Dearest worms,

We hope you are well and springing forth from the dark soils of winter. Scroll down to check out some new designs from our latest edition of the Fundraiser Shirts Initiative and some news from the plant world.

Respectfully yours,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

QUICK UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

1.) The newest edition of our Fundraiser Shirts Initiative just dropped. Look like a freakass and support the great work of our friend Woody Minnich!

2.) The kind humans of KCRW visited our greenhouse, the Nonhuman Teachers Botanical Archive, to meet some of our rare and unusual friends.

3.) Earlier this month the botanical world lost one of its great sculptors, the incredible Pearl Fryar. Check out the wonderful documentary on him A Man Named Pearl. RIP!

4.) Our seasonal Spring Cleaning Greenhouse Sale will return to our parking lot on April 24-25 with an impressive haul of new plants for adoption and various duds and doodads looking for their forever home. Mark your calendar!

5.) Spring is springing throughout Los Angeles and thanks to a wet weekend, we are currently enjoying some lovely wild blooms. Call the Thomas Payne Foundation’s Wild Flower Hotline to find out what’s blooming throughout the southland.

FUNDRAISER SHIRT: CACTUS DATA PLANTS

We’ve just released our newest batch of designs from our Fundraiser Shirts Initiative earlier this week. This entry features a collection of reprints of shirts illustrated by our dear friend, the legendary cactus explorer Woody Minnich.

Woody is known internationally for giving presentations on his extensive field work in the diverse terrains of the places he has traveled - from the fog deserts of Namibia and Chile to the wadis of Socotra and arid grasslands of Western Australia. We decided to honor Woody’s commitment to exploration with these international editions of his original designs.

Originally made for his New Mexico nursery, Cactus Data Plants, the illustrations often were used for the annual Inter-City Cactus and Succulent Show & Sale here in Los Angeles.

50% of profits from this shirt go to Woody to support his continued research of the worlds’ desert biomes. Long live Wendell Minnich!

RIP PEARL FRYAR

Sadly, this missive also marks the passing of another titan of the botanical world, the great hedge wizard Pearl Fryar.

For the uninitiated, Fryar was a master topiary artist: the Calder of shrubs, the Miró of bushes, Fryar carried on the millennium’s old tradition of topiary from his humble home in Bishopville, South Carolina with a creative whimsy and playfulness unmatched by his predecessors.

Thankfully, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden lives on under the stewardship of fellow topiary artist Michael P. Gibson. With over 400 living sculptures, many of which first came to the garden as orphans found at local nursery compost piles (be still our green hearts), Fryar considered the garden “his gift to the world.”

From the cypress animals in the gardens of Pliny the Elder, to the conical shrubbery of Versailles (Le Nôtre was a bit more of the McCarthy of topiary), to the IP-focused grotesqueries of the Epcot Center, the history of topiary offers a twisted reflection of the history of human civilization. Fryar boldly brought this tradition into the 21st century with characteristic verve and a great generosity of spirit, creating remarkable organic shapes that reflect the quirked up absurdity of our times.

While our little obituary here is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to Fryar’s work, the wonderful 2006 documentary “A Man Named Pearl” is a touching remembrance of this great oak of a man and we highly recommend you check it out.

May he rest in peace!

In the words of Pearl himself: LOVE, PEACE + GOODWILL.

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

Hi friends,

We haven’t forgotten about you, and have some fun things to share. Scroll down to check out some new clothing we designed, our Fundraiser Shirts initiative as well as some other doodads and tidbits.

Wormly,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

1.) New clothes just dropped! Get your best friend the dorky long sleeve they have been dreaming of…

2.) We continue to love the herbal pre-rolls we made with Pure Beauty, and they make a wicked stocking stuffer: find em here

3.) Carlos sat down with Architectural Digest again, but this time to give a tour of our greenhouse, the Nonhuman Teachers Botanical Archive

4.) Our Mondo LA Holiday Parking Lot Sale will be taking place the weekend of December 13th and 14th. Mark your calendars, and more details to follow!

Since time began, we’ve made shirts for causes we love: jaguar corridors, peyote rescue, living soil, et al (and two new ones on this week’s release).
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!

