New beginnings....

Hope everyone is enjoying their fall now with cooler weather aka mushroom tea time here in the praireland of Texas ...it is also getting better now that COVID is more under control as we are all out seeing more people and having new adventures again! Yay!! Hope you all are too!

Anyway we have big news here at the studio... about a month ago we moved! Yay!! We moved from our house in Dallas and now we are living at our property in Hubbard, Texas(pop. 1423) and I have moved my Jewelry Studio into the Evergreen. For those that follow me on Instagram, especially my stories, you may be more familiar with this part of my jewelry making journey and life. But for those new or not Instagram story followers and are not familiar, here's a mini recap... about five years ago Kyle and I bought some property about an hour and half from Dallas that we have been working on ourselves and also with family and friends with the hopes of moving to eventually. So we decided October 2021 was the time and we rented out our house in Dallas for now to a friend in the tiny house community! She had recently had surgery and really needed a place to chill for 5 months or so and she also needed a place to park her tiny house with no hassle. This allowed us to move and downsize to our 300 sq ft RV that we had on the property. We are now living in the RV temporarily while we build our tiny Aircrete Dome Home. In the process, we also moved my jewelry making studio into an Evergreen shipping container which Kyle finished setting up with Solar panels, eco friendly insulation and a solar mini split for heat and air..It turned out so beautiful with lots of windows and beautiful hardwood floors and I couldn't ask for a more amazing space to spend my days! If you like you can see the build on Instagram @shopevergreenjewelry

Needless to say this is a very exciting time for us and has all been in an effort for us to live in a more sustainable way with the planet and hopefully this move will also help us be more resilient no matter what the climate does in the future...we thought it is best to be off-grid as much as we can and to live tiny. After a month, I feel like I am in a constant nature bath and am just getting settled into practicing deep ecology rather than shallow ecology...thank you Arne Næss for this amazing way of life and thinking...I am only just beginning and have so much more to learn. But in that effort I am so far following and have become a little obsessed with a murder of crows (8-9 crows) that traverse the land throughout the day in front of my new studio ...going east to the ponds and west towards our dirt road that leads us back out to the main highway and back to "civilization". So wondering what the Crows are doing all day...as they seem to live really busy and social lives and can't wait to learn more from them. Another highlight so far has been my morning sunrise watches with Laika from the RV...just so many beautiful ones and sunsets too...I will continue to share these on my Instagram stories @crobinsondesign

To find out more about the Evergreen and Hubbard Texas please check out my EVERGREEN STUDIO PAGE . It is so beautiful here and I feel blessed to be a witness to this magical place. Here are just a few of the images from our month here so far... along with some new jewelry pieces now available inspired by my new surroundings!! Happy Fall Y’all xx Christy

Shop Dendrite Agate Crow Reversible Pendant

Shop Crescent Moon Love Owl Labradorite Ring

Desert Love Spirit Animals

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🌞just a couple of desert animal inspired necklaces that will be part of my upcoming Desert Love Collection...a Desert Cottontail & a Donkey.... both are amazing desert dwellers but here is some amazing information about Donkeys & one of their techniques for desert survival...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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“A new study shows donkeys are also friends to other desert animals and plants, as they dig deep wells that can provide a vital source of water...especially at the height of summer.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Biologist Erick Lundgren had read about African elephants digging wells that were the only source of water for other animals during the dry season, and wanted to know if donkeys might play a similar role in America.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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The idea was intriguing, "especially since donkeys and also horses are considered agents of biodiversity harm" as they are not native species in the region, he said.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Over the course of three summers, he and his team surveyed sites in the Sonoran Desert that stretches across Arizona and California.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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They found that wells dug by the donkeys to depths of up to six feet (two meters) increased water availability for many native desert species, and decreased the distances between important water sources during dry periods.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The wells were especially important during the hottest and driest parts of summer, when they provided the only available water source at some sites.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Lundgren and his colleagues said in their paper that the wells will be increasingly important as human activity and climate change reduces the number of perennial streams in these regions. “—From phys.org article ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

How donkeys digging wells help life thrive in the desert -by Issac Ahmed

🌵🌞Here I am with one of my rescued donkey friends that I have made over the years ...I’ve honestly never met a donkey that I didn’t feel an instant bond too...they are so beautiful, inquisitive & kind!! So of course they are the animal inspiration for my Desert Love Collection & I will be giving a portion of the proceeds to this collection to Long Hopes Donkey Shelter www.longhopes.org to help with their rescue, rehabilitation & rehoming of donkeys... please check them out and donate if you can🌞🌵

🌵🌞Desert Love Collection release day Sunday, September 12,7 pm CDT

Desert Love Collection

Hey all hope you are having a lovely summer & almost fall!

I just wanted to let you know a little bit about my upcoming jewelry collection that is releasing on September 12 7 pm CDT.

This new collection is a very limited series of one-of-a- kind designs centered on our changing climate and how it is affecting our world! Also how climate migrations of species specifically those living in areas of the world that are already experiencing water scarcity such as desert regions may adapt to or need to migrate from those areas becoming climate refugee's due to those changes becoming uninhabitable for human and animal life. ​ Each piece is one-of- a-kind featuring Arizona turquoise, agates,ammonite fossils and Scolisite(white) gemstones set in recycled sterling silver and copper with cacti and fire accents with a black patina finish. ​ 5% of the proceeds of this collection will be going to Climate Refugees.org in their efforts to aid those who have already been displaced by our climate crisis ​ 5% of the proceeds of this collection will be going to Longhopes Donkey Shelter to help with their rescue,rehabilitation and rehoming of donkeys that is one of the desert landscape spirit animals!

For more updates be sure to follow my Instagram posts and stories too @crobinsondesign