Before the Schwarzenegger sex scandal restored order to the media universe, national news coverage had been dominated by images and stories from the Mississippi Delta, where poor, rural communities…

On the fourth day of spring, fifteen kindergartners rejoiced in a sunny field a few blocks from downtown Montpelier, Vermont. It was Friday, a school day, and Mrs. Koch’s morning lesson, acting…

Pollinators make the world go ’round, but according to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, their populations are in rapid decline. Shrinking numbers of insects, bats, birds, and…

Lead that for decades accumulated in the duff layer of the forest floor in the Northeast is finally disappearing deep into the soil in low-elevation forests, though the process is taking a bit longer…

While toxins and noise are often cited for their detrimental effects on wildlife, recent research suggests that light pollution is negatively affecting forest-breeding wildlife as well. “In…

If Ray Fort has his way, the next time you get the flu, the cure might just come from the needles of a New England pine tree. Fort, a chemistry professor at the University of Maine, has found that…

At the waning of Sogalikas, the “sugarmaker” moon, the traditional Abenaki season for gathering wild edible and medicinal plants begins. Abenaki culture has been handed down to the present…

Editor’s Note: This week’s blog features the musings of founding editor Ginny Barlow. I was on a lovely walk with Chris last fall, just meandering around on a sunny day, crisp leaves,…

OK, gastronomes, what are they?

Among the noisy throngs of blackbirds that are the earliest harbingers of spring in the Northeast, the rusty blackbird often escapes notice. Few birders encounter this enigmatic songbird during the…

I remember being fascinated by the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who as a child. It made me wonder: could each of those specks of dust dancing in the light shafts from my bedroom window be its own…

Thirty years ago, I discovered the carcass of a handsome buck draped awkwardly over sharp-edged rocks. It was May and the grip of winter had loosened. Bright new leaves framed the buck’s face,…

The article on growing mushrooms on hardwood logs in the Spring 2009 edition of Northern Woodlands intrigued me. My 16-acre woodlot in North Wolcott, Vermont, had been cut-over hard in the early…

University of New Hampshire (UNH) professor Barry Rock has a piece of advice for anyone studying the forest: enlist a middle-schooler. Rock directs Forest Watch, a program housed at UNH’s…

Reader Ellen Snyder took this picture last weekend at College Woods in Durham, New Hampshire. What is this dark splotch?

Editor’s Note: This week’s blog features the musings of our Executive Director, Walter Medwid. The package of chestnut lumber arrived. Maybe a dozen pieces of various lengths, all in…

There is nothing like the fresh smell of a spring morning, unless, during the night, a skunk skulked about your neighborhood. The striped skunk is armed with just a teaspoon of odoriferous oil in its…

The New York edition of The Place You Call Home is available throughout the state at dozens of locations.

We don’t want to shock the tourists, but the spring woods do bring some color beyond green. While spring displays of herbaceous plants flowering on the forest floor are a treat, there is much…

Reader Garry Plunkett took this photo on his small suburban woodlot in Tiverton, Rhode Island. What is it?