I hate to say it, but the dream that has kept my family tied to the land for 91 years in this trough in the Columbia Plateau is over. Instead of a […]
The Only Hope for the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in a Culture of Fire
Roots Are Not Wood & Trees Are Communities of Water: What the Future Promises in the Fire Forest
This root may be exposed and, to all appearances, dead, yet it still holds up an old Douglas-fir into the sky. But that’s not the true beauty of it. I mean, look […]
After Nature, Living Water
The land is your village. This might mean that forests look a little different. This Douglas-fir grove on the Big Bar Eskers is dying, partly because of the stress of the ingrowth […]
The Fire is Us
There are fires in all directions, for the fourth year in a row. Note the smoke above, in the Okanagan, and below, in the Cariboo. Cough cough. There’s a lot of talk […]
Crazy for Wine
The Penticton Western News is really into wine these days. Here’s a screenshot from an article from May: How great is that. Pandosy arrived in 1859, camped at Ellison, froze in the […]
What is Water For?
In a time of great fires, water is for putting them out, and for playing with your friends, in memory of times when the sky was clear. Pretty important things, eh. But […]
Unsettling Fire
Here’s the Flat Lake Fire when it first really got going a few evenings back, looking north from Big Bar Lake. And here’s the Bonaparte fire, through the smoke, off to the […]
A Walk in Nature
In the Okanagan, trails are wide. That way, people can use them as exercise routes. The idea is to get out into nature. More practically, the invasive weeds thrive so well that […]
Out of a Garden, A Desert: The Nuts and Bolts of Settler Culture
Every generation and social class in Canada gets to make the country new, in their own image. That’s part of being in a settler society. Settlement is a permanent process, and everyone […]
Hot Climate Onions
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 […]
