Category: Comics

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Autobiographical comics Comics Sustainability comics Working in research

Traveling by land, Germany to Italy and back!

“Germany? What do you mean Germany, H-P, you’re Finnish?” Yes, I am, but I only started drawing since leaving Germany. Last summer I went to Trento Italy for an ethnography and qualitative research conference together with my colleagues Juulia and Carmen. I traveled through Berlin where I also met a long time Instagram friend! I made this comic during the long train rides and I first published it on my Patreon for backers only. Now it’s been a while since that happened, so I decided to make it public.

I think people are interested in doing longer travels by land, but they might be worried if it’s really difficult. And yes, it is more difficult than flying. But it’s also amazing and exciting and relaxing and part of the whole experience of traveling! So maybe this comic can inspire you to try out something other than a plane next time you travel.

The reason I’m posting this comic now is that I’m leaving to Angoulême in France tomorrow! And I’ll be traveling by land again! That reminded me of this comic. I don’t know if I will draw a travel diary this time, but I’m thinking about it. I’m traveling together with a friend of mine, the Finnish comics artist Siiri Viljakka.

These two photos are taken from a moving train! That’s Alps! Incredible.
This is a river from Trento in Italy. We took a cable car from where the photo was taken to that building you can see on top of the mountain!

This photo was taken from the mountain where we got to with the cable car. I had thought Trento to be way smaller of a town than what it turned out to be! It was weird seeing it all laid out like that. The size of the mountains is something I as a Finnish person will never understand. (We have no mountains in Finland. I even happen to be from an area of Finland that’s the former sea floor! Osthrobothnia that is.)

Wouldn’t you like to study here? Well I did! This is the courtyard of the Trento public library. I went here to work on my university stuff.

Now that I’m traveling in January, the views will be completely different from what they were in June. Our route takes us from Stockholm (Sweden) to Copenhagen (Denmark) to Strasbourg (France) and then finally to Angoulême (France) to attend the gigantic comics festival held there every year! I’ll try to at least write a blog post about it, even if I wouldn’t necessarily draw a comic. We’ll see!

Now that you’re here, consider this. You become my Patreon backer, I make more comics! Sounds great, right? Here you go:

Support me on patreon

Are you into reading more comics? Check out all of the comics I’ve posted on my blog here on my Comics tag!

Categories
Comics Sustainability comics

How to Be a Conscious Consumer? You can’t.

You have probably read about a million articles on how to be a conscious consumer. I have too, we all have. But I have come to the realization that this whole conscious consumer thing is a hoax and a lie. If you think we can be wasteful or not be wasteful, but being a conscious consumer will not save the world, you’re absolutely right! Unfortunately media wants to tell us that with small changes we can change the world.

I love small changes, my whole blog is filled with small changes! But I don’t believe those will change the world if we don’t also make big political changes. This is why I made this comic.

