Articles

For the Winter 2024 issue of Northern Woodlands, outgoing Executive Director Elise Tillinghast and her husband, photographer Tig Tillinghast, put together a brief feature article focused on…

Years ago, my three siblings and I discovered that we shared a recurring nightmare: We are running for our lives down our childhood street in Brooklyn, being chased by a subway train broken…

On the road to wisdom, behave like a raven and observe everything carefully! – Mehmet Murat Ildan The raven (Corvus corax) is an intelligent, gregarious bird that exhibits a noteworthy…

In the last column we discussed tips and tricks for hand splitting gnarly firewood. Hand splitting is cheaper than a gym membership but may not be practical based on the type or amount of wood…

I just bought a parcel of forestland and I don’t know where to start. Do I need a forester? Even for people who have owned a parcel of forestland for a long time, caring for a forest can…

On days when I drop off my wife at her dance class, I explore Red Rocks Park in South Burlington, Vermont. I meet dog walkers and a few hardy birders but as far as I know, I’m the only…

(If You Know How and Where to Look) Groundnut (Apios americana), an herbaceous, perennial member of the pea family (Fabaceae), is native to most of the eastern United States and adjacent areas…

“I love that Vermont’s woods offer glimpses of the past,” said Joshua Blouin, who spotted this old Chevy on a farm in Warren, Vermont. The farmer told Blouin he started…

Approximately 50 people contribute to the words and images in each issue of the magazine, and still more provide support for the publication process. Here are some of our Winter 2024…

The path I made in the snow three days ago had been used. A neighbor? I mused. Several of them, it turns out. Toe-tipped deer, their hooves leaving unmistakable marks. My path on the tote road…

Tucked behind all too many woodsheds are unsplit rounds that stand as evidence of defeat. Many of these blocks have been tossed in frustration after dozens of hits, each one eliciting…

I’ve heard foresters and wildlife biologists talking about “softening edges.” What is an edge, and what does it mean to “soften” one? Why is it important? And how…

Dad and I drag the white-tailed doe to the abandoned logging road as the moon crests the mountain. By the light of our headlamps, we use our knives to carve and empty the deer, our breath…

Approximately 50 people contribute to the words and images in each issue of the magazine. Here are some of our Autumn 2024 contributors. {image2} Noah Davis (“Deer Drag,” page 10)…

The calls come in day and night, from homeowners, people working in the woods, and passersby on dirt roads and busy highways. They’ve found an injured fox or an orphaned squirrel or a…

In September 2023 – after nearly 10 years of planning, clearing, and construction – Darin Schwartz, his wife Dawn Elliott, and their two children moved into the family’s…

Because, as the crow flies, I’m only a few flaps and caws from the Connecticut River, I wake up most autumn mornings to a river fog dreamscape. All the air is suffused with soft gray, as…

A steady parade of trucks loaded with gravel, cement, and dirt rumbles down Binney Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, each day. There seems to be a construction site around every corner in…

Despite decades of experience eating wild plants, I was slow to start foraging for fungi. There are many poisonous species. So many species look similar to each other. And, while almost all…

Last October, while on assignment to photograph fall foliage for The New York Times, photographer Caleb Kenna traveled north along Vermont Route 100. “As I was passing Echo Lake in…