This Mexican rock-picking crew in Vernon is an example of what I call magical thinking. Notice a couple things. First, how many rocks are being picked (to make it easier for machine […]
Compacting the Soil in Vernon
Voodoo Grapes in the Okanagan
Grape growing has its rituals. If you’re going to take a plant that roots itself as it tumbles down hot volcanic soils on river banks in humid Europe and move it around […]
The End of the Earth or Reconciliation? The Choice is Ours.
This is a post about the gently rolling hills of the shallows of an ancient lake, that are no more. It is a place where herons survived cold winters by hunting mice. […]
Indigenous and Non Indigenous Grape Growing
In the sandy Kaiserstuhl in Germany, where grapes are native and wine has been made since before the romans marched into town, wine growers have learned to use buckwheat to build up […]
This is How You Make Bread and French Fries
First, you take the shrub steppe of the lower Snake River. Then you add petroleum-based fertilizer (white tank) and water (six deep well pumps). This combination makes bread. It’ll be seeded again in […]
Wine Secrets
Wine making is such a romantic business.Noble Ridge Vineyard, Okanagan Falls It’s a way of selling peasant culture as elite culture.It’s done within a metaphor of capitalization. Only industrialists need apply. It […]
Wild and Domestic Bees
Grassland bee (note the pollen)…. Apostemon Bee on a Mariposa Lily (Bella Vista) Most people here don’t know these beauties exist, and by that I mean both the flower and the bee. […]
Farming and Art: Ancient Sisters
I was walking along the old water canal the other day, and then up the ravine and along the coyote track across the top of the vineyard, and I saw this… Industrial […]
Okanagan Okanogan 