Rather than pumps and pipes and all those expensive systems, why not just lay out the land in flats and catch the snow? Because the effects are short-lived? Well, then amplify them. […]
Irrigation the Other Way
Mule Deer Landscape Architecture and the Architecture of the Human Eye
Note the mule deer trail in the left of this image, at an angle up this gravel pit. That’s a pretty normal angle for a mule deer to go up a slope. […]
Wild Watercress for the Okanagan
Here’s a ditch that the city scraped out last spring. It has grown back with watercress, as you can see, probably from contaminated equipment. But look at it! Growing away despite the […]
Okanagan Weather
This is a view west up Canoe Bay towards the Main Channel of the Okanagan Fjord. Yes, we call it a lake, bless us, but it’s really an inland fjord, cut deep […]
Rototilling 101
First, plant some flowers. Watch them grow. Nice, eh! Bees will burrow into the soil and lay their eggs. Nicer yet! Voles will come and root around, as voles will do. By […]
If You Lose the Water, You Lose the Land
Lichen is a colonizer. It eats rock and releases minerals that other plants can use. Most of the lichen on the stone below has died. It’s a good chance to see the […]
And We Thought the Chicken and the Egg Were a Puzzle
Is this a footprint of a rock, or one of the sun? Either way, the sun’s heat on this stone has melted snow away in the shape of a globe, which is […]
Spring Begins for the Saskatoons
Sure, there’s snow, and some Saskatoon buds are closed tightly… … but others are not. The one below is on the same bush, but out in the sun, and hormonally a little […]
Bunch Grass Doesn’t Stabilize Slopes
Blue bunch wheatgrass has been used to stabilize slopes in The Rise subdivision here in Vernon. The goal was to do so in an environmentally-friendly manner, to compensate for irreplaceable habitat lost […]
Whole Worlds Hidden from the Settler Gaze
Under the snow, it’s spring. Under stone, it’s the same. Where the sun intensifies and molten water collects, it’s spring. This is when the rock is mined for nutrients that feed the […]
Okanagan Okanogan 