Last September, while kayaking up the Connecticut River, I passed a monarch butterfly heading in the opposite direction. I turned my boat and watched it go, a flickering spot of blaze orange,…

The pileated woodpecker has long been a mascot of Northern Woodlands, so when our staff decided to begin an annual tradition of commissioning a sticker by a northeastern artist, everyone…

In my home state of Vermont, annual Town Meeting Day takes place at the chilly edge of spring. Vermonters rightly take pride in the usual civility of these events. That said, early March can…

Recently, we surveyed participants in our Northern Woodlands Goes to School program, which provides free Northern Woodlands magazines for education. There were some inspiring responses. They…

I’ve been spending many weekend hours up on our hill, cutting down stands of invasive honeysuckle. I use a hand saw and work slowly, stopping every time I hear the approaching chime of a…

Four summers ago, Put Blodgett and I met to discuss Northern Woodlands’ editorial goals. Put was not a close friend, but I admired him very much as a renaissance man and force of nature.…

We fell hard for the house the first day we saw it. We admired the old apple trees and stone walls, the handmade bricks and hand-hewn beams. At the time, those beams were only visible in one…

After this issue of the magazine goes to print, I’m looking forward to some quiet time outdoors. I suspect many people feel as I do right now – weary of news of any kind, and eager…

In the final week of August, in the last light of day, common nighthawks come whirling over our field and continue down into the Ompompanoosuc River floodplain. Two miles downriver, they…

So there we were, my friend “Jane” and I, standing in a field of blazing staghorn sumac. The tree next to us was heavily infested with galls, and to Jane’s dismay, I launched…