The Outside Story

By this time of year, most local farmers and gardeners have finished pawing through the seed catalogs and planning this summer’s harvest. What most have tried not to think about is the other…

What was it we learned about earthworms? When we were kids, they were squiggly things that either fascinated or disgusted us. If we fished, they were likely the key to our first angling…

Could it really be true that no two snowflakes are alike? Most New England school children are raised with the story of Warren “Snowflake” Bentley of Jericho, Vermont, an introverted…

Spreading salt to make treacherous ice magically disappear from road surfaces must have seemed brilliant in the early days of its use. Naturally occurring, abundant, and cheap, road salt…

We humans are pretty lucky when it comes to winter. When the temperature plunges to 20 below, we can venture bravely forth clad in our stylish new slim-puffy jackets and Ugg boots. But what…

How many times in your life have you seen a deer antler? Not hanging on someone’s wall, but out in the woods? If you answered “never,” you’re in good company. Few people have. Which,…

As you stand poised at the edge of the winter woods, it may be hard to imagine that within that stark, white, silent landscape, the resident animals are going about their routine of finding…

At the beginning of each winter, I snowshoe past a few rock ledges near my house to see if there are any local porcupines in residence. Some winters there is a lot of activity, but during…

At the age of nine, I bought a mail-order telescope. I practically lived at the post office until it arrived. I soon dropped a marble down the telescope’s barrel (don’t ask), and the…

We brought our just-cut Christmas white spruce inside from the cold, nearby forest. Within the hour, little creatures, abruptly warmed, skittered across the living-room floor as I scrambled in…

Canines, including wolves, foxes, coyotes, and – yes – Spot, have something special that enables them to live in the North: tough feet. If you marvel at Spot’s blissful,…

The coldest night of the year. It’s still too soon to know when it will occur this year, but whichever night it is, it’s almost certain to have three things going for it: it will be clear,…

Chances are you have seen a victim of white pine blister rust. I think it’s safe to say that most big dead white pines – the ones with the remains of large crowns, not those that were…

Autumn is closing fast. Right now, my lawns and fields are sere, and snow will soon blanket the scene. Whatever summer life they held has vanished, and all is quiet. But come spring, when the…

A generation or two ago, buying locally was the only option. Before the interstate system and shopping malls, and way before 800 numbers and Amazon.com, the goods that people needed in their…

For people in New England who grew up with only Bullwinkle to remind us that moose existed, the proliferation of Alces alces in this region over the past 25 years is an exhilarating lesson in…

I once had a college professor who said he could predict the weather by playing woolly bears like dice. He would pick up a woolly bear, which immediately curled up, then shake the fuzz-ball,…

I’ve seen this mountain many times before, but only from across the Connecticut River. From Bellows Falls, Vermont, Fall Mountain is a wall of trees, towering over the falls that give both…

If you haven’t been thinking much about maple sugaring these past few months, well, who can blame you. This is the season of McIntosh apples, golden pumpkins, and venison stew – not…

The other day I performed one of my favorite autumn rituals: watching migratory hawks above the Connecticut River. When viewed from the fire tower on Gile Mountain in Norwich, Vermont, one of…