Title: I don't give a flying f**k about being a conscious consumer. Let me explain why. Image: H-P, a bald man in a green sweater is smiling a forced smile spreading his hands. This is clrearly not a how to be a conscious consumer comic.
Panel 1: Text: Our system is broken. It wants consumers to make a change, yet make it almost impossible. Image: H-P is looking at things in sale in a store. He looks worried. The things in sale have ads that say: Made by hand from dead kittens! $3,99. Made in USA from Puppies we killed, $2,45. Good people buy brand X, $1,09. Panel 2: Text: I'm not interested in that. Image: H-P looks at the reader looking angry. Panel 3: Text: I'm interested in changing the system. Image: H-P has a sly expression, he smiles, he touches his forehead like he just got an idea.
This page has two timelines. Timeline 1: Text: Here's an example. Right now I produce about 11kg of food waste a year. To reduce waste, I can compost it all in my own home. Working like this for 10 years I reduce 110kg of waste! Images: H-P first looks at a sack on waste sadly, he then puts it in bokashi compost, then he stands proudly next to 110kg of ready made compost! Timeline 2: Text: One pupil produces 0,10kg of food waste every day. A school of 600 students produces 1140kg of food waste every year. I work towards a policy change that leftover food is redistributed, thus reducing the food waste by 50%. I have reduced 570kg of waste every year. Images: A student's plate is almost empty, but there's 0,10kg of things they don't want to eat on it. A school cafeteria lady then takes a huge wheelbarrow full of waste on already big pile of waste. Then the lunchlady suddenly changes, she's now giving the food to a man who has a beard and his clothes are a bit broken. They both look happy.
Panel 1: Text: It would take me over 50 years of composting to come even close to the impact one school has in a year! Image: H-P has grown old. He has a bald head and the sides are growing long grey hair. He also has long grey beard and he's missing a few teeth. Panel 2: Text: Even if it would take me 10 years to get the policy change to get through, it's absolutely worth it! Image: H-P looks at calendar pages. They start from 2013 and they all have red crosses on them, expect the last one from year 2022 that says DONE and has a green chack mark on it.
Panel 1: Text: It's time to stop obsessing over our performative #zerowastelifestyles Image: H-P has a red shirt that says Brand X. He's in front of a video camera and he's holding a tube that says Eco-deo. He's clearly filming a conscious consumer ad. Panel 2. Text: Frankly that's (picture of a bull taking a dump) designed to make us feel like we're doing something when we're only using our limited time so we can't do what we actually need to do... Image: H-P is looking at his phone very nervously, he's sweating a lot.
One big image! Big text: We need to become politically active!!! Small text: Voting is a start. But it's not nearly enough. Image: H'P looks feral. His teeth are sharp and his eyes have no pupils. He's sliding a vote into a voting ballot box.
Panel 1: Text: Search for a small local environmental/leftist organizations. Join them! Image: H-P is walking towards people who are holding hands. He's waving at them. First in the line of people is a man with dapper style and a leather jacket who extends his hand to H-P. Next to him is a woman in traditional Finnish Roma dress, next to her is a woman with afro hair and casual shirt, hoop earrings, scarf around her neck and jeans. Next to her is an older balding man in a suit jacket and sweater. Panel 2: Text: Offer your skills! That's how I did it! Uhh, hello! I have no idea if I'm in the right place, but I can draw comics and comics are a really good way to make information accessible! If you have any ideas on how my skills could help you out, please let me know! Image: H-P is holding comics in his hand. He looks very nervous but he smiles. He's also shaking a bit. He's talking to a long haired woman and a man with glasses. Both people smile gently at him.
Panel 1: Text: When I first joined the Left Alliance of Vantaa I knew nothing! It's okay to just go in to learn first. I sat through a dozen zoom meetings just listening and learning before I said anything. Image: H-P is sitting in front of a computer, he's wearing a pair of headphones. There's a zoom conference going on on the screen. Panel 2: Text: Climate is in crisis! Start actively learning about local politics and activism now and stop pretending that buying a reusable straw will make any actual difference. Image: H-P looks very tired as he drinks something with a reusable metal straw.

When I first posted this comic on Twitter and Instagram, many people misunderstood my point. So let’s make this VERY clear. I am not saying this so that you can think “Okay, so the small things I do don’t matter, better just buy a big car, a big house and use as much energy and resources as I can! YOLO!” I am saying this because we shouldn’t be obsessing over the small details.

Did the climate activist eat imported soy? Who cares, they are trying to make bigger changes happen! Did the environmentally conscious politician wear fast fashion, that means nothing if they manage to stop big corporations from dumping waste water into our lakes! Are you watching people, trying to see their mistakes like this? You are wasting your time. Instead of making one person feel bad for what they eat, you can spend your time to get an office full of people change their morning lattes to oat lattes.

tl;dr

If you absolutely have to police someone, police yourself or police big corporations. Individual activists policing each other will not further our cause for a more sustainable world.

Categories
Comics No Buy Year -comics

No Buy Year 2022, part 4

June was quite a boring month, sorry about that. The most interesting part of it happened inside my head while I was sleeping, which makes that quite uninteresting. (The moment someone says “I had such a weird dream…” I get so bored I fall asleep instantly. Rambling incoherent explanations of dreams aren’t interesting!!)

I did do a lot of crafts and I mended a lot of pants. I actually managed to fix 4 pairs of pants in June! On top of that I also made two pairs of fashionable pants! Not entirely from skratch though, I had some pants that were way too small for me, so I deconstructed them and made something new out of them! I might want to make a blog post about those too at some point. (I have to say, I do love having my very own blog where I can post whatever I want and write as much as I want with no fear of censorship or character limit!)

So let’s get into the comic already!

But before that I must say this: Are you Interested in reading all of the No Buy Year posts? Go to my No Buy Year -tag! Or start from the first post to read them all in the rightful order.

