Site Discussions

Great walkthrough — the shoulder-notch tip in step 3 is the part most beginners get wrong. I split straight into the bowl on my first attempt and lost both blanks. Agree on basswood and birch for a first spoon; alder carves nicely too if you can find a straight, knot-free branch. The slow-drying advice is worth repeating: wrapping the spoon in damp newspaper for a week before the final cuts and oiling has saved a couple of mine from checking. Sunflower oil over chemical preservatives is the right call for anything that touches food.

Hello! Interested to see what I can learn here! Have foraged for grapes on our land for years, making delicious jams that are welcome Gifts at Christmas! This year the vines are not doing very well and I hope to gain some info as to what to do for them! Thank You!

Very, very nice overview from an expert of what silviculture is all about.  I actually took silviculture from Dr. Nyland at ESF in the fall of 1981 (Forest Biology major).  He created the most interesting exams!  Even though I did not go into the environmental field after my undergraduate time at Syracuse I still think about how a forest plot can be managed when my wife and I take walks in the woods.  We also taught our children to hug trees when out in the forest, a fact that they never let us forget!

It is always uplifting to hear more about those working to improve the forest rather than just exploiting it. Too often we hear about the latter, less of the former.  Your research is the best way to stem that tide as it provides that support we all need for ecologically based forestry.

A wonderful article, thank you!  I’m an old lady now, but Laura’s story is close to what I wish mine had been.

Love your This Week in the Woods, but that just doesn’t look like a painted Suillus, unless I’m missing a new common name for Suillus spragueii (pictus)! It needs to have a wooly cracked cap and an annulus. Won’t guess at a name for the fungus without seeing the color of the pores.

Thank you for this excellent article.  Even though I thought I already understood some of the points, the outstanding writing made it truly fascinating nonetheless.  Many thanks to author Ms. Kosiba and Northern Woodlands.

They are one of my very favorite birds! I think because they seem so interactive; always a pair greeting me at the beginning of the woodlands and following me for awhile when I walk through their territory..always singing teacher, teacher, teacher. Thank you for the lovely, informative article on this little creature.

I call him The Bat Man! Family!

I saw one in 1983 in Trescott, Maine! It came inside under the screen door and curled up in a patch of sunlight on the floor. Was such a pretty green color. I encouraged it to go back outside with the broom and never saw it again. I remember it fondly. I wonder how the one you saw got onto an island.

Thank you so much to special volunteers that have contributed to providing nesting sites and banding for data info. Is anyone aware of any programs or group of volunteers out this way that might need support? Thank you.

Very impressive article.  Kathy you should be very proud of what you have accomplished.
So glad I got to know you and your family when I lived in Vermont.

What an informative and thoughtful article. Way to go Kathy Beland and her peers for striving to improve our forests for generations to come!

Your story sounded very familiar indeed, since I grew up fishing in NW Pa in Lake LeBoeuf. I swear I fished so much one year that I could smell bass in the water if they were near!
  Keep writing!

What a well researched and written essay. The adult dragonfly is a formidable aerial predator. The dragonfly nymph is also an aggressive aquatic predator. A terrifying horror film in the tradition of Alien could be made based on the lifecycle of the dragonfly. I thoroughly enjoy The Outside Story essays. Keep up the good work.

Are there any lake sturgeon or short-nose sturgeon found anywhere in New Hampshire?

Please do everything you can to protect the Adirondacks. This beautiful Park is important environmentally, as a place of recreation, and for the local people who are year round residents.

Hi, I just wanted to share that i saw a Brown Thrasher in my backyard today. Never have before. I live in Midland Ontario Canada

I have had gold digger wasps nest near one of my flower beds. These wasps are huge and admittedly can be a little intimidating if you’re not a lover of insects. However, I decided to read up on them and I’m glad I did. I have found them to be very non-threatening when I’m working in my yard I have never been stung or attacked by one. I have problems with cicadas and knowing these wasps will help reduce the amount of cicadas is very beneficial. The digger wasps and I live happily together. Understanding their presence and behavior in my environment has reduced my fear of wasps.

Thank you for talking with Rocci. I think a lot of people make assumptions about individuals and entities that do work around the environment and land access. Rocci is a great example that they love the land and the advocacy they do is not to deny access, it is to safeguard the future of the land and all it offers to the people.