By Pam Laing American Crow and Common Raven, two familiar Corvids This winter started off unusually mild and snowless. You may have noticed, as I did, that many more crows than usual were lingering here instead of moving further south. Why? As always with birds, it’s all about finding food in...
I recently came across an unidentified photograph in my files, likely of an Oyama family. The only clue was five parts of names on the back left margin of the photo, indistinct and in pencil. The names appear to be Dorothy, ?alter, ?ura, ?lice, and ?on. I checked the 1921 Canada Census for an...
The Norman Davies’ niece, Rosemary Darville, fondly relates the story of her own family’s time in Oyama: For their honeymoon the Davies set off on a long journey by ship around the world, search-ing for a place to settle. When they reached Oyama after having visited many countries, Norman and Jean...
Fall migration, an overview Flock of Sandhill Cranes migrating south Many birds migrate, as you know. In our valley, spring migration unfolds gradually, somebirds arriving to breed here as early as February, others not until June. And in the fallmigration doesn’t all happen at once either. Birds...
By: Scott Forfar In the last blog post, I introduced the story of Wong Bing’s life as a cook at Rainbow Ranche in Okanagan Centre. The Rainbow Ranche was a prosperous 525-acre farm with the first large acreage of fruit planted in Lake Country.[1] Wong Bing was 39 years old when he started working...
Chop wood, pump water, wash clothes, pick vegetables, cook and serve family and ranch hand meals – that was the daily routine for Wong Bing working at the Rainbow Ranche from 1916 to 1920. Wong Bing’s life on the ranch was recorded by his employer, Jessie Goldie, in her diary. Her few pages of...
John Norman Davies owned the V Bar V ranch from 1932 to 1943. Norman, from a Welsh landed-gentry family, was the son of Joseph Davies, a solicitor in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales and Mary Jane Jones. Norman was born in Aberystwyth on 4 August 1894 and grew up in that coastal town. He enlisted...
In our last post we looked at two North-American sparrows which turn up every spring tobreed here, Savannah and Vesper Sparrows. This time let’s look at a sparrow you will onlysee here in summer, the Lark Sparrow. Lark Sparrow, distant but easily recognizable This is one of the few places in...
William Furniss, a middle-aged farmer from Vernon, became the second owner of the V Bar V, after the Bovee brothers. He was born in England on December 5, 1843 (his gravestone says 1844) and according to the 1901 Canada Census immigrated to Canada in 1882, coming to Priest’s Valley (Vernon)...
Joseph Hayton was a Boer War veteran and world adventurer. He was born near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, to George Hayton, Rector of Niton, and his wife Ellen Louisa (Chadwick) Hayton. Hayton immigrated to Canada at age 19 aboard the Laurentian in 1895. He returned to England to enlist in the British...
This blog continues a story of the Bovee families that settled in Oyama in 1894 and then moved to the Commonage in 1898. Manfred pre-empted a half section of land in the northern Commonage, a dry grassland environment about 10 miles south of the Oyama property.[1] Manfred’s farm was located...
At least five families contributed to the development of the V Bar V ranch in Oyama.[1] The first were the Bovee brothers and their families. The original pre-emptors of the V Bar V were the Bovee brothers, Manfred Leroy Sanford (b. 19 Sept 1858) and Orbie Orville (b. 23 Jan 1861) They...