Any group can apply (please share this!), and if selected, we’ll design and sell a shirt, donating proceeds to help support the groups work. Because, in upside-down times when humans have lost the plot, someone’s still gotta help the forests, salamanders, and cat ballet troupes.

All sizes and scopes are welcome to apply, please send a description of your group or org, along with what you will use the funds for (if you’d like to) to: info@nonhumanteachers.org .

Some previous fundraiser shirts (below)

Find Nonhuman T-Shirts!

Some new duds just hit our virtual shelves…

Fundraiser Shirt: Palestinian Plant Archive
Sales from this shirt go to support the work of our friends at PPA.
Read more about the project and shirt here.

Taxa shirt 20: Crypsis Strategies
Crypsis is the evolutionary art of remaining unseen; bark-patterned moths, fish that mirror water, orchids that masquerade as moss, lithops that vanish into gravel. Survival through becoming something other than oneself.

Fundraiser Shirt: Fauna Del Noroeste
Sales of this shirt go to support FDN
Learn more about the shirt and the project here

I GRABBED IN 86’
Only the strong survive….

Dog-Headed Men and other Primate Survivors
It was once suggested that the cryptic primates of historic chronicles represented evolutionary lines prematurely declared extinct. Modern reports—from isolated valleys, forest interiors, and even the ex-urban edges of cities—lend weight to the idea that such populations endure in reduced numbers, their existence extending the boundaries of primate history beyond the limits of the fossil record.

NHT Botanical Archive & Studio Hat
Most of our time is spent at our studio/ headquarters in Los Angeles, with a connected 2000 square ft. greenhouse that is home to countless (we have never counted) “plant orphans”, green beings that have out-survived their previous caretakers. Our hope is that they out-survive us as well.

Bromeliad Tie-Dye
These shirts were inspired by the truly psychedelic patterns on some of our favorite Bromeliads. Please note that each of these shirts is unique and hand dyed by @labananita so expect the unexpected.

GEOPONIKA
The official shirt for our landscape design studio, GEOPONIKA. Named after an ancient Byzantine Greek manual of botanical wisdom, GEOPONIKA embodies our core philosophy: to make gardens that are not just inert backdrops in our lives, but important characters in our story.

Follow @geoponika_

Neofenitia falcata
Historically traded among samurai and aristocrats, the rare Neofinetia falcata earned a reputation for near-mythic fragility. Traditional growers were known to hold their breath when inspecting its flowers, a gesture of respect for a plant believed to wither under anything less than perfect stillness.

Jimroy’s Exotics
Are you curious ??

FIND NONHUMAN TEACHERS !

There are some other color ways and a few old designs still in stock too, check them all out here.

Thanks for reading The Specimen Monthly!

Hi friends,

When the world is feeling even more insane then usual we find it helpful to remind ourselves what local change can look like — that’s why we are so excited to be working with Joey Santore on his badass conservation nonprofit, the Thornscrub Sanctuary in South Texas. Scroll down to check out clothing we designed, which all goes to support his efforts, plus other new merch etc.

Wormly,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

1.) New clothes just dropped! Get your great aunt the t-shirt she never knew she wanted for Christmas.

2.) A little project with Pure Beauty is finally out: follow the smoke signals here

3.) Carlos sat down with Architectural Digest to answer readers questions about landscape design…

If you aren’t familiar with Joey Santore a.k.a. Crime Pays Botany Doesn’t, please do yourself a favor and check out his Youtube and Instagram. …

Read more

Hi friends,

We know we’ve been quiet on here recently, we have been trying our best to focus on the physical world… but we promise to start checking into the virtual world to say hello more frequently!

We just got back from a 2 week trip looking at unreal plants in South Africa — scroll down to see a quick field report. Also we put some of our favorite T’s back in stock — take 20% off with the code NAMAQUALAND at checkout.

Wormly,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

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Howdy Earthworms!

We wanted to give you our dear readers a sneak peak at our new installation at DSM LA…. It doesn’t officially open until this weekend, but it might just be unlocked if you stop by tomorrow or Friday…

Also, after many requests, KIDS SHIRTS!

