Knots and Bolts

On the Martin Family Tree Farm in Bridgewater, New Hampshire, around the time the hardwoods begin leafing out and the bluebirds return to their nesting boxes, the frog chorus begins. On a…

Sometime between the last half of January and the first part of February, black bears give birth to between one and five (usually two) tiny, blind, almost hairless cubs. Measuring about 9…

In 1974, Cliff Allard opened Allard Lumber Company, a hardwood sawmill, on the site of his family’s former dairy farm in Brattleboro, Vermont. The outfit was a simple, four-man operation…

Tucked into the northeast corner of Connecticut, Steve and Karen Broderick’s 42-acre Town Line Tree Farm straddles the towns of Eastford and Woodstock. The Brodericks purchased this land…

If there’s a bright side to the lengthy darkness of winter, I’d say it’s the much-expanded opportunity for stargazing. Stars and distant planets glitter in the early morning…

Winter in the Northeast is a time of dormancy for most insects, but you may have noticed an increase of tan-colored moths fluttering around your porch light as the days grow shorter. These may…

As deer season begins across the Northeast, regulars stopping by their country store for a cup of coffee, the daily newspaper, and the latest local gossip may also notice wildlife biologists…

For many years, the ancient maples lining the road near my house and in the woods below were festooned with sap buckets in early spring. Now, the buckets have been replaced with plastic…

It’s a warm day at a local climbing crag where I’m teaching middle schoolers nature journaling between ascents. Today’s students are interested in foraging. I pick up a…

Red-bellied woodpeckers have a varied diet consisting of nuts, fruits, frogs, minnows, nestling birds, songbird eggs, invertebrates, sap, and nectar. At this time of year, acorns are a…

When Rich and Ann Chalmers decided to move from California back to Vermont in 1995, they had no intention of managing a large tract of forest – or, really, any idea of what stewarding…

The invitation was irresistible. I was chatting with Dave Small, president of the Athol Bird & Nature Club, who’d just given a winter lecture on moths. The images he’d shared…

Ernie Brooks got his men out and rolling well before dawn at his Mud Lake lumber camp deep in the Adirondacks. A longtime lumberman from Speculator in Hamilton County, Brooks logged near…

In 1984, I bought a two-acre house lot that had been part of a hayfield on a historical farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island. It was located on the narrow coastal plain of Rhode Island’s East…

Geoff McKonly’s journey as a furniture maker is much like his creations: unconventional. A former boatbuilder, McKonly not only taught himself the fine art of furniture making, but also…

It is common knowledge that beavers are herbivorous, but the extent of their herbivory is not always appreciated. A beaver’s massive front incisors, along with the muscles attached to…

As a child growing up in Miami, Divya Anantharaman didn’t have much exposure to wild animals. Then, her family visited an African mammal diorama at a local natural history museum, and…

Photographer Meg Madden grew up in Vermont and learned how to identify trees and the local fauna from her neighbor, a retired agronomy professor who took her on nature walks. When the pandemic…

With its striking black-and-white coloration and haunting calls that echo across the water, the common loon is an iconic species of the Northeast. Once widespread and truly…

From the time he was a small child, Craig Troeger knew he wanted to tend his own land. He bought his first property – 83 acres in Van Buren, Maine – in 1974, at the age of 19.…