So, since it’s kind of hard to get a handle on how a human thinks when one is a human thinking, which is like asking a vacuum cleaner how it sucks while […]
More Climate Change Lessons from the Okanagan
Problem: Petroleum Mucking up the Air? Solution: De-muck it. How: Plant a tree. The image below shows City of Vernon land used as a road to access a water pumping station. The […]
Attracting Predators to Your Organic Orchard
Beats applying chemicals. Yarrow under the apple trees is great for predatory wasps. Highly recommended. Catnip grows well under there, too. For predatory wasps and for my pruning buddy, boots. You can […]
The Year of the Kazillion Cherries Has Begun
When I pruned these trees, the wind was kaboodling down the Similkameen Valley like a grizzly bear made of dry ice. Sawdust was falling in my face from my saw. My feet […]
Beauty and the Bees
I spent the day yesterday at Tree to Me, an organic orchard in the Similkameen Valley. The apples were in bloom. Before grafting some apple trees and maintaining the grafts I put […]
Every Nectarine Begins in Hope and Beauty
Farmers, a practical lot, are known to choose to plant nectarines because they have prettier petals than peaches, like the red haven below. I think the nectarines are choosing us.
It is the Most Beautiful Day
My seven year-old Transparent apple tree and her sister branch of Benvoulin apples are blooming gloriously today. We have all been getting ready for this for a year now, and are very […]
Why Are We Growing Apples Industrially Anyway?
So, need a scary hint of sweetness in your life without bankrupting yourself with a trip to Voodoo Donuts in Portland or their satellite shop in Los Angeles? Want to live dangerously […]
Northern Pocket Gopher Makes the World
At the time of year when the first flowers sport stinkbugs … … and the aspens put out their first leaves, untouched yet by leaf-ming worms… … and cedar bugs frisk about […]
Going Willow: Accepting the Challenge of a Neonicotinoid Ban
What great news. The EU has voted to ban the outdoor use of neonicotinoid (nicotine derivatives) pesticides, due to their accumulative environmental harm on bee populations. Here are some, domestic and wild, […]
