While bears were breeding apples tens of thousands of years ago in the apple forests of Khazakstan, down south in Kyrgyzstan, humans were living in walnut forests and breeding walnuts. Here are […]
Walnut, Our Ancestor
Síya? Arrives
In slow motion, Síya? berries are bringing themselves down to us. This isn’t a fanciful idea. They really are. It’s exciting to watch. The excitement mounts!
It’s Lambs Quarter Time!
Farming is tough. The weeds grow. Look at these lambs quarters take over the world! But, reallllly look at them. Mmmmmm. Instead of a field of trouble, it’s a crop, better than […]
What Canadian Poets and Nature Can Achieve Together With a Little Help From Their Friends
I think we could ask some questions about separation. For instance, this willow, which seeded itself seven years ago, is doing fine high on the grassland… … although all other willows […]
The First Petal of the First Blossom of the Sun
It’s a good day for arrow-leafed balsam roots. They have come fast (in two days). If you hurry, there’s still time for some fine steamed sprouts. Their menthol flavour is not yet […]
The Glory That is Paul Terbasket’s Apricot Tree
In 1915, Paul Terbasket of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band was jailed for disobeying a foolish court order and watering his orchard. One apricot tree remains. His land is leased out to […]
Eating the Night Wind
If you like eating the land, this ever-changing weather gives you a new pleasure these days: a chance to eat the night wind. Here at the northern range of Columbia Hawthorn […]
How Caroling Became Line Dancing … and Beyond
Here’s a modern orchard, an enclosed space, a guard or garden, all full of fruit, from the late latin ortus, or, you got it, all together now, an orchard. The beauty of […]
It’s Not Just Technology That Changes the World
Like the apple, the quince was selected by thousands of years of human use to be the size of a hand. Any smaller and our ancestors would have walked on. It doesn’t […]
How to Make a City Indigenous, Even if You’re Lazy, Eh
Let’s go downtown as if we lived here. Let’s look at Canada through the lens of the story it tells in the Syilx illahie (illahie is Pacific Slope trade jargon for “story” […]
