It was 47 degrees Celsius last week. My garlic ripened off, my currants fizzled, my raspberries got set back, my winter onions explained that the year was over, and my perennial Egyptian […]
Hot Climate Onions
Climate Resilience 3: Self-Fertilizing and Self-Watering Islands
That’s right, islands in the grass. They’re not just sitting there. They are creating nitrogen and releasing minerals from the rock into a form that plants can use. In fact, instead of […]
Reducing Climate Risk in Okanagan Agriculture
The Canadian Government has recently released an economic action plan. It’s a bit exhaustive and exhausting, but worth a walk-by. Click here to have a look. Bring some friends along. Coyotes, maybe. […]
Whole Worlds Hidden from the Settler Gaze
Under the snow, it’s spring. Under stone, it’s the same. Where the sun intensifies and molten water collects, it’s spring. This is when the rock is mined for nutrients that feed the […]
The Funny Thing About Raised Garden Beds
In the spring, a raised bed makes the soil warmer and lengthens the season. Fall Rye and Tilled-under Tomatoes Talking to the Snow In the early winter, a raised bed makes the […]
It’s Still Harvest Time
We’ve had 25 centimetres of snow. We’ve had 9 Below Celsius. No-one around this place is particularly worried. It’s harvest time! Could this evergreen character and lasting tenderness be why sage was […]
Gardeners! Think of Your Friends!
It’s time to take a break from watching the starlings … …no matter how cool they are… …. which is pretty beautiful, for sure.. … and take care of your friends. It’s […]
Fooling Around With Tomatoes and Marigolds
So, I went away for weeks. And the marigolds I planted to keep the tomatoes safe from bugs went a little wild. OK, very wild! Look at that tomato below, making a […]
Ten Years Into the Future: social and ecological sustainability in the Okanagan and British Columbia
This post is a sketch of a detailed, viable alternative to this document: There are solutions in this blog for every problem listed in this document, that avoid its high […]
When a Weed is More than a Weed
Dandelions were brought by the earliest settlers to the Pacific Northwest, as food and medicinal plants for gardens. They escaped. Earthworms were also brought by European settlers. Curiously, settler culture now encourages […]