Wormly,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

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Hi again, Earthworms!

It’s Black Friday—scroll down for treasures, everything is 20% off today (and all weekend)!

This edition of The Specimen Monthly is about our friend Cass Marketos. If you don’t know who she is, then you’re in for a real treat! If you’ve landed here via Cass and don’t know who we are, The Specimen Monthly is a reader-supported rag made by Cactus Store Studio and Nonhuman Teachers 501(c)(3). It’s where we share our thoughts and feelings, and updates from our studio in Los Angeles.

Yours,

CS Studio & Nonhuman Teachers

1.) New clothes just dropped! Get your great aunt the t-shirt she never knew she wanted for Christmas.

2.) Black Friday sale is live: 20% OFF the whole dang lot, discount taken at checkout.

3.) Our Holiday Party Lot Sale is Dec 7th & 8th in LA. Gifts galore, we are breaking out the good stuff for this! 3209 Fletcher Dr. 11a-3pm.

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Welcome back, Earthworms!

This edition of The Specimen Monthly features an autumnal excerpt from Felix Salten’s immortal Bambi: A Life in the Woods, as well as some updates from our studio over the past handful of weeks.

Ever Yours,
CS Studio

1.) A small batch of our new clothing collection with ours friend at Union Japan is now on our site. Check em out!

2.) October in California is splendid! GO OUTSIDE!!!

3.) Happy Halloween…..The first inaugural Nonhuman Teachers costume contest has begun: send all costume pics to info@nonhumanteachers.org or DM us!

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Big autumn energy!

With cold-nose season on the horizon, what better way to call in transition than with a piece by Sophie Strand?

Sophie is a self-described compost heap who writes at the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Give Sophie a salamander and a stone, and she’ll write you a love story. She was raised by house cats, puffballs, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. In every neighborhood she’s ever lived in, Sophie’s been known as “the walker,” believing that thinking happens interstitially—between beings, ideas, differences, and mythical gradients.

Do your brain a kindness and follow her Substack, Make Me Good Soil. And pick up one of her books: The Flowering Wand, The Madonna Secret, or The Body is a Doorway. She weaves a wondrous web!

1. NEW SHIRTS ALERT: GO HERE to see a coupla new tees, including a special one for Sophie.

2. IN LA: Our next Greenhouse Parking Lot Sale is this weekend, Saturday - Sunday September 7th and…

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Yes, we've been up to more mischief—are you surprised? This time in the form of wearables and time-lapse videos of flowers that have never been captured on time-lapse before… UNTIL NOW! We hope this brightens your day!

Love & Guilt-Free Carbs,

Cactus Store Studio

1. To jump straight to the new clothing, click here!

2. LOS ANGELENOS : Mark thy calendars for our September Greenhouse Extravaganza Parking Lot Sale and Show: Sat & Sun September 7th-8th 🎪. Gonna be lots of goodies for the whole family at this one!

3. Welcome back, we’ve missed you a bunch!

Our friend Mars finally (!) got us going with a time-lapse video setup in the greenhouse, and the results have been truly wonderful. Enjoy some of our favorites below.

Haageocereus tenuis
Possibly the only …

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Listen up Earthworms!

Today’s specimen is in honor of World Listening Day, which includes a complimentary playlist for your aural pleasure.

If you haven’t already, hit the “subscribe” button. A free subscription gets you the goods, but five bucks a month gives you goddamn wings! Help us keep this little freakshow going.

Exuberantly,

CS Studio

Subscribe now

1. If you missed ‘em the shirts we designed for the Koyoto Cactus Club are still available in our little bazaar in the cloud. Buy your grumpy neighbor a gift!

2. Our next LA Parking Lot Sale is happening next Saturday, July 27! Mark thy calendars, will have some funs surprises at this one…

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Kon'nichiwa Earthworms,

A few months ago, we were asked to design tees celebrating the legendary Kyoto Cactus Club’s 60th (GO HERE for the full collection)… which is why we’ve dedicated this newsletter to our favorite botanical nook this side of Orion… Japan!

If you haven’t already, hit “subscribe.” A free subscription gets you tons, but five bucks a month gets you more. Both are juicy options, so…

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you love.”

