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Don’t Plant Invasive Species In Coastal NC

29 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by La Mushpa in Environment, Government, Green, How-To, Outdoors, Woman Owned Business

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Audubon, Beach vitex, Cara Reynolds, Carman and Brotherson, coastal nc, coastal NC invasive plants, coastal north carolina, Cortaderia selloana, invasive shrub, invasive species, Maryland, Mushpa & Mensa, Mushpa + Mensa, Mushpa Y Mensa, Native Plant Finder, North Carolina, Pampas grass, Salt cedar, Saltcedar, sea turtle, Tamarix spp., U.S. Forest Service, Vitex rotundifolia

The vine that ate the South.

Kudzu – The Vine That Ate The South

If you are not looking for another Kudzu disaster, I would recommend NOT planting these 4 invasive species in Coastal North Carolina or anywhere in the United States honestly.

Let us start with the infamous Saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima). Tamarix ramosissima has naturalized and become a major invasive plant species in parts of the world, consuming large amounts of groundwater in riparian (relating to or situated on the banks of a river) and oasis habitats due to the density of its stands. The high salt level in tamarisk infiltrates the soil, preventing other plants from growing, creating a tamarisk-dominant forest with no understory, void of important habitat for pollinators and other native species. Tamarisk forests also tend to burn hotter than most native riparian trees, worsening the fire hazard of acres of uninterrupted tamarisk and their risk to human structures.

Native To:
Eurasia (Carman and Brotherson 1982)
Date of U.S. Introduction:
Early 1800s (Carman and Brotherson 1982)
Means of Introduction:
Ornamental (Carman and Brotherson 1982)
Impact: Lowers the water table & creates large deposits of salt in the soil (Di Tomaso 1998)

Next on the list is the Thorny-olive (Elaeagnus pungens).

This exotic invasive species (native to Asia) has become a serious ecological pest in North Carolina, displacing native vegetation in many forested and forest edge habitats.  Exotic invasive from Japan, this shrub to small tree grows along wooded edges in suburban areas in the eastern half of North Carolina.

Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) is coming for you North Carolina!

What problems does pampas grass cause?

It forms dense, often impenetrable, stands that can damage grazing lands and affect visibility on roads. Pampas grass increases its density and colonizes semi-natural areas in a short period of time, being a threat to native plant diversity. Due to low decomposition rates of standing dead leaves and senescing panicles, it increases fire risk. The sharp leaves can produce superficial cuts and flowers may provoke allergies in summer. Their large size significantly reduces light availability, blocking out native species.

Beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) is sea turtles’ enemy!

Beach vitex is a salt-tolerant, perennial, invasive shrub that has naturalized in coastal areas of the southeastern United States. Since its introduction in the 1980s, this Pacific Rim native has invaded many fragile beach-dune ecosystems along the Mid-Atlantic, Southern Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico. Large-scale monocultures of beach vitex supplant native species through rapid vegetative reproduction and seed production. Fruits are capable of water-based dispersal, allowing for potential rapid range expansion in coastal areas. Ecosystem damage resulting from exclusion of native plant species by beach vitex and fears associated with potential negative effects on sea turtle nesting have served to promote the control and survey efforts presently underway in coastal areas of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland.

Here are some sites that will help you find native plants to your area.

Audubon – https://www.audubon.org/native-plants

Native Plant Finder – https://www.nwf.org/nativePlantFinder/plants

U.S. Forest Service – https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/Native_Plant_Materials/Native_Gardening/index.shtml

People remember, before you seed, read! :] Knowledge is power.

– Mushpa (aka Cara)

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We’re Off Again

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by La Mushpa in Woman Owned Business

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African, Alice Merton, and a Children's Universe tent, Appalachian, art, Art Market, artisan market, artisans, artist, arts, Arts & Live Music, arts and crafts, Awesome Event, Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway, bluegrass, Cajun, Cara Reynolds, Children's Universe tent, clay beads, clothes, compost, craft market, crafts, dance workshops, eco fi felt, eco-friendly, face painting, fashion, felt, Floyd, Floyd Festival, FloydFest, folk, freedom, Games and Activities, handcraft vendors, handmade, Happiness, healthy living products, homemade, jewlery, kids activities, lesbian, local, local arts and crafts, local craftsmen, love, Maria Emilia Borja, morning yoga lessons, Mushpa + Mensa, Mushpa Y Mensa, music festival, No Roots, North Carolina, or Zydeco, organic, organic cotton, peace, plush animals, poetry readings, queer, reggae, rock, screen printing, soaps, story telling, t shirt designs, t-shirts, upcycled pillows, Virginia, woodworking, world music, Yiddish, Yoga, Zydeco

Our home has never been on the ground.

