At the time of year when the first flowers sport stinkbugs … … and the aspens put out their first leaves, untouched yet by leaf-ming worms… … and cedar bugs frisk about […]
Northern Pocket Gopher Makes the World
Artificial Intelligence vs. Consciousness: the B Side of the Dance
Imagine if your mind were one dimensional. Tomato Field But that’s an artifice, a trick, a tease — in short, an illusion. It operates like a mind, although it’s only a trick […]
The Human Landscape
Look at the artwork that humans have made in the world. This is an old turf house on the bird sanctuary of Dyrhólaey, Iceland, in the midst of its old house fields, […]
Indigenous Land Use and the Agricultural Land Reserve
It’s actually the law of the land: indigenous rights precede all others. No matter that the rule has scarcely been applied since 1858, it’s still the law of the land, and it […]
Sweet Apricot Kernels
Move over California, with your water-hungry almonds. 4.5 litres of water to grow one almond? Ridiculous! We have apricots with sweet kernels here in the north, that can grow in the shrub […]
Practical Ways to Re-Indigenize the Grasslands. Really.
Two days ago, I suggested that the former grassland hillsides of the Okanagan Valley (now large, private expanses of unproductive and water-wasting weeds), an area at least equal to the 100s of […]
Cultural Blindness and Agricultural Practice
Culture is a powerful thing. Here is some earth, laid bare by a plow, in preparation for seeding in the spring. In the past, it has been used to grow tomatoes. This […]
Loving That Lavender, or Eat Your Heart Out Monsanto
The mantids have found their home. They fit so well in this environment, I suspect we could breed them, using lavender. Perfume and pest control in one. Monsanto can’t do that.
The Snail Whisperer
An old farmer in Germany demonstrates how to sing snails out of their shells. All appear thrilled.
The Black Moons of Mid-Winter
Fools call these moons asian pears and eat them before they are ripe. She was once the golden sun of September. Now she is ripe and oozing mysterious sugar. This is fruit for the […]