H-P Lehkonen presents, no buy comic of June:

H-P Lehkonen no buy comic
H-P Lehkonen no buy comic
H-P Lehkonen no buy comic
H-P Lehkonen no buy comic

Can you see how much I’m sweating in every panel? June was very hot here in Finland. We also happen to live in top floor of our apartment building and that makes our home even hotter. Finnish houses are built to keep the heat in, not out! Winters are great in these apartments, but the summers suck. July has started off way cooler even if there’s a deadly heatwave tormenting the rest of Europe. I am worried, as always. Climate catastrophe isn’t just our future. It’s here right now.

If you’re into my this whole H-P Lehkonen no buy challenge thing, you might also like this comic:

It’s a comic I made a couple of years ago and it talks about sustainability, zero waste lifestyle and poverty.

One more thing. I want to thank you all for reading my blog! Looking at my statistics some people actually come here to read my comics! I know you can just get these on social media, but really… that just isn’t as effective! I don’t have all this space to write whatever I want there!

Categories
Alt Text Included Art analysis Autobiographical comics Comics Working in Arts

Emotional Abuse doesn’t end when the relationship is over

My emotional abuse comic, I Survived Him, is definitely one of my favorite works of my own. I’m especially proud of the art in this one. The comic is now available on my itch.io again! But before you go get it for yourself, I want to tell you more about it and show some of my favorite pages.

Cover of the emotional abuse comic I Survived Him. It's a parody of the Judith Beheads Holorfenes painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, but all the characters are H-P himself. One H-P is laying on a bed. One holds him down and one is beheading him with a sword. All have a neutral expression.

I Survived Him was made in 2020. Even if it is a comic about emotional abuse, it doesn’t describe the abuse in detail. The comic begins from the moment the abusive relationship was over and the story describes the process of letting go and healing. I want to show you the first scene of the comic.

Panel one: Computer screen shows messaging app. Text: You: I'm just so worried. Him: You're still important to me and I love you! I think we've just grown apart but that's normal and it won't affect things between us! Panel 2: H-P is sitting on a floor, he looks younger and tired. He's holding a laptop and covered in a blanket. Text: That was the last time he talked to me. Panel 3: Dark illustration of H-P's silhouette. Text: I had challenged him too many times and this was the last punishment I got. Isolation.
Panel 1: H-P stands alone in the panel shrugging. Text: I lost most of our shared friends. They weren't all on his side. Some of them did their best. Panel 2: H-P's face closer, he crosses his arms. Text: But when talking about abuse, "Maybe both sides were at fault" sounds like "you deserved it". Panel 3: H-P on the foreground, he glances behind him. There's two shadows of people there. Text: H-P says: And every now and then they'd give me news of the things he said about me. The shadows say: H-P was also so difficult. H-P apparently likes talking shit about others. He said H-P is untrustworthy. He told me H-P uses his depression as an excuse to be too demanding. Panel 4: H-P has now also turned into a shadow silhouette. He talks to another of the shadows from last panel. Text: I tried to be the bigger person and just reply: This is not true. I never did that. But I know I can't convince you so I'll just hope for the best.
Big illustration. Closeup of H-P's head looking to the left. He looks tired and sad. His head is see through where his brains are and there's text in his brain. There's also partially obstructed text all around him. Text: In speech bubbles: But the worth thing wasn't the isolation. The worst thing was that the abuse didn't stop when he left. Because his thoughts were still inside my head. I was my own abuser now. Text in the brain: Remember that you should be ashamed. You're so hard to love because you're difficult. Text around him, partially obstructed: You're probably not really trans. Do you really think someone else would have the patience to love you? You're so demanding. You're just a fujoshi who wants to be a guy because you think gays are hot. Don't transition, you'll look like a woman with a moustache. You're untrustworthy and hard to work with...
Panel 1: H-P's hands drawing a sketch of a woman. Text: It didn't matter where I was and what I was doing. Everything reminded me of him. Panel 2: Black ink starts flowing from the pen on H-P's hand. His hand shakes. Text: And remembering him made me remember everything he said was wrong about me. Panel 3: H-P walking outside, it's fall. He wears a beanie and a big jacket. Text: One day I was trying to walk somewhere. I can't remember where, but then again, it's not relevant. Panel 4: H-P's head from the side, now drawn on a thicker black crayon like line. He looks terrified and his eyes are just black smudges. Text: Suddenly I remembered him again.
Panel 1: Light pencil drawing on two joined hands. Text: We used to walk here together holding hands... Panel 2: The hands from previous panel are now behind H-P as his memory. H-P is on the foreground and he looks anxious. Text: No. I don't want to remember him! I don't want him to be in my head! I want my mind back! Panel 3: Wider image of the road H-P is walking on. There's a magpie eating something off the ground. H-P is holding his face in his hands. Other than that, there's nobody else on the road. Text: Fuck you. Fuck your memories. I want to override these memories with new ones. Panel 4: Closeup of the magpie that now looks at H-P. Text: That magpie! Panel 5: H-P Yells at the magpie. Text: That magpie will be my new memory of thie road! Fuck you!!
Large illustration where H-P is walking on the road that has now changed into a lushious paradise with plants everywhere drawn on just light pencil. The magpie flies away and H-P is alone. Text: That was the moment I decided to do everything I could to heal from him. This comic is about that process. I don't want to make a comic about my traumas and relive them again and again when drawing it all out. I want to make a comic about how I healed myself so I can relive the moments when I was at my strongest.

