Knots and Bolts Archive
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Not Your Grandma’s Field Guide
So your tech-savvy child or spouse got you an iPad for Christmas and assured you that this device would change your life. “Thanks,” you said in a drawn-out way, smiling with your mouth open, thinking to yourself: “A paper weight will change my life?” Fear not. There is a way to apply this sleek, urban looking thing to your favorite… (more)
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Drum from a Hide
When hunter Matt Harwood from Shaftsbury, Vermont showed us a drum he’d made from a deer hide, we were struck by the practicality of the endeavor. In talking with him about it, though, it quickly became apparent that his reasons for undertaking such a project went deeper than mere function. “Drums are one of those things that are common to… (more)
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Make Your Own Axe Handle
Henry David Thoreau admired a hand-made axe handle in a journal entry made more than 150 years ago: “Those made by hand are considered stronger than those which are turned (on a machine), because the outline conforms to the grain . . . I like to see the farmer whittling his own axe helve as I did E. Hosmer, a… (more)
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Spruce Up Your ID Skills
The tree in question is conical, its cones dangling from skyward-curving branches, scaly bark covering its tapered trunk. Short, four-sided needles radiate spirally from each twig – unlike hemlock and fir needles, which are arranged in horizontal splays, or longer pine needles with their twig-end tufts. This tree is undoubtedly a spruce…but which kind? While trees of the Picea genus… (more)
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Remembering Spruce Gum
I can still remember my first chew of spruce gum. Like so many other children from Maine, my dad gave me that first amber nugget. I was five, and we were skiing in back of our house in Stillwater. You can’t forget how the gum first crumbles, releasing a powerful taste of the spruce forest, then comes back together and… (more)
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Exploding Flowers
Spring’s grace and beauty will soon be everywhere – cue the Stravinsky. Courting songbirds will rule the air, wetlands will resonate with love-mad croaking, and on the forest floor, bunchberry flowers will be exploding with the velocity of a rifle shot. Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis) grows from coast to coast in the Northern U.S. and Canada and south as far as… (more)
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Marrow Core Analysis
Thirty years ago, I discovered the carcass of a handsome buck draped awkwardly over sharp-edged rocks. It was May and the grip of winter had loosened. Bright new leaves framed the buck’s face, and trout lilies adorned a warming ground that had recently been covered with snow. Dozens of deer had endured the winter in a nearby deeryard. While some… (more)
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My Experiments Growing Shiitake Mushrooms
The article on growing mushrooms on hardwood logs in the Spring 2009 edition of Northern Woodlands intrigued me. My 16-acre woodlot in North Wolcott, Vermont, had been cut-over hard in the early 1990s. Since then, I’ve been managing it for a small, 200-tap sugaring operation, which may grow to 300 taps as the trees mature. When the article suggested using… (more)
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Student Scientists Say White Pine Getting Healthier
University of New Hampshire (UNH) professor Barry Rock has a piece of advice for anyone studying the forest: enlist a middle-schooler. Rock directs Forest Watch, a program housed at UNH’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space that invites teachers and their students from across New England to participate in long-term monitoring of the effect of air pollution… (more)
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How old is that tree?
In last winter’s issue, we highlighted a 400- year-old hemlock tree that was only 20 inches in diameter; in a recent web feature, we went the other way and marveled at a 70-year-old red oak that was a whopping 32 inches across. The disparity highlights the fact that guessing the age of a standing tree can be a humbling experience;… (more)