Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
@ndmonaghan.bsky.social
880 followers 460 following 710 posts
Agriculturalist 🥦 Plant nerd 🌷 Global citizen 🤝 | Mizzou Center for Agroforestry graduate | he/him | I write about landscapes, food, and related topics @ ndmonaghan.substack.com
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ndmonaghan.bsky.social
With the flux of new users, I thought I'd reintroduce myself!

I'm Nolan, a grad student at Mizzou studying perennial agriculture, polycultures, soil health, and sustainable food systems. I'm also a baker and bike rider.

I write about food, science, landscapes, and related topics on my blog.
Headwaters | Nolan Monaghan | Substack
Exploring landscapes, food, and a Midwestern life. Click to read Headwaters, by Nolan Monaghan, a Substack publication. Launched 2 years ago.
ndmonaghan.substack.com
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
mychal3ts.bsky.social
Reading Rainbow emphasis is encouraging kids to read. The focus is not on teaching them to read. The mission is reading should be fun!

We are all readers, worthy of literacy. LeVar Burton said “but you don’t have to take my word for it” because he wanted us to look to the books. That’s the beauty 💚
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Jake is a wonderful reporter, and I'm excited to see his debut in Offrange! Check out this great piece
jessehirsch.bsky.social
Migrant farm labor is a huge topic right now, but we took a look at a different type of farmworker: teenagers.

Jake Zajkowski reports on whether teen carveouts for agriculture will last in the face of changing labor laws and hiring practices:
ambrook.com/offrange/lab...
Teens in the Tassels: How Youth Farm Labor Still Powers the Midwest - Offrange
Corn detasseling continues to be a beloved Midwestern tradition, as youth labor regulations progress and migrant workers compete with the young workforce.
ambrook.com
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
How do I make my dream owning of a quaint country acreage compatible with my other dream of never owning a car again
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Much discussion surrounding the fertility transition focuses on its macro-level affects on the economy and society. Here, I explore how demographic change will impact everyday lived experiences
Demographic Change and Life Experiences
How the fertility transition will change the rhythms of life
open.substack.com
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
I have a sudden urge to clean the garage and listen to AM radio

I'm ready to be a father
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
paulwaldman.bsky.social
1. More Americans work at the Cheesecake Factory than in the entire coal industry, and that won't change. It's because of automation, not snooty libs.

2. Coal energy is now more expensive than wind and solar.

3. So this means: higher energy prices, more pollution, no jobs benefit. Genius!
atrupar.com
Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Fox: "We're announcing today expanded programs to help the American coal industry. We're helping it because for years it has been under assault. It was out of fashion with the chardonnay set in San Francisco, Boulder, and NYC ... coal just makes the world go round."
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Aside from actually programing models, I genuinely don't understand what skills are necessary for using AI, at least for LLMs. Prompt engineering seems like something you could learn over a weekend. What is there to train people on?
matt94250.bsky.social
If you don’t teach your students how to use AI, you’re doing them a huge disservice because they won’t have jobs in the future.
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
drkatemarvel.bsky.social
my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Sleighbells exist because it's quite difficult to brake a sleigh traveling over snow, so folks put bells on them to warn people of their approach

The reason they're associated with Christmas is that mailmen used sleighs in the winter, and the bells signaled to kids that presents may be coming
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
I'm not sure what's going on, but this year's freshman class is giving me ... what was that word ... hope?

They're energized and excited, they're doing the reading and doing it well, they're asking great questions and offering smart answers too.

Is this just me or are others seeing it?
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Xiaomi, one of China's biggest tech companies, sounds a lot like my old bosses cat's name. So whenever I'm reading EV news, I can't help but imagine cars made by this little goblin
A grey cat sitting on a blue cushion in a white chair nuzzling its head with its paw
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
how-sen.com
We are entering an era where home systems and appliances will themselves be batteries, building resilience from blackouts and giving buildings options to capture more energy than they need.
Press release from Carrier

Field trials underway for next-generation battery-enabled HVAC systems to strengthen the grid

Field trials underway for next-generation battery-enabled HVAC systems to strengthen the grid

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Sept. 17, 2025

/PRNewswire/ -- Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, has begun its first field trials of battery-enabled HVAC systems to test how they can store and shift energy when the grid needs it most.
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Sooooo, what are the chances these are propaganda tools?
A screenshot displaying two Instagram "chat with AI" services. The first one is "what political party fits you" and the second one reads "democrat or republican?"
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
I just learned that, as Polynesian settlers migrated to Hawaii that many of the plants they brought along, such as arrowroot and breadfruit, were not brought as seeds, but as vegetative cuttings

Keeping slips and cuttings alive while sailing across the ocean in open air boats is an incredible feat
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
respectmovoters.org
Such great turnout tonight at our St. Louis launch event!!
Three volunteers wearing yellow shirts that say "Volunteer" on the back listen to speakers at the St. Louis launch event for Respect MO Voters.
Reposted by Nolan is raising cherries ⋆ ˚。🌸⋆ ˚。
waiterich.bsky.social
Check out our team’s new paper about reducing nitrogen losses in US row-crop agriculture, by @mikebadzmierowski.bsky.social.

Nitrogen is essential for crop production, but its overuse reduces air and water quality and emits potent GHGs. This paper examines solutions.

www.wri.org/research/red...
Reducing Nitrogen Losses in US Row-Crop Agriculture: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Pathways

Mike Badzmierowski

Executive Summary
Highlights
• Nitrogen is essential for crop production, but its excessive use leads to significant air- and water-borne environmental losses. Nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas (GHG) 273 times more potent than carbon dioxide and the current leading contributor to ozone depletion, is released particularly from over-applied nitrogen. The costs of agricultural nitrogen pollution in the United States likely surpass US$200 billion, primarily due to its impact on air and water quality.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that half of US agricultural GHG emissions are nitrous oxide (EPA 2024). New measurements suggest EPA models underestimate emissions, particularly as rising temperatures may increase emission rates.
• Uniform application rates are inefficient due to variability within fields.
Reduced nitrogen rate applications through precision nitrogen manage-ment, leveraging on-farm trials, and improved irrigation are effective strategies for reducing nitrogen losses and fertilizer waste, thereby enhancing farmer profitability. Nitrification inhibitors are likely to be site- and time-dependent regarding their nitrogen loss potential.
• Implementing a "National Nitrogen Initiative" could help improve fertilizer use and boost farmer profitability. With just 24 percent of cropland contributing 63 percent of the nation's nitrogen surplus (Roy et al. 2021), the focus should start in "hotspot regions."
ndmonaghan.bsky.social
Absolutely! Thanks for the added thoughts.

What I'm curious to see if the main drivers of adoption come when yield parity is achieved (at various benchmarks, as you pointed out) or through drops in input costs when perennial crops are at partial parity. A fascinating field to watch