I don’t often make autobiographical comics about such tough subjects. Portraying myself as the victim in my art isn’t really something I want to do. I very much believe in the theory that one can change the way they see themselves by controlling how they talk about themselves. Of course one has to be realistic, but I don’t want to unnecessarily dwell on the negative parts of my life. Making a comic takes a long time and if I were to make a comic about something very traumatic, I’d almost have to relive the trauma for months on end! I’m totally not up for that! No way! What I can relive is the healing process.

This comic was drawn in 2020, now that I reread it in 2022 I felt powerful, I felt at peace and I felt strong! I have survived this and I am proud of that. When I finished the comic I still felt scared, and some days I still do, but it becomes rarer every day. I love seeing this comic and remembering how far I’ve come.

The Art

I told in the beginning that I was especially happy with the art on this one, so here are two pages from my absolute favorite scene artwise.

Panel 1: Deep pit of rocks with a shaky illustration of H-P laying at the bottom saying "help" Text: He caused the intense feelings by pushing me to hit the rock bottom and "saving" me from there. Panel 2: Light pencil illustration of a hand pulling H-P out. H-P looks relieved and happy. Text: Of course I feel overjoyed! I was just thinking of ending my life a moment ago! But an emotional rollercoaster like that isn't healthy. I really had to grieve giving up those feelings.
Big illustration of H-P sitting at the bottom of the pit. He looks at his hand that was just held a moment ago. He is alone. His hair is all over the place. He looks sad and defeated. Text: But after all those feelings were gone. Love. Shock. Desperation. Loneliness. Anger. Sadness. All I was left with was fear.

On the first page’s first panel you see me laying on my face in a bottom of a rocky pit. The pit is drawn on normal paper with ink markers and pencils, but that me! I drew myself on a piece of used napkin! The two illustrations were then combined on Photoshop. I love how I used the drawing material to really show the desperation.

And the rocky pit… man, that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever drawn. I love it. I also love the combination of pencil and ink. All the illustrations that illustrate my memories are drawn on pencil only and I love it.

As said, I’m very proud of this one. I think this comes only second to Life Outside the Circle. It might be a good idea to later write a blog entry about the medias I used for that one too… I love the art on Life Outside the Circle!

So where can you get this comic?

I have a store on itch.io. The emotional abuse comic is $5, but you can choose if you want to leave me a tip. It’s up to you! I always try to keep my comics accessible to most people, so the tipping helps a lot in keeping the comic price fairly low.

Please note, despite this blog post having alt texts for more accessible reading, the ebook doesn’t have that.

If you’re interested in other comics I have for sale as ebooks, go read my blog post about Not #ZeroWaste, I Just Grew Up Poor.

Categories
Alt Text Included Comics Sustainability comics

Zero Waste comic, frugal ways to be sustainable!

Zero waste lifestyle can most of the times be pretty inaccessible for low income people. But in reality the low income people are already living a zero waste lifestyle like no tomorrow! This zero waste comic is about just that. An anti-capitalist look into the lifestyle and it’s problems.

Cover of zero waste comic. Title: Not #ZeroWaste, I Just Grew Up Poor Picture: H-P is sitting on a box drinking tea, looking annoyed. Behind him there's a compost bin, a broom, plants on a shelf and clothes on a drying rack.

