As the sun nears the horizon, the grassland reveals itself. Note the shift of colours towards red. That’s largely because cheatgrass, which has now gone to seed, dominates for a few weeks, […]
The Red Shift of the Sun on Earth
Self-Sown Gardens, Early Spring Gardens and Beautiful Lettuce
A garden can sow itself. Wasps will love you, and eat all kinds of pests in the process, and the birds, oh, my. The gold finches adore lettuce-gone-to-seed. And orach, too. Well, […]
How to Make a City Indigenous, Even if You’re Lazy, Eh
Let’s go downtown as if we lived here. Let’s look at Canada through the lens of the story it tells in the Syilx illahie (illahie is Pacific Slope trade jargon for “story” […]
Indigenous Culture, Settler Culture and Canada: Agriculture’s Highways and Byways
Harold Innis argued long ago … Societies that depend solely on time-biased media are oral and tribal. Although leadership tends to be hierarchical, time-bound societies may also operate by consensus. Since, in […]
Linear and Non-Linear Child Development in the Okanagan, or Let’s Be An Invasive Species No More
There are selves daringly left out for view to be walked over in series. Lessons in the primacy of biology in Canadian culture are learned young. With great effort, they are built […]
Why Staghorn Sumac is Called Staghorn Sumac
It’s a random name. We could call it The Leather Tree, or Tree of the Blue Flame, or Sourbush, but Staghorn it is, romantic as all get out, but why? Is it […]
Around and Around and Around and Around We Go
The approach. The landing. The dance. The departure. And then the sun goes down. But then it comes up again. Very fun. Whee. ~ For my friend Theresa, who’s wondering today […]
June: Deep Autumn in the Grasslands
On open hills in the grassland, it is Autumn now. At the bottom of the slopes where water collects among cattails and wild lettuce, too. In a couple weeks will come the […]
Self-Planting Regime, No Shovel Required!
Where water collects, so does the wind. That means, that elm seeds can collect in the dry season where water will collect later, without using water to do so. Footprints are also […]
More Climate Change Lessons from the Okanagan
Problem: Petroleum Mucking up the Air? Solution: De-muck it. How: Plant a tree. The image below shows City of Vernon land used as a road to access a water pumping station. The […]
