Men have been digging at the hill to make a level place to build houses, and have put up a wall of blasted rock to hold the hill back. Note the deer. […]
California Quail in the Rainforest
The ancient salmon forests of the Pacific Coast were felled long ago. Well, most of them. Hoh Some of the lost ones went to houses in Vancouver and Seattle. People still live […]
Crazy Okanagan Water
Today, I’d like to show you some water in its living environment and some crazy water. First, living water: That’s mock orange, doing its thing. Home to deer, porcupines, bears, lazuli buntings, […]
The Romance of Wine
Maybe we should stop copying the cultural appropriation of old celtic technology, eh, and get real. Pesticides, Vineyards and Tourists on the Rhine Sometimes it’s hard to keep laughing. Just a thought.
Open and Closed Air in Indigenous Switzerland
In Zurich, this is nature. A sobering thought. Or, rather, it is a school sports field. Note the tree. It is placed where there is room. Note as well the aesthetic, architectural […]
Cowboys and Indians
In 1847, it was the Cayuse on the ridgeline, with the lightning flaring from their appaloosa’s eyes and their water monsters painted on their bodies, and early American settlers on the flats […]
Gardening in the Okanagan in 2017
Some things are sobering. Here’s a cold frame (a glassed-in seedbed, for early growing) from 1978, updated for the new Okanagan in the age of vineyardization. Before 1978, this was an orchard, […]
Tragedy in the Spring Snow
Our little herd of nine does had two fawns last year. The coyotes got one last week. This doe is now being very protective. It’s hard, though. Forage is reduced by overgrazing, the […]
Reviewing David Pitt-Brooke’s Walk Through the Grasslands
I spent the early winter reading a beautiful and, unfortunately, incomplete book: Crossing Home Ground, by David Pitt-Brooke. It records an epic walk through the grasslands of Southern British Columbia: my own […]
Beavers and Trails in the North Okanagan
Here’s an observation about water. If I’m right, it’s pretty cool. So, have a look. This is a small part of the former Commonage Reserve, a wedge of land set aside for […]
Okanagan Okanogan 