I hate to say it, but the dream that has kept my family tied to the land for 91 years in this trough in the Columbia Plateau is over. Instead of a […]
The Only Hope for the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in a Culture of Fire
Grassland Education: Reducing Climate Risk 8
The Okanagan Valley is home to a nearly extirpated grassland ecosystem, that exists only in a few endangered pockets. Even so, it is a key grassland area for studying the effects of […]
Towards an Indigenous Agriculture: Land Reform for British Columbia (and beyond)
Yesterday, I showed how an aspen copse … … could be used as both a living and an agricultural space by farming both its edges and its shade. Here’s that post. Today, I’d […]
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 […]
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 […]
Appetite, the Commons and Private Land
Henry David Thoreau argued that industrial agriculture and slavery were expressions of the same impulse, which led towards the replacement of common experience and trade with private […]
10 More New Agricultural Locations for the Okanagan
Because land in the Okanagan Valley is vastly overpriced, due to its demand by Alberta oilmen for planting an American idea of French vineyards (a pure example of colonialism, if I’ve ever […]
10 New Agricultural Locations in the Suburban Okanagan
British Columbia, the province of Canada that claims the Okanagan as its own territory, is a jurisdiction in which some 94% of land is owned by the government, in trust for the […]
A Lesson from Iceland
When the vikings came to Iceland in the 10th Century, the place was rich with birch, willow and mountain ash forests. Eventually they burnt them all — to stay warm, to cook […]
Okanagan Okanogan 