Blog and News

Moose are arguably the most novel of all North American large mammals, if for no other reason than their strange appearance. Whereas deer and elk are handsome creatures, rams majestic, and…

On September 25, Lora Nielsen, our Administrative Coordinator, attended the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. What follows is her report. There’s nothing like a country fair on a crisp,…

Dwight Garner wrote an entertaining book review in the New York Times recently on Elizabeth Marshall Thomas’s new book: The Hidden Lives of Deer. You can read it online at The Books of…

As a thirty-something year old guy who came of age in the boom years of the 1990s, I’ve been bombarded with advertising pretty much since the day I was born. That I grew up in a small town…

On calendars and on magazine covers, autumn is usually rendered glossy and exhilarating: the foliage always neon orange against azure skies, humans and their fall chores the cheerful…

If we could afford to do it, we’d make the Letters to the Editor section of the magazine 20 pages long. Our readers are the lifeblood of our publication, and their thoughts add depth and…

Managing Editor Dave Mance is on vacation this week, so I hijacked his blog . . . -Lora Nielsen, Administrative Coordinator Our dog Ruby was a 9-year-old speckled black and white Dalmatian mix…

The trail up Burnt Rock Mountain in north-central Vermont is a consistently rugged scramble up exposed granite ledge, the kind that makes ribbons out of hiking boots. J and I summited around 1…

In honor of their 100-year anniversary, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FP&R) recently held a youth writing contest, where school-aged children were asked to…

One of the best parts about having older fishing companions is that trips often double as history lessons. Last weekend one such lesson unfolded on the banks of Somerset Reservoir, a bucolic…

Each year the Maplerama event – an excuse for sugarmakers from around the state to get together, talk shop, and get excited about the upcoming season. The buzz at this year’s banquet…

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…