The sun rises over Shuttleworth Creek, at the heart of the Okanagan. Still a world of smoke. It’s like those ponderosa pines on the edge of Okanagan Falls are lined up and […]
Rome is Burning: An Election With Fire and No Water
At War With the Earth: Fighting Fire in the Okanagan
In the 1840’s, talk in the Pacific Northwest was of controlling the threat to settled life from Indigenous people. “Indians” they were called back then. In January 1848, armed volunteers went out […]
For Bees’ Sakes, Let’s Grow Up
When the world of summer flowers is blasted by neglect, bees have it hard. There really is nothing, for mile on mile on mile. Even planting a calendula helps. It’s up to […]
Fighting Fire With Weeds
Well, this is a first. Oregano that has decided to go feral. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t look as burnable, in the short term, as this bunchgrass… … and about the same as […]
The Wisdom of Rabbitbrush
Rabbitbrush defines this country in the fall. It catches the sun and shines. Well, not this year, but it still has its magic. There’s nothing quite like this showy aster that pulls […]
Sunflower Climbs the Smoke to the Sky
As you can see, as the forests burn up in all directions the new normal around here is for a sky other than blue. My sunflowers can find the Earth still, though. […]
Fire on the Caldera Wall
Yes, it was a volcano 35,000,000 years ago. The fire is on its rim. This is close to home. My hopes are for a safe resolution of this terrible situation. One day […]
Cattle are Burning Down British Columbia
Yes, they are. There’s a strange, elite idea that cattle grazing in forests and on grasslands is an efficient use of the land, and then we turn around and spend hundreds of […]
The Only Hope for the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in a Culture of Fire
I hate to say it, but the dream that has kept my family tied to the land for 91 years in this trough in the Columbia Plateau is over. Instead of a […]
After Nature, Living Water
The land is your village. This might mean that forests look a little different. This Douglas-fir grove on the Big Bar Eskers is dying, partly because of the stress of the ingrowth […]
Okanagan Okanogan 