First, a Canadian apple tree: Then a Welsh one. Then a Canadian one. Or a bunch, really. Then a Welsh one: Four years old, and the Canadian ones are dying.
Canada, in Context
Environmental Problems are Political Problems
So, what benefit are orchards? I mean to the Earth. A great place for a coyote to hunt birds in the winter, as you can see from the tracks, so that’s useful. […]
Where the Deer Go in the Cold
It’s been cold. 26 Below Celsius. Temperatures like that. The deer have it covered, though. Here they are! The perimeter deer fencing for this orchard cost something approaching $50,000. To keep the […]
Trees of Ritual, Renewal and Grace
The tree is a ritual that grounds history at the heart of family life, revealing the duration of time, not its passing. The photograph is a ritual that grounds history at the […]
Climate Change and Herbicide in the Okanagan
Here’s the neighbourhood Royal Gala orchard, seen from above. The dark green stripes are grass, the brown stripes are the hedgerows trees, the black stripes are weed-killed soil, and the pale green […]
When is Climate Change Not?
So, here’s a change that’s been ongoing for some twenty years now: aspen leaves getting hollowed out by leaf miners, which aren’t getting killed off by cold winters. One sees a lot […]
Orchard Lies and Out of Touch Journalists and Your Lunch
This is a story about truth and reconciliation. The headline says it all. Many Okanagan Apple Farmers Are Facing This Year’s Harvest Short Handed, You know, I remember a time, long before […]
Global Warming & Cooling Cycles, Okanagan Style
When the apple trees are pumped full of nitrogen and water to make the apples big and keep them from burning when they can’t get cool in the summer sun, then some […]
Want to Buy Some Land in Vernon?
This orchard will be for sale soon. It’s dying. There’s no way that it can pay off the cost of its posts now, let alone anything else. There’s an idea out there […]
Communicating With Deer
Here’s the walking trail above the orchards west of my house in late winter. Notice how the path is as wide as a road, is packed down from human traffic, and is […]
Okanagan Okanogan 