Sure, the picture is not precisely in focus, but what the heck. The bee is the star here. Look at her answer the call of the balsam root. Look at the balsam […]
Dancing in a Fur Coat
Of Wine, War and Peace
Wine is largely made in laboratories. What is grown in the field is grapes. The result is a decreased ability for the plant to distribute potassium where needed. The additional remove of […]
Definitely Not Terroir
I think there’s too much money in this country. Vineyards get draped to keep off birds. At the same time, a native berry, Oregon grape, goes through the winter without appreciable harm […]
Indigenous Life and Grapes
Riesling grapes are indigenous to the Rhine and the Mosel, but not to the Okanagan. Pinots are indigenous to the Rhône, but not to the Similkameen or the Shuswap. It’s just the […]
A Test to See if You are Indigenous or Not
The Okanagan is an industrialized landscape. Note the cloned apple trees, the herbicide to kill weeds (80% of the available space), the poisonous fence posts, the wire supports to hold the trees […]
Reading the Weather
If you live in a place where you can’t see the sky, you don’t need to know the weather. But if the sky can get at you, you should have a personal […]
Let’s Cancel Christmas
I mean, really. A holiday that sees people putting spiritual wreathes on their doors, made out of the woven limbs of bushes in a prayer for coming spring, that sees them tossed […]
Brave Bees… Perhaps
The balsam root blossoms on the hill were visited by these furry brown bees yesterday. These are the first bees I’ve seen on the flowers that were not shy. They wouldn’t scare. […]
In the Grasslands, Tiny Effects Aren’t Tiny at All
When I was working on the Spirit in the Grass book with photographer Chris Harris, one of the ecologists on the project told me that the effects of sun and shadow at […]
Go, Garlic, Go!
It’s a happy time in the garden. Garlic is 15 centimetres high. Leaves did their job. How great is that, eh! And, yeah, there’s lots of it. Go, garlic , go!
Okanagan Okanogan 