For a few weeks, I’ve booted around vineyards from the Rhone to Mosel, trying to get a glimpse of the art of farming, as it was practiced when it was still a […]
Weeds and Water and Wilderness
Vertical Farming
Flat ground costs money and needs irrigation, which costs money, and so it’s off to the supermarket we go, to buy vegetables from men who have money to plant fields the size […]
Water From Rock
This is a fairly typical bit of vineyard in Germany’s Mosel Valley. Yes, grapes root in this stuff. It’s a good thing there’s lots of rain and it doesn’t get ridiculously cold. […]
Landscaping with Wool
Yes, it’s possible to knit a landscape. Here’s how. The trick is, you don’t start with wool. It’s very sneaky, this wool thing. First, you look around, see what kind of raw […]
Flower Trees
In Germany and Switzerland, many garden walls are built quickly out of gravel dropped into wire cages. It’s quick, it looks better than military grade concrete, and it gets rid of rocks […]
Kokanee in Peril
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has just released a story about the decline of the Kokanee fishery in the Okanagan’s Wood Lake this year. In short, local fishermen have been unable to find […]
The Hunting Cats of Switzerland
Big game hunting is a popular pastime for urban Canadians. Every fall men in camo gear pile $60,000 of military gear into their trucks, leave big cities, and head north to shoot […]
The Language of Magic
In Germany, if one of these fellow travellers crosses your path, it’s a witch and you’re done for. In England, you salute them, to avoid bad luck. Here in the land of […]
Flower Maps
What is a flower? Ah, we might as well ask what is a man or a woman or a society. That’s the way with humans. They leave maps, trails, and footsteps. Some […]
Going to School
Alrighty then, so you want to go to school? Do you want to go here? Students all in Rows and Pruned to Canes and Spurs Because they don’t grow well in this climate, […]
Okanagan Okanogan 