I have worked here since 2011 telling stories of the Earth as preparation for a history of the Intermontane Grasslands of Central Cascadia and the rainswept coast that keeps them windy and dry. Now I am presenting this history, step by step, as I have learned it, often from the land itself. The history of this region includes the Canadian colonial space “The Okanagan Valley”, which lies over the land I live in above Canim Bay. The story stretches deep into the American West, into the US Civil War, the War of 1812, and the Louisiana Purchase, as well into the history of the Columbia District of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In all, the story spans the Chilcotin and Columbia volcanic plateaus and the basins that surround them. In this vast watershed lie homelands as old as 13,200 years (Sequim) and 16,200 years (Salmon River.) That’s how far we are walking together here, who are all the land speaking.
Ah, the sweet berries of June!
This is the best year in a decade for saskatoons. They are so sweet.
And so juicy. Even the ground birds have left the cover of the grass for these ones.
Okanagan Okanogan 
they look a lot like blueberries actually!
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When baked in a pie they taste like marzipan.
They are much sweeter than blueberries. Usually, the seeds are overwhelming, like a bundle of flax seeds, but this year they are sooooo plump.
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