saw this plant all the time as a child but never gave it much thought. Did you know that it is a wild carrot?! The root is edible while the plant is young (it becomes woody with maturation).
On another note, you should check out Candace Jean’s prints & products. I hope to purchase one to hang in our cabin. She weaves nature into her work so beautifully.

8th May 2013✧09:021 note

queen anne's lace daucus carota plant art nature wild carrot

theuncarved-block:

Sara and I planted a new set of tomatoes (black krim) and this yautia was nestled in the middle of where our bed was supposed to be. We dug it up and transplanted it to a better spot!

You can eat the root (tuber) but it’s very beautiful to grow for the leaves also.

Lots of exciting things happening on my other blog! But, let’s be real, I just wanted to reblog this picture of my hot girlfriend. ;)

5th May 2013✧19:4119 notes

2nd May 2013✧21:1240 notes

so good seriously though

(via Green Kitchen Stories » Veggie Tower)

2nd May 2013✧14:343 notes

recipe food vegetarian