The forests of the Basalt Sea are savannahs… … where grass and wood meet at the boundary between wet and dry. They are not forests. Forests are the Earth’s adaptation to a lack […]
Savannahs and Fire
Reading Trees
Every piece of the bark of a ponderosa pine fits together… and comes apart. It is a kind of hieroglyphic language — a special one, in which each word is unique and […]
Come to My Cascadia Show at the Kelowna Library, January 30th at 5:30 pm.
Cascadia: The Once and Future Utopia I’ve been hard at work, putting ten years of explorations of Cascadia into a beautiful presentation. It is an honour to be asked by Okanagan Express […]
Burn Baby Burn
The flicker perches in the flame. The damselfly survives the cold of September, extending summer, by perching on a rock that absorbs the flame. Humans hold the flame (of burning flicker trees) […]
Grassland Tours for the Okanagan?
Grass evolved to thrive in hot fire landscapes. Given that human activity has increased heat and fire … … across the planet … … shouldn’t we stop mowing grass and … … […]
Mountains Are a Form of Weather
I was formed by the water, soil and air of a mountain valley. One of the consequences is that, to me, the mountains are not “in” the sky, do not “block” the […]
When Trees are Weeds: Truth and Reconciliation from the Ground Up
Yesterday I started a meditation on classicism, and how the cultures within Canada have some choices, given German experience with the power, failure and abuse of classical models as a means of […]
A Home In the Earth and the Sun: The Beginnings of an Urban Blueprint
I’ve been staring at this beaver lodge for years. Big Bar Creek I thought at first, well, yes, it’s a good model for a house. And sure enough, the Secwepemc who are this land […]
Fire in the Similkameen
Things are burning up in the high country between Keremeos and the Pasayten wilderness. Here was the view Thursday morning, looking south from Olalla towards K Mountain. By 4 pm I left […]
Blend In! (Not.)
Drought makes it easier for birds. They need the help. Sucks for stink bugs and lilacs-planted-in-the-wrong-place, though.
