#this plant is no longer with us

[eco-friendly-ghost]

[serpentface]

A kulustaig bull, the distinctive cattle landrace of the highlands.

Kulustaig have striking differences to other native cattle found across the Imperial Wardi claimed territory. Their aurochs ancestors were domesticated in a separate event from those found south of the Inner Seaways, and the broader cattle population kulustaig derived from may have trace bison genetics. The progenitors of this landrace were brought south across the Viper seaway by the ancestors of the contemporary Hill Tribes, and were gradually shaped into the kulustaig in adaption to the high altitudes, mild but dry summers, and cool/snowy wet seasons.

These cattle are mid-sized and stocky in build with large, broad faces, most distinguished by curly manes and 'beards' and thick, V-shaped horns. Genetically undiluted kulustaig are almost ubiquitously black, white, and/or gray, though breeding with other cattle has introduced a greater variety of coloration in contemporary stocks.

They are adapted to higher altitudes, having larger hearts and a bigger lung capacity than comparable lowland breeds, and grow thick, curly winter coats that allow for superior resistance to seasonally cooler temperatures. They can maintain condition on less food and lower-nutrition grasses than the average cattle, and are excellent instinctive foragers. This particular quality makes them attractive for crossbreeding efforts with cattle stock of the dry scrublands in the south of Imperial Wardin, though most of their other traits are highly unfavorable for hot, low altitude environments, and scrub-kulustaig hybrids with idealized traits are rare (and highly sought after as studs).

These are all-purpose cattle that can adequately fulfill roles as meat, draft, and dairy animals, though the latter role has the most importance in day to day life, and they show the most selection for milk production (though are not as high-yield as pure dairy breeds). Their meat is mostly lean and somewhat gamey, as they rely more on thick winter coats than fat stores to manage cold, and the vast majority subsist entirely on wild grasses and forage.

Most kulustaig have fairly calm, gentle temperaments, and accommodate well to human handling (it is not uncommon for cows and geldings to be passively ridden by herders otherwise traveling on foot). Their herds have strong, well defined, and stable dominance hierarchy structures, which reduces actual fighting and lends to them being more easily managed by their human herders. In most traditions, the dominant female in each herd is regarded as blessed by and belonging to the agricultural goddess Od, and will not be milked or slaughtered (this untouchable status is often maintained even if the cow's rank in the hierarchy is displaced, though traditions vary).

Bulls are almost ubiquitously given personal names by their owners (the honor often belonging to a family or clan's matriarch, who is generally considered the owner of the herd and other familial assets), while other traditions vary between just the bulls and dominant cows, personal favorites, or entire herds receiving names.

These cattle are of tremendous importance to the peoples of the highlands (particularly tribes and/or individual clans living above the river valleys, who fundamentally rely upon them for subsistence). They provide much of the meat and dairy that the core diet revolves around, and are the greatest measure of wealth within the highlands. Non-native cattle can be commonly found in parts of the highlands in the contemporary (and may be bred in to impart unique qualities to established stock, such as improved milk production or fattier meat), but kulustaig are typically prized above all the rest. These cattle are often a source of great pride for individual clans, and one of few agreed upon markers of shared identity and pride for all of the collective Hill Tribes.

Cattle raiding is a near-ubiquitous practice (both as a practical resource acquisition, and a less immediately lethal method of settling larger disputes than open warfare), and most cattle will be branded with a mark identifying their owning clan as a method of dissuading theft (often futile, particularly given cattle marked as belonging to certain wealthy clans may be especially prized). Nose rings are commonly used to assist in the handling of bulls, but have secondary protective functions that lend to their common use in even the most docile of cattle. Rings are usually blessed or have spells woven into their making as a supernatural barrier against theft, or against malicious (or at least devious) mountain spirits such as tiirgranul (who take pleasure in frightening cattle (and their herders) and are known to cause stampedes) or wildfolk (who are known to sometimes steal or curse cattle when offended, or just bored).