I made this comic back in 2019 still being quite new to the zero waste idea. I have lived frugally and quite sustainably all my life. It hasn’t always been because of my sustainable life values. Mostly it’s been due to my working class background.

For some time I had to take the comic off of the internet, because the platform I used for my web shop started doing crypto/NFT business. I don’t condone that, as that is absolutely not sustainable! But now I have finally added the comic back online, this time on itch.io! You can get it here:

And here are some preview pages if you feel like you’re not sure if it’s a good purchase yet:

Text: Poor person's 1st lesson I don't throw away anything without thinking it throug first Image: H-P holds a t-shirt and thinks Text in thought bubbles: Can I reuse this? Can I repurpose the material myself? Can I give it to someone who uses it? Text: and if none of those work: Can I recycle it? And now if that doesn't work either, it's going to the normal trash bin in your home. Big text: But wait! There's more! Image: H-P peeking into the page from outside of it's borders. He looks bewildered. Text: There's a better step! My personal favorite! It starts before I even buy anything new!
Image: H-P is squatting, holding pants and looking at their manufacturing information and washing info. Text in thought bubbles: I need a new pair of pants... What fabric is this? Will it last long? Can I buy it second hand? Can I ask my friends if they have extras they don't need? Big text: Point being: I think before I buy! Text: Fun fact (not fun at all, very sad) Pants are a very bad example because the fashion industry is horrible and nowadays it's cheaper to just buy 5 pairs of pants that break easily than one pair that lasts 5 times longer. Let's not get into this too much though, this is only a mere reminder to smash capitalism asap. I don't buy much from general stores anymore. All of my clothes are second hand, but yes, I own pants from a certain swedish brand that has a name that consists of two letters.

Actually… Why wouldn’t you think it’s a good purchase? It’s absolutely free! You can of course leave me a tip (and I’d really love if you could), but that’s not mandatory.

Maybe one more page to really convince you this is the zero waste comic of your dreams!

Text: I use baking soda and vinegar to clean basically anything. It's good for the environment and I happen to have a lot of allergies so those are great options for me! I don't get allergic reactions from them! Image: H-P kneeling on the floor with a rag, vinegar bottle and a jar of baking soda. text: So what do I wash with them!? Image: Overflowing laundry basket Text: Laundry (baking soda to wash, vinegar to rinse) but only if they're not that dirty. I still use normal washing powder for more dirty clothes. Image: Shining clean oventop and kitchen side table text: cleaning surfaces (baking soda with water) Image: two jars. one of them has baking soda in the bottom with lid closed. One has no lid and a horrifying ghost shaped odor cloud emerges from it. text: Getting rid of smells (just put baking soda in it and wait) Image: H-P has a pencil in his hand, he looks like he just finished drawing the two jars. he says text: and everything else too. I'm not gonna draw it out, just believe me. Why did I even start drawing these!?

This comic has gotten some raving reviews! Such as this one:

“However, it uses a lot of space to blame environmental distress on politics and ostracize viewpoints.”

3 star review on Goodreads

If that’s not what you want to see, don’t read it. The book is first and foremost about the political change we need to both help the planet and make life fair to low income people. I wouldn’t name a comic “Not #ZeroWaste, I Just Grew Up Poor” if it wasn’t about the unfair resources we all have. A general happy zero waste comic isn’t titled like that.

Other zero waste comics?

If you like this type of content, I suggest you go read my newest adventures in sustainable living, meaning my No Buy Year -comics! Yes, you heard that right, I’m not buying stuff for a whole year.

Ps. Despite these pages on this blog post having alt texts, the comic PDF is old and doesn’t have those. So it’s not readable with any kind of a screen reading device.

Categories
Comics No Buy Year -comics

No Buy Year 2022, part 3!

Interested in becoming anticonsumerist? Well, get hyped by reading this comic! Or something. I don’t know how to get anyone hyped. I’m not a very hyped up person, nobody in Finland is. I just tried to come up with a sentence (any sentence) to start this blog post with. Let’s stop before I make things even more awkward.

So this comic is about May. If you haven’t read the comics I made in January – April, you should click the link below and read that first.

First part of the No Buy Year comics is here.

Or you can also go to my No Buy Year -comics tag and browse through all of the comics there!

