Forget any thoughts of darkness. These are days of such light. The light was fading in the cedar forest on Rose Swanson Mountain in Splatsin Territory this afternoon. There was too little […]
Cedars Dancing in the Snow
Indigenous Trees and Settler Trees
Here’s an indigenous fruit tree, a black hawthorn in bloom on the banks of the Shuswap River. And here’s an apple tree, a species brought by settlers 160 years ago. Both are […]
Everybody Needs a Friend
This Macintosh apple tree at Splatsin is struggling out of an infection of Horsehair Canker, with her nurses: two currant bushes (you can spot the one behind). It’s harder to spot the […]
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 […]
Hazelnut-Cherry Hybrid
So, this is what you do. Plant a cherry tree. Leave it or fifty years. Over time, it is fifty feet high, and her daughters have formed a grove, around her. They […]
Another Tree Triumph at Splatsin
This old apple tree was chopped back to stubs something around ten years ago, and then let grow out. When I came to her, she was so dense you couldn’t see through […]
Pruning Fun at Splatsin, or Keeping Safe
Ah, such fun. Here are Edna’s cherry trees at Splatsin, pruned so she can reach the fruit without a family giraffe. Sometimes, that’s what food sustainability means most of all. And her […]
Making Slow Apple Pies at Splatsin
At Splatsin, there are some apple trees that have been let go as a generation aged. I offered to help, and was, generously, trusted. Here’s what I think might be a Gravenstein […]
Okanagan Okanogan 