Let’s backtrack a bit, to see what might have brought a man to try to change orcharding culture in the Similkameen Valley, and in the process anger half the people and become […]
10. A Black Market in the Similkameen
8. Calling Things By Their Right Names
Blind Creek, “the place of yellow flowers”, might indicate “rabbit brush…” …the bright, feathered sage that catches the sun in October and draws in jewelled bee flies, with their dense, brightly-coloured fur […]
3. How to Steal Water
At first, there was the ancestor called siwɬkʷ, who nourishes animals, plants and people. siwɬkʷ This is a spiritual force, like field mice, red osier dogwoods, golden eagles, or the peach leaf […]
House, Home and History
It costs $2400-$4500 to rent a house in the North Okanagan. Really. Look. In comparison, a wasp just needs to find a hidden place out of the rain. It costs an average […]
3,000 Posts. The Past and Future of Okanagan Okanogan
This blog started in 2011 as a research tool for writing about the environment of the Intermontane Grasslands of Cascadia, especially in terms of demonstrating the power of the landscape to harvest, […]
Paul Terbasket’s Apricot Ripens Up
The project to renew the heritage apricot of the Smelqmx, the last survivor of a 1920s program to remove commercial fruitgrowing from Indigenous hands in British Columbia, continues. Every day I carry […]
Bigfoot Working for Tips in Local Culture
I made a trip to Canada recently. Here’s a local ice cream and coffee stop in Canmore, in the mountains . Note the Bigfoot, another Cascadian away from home, working for tips. […]
Realigning Kelowna
I think it has gone on long enough. Kelowna sits on the best wine-growing land in the West. Crazy, really. Take a different look. Two wineries, and both of those (red markers […]
Climate Change in the North Okanagan
Human induced climate change is real, and its hurting humans, societies and the Earth. A lot of it is the result of atmospheric carbon. That’s the story that my city, Vernon, is […]
Nature is Political Says Rebecca Solnit
Just ask this Western Tanager, negotiating a perch without being hassled by a man in a kayak with a camera. Sheesh. No, seriously. Rebecca Solnit says so in her new book: See? […]
Okanagan Okanogan 