The latest round of deadwood.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

The latest round of deadwood that Wings cut off yesterday. That's only the ones small enough to be hauled out to the south end; he also cut off a couple of trunks in hopes of saving them near the base. He also managed to fall off the ladder and bruise a rib on the chainsaw handle, and no, I'm not happy about it, but he still thinks he's fifty years younger than he is and there's no one else to help anyway. It's a daily battle to save the land now, and I'm sure that sounds melodramatic to non-Native people, but it's the simple, basic truth.

One thing I neglected to mention in yesterday's post is that what you're seeing in those photos is not "merely" the wages of drought. I mentioned that we'd had more rain this year than last year, and I know to most people that would seem to have ameliorated it, but that's not how it works. This was reclassified this year from what scientists were calling a 500-year drought" into a "1,200-year drought," meaning that based on the climatic record, they can tell that this land has not seen this kind of drought in 1,200 years or more. And it's been ongoing since roughly 1995, so we're now more than a quarter-century into it.

What you're seeing in that photo is the consequences of aridification, what happens when long-term drought gets a death grip on the land and there's no remediation. Aridification literally changes the chemical composition of the soil, so that even if Wings waters the trees, as he's been trying to do all year, they can't gain the proper nutrition from the soil anymore. It means that indigenous trees can no longer survive in their indigenous environment.

And that? Is truly catastrophic now.

Meanwhile, I have to make sales in a pandemic-ridden climate where no one's buying, because no one knows how much worse all of this might get. But I still have to make sales, I have to bring in something somehow, and I can't do it alone. I especially can't do it alone when it comes to bringing in enough to remedy the disaster depicted in those photos in yesterday's post.

Wings has new earrings and another new cuff coming up this week, plus the next two of the gemstone bead sets for fall. I've also already posted 4 new pairs of silverwork earrings here, the first of those pairs of silver-and-stone earrings and one complete group (necklace/earrings/coil) of gemstone bead jewelry here, a second three-piece gemstone bead collection here, and five new pieces that I posted last Monday: three Warrior Woman pins, two absolutely incredible new cuffs. If I could sell them, or any combination of any of his other newish pieces, it would get us out of this month. If I could sell one of the big ones, like one of the belts, maybe I could get us on the drill list. But I've got way too much to do and too few hours and other resources to do it. 

But there's all that new work, and I'd be grateful to everyone who shares all of it, and of course, if you're in the market, keep us in mind for purchases. Thanks to a dear friend, it looks like I'll be able to pay our quarterly taxes later this week and our other bills, but there is still my eye appointment to schedule (that'll set us back about $1K before it's done), and I really do need to build up some reserves to get us just a tiny bit ahead of the eight-ball of expenses.

Anyway, links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are all the mosquito-prevention items, especially the portables and the patio-surface ones, because Wings can take them around the land with his as he works);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to cover all this staggering outlay somehow and get us through what's left of the year. And right now? I have no way to do it.  But there's lots of fabulous new work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.