Riesling grapes are indigenous to the Rhine and the Mosel, but not to the Okanagan. Pinots are indigenous to the Rhône, but not to the Similkameen or the Shuswap. It’s just the […]
Indigenous Life and Grapes
Reading the Weather
If you live in a place where you can’t see the sky, you don’t need to know the weather. But if the sky can get at you, you should have a personal […]
The Turtle of Turtle Ridge
At some point, many years ago, someone built a turtle on Turtle Ridge, between Head of the Lake (yes, a turtle head) and Turtle Mountain, and left it for us to find […]
Too Much Sagebrush
As we have arranged our property ownership in such a way that we can’t move out of the path of necessary fire, we are going to have to cut this stuff out […]
Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
It has been a dry spring. The force of the winds hitting the Coast and Cascade Mountains is creating a stronger than normal mountain of lift to the east. Here’s how it […]
Never Too Old to Be Young!
That’s síya? for you. You go, girl!
Brave Bees… Perhaps
The balsam root blossoms on the hill were visited by these furry brown bees yesterday. These are the first bees I’ve seen on the flowers that were not shy. They wouldn’t scare. […]
The Last Great Grassland
Here under Cipak, the sacred mountain of the Similkameen, the maiden wearing her wedding veil at this time of year and the eastern toe of the Cascades, lies a grassland without weeds, […]
In the Grasslands, Tiny Effects Aren’t Tiny at All
When I was working on the Spirit in the Grass book with photographer Chris Harris, one of the ecologists on the project told me that the effects of sun and shadow at […]
Rivers on the Land
I made this image of the sagebrush buttercups to show a friend how they run in lines off underground stems, but then I noticed something else. It’s faint, but can you see […]
Okanagan Okanogan 