The shallots I planted last July are blooming now, and replacing the lost nodding onions up on the hill. The sky has noticed. Welcome, Sky! These blue beauties were in the mariposa […]
The Day the Sky Came Down to Earth
Beauty and the Bees
I spent the day yesterday at Tree to Me, an organic orchard in the Similkameen Valley. The apples were in bloom. Before grafting some apple trees and maintaining the grafts I put […]
It is the Most Beautiful Day
My seven year-old Transparent apple tree and her sister branch of Benvoulin apples are blooming gloriously today. We have all been getting ready for this for a year now, and are very […]
Going Willow: Accepting the Challenge of a Neonicotinoid Ban
What great news. The EU has voted to ban the outdoor use of neonicotinoid (nicotine derivatives) pesticides, due to their accumulative environmental harm on bee populations. Here are some, domestic and wild, […]
Colonialism and Bees
So, two honey bees and a host of wild bees, of many species. That sounds manageable. But, what’s this? A host of honeybees and a few wild ones? Can that be right? […]
Getting Down to Some Serious Fun in the Kitchen
There are close to 20,000 acres of wine grapes planted in the ruins of the Okanagan Valley, immensely attractive to tourists and restauranteurs alike. The wine? Well, some is fine and most […]
All the Bees Looking for a Home Now
Here is a grassland missing its flowers. Cows ate them. While thousands of people have been going to work in the valley below, and back, and forth, only the deer and a […]
The Salt-Loving Bees of the Okanagan’s Glacial Rivers
When glaciers lay in the valley, rivers ran along the side of the ice, high up, 170 metres above today’s shore. They tell a tale still of eddies, currents, and washed-out and […]
Icelandic Poppy in Paradise
There are no bees in Iceland, to lie on their backs and tickle them with their feet. Glad to help.
Dressing Up for Work
First the workplace, nothing but the best … Mariposa Lily … and then the worker. Just because a flower is a worksite, doesn’t mean you have to dress down. Beautiful Furry Bee […]
