Look at the pattern water makes when it gives off heat to form crystals. Now, look at the equally angular patterns its angular crystals (snow) make when they fall on a grassland […]
Water and Gravity
Sagebrush’s Generosity
When the bank falls away, big sage shows her roots. Look at that: no great fussiness, just a few roots sinking down deep in a narrow column. These roots are easily twice […]
Water Harvesting
Someone got the idea that hanging cheap Chinese decorations on syilx trees would make things better. Maybe they will. Look at how the snow has collected on these dangling balls. Now, consider […]
The Gift Culture of the Grasslands
Flax is beautiful. The seeds grow heavy and lower the seed to the ground. Mice eat the seed there. And then it lifts up again, through the snow! These aren’t seeds that […]
Gravity Engines
Rocks aren’t all born alike. Here’s one from an old glacial river running along the ice that once filled this valley. Note what a light snowfall has done here. The stone has […]
Does Water Make Soil? Ancient and Modern Views Take on the Great Mixer
From a pre-modern point of view, water, left to sit, will create soil. From a modern point of view, soil, suspended in water, settles out when the water stills. Some Very Nice […]
A Bold Young One
A young buck strolls along the canal trail in the fog. Then down to some human fruit trees and tasty shrubberies. There’s a gathering of does a kilometre away and the older […]
OK, Birders, What Do You Think?
Two claws cutting the snow in movement, three, maybe four, beats of the wings, wingspan perhaps 12″-14″… so what do you think? Here’s a closer look. Wetland in a mixed forest above […]
Grassland Bycatch
Bycatch is all that stuff in the sea that deserves its own life, is caught when fishers are trying to snag something or other, and is thrown back overboard dead. It’s a […]
Irrigation the Other Way
Rather than pumps and pipes and all those expensive systems, why not just lay out the land in flats and catch the snow? Because the effects are short-lived? Well, then amplify them. […]
