Humans are living creatures, which I think is pretty grand. I hope we can keep it that way. There are some side effects of living, though. For one, it makes us likely […]
Okanagan Land Claim Twist
Here in the desert, we have been blessed with 135 kilometres of fossilized glacial water. In the summers, when the stuff warms up, people play and splash about, especially people who have […]
A New Season
It’s not spring, not exactly. It’s something else. Things are warming up. Here we are at the frozen North Arm of Okanagan Lake … Leads Opening in the Ice Those are holiday […]
Reverse Nunataks
A nunatak is an unglaciated island of stone and a few survivor species in the midst of a glacial landscape. Recent studies in Sweden have shown that some Swedish spruce trees survived […]
Ingrowth
This is not a forest clearing: Weeds in the Grass, Ewing Pines and firs are invasive species here. This is not a forest: Young Trees There’s not a tree here older than […]
The Joke is On Us
It’s that time of year! An Old Tradition Hangs On Despite the infill of subdivisions, old habits of spring burning aren’t dead yet. The bigger the flames the better, it seems. Sun […]
Bad Green Good Brown
Somebody got the idea that plants filter water and stabilize slopes. That’s true, but it’s only part of the story. What plants are really doing is living. In terms of work, the […]
Hints at a New Science of Life
The science of botany got its start in plant classification and botanical gardens. Because of that, contemporary human understanding of plant communities largely revolves around species and their interactions. The results can […]
Hawthorns in Danger of Extirpation
Somebody read that hawthorns grow wild here. Domestic varieties show up in low-water gardening just about everywhere, with their pretty pink flowers and their red berries for the birds. Full marks for […]
Standing Still
A long time ago, orcharding started in the Okanagan when Lord Aberdeen and Lady Aberdeen planted the Coldstream Ranch with fruit so they could make jam and compete with these folks from the old […]
Okanagan Okanogan 