We are off to the next adventure tomorrow.

We’ve got no roots!

– Mushpa

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Last Minute Women’s March Sign Ideas

20 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by La Mushpa in active, Activism, Art, Cuban, Documentary, Ecuadorian, Environment, Feminism, Gay, gOD, Government, Green, happiness, Health Care, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbian, Love, Love is Love, News, north carolina, Political, Politics, Queer, Quote, revolution, The South, Woman Owned Business, Women

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activism, art, Audre Lorde, Awesome Event, be brave, Cara Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, Ecuadorian, environment, Feminism, gay, God, Government, green, Happiness, Health Care, inspiration, Latina, lesbian, love, Love is Love, March, march signs, Maria Emilia Borja, NC, North Carolina, political, politics, Princess Leigh, Protest, protest march signs, protest signs, queer, recycled, resistance, revoltion signs, revolution, Sign Ideas, Star Wars, The South, Voltaire, wilmington, Woman Owned Business, Women's March, Women's March Sign Ideas, WomenAlice Walker

If you are anything like us, we can get real close to the time of whatever-it-may-be and then get what needs to be done, last minute style, done. Don’t get us wrong, we do it well under pressure. The Women’s March tomorrow is no different. We are going to wake up around 7AM to get our signs done to get out to our local Wilmington, NC Women’s March. I did some image research and quote digging and came up with 10 good sign suggestions off the World Wide Web.

  1. We go high.
  2. Your silence will not protect you.
  3. Nasty Woman
  4. “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities” Voltaire
  5. Hate Kills
  6. “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” Audre Lorde
  7. Woman’s place is in the resistance. (in reference to Carrie Fisher…Princess Leigh….Star Wars. You get it.)
  8. I am stronger than fear.
  9. Truth matters.
  10. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”  Alice Walker

Get your recycled pieces of boxes, cardboard, old sheets and get to creating. We will collectively be with every human at every women’s march tomorrow. We love you.

womens-marchLove trumps hate. Be brave.

Cara and Maria Emilia

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Mushpa + Mensa in the 21st Annual Cucalorus Film Festival 10×10

18 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by La Mushpa in Art, Clothes, Comedy, DIY, Documentary, Fashion, Feminism, Film, Green, Homemade, Jewelry, Kickstarter, Latina, north carolina, Organic, Small Business, T-shirts, The South, Video, Woman Owned Business

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10x10, 21st annual Cucalorus Film Festival, Andy Nielsen, artist, Brianna Okamoto, Cara Reynolds, CastleBranch Inc, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cucalorus, Cucalorus 10x10, handmade, Hillary Scott, ILM, Josh Stowe, kickstarter, Maria Emilia Borja, Mushpa + Mensa, Mushpa + Mensa in the 21st annual Cucalorus Film Festival 10x10 2015, Mushpa Y Mensa, North Carolina, Norwood Cheek, Stray Local, tekMountain, Willow Garden, wilmington

 

Last week we went to Cucalorus’s opening night party.

The next day I got the flu.

The next day we made a movie.

The next day I was in the ER.

The next day I hurled all day.

The next day we were at the Cucalorus 10×10 Screening and CONNECT Presenters Party.

This was my last week and this is the film we made with our great team (Brianna Okamoto, Josh Stowe, Andy Nielsen, Hillary Scott). I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, the movie that is, but when you have a dream and are given an amazing opportunity you push through it all to get there.

-Mushpa

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Art Filled Weekend in North Carolina

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by La Mensa in Art, art and craft show, Inspiration, Music, music festival, north carolina

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art for the masses, carolina pine music festival, ILM, life money, Mushpa Y Mensa, North Carolina, Stray Local, uncw, wilmington

Hi All!

Feeling the autumn yet? Well in North Carolina we are JUST about starting to feel the chill. And moving from the big apple, I cannot complain. It’s a chill that cools my toes, and makes the heart warm.

