In the grasslands of the intermountain west, a seed doesn’t need to be planted in the soil. It falls into a crack in the living skin of the earth, which grows over […]
Birth and Life in the Grasslands
Heart of the Monster
Some images to contemplate, and some questions. Does the heart of the monster from whom the Nimíipuu sprang have a head? Do stones contemplated over 12,000 years remain just stones? Is this Itceyeye […]
Yellow Jacket and Ant
Ah, Yellow Jacket and Ant had a fight long ago, and just would not stop, no matter how much the trickster Iceyeeye (Coyote) tried to get them to stop. So, in frustration he turned them […]
Spirit Eels in the Grassland
A few weeks back I went to Asotin, where the Moray eels used to come up from the sea to spawn. Chief Looking Glass’s camp was there, at the fishery. Here’s the […]
Growing Food Without Water in the Hot Okanagan
Well, it’s dry, eh. And hot. Whew. This is 9:30 A.M. The afternoon was 38. (That’s 100 for you folks down south.) Forests are burning up. Smoke everywhere. All the upland water […]
Unsustainability in the American North West
It is the task of every culture to sustain itself, and it is the task of every culture to provide the tools to its people, that they can use to sustain themselves after the […]
What is a Village?
I was paddling around on this old molten glacier, when I realized that the traditional Syilx village on this site was not just the flat along the Vaseaux Lake shore at the […]
The Mystery of Buffalo Eddy
One of the significant and unique forms of rock art at Buffalo Eddy on the Snake River looks like this: A human figure with a triangular body. It looks like a buffalo […]
Nez Perce Mystery of LIght
Clouds sailing across the Palouse do this. Above Chief Timothy’s Camp That’s not a hill of coal. It’s not burnt. It’s just a way in which the sky and the land are […]
Mother Earth
Mother Earth has often been equated with womanly power. That’s not really it. Here she is above the Clearwater River in Nez Perce Country, lying on her back, with her arms outstretched […]
Okanagan Okanogan 