This is an example of the “if it comes out of the ground, who am I to say it doesn’t belong there” style of gardening. Tomatoes hate this approach, but, as you […]
Random Bug Control
Summer Radishes Don’t Grow Under the Ground
Great radish crop in the heat now. The image below shows a small part of the haul from one plant, ripening beautifully. In the spring, they put their heat in a swollen […]
How Much Soil Do We Need, Who Gets to Decide, How, and Why?
Today a little tour through democracy in action. Note the two anti-insect bands. Given that a gram of soil continues 1 billion microorganisms, beating out seawater’s 1 million, how much topsoil does […]
Fixer Upper in the Okanagan
With a little love, it could be a home again. The idea is that species like Western Bluebirds … … will maintain their presence in a grassland if bird houses are erected […]
The Fire Deficit and the Depth of Global Warming
For 10,000 years, the people of the grasslands have been living in a fire landscape. For 100 years, they have been living in a fire debt. This landscape: Selah Creek, Yakama Nation […]
Summer Draws to a Close in the Okanagan
When harvest season starts in the snow in late February, with crops planted in mid-August the year before, the valley’s true seasons reveal themselves quite simply. Spring, for instance, took place in […]
Mariposa Lily Has a Visitor (or two)
It’s always an adventure to see who comes to dance… … and then, after making the circuit … … half-drugged, stumbles out… Good times for all!
Roman Gardens in the Suburban Okanagan
Do you see a storm sewer This wild lettuce sees a future. Welcome to the qanat, the underground river drawing itself from stone, that the Romans spread across the Sahara and the […]
What to Do When You Lose Your Hat in the Wind
Seriously, out in the shrub steppe it does get windy, and losing a hat is a real thing. The sun can then burn you into a lump of tar. I had a […]
Wild Currants are Ready
What I love about Pacific wild currants is that they taste as dry as the land on a hot day. Their sweetness is pale and their juice minimal, and yet if you […]
