As something of a humbug, I make sure to stay away from shopping malls in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The music, the promotions, the crowds… It’s all a bit overwhelming and commercialized for my personal taste. I prefer a lower key approach to the whole thing, and when it comes to gift giving, [...]
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I’ve become a real geek when it comes to tiny animals. I spend so much time in gardens, in their territory, that I kind of feel obliged to know who I’m dealing with. Having a macro lens helps, of course. This little fellow is quite likely Harpaphe haydeniana, a kind of millipede that was out in [...] I’ve made a commitment this summer to photograph as many bees and other pollinators as possible, inspired in part by my friend Nathalie Chambers’ earnest dedication to the Pollinator Enhancement Project with the Land Conservancy of BC. There are around 400 species of wild bees in BC – I must have counted about 30 in [...] This bit of lawn has been totally destroyed by European chafer beetles and the urban critters that eat them. Take a bike ride through the Marpole or Mount Pleasant neighbourhoods in Vancouver right now, and it’s almost hard to find an area of lawn turf not affected by the European chafer beetle. If you happen [...] Sarah is a barn owl. You can see these birds if you travel the farm roads in Delta, usually at night or in the early morning. Today we held the grand opening of the WCS retail shop in Ladner, and it was pretty fun. Beautiful, unexpectedly nice weather shone down on a whole lot of [...] Camouflaged to perfection in the shade of an eggplant leaf. The greenhouse tomato, pepper, eggplant, and melon trials have pretty much wrapped up, although there are still melons coming. Today was the day to cut down the last of the peppers and eggplants – I’m keeping the Thai Dragon chilies because they dry so well, [...] WCS sells these very decorative hummingbird feeders, and I am asked from time to time what people should fill them with. The answer, pure and simple, is a mixture of sugar and water. One customer recently insisted that sugar-water lacked the correct proteins that are available in flower nectar, so it should not be used. [...] Wasps come in all kinds of forms, from tiny and easy to miss, to substantial and obnoxious. Some wasps can be a real nuisance in late summer if you’re trying to eat outside. Yellow jackets represent two related groups of wasps that are common in British Columbia, and around North America. Although they are defensive, [...] Spring unfolds as a series of glorious, welcome events. When the Forsythia in my yard blooms, it’s a sign that day length and temperatures have conspired to compel early spring plants to bloom. Invariably, this occurs as the first pollinating insects awaken or hatch. Dandelions are the bane of many gardeners, but another clear sign [...] |
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