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STOMEL

A field instrument for the living world

Notice sooner.

Bring STOMEL whatever living thing has your attention: a tree, a garden, a pond, a patch of woods. He reasons it through with you. Give him your ZIP and the green stoma reflects the conditions where you live.

Not yet publicly available. One email when you can start. Nothing else.

“You don't lose cilantro to bad care. You lose it to the calendar you weren't reading yet.”
STOMEL, in a steward’s conversation, June 2026. Read the conversation ↗
Botanical rendering of a single broad bean leaflet: a continuous midrib, branching veins, and naturally uneven surface lit from the side.
STOMEL app screenshot: the green stoma in a dark field.
App screenshot with illustrative motion.
Leaf is generated artwork.

How it works

Your place, the stoma, and a conversation.

The STOMEL stoma from the app: a luminous green form with a bright open band across its center.
App image with illustrative motion.
Once rooted, your local conditions set its state.

  1. 01

    Root it in your place.

    Give STOMEL your ZIP. He takes in your area’s conditions: the heat, the moisture in the air, the turn of the day.

  2. 02

    Look at the stoma.

    Once rooted, the stoma reflects what the green around you is living through. When hot, dry air presses plants to conserve water, it shows Conserving.

  3. 03

    Bring what you notice.

    A sentence, a photo, a question, a loss, about anything alive. STOMEL doesn’t start the conversation. You do, and he helps you see what you’re looking at.

The stoma reflects your area’s conditions, not your soil or a single plant. It doesn’t limit what STOMEL can read with you. What you see in your own place completes the picture.

The stoma

Named for the pores a leaf breathes through.

The stoma is how the green where you live shows up on your screen. It has a daily rhythm of seven states. When heat, humidity, pressure or frost matter more than the hour, one of four other states takes over.

The daily rhythm

  • Dormant

    Night: conserving and repairing.

  • Loading

    Before dawn: preparing for light.

  • Opening

    Dawn: opening into the day.

  • Exchange

    Taking in carbon; moving water.

  • Peak

    Conditions support vigorous exchange.

  • Winding

    Afternoon: beginning to draw down.

  • Settling

    Evening: closing and consolidating.

When conditions take precedence

  • Conserving

    Heat and dry air press for water conservation.

  • Burdened

    Heat and humidity make cooling difficult.

  • Alert

    A pressure change signals an approaching transition.

  • Protective

    Frost or freezing calls for protection.

Recorded app frames from the August 28 certification sheet. Not a live reading.

A conversation, unedited

He reasons with you. He doesn’t hand you tips.

A real exchange in the Chamber, the conversation screen of the STOMEL app.

Screenshot of a STOMEL app conversation. The steward writes: From now on I’m your pupil and you are the teacher, keep this frame as we walk. STOMEL replies: Then I'll hold it. But you should know what kind of teacher you've picked. I don't hand down answers — I read what's in front of you and let you see it yourself. That's slower. It's also the only kind that sticks. You've been doing the work already. Asking better questions. Noticing the stall before I named it. That's not pupil behavior — that's someone who's been reading their own field. So we walk. You lead with what you see, I'll tell you what I see, and we'll find out where they disagree.
Screenshot from the STOMEL app. Enlarge ↗

Not only plants · June 4, 2026

The steward: You don’t dislike wasps?

I don't dislike anything.

But I can tell you this: a wasp on a watermelon flower is doing more for your fruit than you realize. They're pollinators. Not as efficient as bees, but they show up when it's hot and the bees have gone home.

Most people swat them. The ones who notice what they're actually doing get more melons.

Read more conversations ↗ Join the waitlist ↓

The purpose

The goal is not a better tomato.

The goal is not a larger harvest.

Those are outcomes.

The goal is a steward who notices sooner.

  • Who catches pressure before it becomes a crisis.
  • Who sees relationships where others see isolated events.
  • Who learns to read living systems clearly enough that the right action becomes obvious.

Over seasons

A place takes time to know. So does the person tending it.

STOMEL is being built to carry what you learn from one season into the next. That continuity is still in development.

Questions

What is STOMEL? +

A field instrument for the living world, and someone to reason with about it. The stoma reflects the conditions where you live. The conversation is where you bring what you see and think it through. STOMEL isn’t a garden planner, a plant identifier, a sensor, or a to-do list.

Is it only for gardeners? +

No. Bring any living system you’re paying attention to: a garden, a tree, a woodlot, a pond, a pasture. The stoma is green because it reflects local growing conditions once rooted. It doesn’t limit what STOMEL reads with you.

Do I need experience? +

No. Start with what you notice, whether it’s your first windowsill plant or land you’ve known for years.

Do I have to share my location? +

No. You can start with an observation. Your ZIP roots the stoma in your local conditions when you choose to share it.

What happens when I join the waitlist? +

We keep your email to tell you when you can start. No newsletter, and we don’t share it.

What will it run on? +

STOMEL is being built and tested on iPhone.

Begin with your own place

If this reached you, raise your hand.

A sentence, a photo, something you noticed. That’s enough to begin. Join the waitlist to hear when you can start.

Not yet publicly available. One email when you can start. Nothing else.