Side view of my yellow cedar talking stick , 52 ” long , the carved raven head is 5 ” long by 1 1/2” wide #ravendesign #yellowcedar #nativeart #nativecarver #nativeculture #handcrafted #handmade #myart #myshop #madeinbc #madeincanada #canada #coastsalish #coastsalishartist #bcfirstnations #britshcolumbia #missionbc #vancity #vancouver #abaloneinlays
Tlicho Elder making a Drum Stick. Wanted to point out his wrap around moccasins he was wearing back in the day. Today wrap around moccasins are still being used by the Tlicho and available on the Tlicho Online Store.
The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption in Italy 40,000 years ago was one of the largest volcanic cataclysms in Europe and injected a significant amount of sulfur-dioxide (SO2) into the stratosphere. Scientists have long debated whether this eruption contributed to the final extinction of the Neanderthals.
A new study by Benjamin A. Black and colleagues tests this hypothesis with a sophisticated climate model.
Black and colleagues write that the CI eruption approximately coincided with the final decline of Neanderthals as well as with dramatic territorial and cultural advances among anatomically modern humans. Because of this, the roles of climate, hominin competition, and volcanic sulphur cooling and acid deposition have been vigorously debated as causes of Neanderthal extinction. Read more.
As habitats of native bees, beetles, and butterflies are sometimes scarce, or in the way of cultivation, it is important to preserve refuges where these creatures can hide, and continue to symbiotically interact with your local ecosystem.
A number of solitary bees, and beetles like ladybugs—which pollinate fruit crops, and control aphids, respectively—live, have their young, and/or hibernate in hollow biological structures.
Dried “tubes” can be found all over the place in the spring, and are unfortunately often cleared from cultivated spaces: grasses, rushes, sedges, ferns, and flower stalks often leave behind a reasonably sturdy, dried hollow structure; I’ve also used cardboard tubing.
These materials can be packed into a frame of sorts (I used a length of PVC pipe), along with things like bark, clay tiles, and conifer cones for spiders, in order to provide an array of habitats.
The insects and arachinids will move in and do the rest.
Beside the home-made “bee hotel” above, I’ve also hung up an old butterfly house. These kinds of structures provide shelter for migrating and local butterflies, and mimic the crevices in trees and rocks in which these insects would normally find shelter.
Between the bees, beetles, birds, moths, and butterflies, and the worms in my compost system, there is a house or habitat for almost every local beneficial creature: except for bats. As soon as one of my trees reaches a sufficient height, I will be putting in a bat house as well.
The benefits of having a biodiverse forest garden system are manifold: these organisms pollinate, decompose, control pest populations, and deposit both seeds and fertiliser. It is in my best interest to have them around, filling out their ecological niches.
Neanderthals from the Krapina cave site may have manipulated white-tailed eagle talons to make jewellery 130,000 years ago, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by David Frayer from University of Kansas along with colleagues from Croatia.
The Scrubba
is a washtub, washboard, soaker and dry-rack that collapses down and
fits in your pocket, and can also serve as a drybag for camping trips.
I’m on a gruelling book tour
and doing a lot of sink-laundry in hotel rooms, so this kind of thing
is perhaps unduly exciting for me at the moment. It’s a somewhat pricey
$55, but could conceivably replace hotel laundry where a washing a
single pair of socks costs $5, and thus earn its keep rather quickly.
Primitive Survival Skills 