Our journey in North Carolina has been wonderful so far. Having the art truck open has made me think about life quite differently. Richness comes through other means, other than the monetary. And of course that is the cliche. But one thing is saying it, and another is living it. At first every time a bill would come through our mail, my stomach would turn, and I would start worrying about how is it that we were gonna cover this one. But God always had my back, the Universe made it happen, and we always had money to pay it in the end.

Today another financial conundrum came our way. And that same stomach churning was starting to drag me down. But after shaking myself, I thought, don’t we ALWAYS make it happen some way? I said, yes. We do. And that’s when I things seemed a little more clear. All this life we are living, selling our art. This is why I am here. These moments of financial strains are the small price to pay for living the life I want. And once I learn how to deal with them, instead of letting them smack me in the face, I will deflect them away from me  and my environment and put them in a box of with some other papers that hold little value in life that will eventually be taken care of. Keeping the focus on life money, not real money,  is the best way to deal. Because always God will have my back. And that box of bills is only a box. And the only box that matters is the box truck where we sell our art. Where we are making our dream happen. And the beauty, the creativity, the human connections that spills out of that box is worth so much more than any pink envelope with a notice.

So in the spirit of the chilly winds, and the beauty that surrounds us in these Carolinas, I invite you to join us to TWO AMAZING events we are going to be at this weekend Nov 21-22.

1. Art for the Masses. Because art that the masses cannot enjoy, is never the intent of the artists. All artists want art for all. So we make it accessible for you.

2. Carolina Pine Music Festival. Because Music + Art + Food is the best combination that humans have been able to create over the centuries, and there is never too much of that.

And with that I will leave you with a little sound to the ears from one of the coolest music makers in Wilmington. Stray Local. Make sure to check them out on Sunday at the Carolina Pine Music Festival’s Art Factory where among other artists, and ourselves, we will all be.

Hope to see you there!

Mensa

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We Got Into the Leaf Festival

27 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by La Mushpa in Art, craft, crafts, Cuban, Dance, Documentary, Ecuadorian, Environment, Fashion, Gay, gOD, Green, happiness, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbian, Literature, Love, Organic, Poetry, Queer, sewing, Small Business, Spoken Word, T-shirts, Video, Woman Owned Business, Women, You Tube

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art, artist, Cara Reynolds, clay bead necklace, clay beads, crafts, DAS, diy, eco-friendly, etsy, fashion, fear, felt, gay, God, God is a Woman, handmade, Happiness, homemade, jewlery, Leaf Festival, lesbian, love, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, North Carolina, organic, queer, screen printing, stuffed animal

We got into the Leaf Festival. I was unaware of how much I was pulling away from faith, mysticism and the Truth until I watched this video. I have been worrying about bills, money, and bullshit and forgetting about miracles, beauty and truth. Logistics are a lie. I am blessed and amazing and God is good. I’ve got nothing to worry about.

Everything is better than okay. I got into the Leaf Festival and have nothing to fear but fear itself.

:]

-Mushpa

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My Criminal Mind

18 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by La Mushpa in Art, happiness, Inspiration, Literature, Quote, TV

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1956, Cara Reynolds, Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds Quotes, Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself, Jean Stein, Jefferson, literature, Mississippi, North Carolina, quote, The Paris Review interview, The Sound and the Fury, Wallace, William Faulkner, Writers at Work

First edition cover of The Sound and the Fury

Last night I was watching Criminal Minds. It is great-ish show. I have a somewhat odd interest in serial killers, sociopaths, psychopaths, and the un-rested. At times I have to mute it and look away, which thankfully confirms I am not a sociopath. ;]

I am interested in things that are a conundrum of the norm. Events, circumstances and people that make me question, that propel me to discover more through knowledge and my own truth that comes from wherever it comes from. I also like the nerd factoids and of course the quotes.

On to the point, this was a long intro to basically let people know that I am going to start posting some of the quotes from this show on a regular basis. Yes, I am that nerdy. B] I like quotes because they inspire me not only to be different, but get me interested and/or remind me of people, books, periods that help me evolve, to understand things, and to not feel so alone in this world. They move me. Anything that gets me to pick up a book is a good thing.

The quote from last night I am posting is by William Faulkner.

“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”   –  William Faulkner (The Paris Review interview (1956) with Jean Stein; later published in Writers at Work)

Anyway…hope you are into it. I am going to read, “The Sound and the Fury” because of this and because I am living in rural North Carolina, I know nothing about Jefferson, Mississippi and my cat’s name is Jefferson, so let’s do this.

– Mushpa

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