I was down at Chopaka yesterday, planting a nursery on Lower Similkameen land. This is a food sustainability project to replace the orchard that White farmers from the packinghouse at Keremeos, a few miles to the north, cut down in 1963.

The two rows to the left are experimental Malus x Micromalus apple rootstocks from a project I was conducting at Upper Keremeos over the last few years, and which Tree to Me Organic Farm has now donated to this project. The other six rows are St. Julien A plums and Malling Morton 111 apples from Holland, which Similkameen Nurseries sourced for us. That is, of course, the ancestor Cipak, covered in snow, watching over this work.

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My history of the Pacific Northwest is progressing with the story of the intersection of education on the Lower Columbia in the 1840s, the California Gold Rush, and the war that led to the Smelqmex being squeezed onto this little wedge of land along their river. Thanks for your patience. My current post is 40 pages long and growing. Once I get all the pieces in place, I will cut it up into chapters and release them to you. in the meantime, if you have a picture of the HBC school at Fort Vancouver or of the Liksiyu chief called “The Prince”, do send it along! Thanks.