Knots and Bolts

Four thousand years ago, the native people of North America’s eastern woodlands cultivated a protein-rich superfood. Variously called lamb’s-quarters, goosefoot, or pigweed, the…

Teddy Roosevelt was president when F.E. Hale purchased a factory in Herkimer, New York, and started making wooden bookcases. Hale retired in 1918, but the company that bears his name continues…

The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a woody member of the pea family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae), and a close examination of its winged flowers, bean-like pods, and pinnately compound…

Everett Towle is retired, but plenty active. As a sixth generation resident of Buxton, Maine, Towle inherited several parcels of forestland. He added more over the years, and now owns eight…

Until the 1940s, most Christmas trees were cut from forests. Now they’re harvested from tree plantations. The maple sugarbush may soon be making a similar move from forest to field. In…

Many places have fantastical creatures: the Loch Ness monster in Scotland, Sweden’s skvader (half hare, half wood grouse), and, of course, the Pacific Northwest’s tree octopus. The…

Black birch tea was one of the first wild foods I ever tried. Some high school friends boiled pots of birch twigs to make what they called “brew” while telling jokes and stories…

You could easily breeze past the nondescript Maine Wood Concepts mill in the tiny town of New Vineyard without realizing it’s there. Inside, however, it’s very much alive, with…

There’s probably no better example of a love/hate relationship than the one between the forest landowner and her deer. (At least from a human perspective – deer seem to regard us…

The roar of a chainsaw breaks the stillness of the cold winter morning. I wade through knee-deep snow to retrieve a newly fallen balsam fir. With sappy gloves, I drag the fir pole to a fresh…

Ever since the emerald ash borer (EAB) was discovered in Michigan in 2002, many have speculated about its potential effects on forests in the Northeast. With the confirmation of infestations…

Wild plants do not surrender their treasures as easily as their cultivated cousins. Wild berries tend to be small, seedy, and scattered widely across the landscape. Anyone who has spent an…

Do you remember your answer to that youthful question: if you had to be one or the other, would you rather be deaf or blind? Most of us believed we’d never have to be either, though my…

While the difference between a deer trail and a hiking trail may be obvious, what makes a trail good for feet is not always what makes a trail great for tires. Whereas hikers (and deer) tend…

It can be difficult for beginning foragers to make the leap beyond the most familiar wild foods. For those who want to expand their repertoires beyond ramps, fiddleheads, and blueberries, I…

Editor’s note: Last winter, the Vermont Woodlands Association partnered with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and Northern Woodlands to sponsor an essay contest…

When David Weiss obtains a canister of old movie film, he gives it the sniff test. “I pry off the lid, sniff it, and if it doesn’t knock me over with the smell of vinegar,…

Postal workers have postal routes; milk truck drivers have milk routes. But a maple route? Last spring, The Wild Center, a nonprofit environmental education organization and natural history…

Rumors have been swirling in sugarmaking circles about government registration of sugarhouses in all the states where maple syrup is produced. We asked Matthew Gordon, the new executive…

One could be forgiven for thinking the U.S. maple industry is in decline, considering the poor sugaring season in 2012 and fears about climate change, but the reality on the ground is that…