I went for a long hike through the fire that fried the hills a couple weeks ago, to see how things are getting along, and was struck at how foreign fire has […]
Gardening With Fire (and Spiders, too)
Bad Cows
Yesterday, native species and fire. Today, imported species and fire. And shame. First, California Quail. Brought here so that men can go out hunting. Men hunt moose now, up north, so the […]
Secret Weapon in the War Against the Weeds
Meet your darkest enemy. This plant is the end of any grassland it gets a hold in. Pretty soon, huge areas of grass are useless for anything, even to walk through. The […]
Fire in the Grass!
Bit of a grass fire here the other day. Young guy with a lighter. Wondered what it might do. Found out. Too many generations since there was fire here. Hard to remember to […]
Wild Orchards and Fenced Orchards
Like a pack of young red-tailed hawks circling over and over above a subdivision full of cats and mice, house finches, California Quail and small dogs, I’ve been worrying an idea: it’s […]
Water, Wealth, and Poverty
Here’s what water looks like up in the hills: Wild Saskatoons in Full Fruit, Scotch Creek, Washington Saskatoons were once a major human food source in this area. Notice how the fruit […]
Farming Crime
I’d like to briefly continue the discussion about the agricultural legacy of the story of Father Charles Pandosy in the Okanagan Valley. The story started with a discussion of his white-washed métis culture. […]
White Washing Water
Talk about water, which is a large part of the talk in a near-desert environment, is also talk about people and grass. Here’s a story about that. Last of Washington’s Grass The […]
Mustard Loving It
The mustard I use comes from France. The best mustard in Germany comes from Bautzen, near the Polish border. What’s with that? Wild Mustard Loving It This is a plant that has […]
Winter in July
Here’s a thing about living in the intersection of climactic zones: the seasons are wrong. For instance, because this area of North America has been colonized by Britain, Canada, and the United […]
Okanagan Okanogan 