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 […]
Wild Harvest
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 […]
Burning Water
There are two major uses to which contemporary society puts the high country above the dry Okanagan Valley: water collection for settlement use, and forestry. As I suggested yesterday, the two are […]
Whose Water?
The 2011 Ice Wine season looks like it’s going to be a long time coming yet, deep into January or even February 2012. Maybe it’s time to think of making a late […]
A Pruning Tip
This is the time of year when those pruning clippers and saws in the workshop start looking very attractive again. It’s such a great joy to go out in the cold and […]
Okanagan Okanogan 