Every moment of the sun is as focus as any other moment. This is hard for a human eye. It’s used to burrowing through light, to throw it into dimensions, which it […]
The Sun is Not a Focussing Aparatus
Porcupine’s Favourite Colour
When medicine willow (the apricot-coloured one below) grows in deep shade, it collects a deep, reductive power. It is not the leaves you harvest but the inner bark, but it forms in […]
Truth and Reconciliation on the Canadian Farm
Because this is a country built around a mix of public and private property, and built especially upon long-distance communication from across the continent and the oceans, the dominance of transportation ensures […]
Happy Thanksgiving
In 1981, I discovered an apple, growing in a ditch on Benvoulin Road in Kelowna. I got some grafting wood before the tree was cut down in the spring. She is growing […]
Cultural Evolution in a Post-Canadian Landscape
Today, sober reflection. Tomorrow, a celebration. Kind of a small difference, eh. When the 5,000-year-old rattlesnake den on the hill was blasted away to make room for the luxury view homes the […]
Smoke on the Orchards Reveals Some Structural Weaknesses in Canadian Apple Growing
Smoke is filtering out the sun. The hot August days are as cool as a warm day in March. Orchards, already struggling with a world glut of fruit, as the empty land […]
Reading Spring Together in Deep Summer
The way that the stalks of smúkwaʔxn… … fall and dry tells us of the weather and how water is passing through the soil as does the sound of our footsteps through […]
I Went to the Garden to Taste What I Could See
Black Krim, Brandywine and friends. Brandywine is very, very happy this year (the big pink girl at bottom right, upper centre and peeking in from the top left.) Back in 1962 when […]
The Paradise Apple, Modern Farming and the Apple of the Celts
All apple trees are grafted on a root. The tree is chosen for its apples and the root for its growth characteristics. These days, an apple called M9, for Malling 9, after […]
Build An Earth for Wasps? Now’s the Time!
Right in this season, right now, sales of wasp-killing products are peaking, as the yellow jackets drive everyone away from eating outdoors. It can be freaky, especially when the nests are right […]
Okanagan Okanogan 