As much as I lament the exceedingly long nights of winter, I find myself enchanted each year by the sparkle that breaks through the dark of the season. I can, for instance, stargaze before…

The nature of a quarterly magazine timed to publish with the change of seasons means that I’m writing my column for this Autumn issue during the hottest, muggiest days of summer. The…

Like the fledgling heron in the image on the page opposite this column, two of my own children are preparing to leave the nest this summer. And like the gangly bird in the photograph, my human…

People often tell us that they read each issue of Northern Woodlands cover-to-cover. I can relate. I was a cover-to-cover reader from the very first issue a friend placed in my hands, back in…

Last winter, I joined a friend on a walk at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum trails at Leonard’s Mills in Bradley, Maine. It was a perfect winter day, just cold enough to make our…

I recently took a drive along Vermont’s Otter Creek in order to see part of the land-scape explored by photographer Caleb Kenna for his feature in this issue. I didn’t have a…

I recently had to have a birch tree removed from just outside my 115-year-old house in Maine. The foundation had shifted, causing the sewer pipes to partially collapse. The tree had to go so…

At the small-town middle school I attended, all students were required to take woodshop and home economics in 4th grade. I didn’t really take to sewing, but working with wood and…

During the past two years, I’ve learned that being an editor of a quarterly magazine means having a whole new relationship with time. At any given moment, our editorial team may be…