After nearly a half century of making finely crafted studio furniture, Hank Gilpin has learned one simple truth: There is no bad wood. The master craftsman has produced more than 4,000 pieces of…

While there are many benefits to buying fresh produce at grocery stores and farmers’ markets, your own yard can also be a source of seasonal and nutritious flowers, fruits, nuts, tubers, and…

While conducting wild edibles inventories on properties around western Massachusetts, environmental educator Arianna Alexsandra Collins appreciates the delight of homeowners in discovering they can…

A welcome sign of spring in northern New England and New York is the return of wood ducks to wooded swamps and wetlands. There are seven species of ducks in North America that regularly nest in tree…

A few weeks ago, I noticed a dark, football-shaped shadow skulking quietly among the stems of honeysuckle and lilac by our driveway. I was throwing seeds to the blue jays that wait for it in the…

During winter, I catch glimpses of crows as they fly swiftly over our valley, cawing, or gather in small groups to feed on roadkill along the highway. Sometimes I find their wandering tracks leading…

While exploring a frozen cedar bog in Dalton, New Hampshire, reader Sandy Dannis spotted this mound with a hole at the top of it. What is this?

Since 1995, Mark Isselhardt has been immersed in maple sugaring research with University of Vermont Extension and the Proctor Maple Research Center. He is currently the Maple Specialist with UVM…

Your January images often related to birds, from Sabina Ernst’s image of a crow snow angel, to Tami Gingrich’s fun shot of a Carolina wren captured at a banding station, and supervised by…

I was settling in to answer a few emails when I heard, “Dad, some huge bug just flew into the lamp shade!” As the designated bug catch-and-releaser, I pressed into action. A western…

Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms Fungi have long been part of the counterculture movement, and interest is burgeoning as people learn more about the many…

Immersing oneself in a place holds expansive potential. John Hanson Mitchell has spent decades exploring Beaver Brook, a stream that winds behind his home in eastern Massachusetts. With a near-daily…

Sheltering with Thoreau in the Age of Crisis From the first pages of his latest book, David Gessner shows that he gets Henry David Thoreau: He argues that Walden, Thoreau’s renowned book about…

Were it not for compelling evidence to the contrary, I’d believe I descended from birds – migratory birds in particular. So familiar to me are the urges and behaviors of migratory birds,…

Tony D’Amato is a Professor of Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology and Director of the Forestry Program at the University of Vermont.  His research focuses on long-term forest dynamics,…

Todd Spire says he has been something of a fishing addict since he was a kid, but only relatively recently did he turn that passion into a way to make a living. After studying at various art schools,…

We found this gray birch with splashes of red on its trunk. What caused this tree’s blush?

Winter is a far cry from being prime mushroom hunting season. Most fungi stop producing mushrooms, or fruiting bodies, in early autumn, and their hyphae (filamentous structures that are the main part…

On winter mornings, I often venture outside to photograph the assembly of birds that visit the feeders in my front yard. One of the regular visitors is the diminutive downy woodpecker (Picoides…

We came across this hole in the snow while cross-country skiing through the woods. What happened here?