teonanacatl

Probably around 20-30 hours to make, im pretty quick at the crossovers now But its taken a few months to find the time in between life. Thanks guys

Latest carving and the last for a while I think. NZ Marsden flower jade toki with nine crossovers.

Pigeons are an excellent source of meat in the cities. When I lived in the suburbs at uni I lived off pigeons. Easy to attract to your yard if you feed some seed or better yet move in next to someone who already does such a thing. If the animals look healthy they likely are, city pigeons often dont look healthy and as such likely are not. You could even build a dovecote or cages for them and let them out to forage each day. As far as foraging for other animals or plants goes there are often easily accessible areas loaded with food at certain times of the year. I have a theory I call the front door theory, people are blind to whats right in front of them. Often the best oysters are found at a popular jetty, or there are loads of mangoes in a central city park yet no one picks them, or a central creek/drain might be full of cassava, bananas or taro. People dont see these things as food, especially when the park is seen as a common homeless hangout. Timing for a lot of things has to be perfect as one wants maximum yield for minimum time and $ invested so keep mental notes of when to find/ catch things. The next thing is to preserve or stores such things for the rest of the year. I could provide loads of examples for where I live now, Townsville and Cairns, also random other places Ive been and just noted all the food. A good alternative for diesel or kero would be biodiesel, not so much in the cities but in rural areas one can often collect lots of waste vegetable oil from takeaway shops.

Enjoy

Tasty and relaxing tea made from 3-5 flowers great before bed for vivid dreams! Freshly picked and dried, sustainably harvested from a natural swamp behind my house. 15g for $10. Postage not included. PM me.

Im chasing one too!

Queenfish is the wrong species haha I meant this queenfish. http://www.swoffa.com/images/saltwater-fish/galleries/1005/12199854151652578.jpg

Eating wise: Garfish Mullet Whiting Trevally Spanish Mackeral Queenfish- pickled or salted Threadfin salmon Coral trout

Ive been documenting the local bush foods of my area, photos and uses. Im just doing the ones in season at the moment so Ill have plenty more to go throughout the year. Ticked off most of the common tuber crops for now. Feel free to follow if you like. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.846566802084479.1073741860.506811786059984&type=1

Quick carving made from Inanga Pounamu- the most revered colour by the Maori.

Thats cool

creaturesfromel (Ellen Jewett) - DeviantArt Ellen Jewett Sculpture Fantastic stuff! Great imagination really captures the essence of the forest. Nice blend of reality and fantasy too. Now to make them from jade and gemstones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulroZ4zikX8#t=134

Sad day for me, amazing the depth of human emotion. She was just over 4 and just had an unplanned (people nearby who dont like me let their male roam onto my property I assume to annoy me, I let her off the chain to go piss/shit and he got her) litter (2 weeks old) which Im now bottle feeding. Ive got two of her pups from a previous litter and another bitch that was pups with her but there are dogs, and then there are those special dogs. She was one of the special ones to me. Wonder how many of those one gets in a lifetime. Good signal for change I think! Bush Dogs Once a bush dog, who chased bull and pig, Now a city dog, must chase ball and stick. Once we chase animals, and eat what we kill, Now we go to the dog park for a quick thrill. Once no fences, yeah we roamed free, Now all tied up, get let off to pee. Once we jumped over, dead logs and plants, Now we line up, jump onetime over fence. Once we roam free, out upon the plains, Now all leashes, collars and clinking chains. There we bark to warn of danger, Here we bark at every stranger. There we knew freedom like no one else could, Here we still hear the call, when no one else would. Nothing here will break us, no person, fence or tether. For we are strong, unbreakable, as long as were are together. Yasi A mongrel dog, black and tan, Barely skin and bone, A bush dog if there was one Free in the bush she roams. She helps me hunt, she is my life, She keeps me warm at night. As long as she’s alive, I know she’ll be by my side.

I saw a girl on a beach, the title gave it context that she was an aboriginal girl, otherwise I would have thought it was just any girl on the beach. I live in an indigenous community so often I forget the actual ratio black:white ratio is not 90% black:white. So what struck me was more the metaphor of indigenous relations that I see; her being indigenous standing amongst a massive crowd of white people, on her land; with so many people oblivious to her; to the history and plight of indigenous people; oohing and arrhing taking photos- the notion of her being alone in her own country. Sure some people hugged her but almost all did with lots of show, for the camera perhaps? maybe making themselves feel better about being racist- Im not racist I hugged a black girl today? Sure hardly scientific (I dont even know the credibility of the 13% but in my experience Id say that is about right or too much) and no control of a white girl on a beach. But then again that would be a scientific study not a statement on youtube. An unfortunate predicament for which I do not claim to know the answer. Can-O-Worms.

My swamp is in full flower, Id be happy to brave the small crocs to grab and dry some if there is interest? Im flat broke so chasing a few $. Otherwise Ill let them seed and eat their seeds haha.

Thanks mate! Ive gotten a pretty great response from posting it thats why I thought Id share it here. Id like to show more about me using them in cooking but I dont often cook much and tend to just eat them as they are hahaha.

I had something in my eye too! Im curious what made each of you teary?

How does one embed a video haha?

Thanks everyone for the stories and photos. Im truly gutted. Im not a big people person so she was everything- I dont click with many people. The only loss I could put on par with loosing her would be my brother. Ive always felt alone in this world, even with friends and in a crowd, she was my friend, my whole life was based around her. Cremated her on top of the hill near my house overlooking the ocean, might carve her name in a rock and leave it there. The future will happen slowly I guess.

My internet is to slow for youtube so I havent been able to hear its sound. Found a few pictures though, one was made from jade. Id estimate the cost of it to be around $1500-2k, the size of presumably Guatemalan jadeite needed for the skull alone would be $1000+. I look forward to one day hearing its noise.

Never heard of them Ill have a look for you though.

Yeah its nice. Makes me want to go and collect some from NZ myself.

The pounamu I bought from trademe. Unfortunately most of it is to prone to cracking and chipping to carve anything with much detail. Also the pieces were poorly slabbed by who ever slabbed them meaning a lot were cut across grain rather then with grain which doesnt give much size to work with and is the reason they are so chippy. The freeform pieces were basically just hit with a hammer then ground to shape till they stopped chipping and have strength. You like the cobble stone? Or the yellow flower jade? The cobble was the top of the slab I cut the green kawakawa necklaces from. It is chatoyant and rather then wreck it trying to make pendants I decided to smooth it all and polish it up. Its pretty cool and I Figure oneday it might make a nice base, otherwise Ill just use it as a hot rock and fondle stone

Kawakawa cobble and totoweka freeform and toki necklaces. Few more pieces of pounamu to carve then back to mobius carvings and Ive got plans to do some butterfly chrysalis's. Also have a lifesize peyote that I started carving a year ago that needs to be finished :D