Blog and News

So the crazy weather continues, though of late it’s been too cold instead of too hot. By putting the temperatures from the last two weeks side by side with the temperatures from the…

“We know that getting hit is part of the sport.” -Boxer Frank Buglioni Thirty-two degrees is a magic number in sugaring because without it sap doesn’t flow. A freeze at night…

I just finished a fabulous book by David Brooks called The Road to Character, in which he explores our transition from a culture that valued humility and trusted institutions to an…

An old wagon road begins in our apple orchard, drops down into the woods, and parallels our field. Like many old roads, it’s bordered by stonewalls and old sugar maples, and it’s a…

When you get a little bigger your mom and I are going to introduce you to the maples in the sugarwoods. You should know them because they can teach you patience. We’ll take you to…

So a few years back there was a story making the rounds about some scientists who were using Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men cologne to lure jaguars into camera traps. Media outlets…

In looking for interesting content for Northern Woodlands’ biweekly e-newsletter, I'm constantly scanning the Google news feed for articles related to forests and forestry. Not…

Political pundits all suggest that a re-examination of our country’s broken health care system will be the first order of business that Congress takes up this session. And it will mean a…

Why is religion such a big part of rural life? An author I was reading the other day decided it was because there are more poor people in rural places, and poverty fosters the idea that…

Some of the most interesting animal behaviors involve social communications. Even the most solitary species need to communicate, whether they’re staking claim, communicating social…

The world can often seem too complicated for its own good. It’s a big reason why people like you and I live in a rural place, where things are simpler to some degree. Through this lens,…

A deer hunter pushes open the door and enters a warm, slow camp. The woodstove pings pleasantly as it accommodates a fresh charge of wood. Wet clothes hung above it shutter slightly in the…

The most prominent event in the November woods is the whitetail rut, and in the spirit of the season, we’re thrilled to be able to share this fabulous video of a buck making a scrape.…

I went deer hunting last week with my friend Bill at his camp in the Adirondacks. The trip over entailed a beautiful ride down Route 28, then a misty boat ride across a frosty lake. The camp…

Here in Vermont there’s an interesting political race going on for governor, and it relates to our subject matter in that the contest might hinge, in some small but possibly significant…

Joe Wheelwright, the sculptor, died on September 28. I met Joe while writing this story about him in 2012. When I heard the news of his passing I went back and read it again; looked at the…

I love gnarly trees, and one of the gnarliest I’ve seen is located on the back corner of my central Vermont property. It’s a monstrous maple, sitting on a wide, burly base with…

We’d torn a burner out of an old hot water heater and suspended it with wire beneath a hastily welded angle iron table; it formed a sort of makeshift stove. Then we set the whole thing…

If you’re into nature and writing, which you probably are if you’re into us, then you probably heard the news a few years back that the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed a bunch of…

Eric Hanson, a biologist for the Vermont Loon Conservation Project, will give a natural history talk at this year’s Northern Woodlands Conference. The Loon Conservation Project is a…