Every red osier dogwood is a placenta. It streams with blood into the sky … … or it catches the sky, and brings it to you. Traditionally in this country it was […]
Placenta of The Earth
More Than Ground Cover
When the weather is cool, spring is what you make of it. The red oregon grape leaves among the poison ivy berries I found growing along Kalamalka Lake, are attracting warm light, […]
The Lessons of Red Osier Dogwood
I went looking for light. In a grey world, it was all in the red osier dogwoods, stəktəkcxʷlɬp, the purifier, the beloved of moose. I spent some time with it as it turned […]
Sustaining the Okanagan 21: The City of the Okanagan
In keeping with my conviction that we would do better to build things than tear them down, I would like to propose a new form of civilization in the Okanagan Valley. By […]
Water Sprouts
Beurre D’Anjou Pear Tree in Healing Mode In pre-scientific knowledge, these vertical shoots, the result of aggressive and wrong-headed pruning, are known as “water sprouts”. The old knowledge says it well. The […]
The Bounty of Water in a Dry Country
This is water. It is called Okanagan Lake. In Icelandic, where indigenous European language survives, it is a vatn, specifically a space of free water. Of that, it is a special form, […]
The Okanagan’s Missing Water
Here it is. Blue Bunch Wheatgrass This 10-year-old re-seeded slope shows the likely historical condition of the valley under Syilx stewardship. This grass is very much alive. The valley hasn’t looked like […]
You are the Wind
Wind is the air, moving, at a speed greater than a breeze. It is also energy. It is a habitat. Humans and cottonwood trees both live in it. It is not something to […]
Sustaining the Okanagan 11: Weaving Water to Combat Desertification
I know, I know, Chinese elms are a weed. They grow well here, though. Their flowers feed spring birds. In turn, those flowers have a zillion seeds … … and pop up […]
Sustaining the Okanagan 10: 24 Apple Pies
We know who makes the best summer apple pies. Here she is, the summer pie maker. She was born in Russia 220 years ago. Look how young she looks in my garden. Here […]
Okanagan Okanogan 