There was forty centimetres of snow on this draw a couple weeks ago. Don’t think it’s all gone. The shade on the south western slope is keeping it damp in the soil, […]
The Cost of Nature
This is tourism. The image below shows the price of tourism. Hey, the water had to come from somewhere, eh. The myth of Canada is that we can have it all, that […]
Sustaining the Okanagan 11: Weaving Water to Combat Desertification
I know, I know, Chinese elms are a weed. They grow well here, though. Their flowers feed spring birds. In turn, those flowers have a zillion seeds … … and pop up […]
Landscaping for Water Capture
Welcome to the second of a series of posts on creating a sustainable Okanagan. They are archived on the menu bar above. Today: smart water. Read on… Wherever there is a crack, […]
Gravity Pools
Soil. Not soil. 9 years, nothing growing yet. Soil Not soil. Nothing even germinates here. Soil. You find soil where water pools. (Rocks, too.) It is life — a gravitational effect that […]
How to Find a Story on the Columbia Plateau
Note the grove of firs in the background here, between the Sinlahekin and Okanogan valleys (well, stories) of Washington. If you walk one way, they are the bristly children a toad is carrying […]
Climbing The Waterfall
On Friday, I talked about The Moods of Colour. In short, I argued that the different plants, lichens and rock in the image below were all different moods of light, different levels of […]
Defying Gravity and Collecting Water for Free Through Time Travel
As long as not too great a mass of water is involved, surface tension is stronger than gravity (and stronger than adhesion). Take a look: This water ran down the twig (it […]
10 More New Water Collection Technologies for the Okanagan (And an Extra One for Fun)
Currently water is collected in the Okanagan by three methods. The first is to turn high country lakes and streams into reservoirs, which are then piped down into the valleys, to provide […]
New Water Collection Technologies for the Okanagan
As we move to reclaim natural water processes in the valley grasslands of the Okanagan, we will need new water collection technologies. The systems we have now (upland lakes turned into reservoirs, […]
