When the world of summer flowers is blasted by neglect, bees have it hard. There really is nothing, for mile on mile on mile. Even planting a calendula helps. It’s up to […]
For Bees’ Sakes, Let’s Grow Up
If We Went to the Water?
I mean, instead of bringing it to town? What if every house, or community, had to care for water. Currently, water is removed from almost all its streams and wetlands in the […]
Cattle are Burning Down British Columbia
Yes, they are. There’s a strange, elite idea that cattle grazing in forests and on grasslands is an efficient use of the land, and then we turn around and spend hundreds of […]
The Only Hope for the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in a Culture of Fire
I hate to say it, but the dream that has kept my family tied to the land for 91 years in this trough in the Columbia Plateau is over. Instead of a […]
Global Warming in Lytton, A Long View
We are all grieving, for people lost, lives damaged, and a beautiful town vanished from Cascadia. The scorching temperatures in Lytton this last week, and the horrible loss of the entire town […]
Life and Death and Cottonwoods on the Similkameen River
Rivers flood. It’s one of the things they do. They’re pretty good at it. The Similkameen River, with a minimum flow of 65 cubic feet per second at Nighthawk, an average flow […]
Climate Change in the North Okanagan 6: A Tale of Two Orchards
This is an old apple tree. The government has paid for it to be replaced. Best read that again. The government has paid to have almost all of these trees replaced. Up […]
Climate Resilience 3: Self-Fertilizing and Self-Watering Islands
That’s right, islands in the grass. They’re not just sitting there. They are creating nitrogen and releasing minerals from the rock into a form that plants can use. In fact, instead of […]
Gravity Engines
Rocks aren’t all born alike. Here’s one from an old glacial river running along the ice that once filled this valley. Note what a light snowfall has done here. The stone has […]
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 […]
