FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Look at that focus!

Hey! Thanks Leah, it's nice to actually put a face on the name!

Hard at work, keeping such a great business oiled. Thanks for the picture Leah, and thanks for all the hard work, both of you

Wow, Matt look very serious

He looks very unwilling to eat the stalk! Is he gonna eat the stalk?

Haha just kidding. Looks very focused x pollinating them.

Thanks for the photo Leah!


Fingered from my Galaxy Nexus

Awesome! I like that tall pot.

Leah, I really like the direction you're taking with these posts. The insider scoops, green house shots, etc. It's pretty cool to get these glimpses into the FTS world.

Hah, what a misleading photo! I look like I'm angry or upset instead of intensely focus on coating that little stigma with pollen. I'm actually quite happy when pollinating those wonderful little flowers!

do you have to label each flower stalk do you don't lose track of what has and has not been pollinated?

akinkysnorlax wrote:do you have to label each flower stalk do you don't lose track of what has and has not been pollinated?

Nah. The flowers are so transient, only lasting a few days, and usually almost immediately start dying after successful pollination, that I pollinate every day any flowers that have stigmas that are still receptive.

Matt, are you slimming down?

Dionae wrote:Matt, are you slimming down?

Hah, how could you tell from this photo!?!

Yes, in fact, I've lost 20 pounds in the last couple of months and continue to lose about a half a pound each day. Initially I was just trying to cut weight to be more fit for open water swimming season this summer (I race a lot of swimming competitions during the summer months). But then I recently made a significant diet change (about 3 or 4 weeks ago), eliminating all animal products from my diet after watching Forks Over Knives and Forks Over Knives - The Extended Interviews and then doing some independent research into the diets of people who live the longest disability-free lives, and diseases caused or worsened by the consumption of meat, dairy and eggs. As a scientist and mathematician, the evidence and data seemed overwhelming to me so I decided to move to a whole foods, plant-based diet, also known as a vegan diet (and Leah decided to join me -- she was already vegetarian and had been her entire life). I am not a strict vegan, however, because I will occasionly eat meat or dairy or eggs if I am eating out or at a friend's house. But no more meat nor dairy nor eggs can be found in the Miller household. So far I'm loving the effects on my body and have noticed fairly significant health changes including reduced joint pain (dairy is very inflammatory, I guess -- I wasn't aware of this), increased energy level, weight loss and many other health improvements.

Kind of ironic to think about thousands of hungry little carnivorous plants all cared for by a couple of vegans

Matt wrote:Kind of ironic to think about thousands of hungry little carnivorous plants all cared for by a couple of vegans

LOL! That *is* unexpected! Congrats on the successful dietary change and all the benefits you're experiencing from it. I had to give up all dairy products many years ago when I became allergic to milk, and I sure don't miss the constantly stuffy nose and bloated stomach. Of course, the dairy industry doesn't ever want people to think about how totally unnatural it is when you consider how humans are the only species that consumes milk from another species *and* so far beyond infancy as well. That stuff is designed to make baby calves put on huge amounts of weight in a very short period of time.

Leo756 wrote:Of course, the dairy industry doesn't ever want people to think about how totally unnatural it is when you consider how humans are the only species that consumes milk from another species *and* so far beyond infancy as well.

That's it exactly. I feel like I've been lied to my entire life about what's healthy to consume and what isn't. Thank goodness for all of the other information outlets nowadays. Mainstream media and parts of the government (i.e. the USDA) are essentially largely controlled by big business, one of those big businesses is the dairy industry, and thus they spoon feed the American public information that those industries would want us to hear in order to purchase their products. Never mind the fact that America is the unhealthiest country in the world with over 1/3 of our population now obese and the two major deathly diseases in the US, heart disease and cancer, are nearly 100% preventable and often curable by a dietary change. I just wish that there were a mainstream media or informational outlet that would disseminate the truth instead of broadcasting whatever they get paid the most to say.

I'll get off my soap box now....sorry...

You are so right, Matt. (Yer preachin' the choir here, bud!) I worked in a health food store for about seven years, and I've always had multiple food allergies, so nutrition has always been one of my main areas of interest. I've always been really angered by "the big lie" too, especially since doctors kept feeding me antibiotics for respiratory infections for the first 30 years of my life until it totally wrecked the floral balance in my gut and caused so much permanent damage to my immune system. ("First do no harm..." Yeah, right. What a joke.) Like you said, it all comes down to money, and if you ask me, there actually is no "care" in the health care *industry*.

My soap box is bigger than yours!

Great photo, that. Congratulations on your new diet, Matt. If you ever fancy doing a breakdown and posting it please do Some of us have a few health issues that might be greatly benefitted by what you've learned so if you fancy getting out that soap box again... please do.

Wonderful! Looking forward to more INTENSE and DRAMATIC photographs! <Dramatic pose>