Knots and Bolts

Geoff McKonly’s journey as a furniture maker is much like his creations: unconventional. A former boatbuilder, McKonly not only taught himself the fine art of furniture making, but also…

It is common knowledge that beavers are herbivorous, but the extent of their herbivory is not always appreciated. A beaver’s massive front incisors, along with the muscles attached to…

As a child growing up in Miami, Divya Anantharaman didn’t have much exposure to wild animals. Then, her family visited an African mammal diorama at a local natural history museum, and…

Photographer Meg Madden grew up in Vermont and learned how to identify trees and the local fauna from her neighbor, a retired agronomy professor who took her on nature walks. When the pandemic…

With its striking black-and-white coloration and haunting calls that echo across the water, the common loon is an iconic species of the Northeast. Once widespread and truly…

From the time he was a small child, Craig Troeger knew he wanted to tend his own land. He bought his first property – 83 acres in Van Buren, Maine – in 1974, at the age of 19.…

After nearly a half century of making finely crafted studio furniture, Hank Gilpin has learned one simple truth: There is no bad wood. The master craftsman has produced more than 4,000 pieces…

While there are many benefits to buying fresh produce at grocery stores and farmers’ markets, your own yard can also be a source of seasonal and nutritious flowers, fruits, nuts, tubers,…

While conducting wild edibles inventories on properties around western Massachusetts, environmental educator Arianna Alexsandra Collins appreciates the delight of homeowners in discovering…

A welcome sign of spring in northern New England and New York is the return of wood ducks to wooded swamps and wetlands. There are seven species of ducks in North America that regularly nest…

When the Edwards family closed its four-generation dairy farm in 2001, Kurt and Kristie Edwards turned their attention to the mostly forested property, a few miles away, which has been in…

“Hey Fred,” said Geoff Dennis over the phone. “I have a tame hermit thrush in my woods that is practically eating out of my hand. Would you like to come over and photograph it?” Oh…

When I was young, I dreamed of apprenticing to a wise elder who could train me in the ways of the wild. Alas, as a child growing up in a Connecticut suburb, I never found such a teacher. But,…

Both cedar and Bohemian waxwings derive their common names from the red, waxy tips of some of their secondary feathers.The color of this wax is due to the presence of the pigment astaxanthin.…

Although the largest vertebrate that has ever lived is the female blue whale, in most species of birds and mammals, males are larger than their mates. In birds of prey (hawks, falcons, eagles,…

Jockey Hill Farm in Shrewsbury, Vermont has been in the Stout family since 1942. It has been protected by a conservation easement since the early 1990s and been enrolled in Vermont’s…

Imagine a deck of playing cards that allows you to play a game of gin rummy and also offers an invitation to explore our northern forests and to understand them in a deeper way. David George…

Bush pilot John Knox, an old friend of mine from Piseco, a small community located in the heart of the Adirondacks, allowed me to copy this photo from his family collection many years ago.…

When I was in college, some friends found a patch of amaranth growing wild in the school’s community garden, and we decided to try to make flour from its seeds. This was before the…

The hikers are visibly exhausted as they trudge the final steps toward the summit of Mount Marcy – past the “Revegetation Area” cordoned off with string fence and the plaque…