Site Discussions

Just saw this post Geoff, after reading the wonderful piece by Susie Spikol. How neat to see this interview. I hope you are well!

I’m so lucky. Sitting by my wood stove while it’s snowing here in West Peterborough and reading this lovely piece while the world has recently become so scary.

Very much enjoyed your essay on the thistle.  I have fought them in my yard for years, but also appreciate them for the gold and red finches they bring to my bird feeders.  I also think those bristly cones provide beauty in themselves.  Thus given an assignment in a recent photography class, I used the thistle as my object of interest and would send you a copy of the picture, but am not sure how to attach it to this note.

Yes, I know I’m commenting years after this was published. I discovered we had this invasive monster during a fight with greenbriar and Virginia creeper that was all over the trees and fences, having crossed over from an area full of pines and dead-fall that sits beyond our back fence. It’s a sort of alley break between us and the suburgatory neighborhood behind us. Our wood fence had blown over in a storm and been replaced.

I went out to start removing greenbriar I had spotted in a corner of our yard before it had too much chance to recover from winter and discovered that what I had thought was some sort of evergreen shrub was actually this crazy vine growing every which way and thick as tree trunks in places. Not only was it already attacking the new fence mere months after installation, it had also grown through and engulfed parts of the rear chain link fence to the point I was leery of cutting it free for fear that there would be holes where it passed through.

So I started hacking away at it. As I started removing the ones, sprouting from the ground, I realized that the roots of the things were extending 10-20 feet into the lawn area. The more I pull and cut, the more bare ground I clear. It seems to have made the soil where it is this bizarre grey stuff with what looks like sand crystals in it. This thing appears to be one massive plant that started in the dead-fall and grew both up and downward, giving itself several tree-sized bases to grow from. One of its bases is in our yard. I’ve cut it back severely enough and taken enough roots from around it that it should soon be unable to provide the larger plant with anything and die off eventually.

Where I haven’t been able to rip out the deeper/thicker roots altogether, I’ve chopped them up as much as, possible cutting them off from nutrients. This appears to make them shrink and die. At that point they can be pulled more easily. I believe one of those aerator tools with the multiple spur wheels on it would be very beneficial in chopping it apart in situ.

I really hate to totally kill the thing because I know the birds, rabbits and squirrels eat it, but it’s so difficult to control/remove, I don’t think I’ll have a choice. I guess I’ll need to find some spindly native plants of some sort to give the birds back their roosting spots and other things to put into the planned wildflower zone where I’ve cleared it out that are edible for them.

I agree that a lot of people have no idea things in their yards are invasive. The previous home owners made no efforts to remove the three vines destroying the fences. It’s taken me about 3 years to finally start making headway in keeping them out of the yard.

Though skunks don’t hibernate, they can burrow in their dens during especially cold spells. This means you would see them most before and after long periods of snow cover.

Loved reading about the fire towers.  I grew up in Maine in the fifties when my dad, Fred Holt, was the supervisor of forest fire wardens in the organized towns.  He became Deputy Forestry Commissioner and then Commissioner before retiring in the 1970’s.  He took me with him on many visits to the wardens and I climbed many towers.  What a thrill.

Skunks are nocturnal, usually active from early evening through the night. They usually spend their days sleeping in dens, although during the warm months they may bed in vegetation. Dens are usually below ground but may be found in a stream or pond banks, lumber piles, or beneath porches or in crawl spaces.

Thanks, Declan! Appreciate your writing here.

Having taught 9th grade Environmental Science and having spent a sabbatical tracking coyotes under Numi Mitchell in and near Newport, R.I., I agree that high school students are much more open to multiple perspectives and are excellent interviewers of people with stories of coyote interactions. Numi’s GPS collars allowed us to get hourly data points and figure out who was feeding coyotes and hence habituating them. Immigrants kids from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina could figure out why this was bad way faster than resident adults. I think your work in Vermont will open a lot of people’s’ eyes to best management practices and science study protocol. Howl on! Otter

Spoke to my grandmother who lives in Esenada Baja California and she informed me that in Valley where she lives that is thousands of woolly bear’s everywhere.

Wonderful article!  We have a summer house in upstate NY. and every year people are clear-cutting more trees to build houses. There must be more regulations to preserve the forests!  We hope it all turns for preservation, not destruction and greed.

I have caught two blue frogs, one in Jamaica State Park about 25 years ago which I have a photo of and one in Marlboro about 60 years ago. I also caught in Marlboro at about the same time a one eyed frog. Its one eye was in the center of its head cyclops style.  At the time my parents were concerned that these anomalies might be the result of nuclear testing fallout.

Beautifully evoked. I love science writing as meaning ful and thoughtful prose. Great work!
-Env educator and author of Changing Seasons in the Finger Lakes

fascinating look at life under the snow and ice.
thank you Brett.
Bridget

I’ve always only been interested in heavy metal and softball, never thought I’d be looking up why the leaves won’t fall from only one of my trees. I guess pushing 50 does settle you down and help you appreciate other interesting things lol. Great info from the article and the comments as well, thank you.

I really appreciate Art’s viewpoint regarding working forests. He says, “If it (forests) have value to us, then we’ll take care of it…” A strong and vibrant rural community depends upon forests and should be seen not as an opportunity to develop but rather an opportunity to earn a living and make a life. Thanks for making that point clear and simple Art.

Great story. Art, like you I spent my early years in the Connecticut woods
and I’m still out there. Like you I’m in my 70’s and from Waterbury CT. Small world !
Best regards,
Greg Gubitosi

I recently got one on my trail camera carrying a mouse. He was moving so fast that I slowed down the footage so everyone could see the Ermine.

Fun read. Thanks for the information!

Always enjoy reading these articles…keeping me aware of what is going on in my woodland surroundings.

I saw a brown long tailed weasel last winter…bounding across yard, under Forsythia…and through that thicket…to the other side where it jumped on a bantam rooster.  I had seen it from a distance and supposed it was a red squirrel…being the color it was…so was surprised when I reached the struggle with the rooster…to find it was a weasel in summer colors.