Okay, I think now’s the time to read the comic and learn some new skills to become the anticonsumerist hero we all want to see in this world.

Anticonsumerist comic 001
Anticonsumerist comic 002
Anticonsumerist comic 003

I’m really glad all the things that broke were things I was able to fix. If my laptop would have broken for good, I wouldn’t be able to fix it myself. But I was able to buy a new power cord! Good thing the problem was just in that minor part. It would be very hard trying to be super anticonsumerist for a whole year while having to buy a new computer… Well, to be honest, I wouldn’t have to buy a new computer. I also happen to have a desktop computer! Making comics for living means I need to have a lot of equipment for making them! So I have a laptop, a desktop and an iPad. Oh and a phone. Does that count? I mean nowadays phones are more powerful than the first computer my family had when I was 13.

Now that you are here, I want to promote something cool. My girlfriend Sara Valta has a crowdfunding campaign going on for her book Polyamory Comics. The book is really good! I know, because I have edited it! This is the very first crowdfunding we’re doing, so we’d love all the help we can get. So if you have any ideas on how to promote it even better, please let us know! And also please get the book! There’s also ebook options available!

click here to get polyamory comics book now

What it’s about?

The book is about our family life. I live together with Paju and Sara, who both date me, but they don’t date each other. There’s a lot of comics that are informative about polyamory and queer identities, but also a lot that are just funny things that happen to us when people don’t really understand what polyamory is. The book will be over 150 pages long and in full colors!

Categories
Alt Text Included Comics Sustainability comics

Infinite basil! How to grow it?

I think I’ve seen like a million Youtube videos with this title. But guess why there is so many videos on this subject? Because it is that easy to grow infinite basil! If you’re a beginner in any kind of plant related sheningans, basil is the way to go. Here’s a comic that will show you what to do!

Lifehack Never buy basil again! H-P in a green basil colored shirt peeks into the image looking worried, he corrects himself "No, wait! That came out wring. The hack isn't to forget about basil. Let me explain."
H-P holds a small pot of basil. Now his eyes are green like basil too! He says "What I was meant to say was "buy basil only once and then grow more basil from that"!"
Here's how! You need grocery store basil and something to cut it with. In the illustration you can see basil pot and scissors.
Next you see an illustration that shows a basil stem with 5 layers of leaves. The stem has been cut so that only one set of leaves remain. Text says "Cut the basil from here. Leave some leaves on the original plant too. That way you can make that grow bigger too!"
Strip off most of the basil leaves. Only leave like 2 big ones and any small ones on top of those two. The illustration shows a very tiny green haired H-P eating a basil leaf the size on his head. An arrow points to the leaf, it says "Eat these."
An illustration of a store bought basil that has now been cut very short. All the short stems still have one or two leaves left. Text says: You can also grow this one! Just transfer it to some better soil, because this is probably just filled with roots and has no nutrients left for the plant.
This picture has a glass jar with two basil cuttings that only have a couple of leaves at the top. A plastic bag is placed over them and there's a picture of scissors next to this all. Text says: Then just pop the basil cuttings into some water and put a plastic bag over them! Remember to cut holes on the bag, so they can breathe. They'll probably grow roots without the bag too. I've tried and it worked well, it was just slower.
Now we see an illustration os a basil cutting that has grown roots at the end of the stem. H-P looks at it lovingly. His speech bubble is even heart shaped. He says: "Now wait for roots! (about 1-2 weeks)"
In the last image we see the infinite basil plant planted on a new pot. H-P is very tiny and green. He holds a gardening shovel that's bigger than himself. He says "When the basil has roots, just plant it into some soil and water it!"

And that’s how you grow infinite basil! When your newly planted Basil plant becomes big enough, you can just start the process all over again. Basil is a great plant for this, because it grows roots very easily, but if you’re not a lover of basil, you can try other similar-ish herbs too! One of the easiest ones is mint! Mint is very aggressive when it comes to spreading. In our kitchen the mint had actually hopped onto the basil pot right next to it’s own pot! It had just grown one very long stem and then developed roots at the end of that stem so that it can root into the basil’s pot!

If you want to read more comics about gardening tips, check out this post where I tell how to grow plants from the fruits you eat!

At the end of this post I’d like to remind you that you can join my mailing list. I email people once every other month about things relevant to my comics. No affiliate marketing or other unnecessary consumerism!

