Perhaps “leaf” is a biased word and we should set it aside. Here, for example are some aspen “leaves.” They are called “leaves” because the tree has “leafed out” or, rather its […]
Leaves and Environmental Renewal
A Little Dictionary of Water
Here’s a little experiment to explore what we talk about when we talk about water and how connected to the Earth and Water English really is. The root of “water”, “wet”, is […]
Talking Water
Isn’t this the turtle of the world, carrying a pearl? Isn’t this a drop of rain speaking a drop of rain? Here’s a turtle without a pearl. Sometimes drops flock. Saskatoons are […]
Disappearing Forests
Is it the home of my ancestors? Or more inward and mysterious and soaked with light, just metres away? Or both at once? Then again, here in Secwépemc Territory, it is often […]
The Flowing Ones: Withe, Rush and Reed
As we learn again to speak as beings that draw our being from the earth, it’s good to go out in the afternoon light and see what catches us. A feral squiggly […]
Flat Out Floating!
Ah, for the love of flatness. As I mentioned: in flat energy fields, the red dogwood creating heat by turning red in the spring sun and “flattening” out the seasons, and the […]
Speaking With the Earth: Minding the Gap
Here’s an excellent example of a unit of language that supports a strong human-Earth relationship. The word is “Gap.” Here’s a gap: Gap in Umatilla Ridge, Dry Falls, Washington In a continuous, uncrossable […]
Speaking As the Earth: Ore
Yesterday, I wrote about the universal force “Orkan,” a gift to us from our ancestors. Orkan: aka Bowron Lake This Icelandic concept, translated as “energy,” is an ancient Indo-European understanding. Humanly, it […]
Speaking with the Earth 1: Orkan
For the last few weeks, I have been working towards an explanation of how the Earth can be used to augment human intelligence. The challenge is to articulate a way of doing […]
Ethnobotanical Knowledge: The Language of Science Part 2
Remember? Yesterday I pointed out that each of the plants below, although far apart in botanical class-action, share the power of redness, which arises at different points on each plant, stem, leaf and […]
Okanagan Okanogan 