-Rumi

Love, Light, and Lemons,

CS Studio

Subscribe now

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1. Scroll down for new summer duds to don at the pool.

2. LOS ANGELENOS (this weekend): Come to our annual summer greenhouse cleanout parking lot sale extravaganza! Dirty details below.

3. NEW YORKERS (this weekend): We’re throwing the first-ever KINGS COUNTY FAIR in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with Nonhuman Teachers and a bunch of other eco-freaks living in Sin City. More info HERE!

4. Welcome back, we’ve missed you a bunch!

The Delphic directive to "know thyself" takes on new meaning in a recent conversation we had with living chimera Erik "The Lizardman" Sprague. This tp coincide with the release of our new book, CHIMERA WORLD (Apogee Graphics), for which Erik wrote the epilogue. And we’re hosting an event in NYC next Wednesday (6/19) where Erik will perform after a psychedelic PowerPoint we’re doing on chimeras and biological creativity. (GO HERE to snag tickets before they disappear!). This interview was mysteriously cut short, like…

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Welcome Back Earthworms!

If you haven’t yet, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For a measly $5 a month, you get perks and help to support something necessary! Eternal thanks!

Subscribe now

1. BANANAS OF BORNEO: A couple of months ago, we made this tee for an event that we hosted with Anthony Basil Rodriguez. We still have a few left. GO HERE to score one while you can!

   

   WEIRD FRUITS: A Conversation w/ Anthony Basil Rodriguez

Bananas are among the world's most popular fruit. Yet despite their ubiquity, they are sorely misunderstood misfits. Indeed, the fruit known as an international phallic symbol is, in fact, nothing more than an asexual, sterile clone, at least in terms of the banana that you and I are familiar with. But when you peel the ol’ banana, you discover a dizzying variety of species—some the size of Bocce balls that bear no resemblance to the curved oblongs of Warholian fame, others that taste richly of custard-filled pastries, and others still whose colossal β-Carotene levels will turn your pee antifreeze-blue. So, we decided to get into it with our friend, banana nut Anthony Basil Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is a Renaissance man of the banana world: a storyteller, photographer, and filmmaker multi-hyphenate documenting the plants and varied ecologies and cultures of the Musa genus in habitats around the world, from the damp rainforests of Borneo to the snow-covered foothills of the Himalayas. We caught up with Anthony last week, fresh from a trip to Grenada, to talk all things banana. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

Specimen Monthly: What was the banana species that first got you hooked?

Anthony: At first, it was a fe'i type from Papua New Guinea. It was just so massive and round, like a ball. I couldn’t believe this was a banana, and from there, I was like, “What the fuck?”

SM: What’s it taste like?

A: It’s like a custard, almost like a cream-filled donut, with a ripe plantain flavor.

SM: It’s beautiful.

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Hey Earthworms,

Welcome back! If you haven’t yet, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For a measly $5 a month, you get perks and help to support something cool and weird! Eternal thanks!

Subscribe now

1. NEW RAGS: Some CHOICE NEW THREADS have arrived at our little bazaar in the cloud! Click the link or scroll to the bottom of this page to check ‘em out!

2. INTRODUCING GEOPONIKA: For the past 6 years we’ve been working toward building a new type of landscape design studio, one tuned more closely to our relationship with the growing world. 
   
   Named after an ancient Byzantine Greek manual of botanical wisdom, GEOPONIKA embodies our core philosophy: to make gardens that are not just inert backdrops in our lives, but important characters in our story. 
   
   To see more please follow us at @geoponika_

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Howdy Earthworms,

This edition of The Specimen Monthly follows our recent pledge of support for a non-human presidential candidate. ORCA 2024: A better big fish!

If you want the campaign tee, GO HERE and as a thank you for being a subscriber use coupon code WOLFOFTHESEA for 15% off your next purchase.

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Hi-ya Earthworms,

Welcome back! If you haven’t yet, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to this, our digital rag. For a measly $5 a month, you get perks, and you help to support something cool and weird! Eternal thanks!