And again, big thank you to my Patreon backers, who make free comics like this possible!

Categories
Comics Sustainability comics

Grow plants from the fruit you eat!

Did you know that you can grown plants from the fruit you eat? Neat! It’s an absolutely useless hobby, because many of the plants won’t bear fruit like that, but oh boy is it fun! (That wasn’t a question. It IS fun!) Here’s a comic that shows you how to start germinating fruit seeds!

H-P is eating a kiwi fruit. He thinks: My life is sad and empty. I wish I had more plants to fill it with.
H-P looks excitedly at the fruit and yells: A KIWI!
H-P is poking the kiwi with a toothpick and thinks: Dig out a handfull of seeds from the kiwi with a toothpick. You can still eat the rest of the kiwi. Don't waste food!
Text: Now give the seeds a quick wash! When they're in the bucket of water, check which seeds sink to the bottom and which float. The seeds that sink are the seeds that are good to go. throw out the floating seeds, they won't work. Illustration has a bowl of water with some seds floating and some on the bottom.
Text: Now put several of the seeds into some soil. Plant them about 1-2cm apart. Don't worry about putting too many in at this point. They might not all germinate. Illustration of a seed being thrown into a pot with soil.
Text: Now put a plastic wrap on top of it and poke some holes on it for ventilation. Keep the pot in a warm place and keep the soil moist. Not soaking wet! Just moist. Secret tip: If you don't have plastic wrap, don't go buy new plastic! Any clear plastic will do fine. Your own trash might have some. Illustration of a pot with plastic on it.
Text: When the seeds germinate, pretend it's hunger games and weed out the weak ones. If you leave them in, they'll suffocate the strong ones too. Leave about 3 of the biggest ones! They are the winners! Illustration of a hand coming to pick out the smallest plant that yells "Nooooo!"
Illustration of an old H-P in hotpants and a very long beard. He is still very cool and sexy, despite his old age. He is holding a pot with a plant. He thinks: And now water it regularly, keep it in a sunny place and wait for the next 100 years... it's bigger than before.

This same trick works for a lot of plants! We have grown some citrus plants and an avocado too! Avocado seed is way bigger, so search for some tips that are especially for avocados. This kiwi tip isn’t as good for them, so to start germinating fruit seeds from all kinds of fruits, you might need some extra information.

Best fruit to grow!

Like said, most of the plants just won’t bear fruit, but there are some that will! My favorite one being tomato! Some tomato plants are genetically altered in a way, that their seeds are dead, but some aren’t. If you want to have a higher chance of actually getting your tomato seeds to germinate, buy an organic tomato instead of a regular one. It also helps if you buy tomatoes that are grown locally. That way you know the same breed of tomatoes has been able to survive in your area before too!

Here’s also a special tip for tomatoes. Tomato seeds have this… film, a weird slimy surface that can actually prevent them from germinating! But there’s a simple way to get it off. Suck the seed. Just put the seed in your mouth and suck it for a while! Your saliva will melt the film! Besides, the film just tastes like tomato, so this isn’t disgusting to do (except if you think tomatoes are disgusting… but why are you trying to grow tomatoes if you think so?).

Try it out!

Best part about growing plants from the seed is that you can try out basically anything. Worst outcome is that nothing happens. Best outcome is a beautiful plant! Okay… even worse outcome would be to spend a ton of money and THEN nothing happens. I’d hate that. So that’s why getting seeds from the fruit you eat is amazing!

If you like the comics and tips I post here, I suggest you to join my mailing list. That way you know what I’m up to when it comes to comics!

Also big thanks to my Patreon backers! Alongside them getting the access to exclusive comics, they also make this blog possible! So if you’re reading this and you aren’t a Patreon backer, you should send good vibes to all of my Patreon backers who literally paid this comic for all of us!

Categories
Alt Text Included Autobiographical comics Comics

Finnish spring and folklores

This comic is my lovesong to the Finnish spring. Or a hate song? Love-hate-song? I don’t even know, I think me and Finnish spring have a bit of a toxic relationship.

This comic was actually made a couple of years back, because this spring has been way easier and more straightforward!

