I went to the most popular place of all to find out why the elderberries on the flat at the mouth of McLean Creek look like this, w with white, blue and […]
Elderberry Mystery
Harvesting Fire
Even ladybird shows us the true nature of big sagebrush: it is fire, standing. Look at her flames and coals! Traditionally, big sage was used to start fires, even of wet wood, […]
Paradise Apple Comes Home
A year ago I wrote about the Paradise Apple, the apple of the Celts, and the apple of legend. I’ll let you read it again, and then I’ll show you the happy […]
Tiger Lilies: a Bridge Between Worlds
The tiger lily is native to china. In China, the roots are eaten like potatoes. The Columbia lily is native to Cascadia. Source. So, that makes an interesting confluence of cultures possible. […]
The Muddy Okanogan
Move over, Mississippi! Why is our beautiful clean river, the Okanogan, so brown when it hits the blue Columbia?* The Crossing This image was taken from the site of the old Hudson […]
Walnut, Our Ancestor
While bears were breeding apples tens of thousands of years ago in the apple forests of Khazakstan, down south in Kyrgyzstan, humans were living in walnut forests and breeding walnuts. Here are […]
Weeds, Nature, Erosion and Hope. With a Fly, too.
Plants don’t grow in dirt. Well, maybe snow buckwheat. The old glacial river eddy (above) high above Priest Valley had its gravel bed stripped away fifteen years ago. So far, nothing has […]
What a Difference One Birch Tree Makes in the World
White ash scribbler! Gardom Lake Compare the language of the poplar, which is less process and more about repetition and echo. And the firs and cottonwoods? Well. What benders. Firs dark, cottonwoods […]
How a Wasp Killer Survives a Summer Rain Storm
It takes no shelter… …but it does what it does best: hang on.
Pan Becomes the Green Man
In early June, I showed you a picture of Pan, as he has showed up in the North Okanagan. There are other images. Here’s the link. Well, look at him now! Now […]
