Blog and News

When we tout the benefits of country living, safety is often at the top of the list. (“I never lock my doors!”) Break-ins and vandalism are rare – you don’t expect to…

It’s been one of the cooler, wetter summers in memory, enough so that everyday banter about the weather seems even more ubiquitous than usual. A friend in Maine emailed that his pumpkins…

We were on a gravel road that wound through a hayfield—just walking through, talking as we went. At first the butterflies were so tiny that we didn’t really notice them. But then…

Vermont’s Current Use Program is one of those rare pieces of legislation that garners high praise from both the left and right side of the political spectrum. Established in 1980 as a…

So the other day a mass mailing went out to landowners in Corinth, Vermont from a timber harvest/tree removal company in New Hampshire. The company was peddling their services, which include…

My friend E’s a barrel-chested logger who lives down in southwestern Vermont. He’s a tough hombre, as is anyone who makes their living cutting trees. I’ve seen him bull his skidder up…

My brother and his fiancé just built a log cabin home on a broomstick lot in southern Vermont. It was a bit of a nightmare to build—ledge issues, drainage issues, septic issues,…

The good news is that Canada Lynx are thriving in Maine. Hundreds of the leggy, snow-loving cats are breeding in the state’s vast north woods, perhaps a historic high. The bad news is…

There’s something about the beginning of things; Bohemian poets are always reveling here: new lovers, fresh starts, changed perspectives. For those of us with underdeveloped Bohemian…

As Charles W. Johnson began in our April 20, 2009

Our first showy tree blossoms of spring are popping out all around us now. Alternatively known as shadbush or serviceberry, assorted varieties of Amelanchier are dressing up the edges of roads…

While experienced foragers can make gourmet meals out of any number of wild plants – from cattail roots to stinging nettle leaves – most amateurs focus on three plants: morel…

Blake Thomsen, a licensed land surveyor from Chelsea, Vermont, contacted the magazine with a request that we run a small blurb explaining to landowners why they might see a surveyor wandering…

It was Sunday morning, last Sunday morning, and dawn was just breaking in fishing camp. First there were birds singing in complete darkness: prophets? Cheerleaders? Either way the birds seemed…

Maple Sunday—March 29—was the last day of our maple sugaring season. The sap’s still running but the sugar content has dropped to the point where the remaining firewood in the woodshed…

On a recent trip to East Africa I was swept off my feet by the baobob tree, as has happened to many other travelers. How can a long-lived, successful tree be so entirely unlike all the other…

I came across a recent story in The Oregonian (“Fall in wood products market redirects environmentalist strategy,” by Michael Milstein, December 20, 2008) talking about the changing…

The 2009 season began in earnest last Friday. We had a small run in our southern Vermont sugarbush – enough to make the first syrup of the year. The beginning of the year is always the…

As far as I can tell, there is no cell phone reception anywhere in the Town of Corinth. Consequently, in the office and at home, we continue to use a land line for nearly everything. My wife…

In early summer, our main sugarbush is a lush, earthy place. Limestone knolls roll into soggy spring-fed depressions. Two-hundred year old maples loom – their hard, vertical shapes…