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Jam Fool

@briarpatch-kids

Call me Briar! 28 they/them, nblm and happily married. thembo rights, professional jam clown and wheelchair user

Hello! I'm Briar and here are the basics!

  • My blog is kind of a messy space like the rest of my life, so there's a lot here.
  • I mainly post about my garden, fiber arts, sewing, canning, the cat, the ducks, and disability topics.
  • I'm a full time wheelchair user with some kinda metabolic/mitochondrial disease, mostly what we know right now is that I've got literally half the mitochondria I'm supposed to and that's a Problem.
  • My health is super variable because of the above. If I overdo it or get sick Bad Things Happen and I've been told by my doctor I should look at flares in terms of weeks to months rather than day to day. That said my health is improving and I usually only need serious help getting up and down once or twice a week now!
  • If you want to use any of my photos or video for a stimboard or moodboard, just tag me or send it to me so I can see your art!

BUSINESS STUFF

Commissions are open

Current project: a wheelchair set for @frozenrose13

Waitlist:

  1. @tardis-scooter (won't let me tag for some reason) an Ace Flag and potentially Firefly themed wheelchair set
  2. (open)
  3. (open)
  • I take sewing, dyework, spinning, and fiber art commissions and I work closely with a crocheter. If you have a design on paper already, or a good idea of what you want, DM me and I can work out a quote for you. The general formula is materials + $15 an hour labor if you want an idea.
  • Turnover for large sewing projects is usually a month, spinning is a week or two. Hand dyeing is a week, but anything that involves crochet depend on my colleague's availability. If I need to order supplies, it can add a week to the turnaround though.
  • I also sell old fashioned jam during the summer. If you have specific allergies or would like a special kind of jam, you can order a whole batch at the same price per jar. ($5 a jar unless it's wild foraged, then it's $10) DM me if you would like to reserve a jar if you see one you'd like before it makes it online. Shipping's a beast though.

Moral stuff

  • This is a trans and ace inclusive space. Don't play those games or I'll block you.
  • I have friends here who are intellectually disabled and proud of it. If you're mean to someone for their typing or asking a question that can easily be googled I will call you out on it. Same goes for ableism of any other kind.
  • This is an anti racist and anti facist space. Black Lives Matter.
  • Please don't drag me into fanfiction stuff. I don't read it, I don't really involve myself in fandom, I've never been on Ao3. Just don't be a creep and write nsfw stories about kids or real living people. It's gross okay?
  • I say queer. I won't tag it, I won't stop saying it, it's part of my identity, don't ask unless you want a rant about it.

Communication

  • My anons are on and I really appreciate people letting me know when I say something inappropriate or short sighted. I'm on the autism spectrum and working really hard to grow as a person so feedback is a good thing!
  • I also love it when anons and such tell me fun facts or talk about their day if it was interesting or whatever.
  • I generally try to answer DMs and asks as soon as possible but sometimes they get lost. If I haven't after a few days, please don't assume it's because I don't like you or whatever. It's because I didn't have the social energy and put it off, then my memory sucks so I've forgotten or it didn't go through so you're welcome to send it again.
  • I don't have the energy for group chats, I'm sorry. I want to, but I inevitably burn out my social energy in a week and then ghost and feel bad about it.
  • I've had a pretty variable disability experience because I went from able bodied and capable of running miles to a full time wheelchair user who needs assistance with every day tasks slowly over 7 years. I'm happy to answer most good faith questions about disability, mobility aids, and the like.
  • Anyone is welcome to ask for a plain language explanation of something. I will not be rude or snarky about it if you want an easy to understand answer.
  • I don't reblog funding requests, I'm sorry. I'm disabled and trans and so are most of my friends so I see one every fourth post and it's really rough on my mental health. I have a small budget that I use to donate when I'm able to instead.

I saw two guys walking around the pond in their works shirts and then one of them was gone and all I could think was "where's your buddy :("

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for the record, disabled people don't have to automatically know their limits. we are allowed to push ourselves and learn our limitations. what is not allowed is able bodied or even other disabled people who think they know us tell us that we have to keep going. my disability and body are not science projects for anyone to play with.

I've had a good day today. Got a shower, made some bread, went to the pond with my husand mother in law and her elderly dog, played some video games, and then made grilled cheese in the oven and ATE a grilled cheese. (With the homemade bread) and still had energy to make a little cocktail for my beautiful husband later on. That's a LOT for me. Like... a lot a lot. I'm extremely happy.