Beginning of May H-P looks at the sun yelling happily "Spring! Finally it's time to bring my plants outside!"
Next day H-P stands outside with a plant. The air is grey and it's snowing. H-P looks defeated.
End of May H-P looks at the sun very excited! He yells: "Ok, Spring! Now this must be it! It's so warm! Time to bring the plants out!
Next day The air is even more grey than before and it's snowing very heavily. H-P is holding a plant and looks defeated.
April, literally yesterday!!! The sun is shining, H-P is looking at the weather with his phone and his laptop! He says: "I've checked the weather, air humidity, rain charts... it should be good? Spring? Time to put the plants out.
Today An actual photo taken from H-P's window. There's snow. H-P's drawing on top of the photo. H-P now has the plant growing from his head and he looks depressed and defeated. He says "Why must you torment me like this, Finland?"

Also as a non-english speaker I have to point out, do you see how in my comic May comes before April? Yeah… about that. I was meant to say March, but I always forget March is the third month. March sounds like Marraskuu to me, and Marraskuu in Finnish is the November! Here are the months in their respective order in Finnish (with literal tarnalations in english in brackets) for those who are interested in this kind of useless information:

Tammikuu (central moon)
Helmikuu (pearl moon)
Maaliskuu (earthly moon)
Huhtikuu (burn-clearing moon)
Toukokuu (spring field work moon)
Kesäkuu (summer moon)
Heinäkuu (hay moon)
Elokuu (living moon)
Syyskuu (autumn moon)
Lokakuu (dirty moon)
Marraskuu (death moon)
Joulukuu (yule/christmas moon)

See how all the month names describe the month some way? Either the work done on a farm that month or what the month looks like! Fun fact, tammi, as in January, Tammikuu, also means oak. But in this case tammi doesn’t come from that meaning, but from the meaning of a central pole that was believed to hold up the sky and make it rotate in Finnish folklore (taivaantammi). I’m pretty sure oak also got it’s name from that central pole. After all oaks are very sturdy, big and beautiful trees that could be imagined as the pole that holds up the sky!

Yet again, huge thank you to my Patreon backers who make free comics like this possible. You’re the best!

Categories
Comics No Buy Year -comics

No Buy Year 2022, part 2!

Have you already read the first part of this comic? (The part of my no buy challenge that goes from January to February!)

So March was by far the hardest month, because I collect indie queer zines and I love supporting other artists. But I survived! Here’s a comic from March so you know what I mean.

Find these people on Instagram.

So here’s the thing, I think I have a very bad case of hunter-gatherer brain. That is a totally legit (not legit) medical condition that makes me want to hunt for stuff and gather it around me. Shopping is a good medicine for this, but it’s very expensive and unsustainable. So I have resorted to other solutions, such as dumpster diving!

And now you must be thinking, what about April?

Here’s a fun fact, I’m actually writing this blog post right after finishing the last part of the sociology entrance exam course! Now I just have to wait to get the last grades and see if I can get in to the final exam. And if I nail that… Turku University, here I come! Let’s keep our fingers crossed. (Though I am slightly worried what starting in a University would do to my no buy year… there’s an awfully lot of buying involved in education!)

Today is already the 19th of May, so this month will end soon! I draw the previous month’s comic during the first 10 days if the next month, meaning, the comic about May will probably be ready some time around 10th of June. But if you absolutely can’t wait, here’s some spoilers.

I have finally been able to start gardening! That is very helpful in not buying stuff, because you have your hands full! The garden plot I have isn’t just mine, it belongs to a small nonprofit organization called Maan Satama ry. We have bought one thing for the plot, but I’ll tell more about that in the next comic. (I have to also mention, that I’m the chairman of Finnish Comics Society, which is an organization that employs several people and they all probably buy a ton of stuff for the organization all the time. Does that count as my consuming? I’d say no.)

I have also been able to start foraging for wild plants! I mentioned my hunter-gatherer brain. Foraging for wild plants is like the best therapy for that condition! I absolutely love roaming around trying to find more and more edible plants. Also, here’s my tip for people who haven’t tried foraging but would like to try. Pick one plant that you find easy to recognize (and that is edible) and just go search for that. When you are so used to it that you can recognize it in your sleep, choose another one to add to your repertoire. In my first year of foraging I basically just picked stinging nettle and common yarrow. Next year I added in more plants! Now I forage quite a lot of different species, but I still try out new plants. Many of them taste like crap though, so I don’t continue with them.

But foraging! How’s that for no buy challenge! You can even supplement some of the food you’d have to buy with free things!

Edit: Here’s a link to the next post in this series for easier viewing. Read part 3 here!