Like a pack of young red-tailed hawks circling over and over above a subdivision full of cats and mice, house finches, California Quail and small dogs, I’ve been worrying an idea: it’s […]
Wild Orchards and Fenced Orchards
Water, Wealth, and Poverty
Here’s what water looks like up in the hills: Wild Saskatoons in Full Fruit, Scotch Creek, Washington Saskatoons were once a major human food source in this area. Notice how the fruit […]
The Wild West Today
The wild west is not so far away here in the valley, but then this was the last of it. Its story is the only story in town. Here it is in […]
No Wonder This Place is Called Turtle Island
Turtles like water, and they like the land, too. They’re at home in both. That’s a mighty power. They helped created the world from a ball of muddy muck as well. Well […]
Farming Crime
I’d like to briefly continue the discussion about the agricultural legacy of the story of Father Charles Pandosy in the Okanagan Valley. The story started with a discussion of his white-washed métis culture. […]
White Washing Water
Talk about water, which is a large part of the talk in a near-desert environment, is also talk about people and grass. Here’s a story about that. Last of Washington’s Grass The […]
Grafting: Slow Brewing a Bottle of True Apple Cider
Sometimes, the long view is best. Thinking it would be great to knock back a cold bottle of apple cider five years from now, I’ve laid the foundation for it. If you’ve […]
The Nature of Nature
I think we need a new word for nature. It’s so very hard to find. I mean, I’ve found trees and water and rocks aplenty, but that’s not Nature. That’s rocks and […]
Flower Maps
What is a flower? Ah, we might as well ask what is a man or a woman or a society. That’s the way with humans. They leave maps, trails, and footsteps. Some […]
Eco-Agriculture in a Spring Light
A friend in Wales wrote yesterday that he was glad to see from these screens that spring was on its way to the Okanagan. So am I. Almost twenty years ago, when […]
Okanagan Okanogan 