“Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice.”  - Robert Frost Your February photos show ice holding the upper hand, but flames burned, too, as people in Montpelier set their…

“A mistake is beside the point, for once anything happens, it authentically is.” John Cage I asked Fritz Gross if he experienced angst as an artist; if he considered any of his paintings…

I recently walked a woodlot with a landowner who had pruned his younger trees according to instructions that he found online. The problem was that those instructions didn’t differentiate between…

A big-city reporter called one day wanting to know how many sugar maple trees there are in Maine – and how Maine compared to Vermont, a state virtually synonymous with syrup production. It took…

Just about the time that this magazine reaches your mailbox, Northern Woodlands will be hopping the Connecticut River to take up residence in Lyme, New Hampshire. Our nonprofit’s new…

A Primer on Apple Tree Release and Grafting Techniques In the early nineteenth century, John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman sallied forth from Leominster, Massachusetts, to sell and sow apple…

I have been living with an otter. He’s long and sleek, a graceful swimmer with an insatiable appetite for fish. At first he was just my boy, a chubby little toddler, happy to snuggle and follow…

The Herbs Around Us by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul;  Floodplain Forests: Resurgence of a Long Lost Ecosystem by Tim McKay; A Hayfield Home for Fish by Tom Rogers; Making Paper at the old Groveton…

In folklore and literature, Jack Frost is often portrayed as a mischievous guy, sort of Old Man Winter’s younger self. He’s a personification of everything cold. In our region he’s a…

Strange markings on a red maple tree’s bark. What caused it?

In the old days, when most people were farmers, the deep cold months were spent working wood. Maybe you logged the back 40 for income, maybe you just put up 50 cords to burn in your drafty,…

Eastern cottontail rabbits are frequently described as crepuscular, meaning active at dawn and dusk. The Virtual Nature Trail at Penn State New Kensington, an online site documenting various plant and…

I have been keeping a close watch on my birdfeeders. Not only because I love seeing the juncos and goldfinches that arrive in flocks, and the black-capped chickadees that zip around, and even the blue…

With so many good tracking books already available, you might think that all has been said on the topic. But Linda Spielman’s new addition to the field, A Field Guide to Tracking Mammals in the…

Being fond of plants, I expected to like Anita Sanchez’s new book about Carolus (Karl) Linnaeus. What I hadn’t expected was my emotional reaction – I found myself a bit teary-eyed…

I hope to live long enough to see catamounts come home to the Northeast. Not just one or two mountain lions, mind you, but viable breeding populations that haunt deer, ratcheting their attention,…

Small mammals like squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and voles play a surprisingly significant role in determining the tree composition of most forests. That role is based largely on their choice of which…

Applying salt to snowy roadways is an effective way of melting snow and ice and making driving safer. But what happens when that salty snowmelt runs off into nearby lakes and ponds? It has long been…

What do bear fur, deliquescent mushrooms, wasp nests, antlers, and stones have in common? Yes, these things can all be found in the forests of the Northeast. But more curiously, they’re also all…

While driving down from Isle La Motte in early December, my son and I noticed a fine skim of ice floating down the Alburg Passage. As it collided with the Route 2 bridge supports, it broke into…