Land was taken from the Okanagan Indian Band to start a cattle industry in the 1860s, to generate a cash economy to support the administration of the colony of British Columbia and […]
A Broken Culture Has Started Flogging Candy in the Okanagan Now
Peach Harvest Begins
When I was six years old, I went from farm to farm with my father, and watched as he and the other men in town sliced open peach blossoms to see how […]
Organic Aphid Control in the Plum Orchard
Simple. Just wait. Problem solved.
Changing the Climate One Porcupine at a Time
This is the closing of a series on mitigating climate change through local action. The Earth is very responsive. We can trust that. This estuary on Vernon Creek, for example, with its […]
The True Costs of Farming in the Okanagan
Farming is expensive in Canada. One way of looking at it is shown by the apple plantation below. Let’s look: Posts: harvested on the plateau, trucked, milled, impregnated with toxic copper compounds, […]
A Lousy Apple Year for Vernon
In the local royal gala orchard, long past the renewal date of 10 years for slender spindle high density, high-capital orchards, a snowball bloom has settled out into a lousy crop. The […]
The Year of the Kazillion Cherries Has Begun
When I pruned these trees, the wind was kaboodling down the Similkameen Valley like a grizzly bear made of dry ice. Sawdust was falling in my face from my saw. My feet […]
How to Grow Tasteless Apples
For around forty years, the provincial government has been financially supporting this method of apple growing. Looks pretty modern and efficient, doesn’t it! It’s very seductive. Bankers and government officials love it. […]
25% of Fruitgrowing Agricultural Productive Capacity in the Okanagan is Wasted
Here’s an industrial apple plantation after harvest. The trees are in long rain rows to facilitate mechanized farming, using multi-ton tractors and spraying equipment (combined weight of about 5 tonnes). After harvest, […]
Applied Mathematics in the Garden
Elders do math best. A living calculus. The spiders of the fruiting world! For them, life is a spray of electrons. Why not plant one today? Also great for keeping away sorceresses, […]
