I know the land. I’ve known it for a long time. I know the stories. I’ve known them for a long time. Stories of Coyote, for example, that howler..Such knowledge is useless […]
The Spirit of the Okanagan
Imagine looking up at the hill and seeing the spirit that has been there for 12,000 years for the first time. 450,000 people live in the Okanagan/Okanogan Valley. For all of us, […]
The Spirit of Birds and Trees
Watching the magpies watch me today, in their way of leapfrogging from tree to tree to fencepost to shrub to shrub to post up the slope, always 70 metres apart, always keeping […]
Living Soil
Here’s some soil: It’s a series of shelters, which capture water, minerals and heat, and amplify the conditions for light and seed germination, in the warm area in the first millimetres above the […]
The Lonely Vigil of the Plastic Owl
2 weeks ago, the plastic owl was at her stand. It was mid-afternoon. She was still there yesterday at dusk, poor plastic thing. When I was a boy, owls used to hunt around […]
The Beauty of Spring in November
In November, in Cascadia, it is springtime, whether you are in the wetlands on an island in the ocean … Oyster Bay, Vancouver Island … or far inland, in the grasslands, where […]
There’s More Than One Way to Find the Light
Creating a tension with gravity is key. Blue-bunched wheat grass and big sage.
When Trees are Weeds
This is an old growth forest full of weeds. The sage brush is the weed … … not the bunch grass. Sagebrush is an indigenous plant, but it comes in a bit thickly when […]
Wetland Renewal and You
Have you loved your wetland today? This one is three years old. Just three! Forget the doom and gloom for a moment. The earth has a capacity for renewal. This wetland is […]
The Last Loon of the Year is Learning to Fly
Water is key. And air. And incentive. Time for all divers to go to sea.

