Editor’s Blog Archive
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The Ice-Fishing Muscle
Move your hand to your groin area and trace your inner thigh to where your leg becomes torso. You’ll feel a cord-like muscle there that seems to attach your upper and lower regions together. Online medical texts were more baffling than helpful in determining the specific name of this body part, but ask any ice fisherman and they’ll know it… (more)
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Of, By, For the People
“Government” is a dirty word these days. As the election cycle ramps up, so does the anti-government rhetoric from the Republican candidates for President. Not to be outdone, President Obama’s re-election strategy seems to be to run against congress. The message from both sides is that things in Washington are shortsighted, corrupt, petty, and hopelessly divided, and so it’s not… (more)
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Your Thoughts on Woodstoves
I have a friend who’s in the process of trying to buy a woodstove, and like many of us in this down economy, money’s an issue. The new stoves that sit gleaming on the showroom floors are beautiful. But three grand for a woodstove is out of the question. She’s asked me for advice on what used stove to buy,… (more)
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Schizophrenia
Most people, myself included, make sense of the world by looking at what’s right in front of their face. We know our own lives, after all. And we know our little slice of the world. I can tell you, with absolute authority, about the forest health on my little woodlot in southern Vermont. I can tell you where the Christmas… (more)
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The Acorn Fairy
Last night a friend from the next town over asked me whether I’d noticed an abundance of oak seedlings this fall. “Noticed?” Hell, I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out how oak seedlings could suddenly be popping up in droves where they never had been before. And so I was relieved to learn that I’m not the only puzzled… (more)
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Dispatch From Camp: November 15, 2011
We opened camp this year on Friday in the midst of a snow squall, though it took less than 24 hours for the weather to devolve into what has passed, in recent years, as the same ol’, same ol’ opening weekend weather. Hot. Windy. Sunny. Weather that goes with deer hunting like a family vacation goes with tropical rain. Trev… (more)
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Seven Billion and Counting
When we think about human overpopulation – the ticker hit 7,000,000,000 this past week – we might think globally first: to ship breakers in Bangladesh, or the slums outside Sao Paulo. Domestically, our thoughts go to urban centers – Times Square at midday, or an aerial shot of a New Jersey suburb. But rural areas are dealing with human population… (more)
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A Hunting Story
As the mobs of cars around wildlife check-in stations suggest, moose season is underway in Vermont and New Hampshire. Maine’s between seasons at the moment, but hunting will resume in late October in select management units. In many areas of the Northeast, drawing a moose tag is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share… (more)
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Weight Bearing Trees
Soon after the ice storm in January 1998, I passed through an apple orchard on my way uphill to an ice-shattered woodlot. The birches surrounding the orchard were bent into, the maples were a terrible mess of broken branches, some on the ground, some dangling helplessly from the trees, but the apple trees looked as though nothing had happened. They… (more)
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Northern Woodlands Welcomes New Assistant Editor
Hi there. I’m Meghan Oliver, the new assistant editor at Northern Woodlands. I couldn’t be happier to be here, assisting in the daily behind-the-scenes action it takes to produce this magazine. I’m the person you can contact with your story pitches, your photo submissions, and your questions about anything from the editorial process to C3 photosynthesis. I have long admired… (more)