With April turning to May, Vermont and New Hampshire turtles are getting ready for the summer ahead as they begin to appear at the surface of ponds. After spending the long winter hibernating in…

We’re going to purposely ignore the fact that there’s fresh snow on the ground at the moment and offer up a more hopeful look at the forest floor. What kind of flower is this?

It’s not often that we’re presented with an editorial angle that lets us segue into the world of sports, but the rising furor over maple bats in baseball presents just such an opportunity.…

Charles Darwin was fascinated by earthworms. In the 19th century most people thought worms were pests. But Darwin believed they provided an important yet unrecognized agricultural service: they slowly…

For vegetable lovers in New Hampshire and Vermont, there’s a nightmare scenario making the rounds right now. It goes something like this. Last spring, somewhere in the twin states, someone…

I’ve put in my time in the invasives war: digging wild chervil, clipping buckthorn, hacking at Japanese knotweed. I’ve been reasonably relentless, and many times have pointed out these bad…

As our resident tracking expert Sue Morse is fond of pointing out, feet make tracks! What kind of paw are we looking at here?

Spring having arrived, people can expect to be jolted from their early morning sleep by an outrageous burst of hammering on the side of the house. Their rude awakening is not the work of some…

Early April is an unpredictable month in the North Country, a time for back-and-forth tag between the remnants of winter chill and spring warmth. Yet within the unpredictability there is certainty.…

Our friend Bryan Pfeiffer submitted this intriguing picture. OK, botanists, what is it?

Unlike cartoon springtime, which is lush and instant – a character in a doorway rubbing his eyes while flowers unfurl and bluebirds sing – real life springtime is reserved, somber, even…

Early spring in this part of the world is a rugged season, a time when snow banks crumble, back roads become mud holes, and steam begins to issue from sugarhouses. Mud and maple syrup go together for…

For some, spring begins with the flow of maple sap, or maybe the arrival of robins or redwing blackbirds. For inveterate gardeners the new season never really starts until the soil can be turned. The…

This tool was found recently leaning up against a tree in a forest. What’s it used for?

The act of tapping a tree can be a mystical experience. The tree, so often just a drab giant in the landscape, a taken-for-granted piece of architecture, little different than a house or a fence, is…

Winter’s effect on animals isn’t always noticeable. Often, it’s because they’ve flown south, are hibernating, or are hunkered down, having reduced their activity to cope with…

Last month, while taking advantage of the open winter to cut brush around the edges of our pasture, I thought back to one of my favorite lectures in college. The professor was a Maine native teaching…

At a recent meeting of maple producers in New England, I asked the question, “How many people would never tap a red maple?” Half the audience raised their hands. There were a number of…

The big buzz this spring in maple sugarmaking circles involves the new check-valve spouts that many sugarmakers with vacuum systems are trying for the first time. The spiles were invented by Tim…

Working outside on a sunny afternoon in early March, I’ll catch the scent of somethinglike burnt sugar, and it will take me a minute to remember what it is. It will have been a year since I…