Words are curious things. Here are two, often used together by government and industry: value and added. Together they indicate a concept by which an area of production (vegetable growing, perhaps) can […]
Adding and Subtracting Value
Our Pack Leader
For ten years my friend and tracker Winston and I went out every day into the world. In all, we walked 15,000 kilometres of this planet together, and when I slipped on […]
Xeriscaping Alternatives
It’s all the buzz these days: xeriscaping. It’s a big name for a kind of landscaping that conserves water. Where do you start? It’s easy. You have your new home in the […]
Wild Harvest
Since farmland prices in the Canadian Okanagan has been pushed to dizzy heights by the scarcity created by the International Border between Osoyoos and Oroville, and no young person can farm anymore […]
Ice Wine Harvest
Yesterday, the grapes came in to be pressed for the 2011 ice wine vintage. The temperature dropped down to Minus 11 here in Vernon and stayed cold all day. Here’s the local […]
Terroir
Terroir is an ancient wine-making term that defines a wine by the soil and sun exposure on which it is grown. Surprisingly, it is contentious. Beats me why. Terroir for All to […]
King of the Grass
I was out on the Commonage today, south of Vernon and above Kalamalka Lake, and found some Giant Wild Rye Grass growing on the road margins of a riparian area. The tallest […]
The Border Remains Open
Local residents and rare populations of desert shrews will continue to be able to cross the line in the sand between the vineyards and hayfields of Chopaka and the nut orchards and […]
Water Cress
Here’s some wild Okanagan water cress I found at the end of last week. It goes to prove that dry, grassland habitats are really aquatic habitats, rich in ponds and secret water […]
The Headwaters of Okanagan Lake
While following coyote tracks through an abandoned orchard in Okanagan Landing, I found the unknown (and unexpected) headwaters of Okanagan Lake. You can just make this water source out in the middle […]
Okanagan Okanogan 