You have probably noticed that I live in what is usually called “Canada”, a country claiming the northern half of North America. You’ve probably guessed that I travel on a Canadian passport. […]
11. Why I Do Not Call This a Canadian Story
9. The Healing Land?
After a meditation on what the benchlands of the mid-Similkameen produces on its own at The Place of Yellow Flowers… it’s time to return to the orchards that are there now. In […]
8. Calling Things By Their Right Names
Blind Creek, “the place of yellow flowers”, might indicate “rabbit brush…” …the bright, feathered sage that catches the sun in October and draws in jewelled bee flies, with their dense, brightly-coloured fur […]
3. How to Steal Water
At first, there was the ancestor called siwɬkʷ, who nourishes animals, plants and people. siwɬkʷ This is a spiritual force, like field mice, red osier dogwoods, golden eagles, or the peach leaf […]
1. How the Sukʷnaqinx Became the Okanagan and then the Sukʷnaqinx Again
Now, after all the years of this project, a story that reaches deep into American Imperial history and ends in what is now territory claimed by Canada in the north of my […]
3,000 Posts. The Past and Future of Okanagan Okanogan
This blog started in 2011 as a research tool for writing about the environment of the Intermontane Grasslands of Cascadia, especially in terms of demonstrating the power of the landscape to harvest, […]
The Black Widow Came Back
Just a family update. Yesterday, https://okanaganokanogan.com/2022/07/27/black-widow-moving-house/ Black Widow split with 200 eggs, leaving the other 200 on their own for the night. Today she’s back. Beautiful that she is the same size […]
Black Widow Moving House
Here’s the house. You can see the nursery peeking out from under the roof. Here it is at 4 pm, when it was hot, hot, hot (which she likes for her eggs.) […]
Cross-Species Organic Pest Control for Apples
Apparently, the black widow spider that lives under the cupboard during the day doesn’t just spin a hopeful web under the chair in the summer kitchen at night, before retreating again at […]
Saskatoon Picking in the Similkameen
I met the picking team this morning, north of Keremeos. Here’s the spotter. You never know when someone wants to make a move on your berries. Best to keep two eyes out., […]
Okanagan Okanogan 