Presentation: “The Sky & the Patio” with Don Gayton

January 10, 2023
Don Gayton reading from his new book, The Sky and the Patio
In a series of engaging essays, Summerland writer Don Gayton fuses the personal with the ecological to portray the geography and the natural and human history of his Okanagan Valley homeland. Draft resister and professional ecologist by training, Don Gayton registers the complexity and interconnectedness of every living thing in his environment, from the rivers and lakes, to the plants and animals, and the human settlements along the Okanagan, Similkameen, and Columbia watercourses. The Sky and the Patio describes the patterns made by iconic native species such as ponderosa pine, sagebrush and bunchgrass, the sockeye salmon and turtles, and the non–natives that are reshaping their world. Gayton tells us what we can learn from tree rings; some fine points about firewood; a bit about Chinook wawa, and his own library of nature writing.