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.
Okanagan Okanogan 
[image: Inline image 2][image: Inline image 1]
Dear Harold,
You can’t see it from the photos, but our friend grew these fava beans as an experimental crop for cattle feed (silage). Because (thankfully) there are no Round-up Ready favas on the market, the acre-sized field was also home to about two hundred trillion lamb’s quarters which were just slightly out of the picture but almost as tall as the favas. Jeremy said, “maybe we should just grow the lamb’s quarters”. They didn’t seem to compete much with the favas but added lots of tonnage.
Shalom,
Curt
On Mon, Jul 3, 2017 at 10:08 PM, Okanagan Okanogan wrote:
> Harold Rhenisch posted: “It’s your choice: a bounty better than spinach, > or drought. Same rainfall, same soil, same sun, same day, same hour, same > tongue, same thirst.” >
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