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
One Hundred Years
A hundred years ago, it was the modern fashion in the US Okanogan to train two trunks from every apple root, at a narrow angle to each other. The practice died out […]
Winter Light Reveals The Map of sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ
Below is a powerful map of Southern Okanagan Lake and the Okanogan River, on its route to the Columbia at Brewster. It shows clearly how settlers navigate from one colonial strong point […]
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 […]
Garter Snake Gone Fishing
Note how the yellow stripe of the snake blends it in with the movement of the sun in water. What a wondrous planet.
Four Seasons at Once in the Valley
While the Okanogan and the Okanagan celebrate spring … … for some, really, the petals are withering away and it is early summer. For others it is fall. For yet others, it’s […]
Welcome to the Land of the Big Heads
It’s called the Okanagan Valley now, north of the 1846 border that divided this land into two. South of that line, it’s known as Okanogan County, Washington, USA — hardly a valley. Early […]
Low Tech, Self-Sealing Water Storage Device
Each of these packages weighs about 150 grams. It has a protective skin, covered with moisture-preserving wax. It’s about 83% water, or 125 grams of water, or 1/2 cup of water. Yes, […]
The Future of Okanagan Okanogan
We have been on a journey together for three-and-a-half years. In that time, I finished up this blog as a book (twice!), but then I was reading up on a lynching in Conconully, Washington […]
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 […]
Okanagan Okanogan 