First, plant some flowers. Watch them grow. Nice, eh! Bees will burrow into the soil and lay their eggs. Nicer yet! Voles will come and root around, as voles will do. By […]
Rototilling 101
Bunch Grass Doesn’t Stabilize Slopes
Blue bunch wheatgrass has been used to stabilize slopes in The Rise subdivision here in Vernon. The goal was to do so in an environmentally-friendly manner, to compensate for irreplaceable habitat lost […]
Whole Worlds Hidden from the Settler Gaze
Under the snow, it’s spring. Under stone, it’s the same. Where the sun intensifies and molten water collects, it’s spring. This is when the rock is mined for nutrients that feed the […]
The Dance of the Deer and the Pines
Oyama Not only is every ponderosa pine here a vertical column, rather than a star of branches as it appears to human eyes, and not only does it create a zone under […]
Pigeons and Dates under the Rising Sun
Blessings. The darkness is falling back now. The sun is coming back. Look who showed up today in Penticton. What ancient symbols of renewal! A pigeon and Russian Olives (a kind of […]
Okanagan Architecture: Fake or Real?
Fake: Thank You to the Globe and Mail Real: Here, a closeup, so you can admire the finer touches. Got that? No? Here’s another fake: Well, lots of room to park tractors […]
Settlers on the Beach
Every winter, Okanagan Lake piles up leaves, wood, reeds, weeds, shells and feathers on the shore, high and low, bringing life to the dead strand line, building a forest. Every spring, the […]
Cold Houses Needed
Houses are built in Canada to keep out the cold and keep in the heat. The latter, they are poor at, but when the heat leaves, more is added. Of course, this […]
What Vineyard Culture Can Teach Canadians about Drugs
The topsoil and subsoil of a stretch of land can be removed by truck and then replaced in a state that mixes subsoil clay and topsoil together, or just clay on top […]
Canadian Military Budget Update
So, the deer come by in deer territory in the Great Canadian Military City of Vernon and munch stuff grown with water because access to water is blocked by farm fences and […]
Okanagan Okanogan 