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 […]
Open and Closed Air in Indigenous Switzerland
Placenta of The Earth
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 […]
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 […]
Okanagan Okanogan 