Blog and News

There’s not much I’d rather do during my treasured weekend hours than make my way through some stretch of woods, just to see what I can see. In the green and humid glory of a New England…

Move your hand to your groin area and trace your inner thigh to where your leg becomes torso. You’ll feel a cord-like muscle there that seems to attach your upper and lower regions…

“Government” is a dirty word these days. As the election cycle ramps up, so does the anti-government rhetoric from the Republican candidates for President. Not to be outdone,…

I have a friend who’s in the process of trying to buy a woodstove, and like many of us in this down economy, money’s an issue. The new stoves that sit gleaming on the showroom…

Most people, myself included, make sense of the world by looking at what’s right in front of their face. We know our own lives, after all. And we know our little slice of the world. I…

Last night a friend from the next town over asked me whether I’d noticed an abundance of oak seedlings this fall. “Noticed?” Hell, I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out how oak…

We opened camp this year on Friday in the midst of a snow squall, though it took less than 24 hours for the weather to devolve into what has passed, in recent years, as the same ol’, same…

When we think about human overpopulation – the ticker hit 7,000,000,000 this past week – we might think globally first: to ship breakers in Bangladesh, or the slums outside Sao…

As the mobs of cars around wildlife check-in stations suggest, moose season is underway in Vermont and New Hampshire. Maine’s between seasons at the moment, but hunting will resume in late…

Soon after the ice storm in January 1998, I passed through an apple orchard on my way uphill to an ice-shattered woodlot. The birches surrounding the orchard were bent into, the maples were a…

Hi there. I’m Meghan Oliver, the new assistant editor at Northern Woodlands. I couldn’t be happier to be here, assisting in the daily behind-the-scenes action it takes to produce this…

I was in the woods recently with a mycologist and he mentioned that whenever he is out with people looking for mushrooms, the only question anyone ever asks is “Is it edible?” One…

If you’ve done any traveling around New York or New England this summer, you’ve probably come across one of the purple emerald ash borer traps that are hanging from ash trees along…

If your dog roles in poo or roadkill it doesn’t mean that he’s an idiot. Quite the opposite, actually. It means he’s a team player and a good storyteller. In ancient times,…

Northern Woodlands held its annual board meeting on July 20th. The day’s events included a tour of the Mount Tom Forest at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, a discussion…

Many print-media outlets publish summer book recommendations, and for good reason. Part of the joy of reading is sharing what you’ve read. There’s also a practical component: since…

Riverwalking – the act of hiking up a river or stream in the summertime – holds a special place in the rural ethos. It’s as much a part of summer as 4th of July fireworks, or…

The founders of Northern Woodlands magazine, Stephen Long and Virginia Barlow, were recently honored with the 2011 Vermont’s Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence. Long and…

It can be hard to summon the appropriate motivation to cut firewood in early July. In light of this, I keep a newspaper article taped to the refrigerator that highlights the billion-dollar…

Clouds – big suckers, with glorious mashed-potato tops and ominous sepia-toned bellies – trolled like battleships across Bahamian blue skies Wednesday afternoon. Back on earth,…