The word kulustaig derives from the common word 'taig'/'taigr', which refers to cattle in the contemporary languages of both the Hill Tribes and Finns, and the 'kul' root (heavily antiquated and not used in contemporary speech, most commonly recognizable in the name of the kulys plant), which has connotations of hardiness/robust qualities. The name would have derived from complimentary descriptions of the animals as 'the best and most robust of cattle'.

[vagun1ka]

some other liyue girls redesigned! i really wanted to draw xiangling since her color palette is very nice^^ +yelan with outfit designed by mutual

[oblisker]

shitty and dangerous friend vs literal eldritch god physically and psychologically abusing his ex-worshipper to the brink of complete insanity

[hersheysmcboom]

Am I the only one who thinks the pro palestine movement has started to become kind of cult like

[moomeecore]

i found a book abt the anti lawn movement at the library & decided to sit out in my yard & read it. but ironically there was a neverending barage of power tool noises making it difficult to focus. so i walked to a nature park near me in order to escape the dreaded sounds. almost stopped at the mowed picnic table area bc i hate walking but fortunately pushed forward and made myself walk up an annoying hill to an area that is a preservation of a native oak savanna & sat down against a tree near the edge of the path & did my reading there. and honest to god that was a 100/10 experience. there was something so powerful abt being in a preserve for a locally native habitat while reading abt the impacts homeowners can have on native plant preservation! it powered up my energy towards my life mission (evangelize abt enviormentally sustainable gardening to every single person who comes within a 10 ft radius of me) by like. 15 points. also a deer walked up to me and that was super cool

[afterlife-2004]

Reminds me of “The World Was Wide Enough”, a song from the musical, Hamilton!

[foxsoulcourt]

right now I'm reading, re-reading, sitting with, weeping + nodding to this reflection from Venice Williams.

You are awakening to the

same country you fell asleep to.

The very same country.

Pull yourself together.

And, 

when you see me, 

do not ask me

“What do we do now?

How do we get through the next four years?”

Some of my Ancestors dealt with 

at least 400 years of this 

under worse conditions.

Continue to do the good work.

Continue to build bridges not walls.

Continue to lead with compassion.

Continue the demanding work 

of liberation for all.

Continue to dismantle broken systems, 

large and small.

Continue to set the best example 

for the children.

Continue to be a vessel of nourishing joy.

Continue right where you are.

Right where you live into your days.

Do so in the name of 

The Creator who expects 

nothing less from each of us.

And if you are not “continuing” 

ALL of the above, 

in community, partnership, collaboration?

What is it you have been doing?

What is it you are waiting for?

Venice Williams is director of Alice’s Garden and The Table. She is also a lay minister, teacher, healer and facilitator. 

[r0tt1ngr4bb1t]

What has He seen that We haven't 😔

Bonus :3

[ohitslen]

OKAY VASHWOOD KIDS ON THE HEAD THIS AFTERNOON HHNNG

While I do think that them having kids of their own is super cute and such a nice thing for them both, I am personally a Vash and Wolfwood adopting children truther. Best part is it was Not Even On Purpose.

The times are less aggressive, their lives are less violent (compared to before) and they are both a lot more free. They aren’t used to living a settled life, in spite of finally having a little home of their own at the outskirts of December.

They still travel around without an aim or clear purpose most often than not. They would visit old friends and the times they decided to stay in a place for a bit longer would either be at Home or the Hopeland Orphanage.

They like it that way. It’s familiar and they don’t have to watch for their heads as much as they did before. They are finally experiencing a much more gentler life of their own.

I imagine them stumbling with some kids, let’s say three, that live on their own in one of their trips. They offer to bring them to the Hopeland Orphanage like they usually do to orphaned kids, so they can live more peacefully. They accept after some more convincing.

