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Katherine A Preston

@katherineapreston.bsky.social

If I'm not outside looking at plants I want to be teaching about them, writing about them, or playing with them in my kitchen. You can read my co-authored writing here: https://gather-and-sow.ghost.io/. I reject all optional cookies.

123 Posts125 Follower76 Folgt
Katherine A Preston@katherineapreston.bsky.social · 3w ago

Can anyone help ID this plant? In Aburi Botanical Garden near Accra in grove with edible or medicinal species. Opp leaves, fruit avocado-like (drupe?) but fruits on ground had very fibrous mesocarp. Not necessarily native to region. (plant lists from the garden are patchy and/or very old)

Most fruits were not paired like thisLast of the flowers. Couldn't get close.Leaves and fruits
Katherine A Preston@katherineapreston.bsky.social · last mo.

Our August newsletter is out, and it's all about stone fruits, the origin of the peach butt shape, and the weird biochemistry of the Amygdaloideae, plus a recipe for peach-mint jam and our usual roundup of recent papers and one oldie.

The Botanist in the Kitchen@bitkblog.bsky.social · last mo.

Peaches and other stone fruits are the stars of the August 2026 edition of our Gather and Sow newsletter. gather-and-sow.ghost.io/gather-and-s...

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra@jrossibarra.bsky.social · last mo.

Hive Mind: an undergrad in my REU program made a wonderful kids picture book about her project complete with text boxes for grownups explaining the science. I’d love for her to get some kind of credit for publishing it somehow. Ideas??

Katherine A Preston@katherineapreston.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Why do we say "piece of fruit" when we mean one whole fruit? Is there some mass of all fruit on earth and one peach is a piece of it? If so, why don't we say "piece of peach" unless we mean a chunk of peach? And a piece of corn is hundreds of whole fruits! But piece of chocolate makes 100% sense.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2mo ago

11. I don't think I have to help anyone read between the lines here. AI: good. Universities: bad. Trades: good. Academics: bad. It's a straightforward continuation of the Vought/Vance "the universities are the enemy" program.

Fourth, we must prepare our research enterprise for the AI revolution. AI will accelerate and radically transform the way we do science. But even the most capable AI models will be slowed down in the bottleneck of institutions and systems built for the last century. As we renew the infrastructure that powers American science, we must reengineer it for the AI age. And even as AI compresses the time from question to answer, we will still need human hands to build the instrument or prototype. We must build that capacity, too, investing in advanced manufacturing, the skilled trades, and the vast pools of talent and tacit knowledge outside the traditional academic pipeline.
Rep. Sean Casten@casten.house.gov · 4mo ago

Democracy does not erode overnight. It erodes when those elected to defend it choose silence instead. Congress has both the authority and the responsibility to push back against judicial overreach. As a member of this legislative body, I chose to stand up and do exactly that.

Science Magazine@science.org · 5mo ago

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

scim.ag

The Botanist in the Kitchen@bitkblog.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The May 2026 issue of our Gather and Sow newsletter is out. In Food for Thought, we argue that Mother’s Day should include more coconut. In Botany Lab of the Month we make Extreme Monocot Cookies. We end with our literature and media roundup. gather-and-sow.ghost.io/gather-and-s...

Gather and Sow: May 2026

Coconut palms grow some of the biggest seeds on the planet, and vanilla seeds, from an orchid, are among the smallest. They are both delicious! They are also the subjects of this month’s newsletter. J...

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Alone Crawford@kellylink.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This Is Just To Say I have turned off the AI features that were in the update and which you were probably hoping to monetize Fuck you they were stupid so unnecessary and so annoying

The Botanist in the Kitchen@bitkblog.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Gather and Sow: April 2026 newsletter is out, just in time for Easter. We write about betalains, the pigments that impart brilliant colors to beets and their relatives. And we dye Easter eggs with plant dyes, make violet syrup, and learn about pH. gather-and-sow.ghost.io/gather-and-s...

Gather and Sow: April 2026

This month’s newsletter lands just in time for Easter. If you haven’t dyed eggs yet, consider making homemade dyes from a variety of plants. The recipe is below in Botany Lab of the Month: Dyeing East...

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Katherine A Preston@katherineapreston.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Happy St. David's Day and Women's History Month. The Botanists in the Kitchen celebrate both in this month's newsletter. gather-and-sow.ghost.io/gather-and-s... Leeks and extreme "female" plant parts saffron & corn silk. And don't miss our love for Katherine Esau and Barbara McClintock near the end.

Gather and Sow: March 2026

We observe two holidays in this March 2026 issue of Gather and Sow: St. David’s Day (March 1st) and Women’s History Month (all of March), which coincides with International Women’s Day on March 8th.  ...

gather-and-sow.ghost.io