I was recently in a big-box farm-supply store and saw a large sign that read, “Wood Chopping Headquarters.” What they meant, of course, was not chopping, but splitting.…

In frigid woods this winter, find yourself a glint of springtime – a spark from the head of a golden crowned kinglet. Smaller than a chickadee but seemingly greater in kinetic energy, the…

Not to alarm you, but you’re surrounded. There, buzzing stupidly into the slats of your venetian blinds, is a house fly. Nearby, nestled in a crevice of the window-frame, a ladybug waits out the…

Cheryl Cullion came across this unusual mushroom in Intervale, New Hampshire. We’re wondering, what caused it to grow like this?

Political pundits all suggest that a re-examination of our country’s broken health care system will be the first order of business that Congress takes up this session. And it will mean a slew of…

In your photographs, coyotes prowled, climbers ascended an icy summit, and snow buntings arrived on Christmas Day. Ice formations were also a popular subject this month – and none were stranger…

I was hiking with friends up a rutted, washed-out logging road in northern New Hampshire when we saw a curious cabin through the trees. A faint footpath led toward the camp, so we wandered over to get…

Back in September, I put out the bird feeder. I try not to do it too early because, well...bears. My feathered friends emptied it in hours. A couple of refills later and I decided I couldn’t…

Globally speaking, annual precipitation and temperature are the two most important factors that determine what grows where on Earth. Close to the equator, where it’s warm and wet, there’s…

The name – Ski Hearth Farm – is a hint to the diversity that has helped preserve this pastoral landscape of 630 acres in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, for decades. Yes, it is first and…

Though few today are familiar with the working toboggan of the North Woods, it was once ubiquitous – the tool of trappers and travelers, a boon to anyone who had to wrest their living from the…

Eagles obtain food mainly in three ways – by capturing it, by stealing it, or by scavenging it. When securing their own live prey, they hunt from perches or soar over suitable habitat, taking…

Winter must have been hard for the first human inhabitants of the Northeast as long months passed with few fresh plant foods. Foraging is difficult in the winter, but it is not impossible. Occasional…

It’s late February, and a tom bobcat is eagerly sauntering along – something is in the air! Lengthening daylight and warming temperatures signal the arrival of courting and breeding…

You picked it out, maybe cut it down, brought it home, watered it, and decorated it. But do you know what species of tree that is surrounded by presents in your living room? If you purchased your…

What is happening to the top of this stump? Clue: It is part of a long row of white spruce planted together decades ago and more recently thinned by removing every other tree. Thanks to Kyle Mason for…

Why is religion such a big part of rural life? An author I was reading the other day decided it was because there are more poor people in rural places, and poverty fosters the idea that there’s…

Some of the most interesting animal behaviors involve social communications. Even the most solitary species need to communicate, whether they’re staking claim, communicating social standing, or…

In the middle of a frozen New Hampshire night in January 2015, Geoff Schwaner was in Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, standing on the back of a UTV and spraying water 100 feet up into the air with a…

Mention carpenter ants, and Declan McCabe, chair of the biology department at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, thinks about the time he got a lungful of formic acid. He had taken a…