To be sacred is to be set apart. It is an active process. When applied to civic, personal, and earthly space, it is like framing a painting. A frame will make even […]
Sacred Waters, Part One
Green and Not So Green Energy
I started this blog as a place in which to think about energy in the desert landscapes of British Columbia and Washington, in a way that also included beauty as part of […]
Wine, Salmon and Whisky Trading
Here’s a story about salmon, wine, and watching the water flow. It’s about how to find a site for a vineyard. It’s about how to get the land to speak. Or how […]
The Biggest Waterfall of All
So, just imagine. You’re beetling along happily across the wheat fields of the Washington desert after a freak spring snow, getting passed by giant fertilizer trucks every time you stop to take […]
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 […]
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 