You are born. Life gets more and more complicated. Then you die. Okay. Maybe it’s not as simple as that. But simple is pretty hard to come by these days and more and more complicated covers a lot of our mutual experience. New ideas, methods, technology and players are springing up in every field. One… (read more)
I have experienced mixed results with community projects. One food Co-op I helped start is still going strong. Another failed after many years. Some collectives of people living near each other dissolved over time. Others have gone on for multiple generations. Some community gardens flourish while others peter out. So, I was particularly interested to… (read more)
Many bad things have happened to our earth. Now it is time for the Indians to teach the white man how to live as one with the earth and each other. “People of the Falls” Mural Artist Michael Paul (1934-1993) The Spring of 2025 in Northeast Washington has been wonderful so far. We are getting… (read more)
It all started with a visit to a local meat cutter to pick up lamb. They had my lamb meat wrapped and ready to go. They also had a big barrel full of bones left over from the carcasses they had been butchering. They were dumping them somewhere and I had a feeling that a… (read more)
On the long drive up Aladdin Road to Blue Ridge Farm dense forest alternates with open fields and old farms. The area was once more populated than now. When the Goldfield mine and mill was running, you could operate a farm and work at the mine nearby. Jillian and Ryan Garrett are a modern version… (read more)
Many strange things are happening during this very mild winter. Down here by Lake Roosevelt there is no snow. The grass is starting to grow. Sweet pea leaves have stayed green all winter. Some insects were flying even though I thought they held off until temperatures were in the 50s. One effect that caught my… (read more)
Harvesting grapes saddles you with responsibilities to make wine, put away your tools and clean up the vineyard. But in the midst of endless work there are surprises both pleasant and problematic. On the pleasant side, finding old bird nests is one of my favorites. It is a good reminder that not all birds are… (read more)
On a warm Sunday morning as I was travelling south along Lake Roosevelt on Hwy 25 the Watch Duty app on my phone kept sounding off as new wildfires popped up along the way. Nine of them would be active by the end of the day. The Wicked Drive fire grew to 700 acres. Three… (read more)
This Spring I had a big breakthrough in nourishing my grape plants. I sprayed a mix designed for foliar feeding on my vines just after the first few leaves emerged. The intent was to increase the vigor of the plants but just as much to reduce the number of leafhoppers on the vines. They have… (read more)
“When it all comes down you’ve got to go back to Mother Earth,” Memphis Slim, 1951. If you visit the Northeast Washington Farmer’s Market in downtown Colville on Wednesday mornings, you might buy vegetables or seeds from Chrys Ostrander of BZ Farm, officially named the BZ Permaculture Farm Collective based at the Bezaleel Israel Eco-Village. … (read more)