Subscribe now

1. New rags and plants have arrived at our little bazaar in the cloud. Score your mommys some new duds for Mother’s Day!

2. NYC: Lots of exciting new programming is happening in NYC this spring/summer. GO HERE to see it all on Eventbrite.

3. LA: Come to our 150th annual spring greenhouse cleanout parking lot sale at our private studio/greenhouse in Atwater this Saturday (4/27) from 11 to 3 pm, 3209 Fletcher Drive, 90065.

Glorious April! A time when bees are abuzz and everyone seems to be mating. April is also when we celebrate two of our most hallowed holidays: Bicycle Day and Earth Day.

Celebrated on April 19th, Bicycle Day marks the anniversary of when Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first discovered the brain-bubbling properti…

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Howdy Friends,

If you follow us on Instagram, you're probably already in the loop about our second season of events in NYC, hosted by our nonprofit arm, Nonhuman Teachers. Our inaugural event featured a conversation between New Yorker staff writer Naomi Fry and best-selling author Susan Orlean around Susan’s recent collection, On Animals. It’s wonderful, by the way!

🔊Scroll past the paywall to listen to an audio version of the conversation🔊

In her book, Susan delves into the complex relationship between humans and animals through a series of humorous and tragic essays. One is about a "crazy cat lady" in New Jersey who, in 1999, was hoarding stinking, bloodthirsty lions and tigers. Another explores the campaign to free Keiko, the orca who captured moviegoers’ hearts as Willy in the Free Willy movies. Spoiler alert: the rewilding of this domesticated being led to his untimely demise. Throughout Orlean’s essays, animals serve as a mirror for our own flawed humanity, and we learn that real life does not always promise a Hollywood ending.

Anyway, this issue of The Specimen Monthly is for Paid subscribers and is essentially a rant sparked by Susan’s talk.

Before we jump into it, it’s been some weeks since our last post. This is due to a recent spate of activity at our studio that has made life crazier than normal.

As a token of thanks for your patience and support, here’s a 15% off coupon code for your next purchase on our website: WATERSTRIDER.

During the Q&A portion of Susan’s talk, someone raised the topic of anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities. Her response was unequivocal: we should be very suspicious of anthropomorphizing animals. She cited the alarming fact that there are now more big cats in captivity than in the wild, likely because we view them as cuddly and not as apex predators who want to eat our faces off.

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Privet Earthworms!

If you’re here for treats from our studio, just scroll to the bottom of this page where treasures await ye. And if you’re here because you just looooove our digital rag, please like and share this newsletter or subscribe to the $5/ month paid tier. It’s because of you that The Specimen Monthly exists in the first place, so thanks kindly!

Welcome back. We’ve missed you!

Subscribe now

1. Some new exquisite rags and strange plants have arrived at our little bazaar in the cloud. Buy your dogwalker a shirt that will confuse them!

2. Free Shipping! Domestic orders over $150 ship free. Use code COLEOPTERA at checkout.

3. We’re heading back to NYC for more Nonhuman Teachers programming! Our first event will be on April 7th with author Susan Orlean. Plus rarely-screened short films by the legendary merman, George Greenough.

   Snatch up tickets while you still can!

4. Happy National Plant a Flower Day!

   
   

   NONHUMANS ARE PEOPLE TOO

In the US, only humans and corporations are legally recognize…

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Madagascar’s dry-deciduous and spiny forests are botanical palimpsests of a time when lemurs the size of silverbacks, adorable pygmy hippos, and thousand-pound, 10-foot-tall Elephant Birds patrolled the land. It’s believed that the characteristic spines found on so many Malagasy plants are remnants of adaptations for staving off predation from these ancient grazing titans. And though much has changed since the late Pleistocene, life on “the Eighth Continent” remains freakishly fascinating. Today, Madagascar is home to an unthinkable 200,000 plant and animal species, the lemur’s-share of which are unique to the island, with an astounding 90% of reptiles, 89% of plants, 90% of insects, 90% of birds, and 92% of mammals found nowhere else in the known universe. The master of ceremonies of which is the Buddha of the bush herself, the baddest of all asses when it comes to Malagasy trees: the great great Baobab, also known as the upside-down tree that made God angry.

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