Knots and Bolts

Brambles are hard to mistake thanks to their clustered globes of fruit (what botanists call an “aggregate of drupelets”) and their even more noticeable thorns. At some time, just…

Congressional leaders are currently reexamining our country’s broken health care system, which has meant a slew of news stories about different aspects of the problem that might be…

The prospective groom carefully drapes a silken veil across his chosen mate’s head, then wraps four of her eight legs, her chelicerae, and her pedipalps. It turns out human brides…

If you asked Sydney Antonio how she came to own 450 well-managed acres of forestland in upstate New York, she would tell you it had a lot to do with hating summer camp as a child. She really…

There are 10,000 acres of public forest within the five boroughs of New York City. That doesn’t mean street trees, or trees dotting the lawns in parks, but actual forested acres –…

In a world where modern technology can sweep us off our feet, the Biltmore stick is proof that simple, old-fashioned tools can still be of value. It is portable, affordable, and easy to use,…

Black bear cubs are born in late January or February, weighing about eight ounces. The mother has six teats, and the newborn cubs crawl to the ones closest to her pelvis. Later, as the cubs…

If you know anything about wild edible plants, chances are you know about wild leeks. Also known as ramps, the wild leek (Allium tricoccum) is a rock star among wild foods. Festivals celebrate…

Globally speaking, annual precipitation and temperature are the two most important factors that determine what grows where on Earth. Close to the equator, where it’s warm and wet,…

The name – Ski Hearth Farm – is a hint to the diversity that has helped preserve this pastoral landscape of 630 acres in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, for decades. Yes, it is first…

Though few today are familiar with the working toboggan of the North Woods, it was once ubiquitous – the tool of trappers and travelers, a boon to anyone who had to wrest their living…

Eagles obtain food mainly in three ways – by capturing it, by stealing it, or by scavenging it. When securing their own live prey, they hunt from perches or soar over suitable habitat,…

Winter must have been hard for the first human inhabitants of the Northeast as long months passed with few fresh plant foods. Foraging is difficult in the winter, but it is not impossible.…

A new breed of building appeared on the UMass campus in Amherst this past winter. In a landscape full of concrete, brick, and stone rose a four-story wooden frame, fitted together like a piece…

Yellow-fuzz cone slime (Hemitrichia clavata) is a slime mold that is found in clusters on rotting wood. Neither plant nor animal, slime molds are known for the dramatic transformations they go…

In the southeastern corner of Vermont is a 465-acre forest owned by the town of Vernon. It’s named the J. Maynard Miller Municipal Forest, after the local dairy farmer who convinced his…

The grapevine was so important to the ancient Romans that they called it vitis, after the Latin word for life. Today, botanists still give the name Vitis to the genus of grapevines. While the…

In Peru, a botica is a pharmacy – the sterile, white kind, with glass countertops, bright lights, and shelves lined with tidy boxes. But I’ve come all the way to Pucallpa – a…

Editors’ Note: We tend to think of forestland as being either publicly owned or privately owned. But tens of thousands of acres in the Northeast fall into the category of…

Parts of the arid West are so biologically different than the temperate East that they seem like they’re on a different planet. Even places that sound like they should be familiar…