Blackberry brambles

Art by Davood Moghaddami

What I was taught growing up: Wild edible plants and animals were just so naturally abundant that the indigenous people of my area, namely western Washington state, didn't have to develop agriculture and could just easily forage/hunt for all their needs.

The first pebble in what would become a landslide: Native peoples practiced intentional fire, which kept the trees from growing over the camas praire.

The next: PNW native peoples intentionally planted and cultivated forest gardens, and we can still see the increase in biodiversity where these gardens were today.

The next: We have an oak prairie savanna ecosystem that was intentionally maintained via intentional fire (which they were banned from doing for like, 100 years and we're just now starting to do again), and this ecosystem is disappearing as Douglas firs spread, invasive species take over, and land is turned into European-style agricultural systems.

The Land Slide: Actually, the native peoples had a complex agricultural and food processing system that allowed them to meet all their needs throughout the year, including storing food for the long, wet, dark winter. They collected a wide variety of plant foods (along with the salmon, deer, and other animals they hunted), from seaweeds to roots to berries, and they also managed these food systems via not only burning, but pruning, weeding, planting, digging/tilling, selectively harvesting root crops so that smaller ones were left behind to grow and the biggest were left to reseed, and careful harvesting at particular times for each species that both ensured their perennial (!) crops would continue thriving and that harvest occurred at the best time for the best quality food. American settlers were willfully ignorant of the complex agricultural system, because being thus allowed them to claim the land wasn't being used. Native peoples were actively managing the ecosystem to produce their food, in a sustainable manner that increased biodiversity, thus benefiting not only themselves but other species as well.

So that's cool. If you want to read more, I suggest "Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America" by Nancy J. Turner

And then I think about:

How we hunted the beavers to near extinction, and a beaver pond increases the soil moisture level, creates/expands wetlands, etc.

How we banned intentional fires, and now are dealing with bigger, hotter, more dangerous fires. And that one of the tools in invasive species management is intentional fires.

How we have all these invasive plant species invading everywhere, and if people were still allowed/encouraged to "forage" like they did pre-colonialization, that would include removing those invasive species. And people would have eyes everywhere, so the populations of invasive species would not have had the chance to get established.

The land needs people. Leaving it "wild" and "untouched" is actually neglect.

I need everyone’s best character advice. STAT.

You're not creating real people, you're creating the illusion of real people. You don't have to mention their favorite food if it doesn't come up, you don't even have to know it, though if they were actual people they'd have one. You can throw plot events at your characters to force them to take certain actions, or you could just rewrite the characters to be the kind of characters who would take those actions anyway. Your characters have a life of their own in their own little world, but don't be afraid to play god to get what you want out of them.

In the vast majority of cases, a character's strengths and flaws should be the same thing. There are exceptions (you can have a character be clumsy for the lols without needing to find some way that it's an advantage), but for most character traits, the difference between a flaw and a strength is the situation at hand and learning when to indulge it.

desire is the source of action, so your characters should WANT things. all of them should have something they want that's good for them, something they want that's bad for them, and something that's just a little silly, for spice.

Embers of a Dying Day: The Sky Ablaze, Trees Whisper Silence🔥🌅🌲 (Soft Pastel)

I think we are way too chill about Lan Fan. "She's sixteen. She cut off her own arm and waded through dirty sewers right after. She recovered from automail surgery in six months, a shorter time than the main character of the series, who previously held the record for shortest recovery period. She took on not one, not two, but THREE immortal beings and came out alive from every encounter. She cut off her own arm. She blew up a town in her first appearance. She blushed a lot. She cut off her own arm. She was the key to a more important character accomplishing his goal. She was arguably the most loyal character out of a giant cast of hyperloyal characters. She cut off her own arm.

I work in an art gallery with some amazing works by Vincent Van Gogh, and I keep find myself defending his honor. People frustrate me to no end.

Some people look at his artwork, which is full of immense love for the world, and go, "Oh, how sad. He was crazy. Isn't this painting SAD?" And, it's one of the most joyful paintings on earth.

The worst people are those who mock his artwork because he was "crazy". Upon looking at a beautiful, delicate, loving, and meditative artwork, a father nudged his son. "Isn't this the crazy guy who cut off his own ear?" The son laughed. "That's disgusting," the son said, and they laughed together.

Vincent Van Gogh wanted to be a priest. He felt God's love in everything and everyone. The priesthood didn't work out, but nevertheless Vincent especially felt God's love in the unloved. He painted every breeze in the air, and the veins in the unnoticed laborer's hands.

I don't think Van Gogh's swirling spirals are crazy. I think they're meditations on God's love, breathed through all Creation. To me, these paintings are a prayer.

Various stars & moon details from my gouache paintings 🌙✨

Eowyn of Rohan and Arwen Undomiel

you think grey is the english spelling and gray is the american spelling but im here to change language and if we all do it it'll become real so hold my hand and do this with me:

grey is for cool-toned greys

gray is for warm-toned grays

(x)

I got the chance to road trip out to the path of totality! My phone camera didn’t do it justice, so I painted what I saw instead 🌞🌚

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky shows His handiwork. Day to day they speak, night to night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech, no words, where their voice goes unheard. Their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world. •Psalm 19•

things are awful and will remain awful for a very long time so here is a picture of two chickens with little handmade knitted capes on. Someone must love these chickens a lot to make them little chicken capes. They look so warm and lovely in their little chicken capes.

Reblogging for fine chickens in winter capes.

@ramonacatholic

i dream of living within walking distance of a secondhand bookstore, a quiet café, and a river to sit at with my book and my coffee