During that trip they get to live a bit more closely with the children compared to the way they do with the kids back at the orphanage. They love them oh they do, with all their heart, but the closeness they experience with everyone at the orphanage is more of a caretaker sort of approach and nothing as intimate as taking care of them so personally.

The bumpy trip basically obligated them to be more close to the kids, spending nights and days with them, protecting them from danger, cooking meals for their little group of five, spending a few days in different towns to unwind and buy more resources. It was nice, traveling together like that (even if it did get a little dangerous every now and then when they stumbled upon a fight or two).

The kids start to get very attached to them, and both Vash and Wolfwood admittedly were feeling the same way too. They knew they couldn’t keep the kids, not with their wanderers life style and the danger that was still always present (not as terrible as before, but trouble would always be a part of them as it seemed).

Once they got to December to finally leave the kids at the Orphanage, they decide it’s a good time for them to have one of their long stays at the orphanage until their next trip. All of the kids love them both, and they return the sentiment as well. However, it’s evident how their closeness was bigger with the kids they just traveled around with. They knew a bit more about each other with more precision, they were a bit more affectionate with them, the kids would look for Wolfwood and Vash so they could spend more time together. It wasn’t rare for the kids to go and sleep with either of them at night or taking naps with them, but those three particular children would always sleep with them, all snuggled up and warm in their embrace.

It was nice, it almost felt like a little family of their own. Wolfwood remembers how nice it was to live in the orphanage with the other kids, and Vash loved his time with Rem and Knives when they were little, not to mention the people at Home later on, but neither of them really had a grasp of something in their lives they could call wholly theirs, something stable, something constant.

Their stay at the orphanage lasted from their usual month and a half to two months, and then three, until they thought it was a good time for some time of their own back at their little house (living with so many kids always around the corner didn’t provide much space for privacy, much less now that the three kids would follow them as if they were their shadows).

The kids were disappointed and a little sad that their time to leave had come already, even if they had stayed longer than what they usually did this time. Their three little kids were the ones that looked the most anguished from them all, and neither Nick or Vash missed that detail.

When they arrived to their home, they cleaned first, the dust had settled in their house and they could barely move without gusts of it coming to invade their lungs. After they quickly got rid of the most they could they finally got to rest and get some alone time of their own.

The days passed, and the quiet time between them was appreciated, but it felt a bit too quiet. They had quickly grown used to the noise that came with being around the kids in that short time. Maybe it was thanks to the fact that their lives were much kinder now, but something inside of them itched at the thought of not having the kids by their side, of not being together.

They knew what it was after sparing it a second to think of it a bit more.

“You know, I think it would be nice if we stay in here for a bit longer” Vash said out of the blue one day while they were making breakfast together, a soft and genuine smile hanging on his face.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing” Wolfwood answered back with a smile of his own, focused at chopping a portion of vegetables a bit too big for two people, it was probably enough to feed five mouths perhaps.

[happystarzarchive]

goddd i always forget how absolutely Sickly And Pathetic pre-relationship argos is . like one of those dollar store easter chicks drenched in water

[pianokantzart]

Woooo here we go!

[chomesuke]

I spent some time with my garden and it was so nice and then I came back inside and my brain immediately started spouting chronically online bullshit at me again

anyway I'm happy to have strawberry plants again! I had to leave mine behind when I moved and then the cyclone in the north island happened and there was a strawberry plant shortage :(

but now I'm going to have strawberries again this year. blackberries and blueberries and peaches and nectarines too. possibly raspberries? or more blackberries? I forgot what that one was. maybe my blackberries are actually boysenberries. with my memory, I can't be sure. most of the other stuff will probably be ready to harvest in the first half of next year.

[aurorashard]

.

[finn-shitposts]

I finally bit the bullet and quit my joooob !!! Now im gonna actually have time to rest and catch up on owed art and just fucjin sleep for 3 weeks

(And then scramble to find a job but thars for future me to worry abour)

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been thinking abt one of my older oni colonies and decided to doodle my first three dupes in that save