Site Discussions

Thank you for all of the research that you have done and the willingness to pass it on, to all, John

Hi, I have seen morning doves here on the feeders in my yard all winter. This morning there must have been over a dozen of them.  Don’t recall seeing them this time of year before.

Great story Dave. Deer hunting in the Adirondacks is special.

I don’t know, Troy, because “wet” and “dry” are both such subjective terms. It’s probably a safe bet that the more vigorous looking tree or trees will produce the most sap. Look especially at the quality of the tree’s crown—the more expansive the better. Of course the only way to be sure is to tap both sites and compare. Let us know what you find.

My Grandfather and Great-Grandfather worked together for the Brown Company in 1915 -1925 in an area “north of St. Raymond, Quebec”. How can I learn more exactly where the 3+ million acres the company owned was located in Quebec, presumably where they worked?

  John Prairie, M.D.

I have red maples in both wet areas of my property and in dry. Will I get more sap from the wet area maples because of the excess moisture?

Informative and entertaining. It is always fun to see how quickly the jays arrive after I put out some peanuts. They are welcome neighbors.

We have many stone cairns and other stone structures in central Massachusetts. Contrary to a comment made above, there are many historical references by colonists to Native American stone cairns and structures.  See nativestone.com.  Is it not cultural imperialism to suppose that only European neolithic peoples made stone structures with spiritual and astronomical significance, and that ancient Europeans and not Native Americans made the pre-colonial stone structures we find all around us?  This defies common sense.  Native peoples occupied the Northeast for at least 7,500 years before the arrival of the colonists.  On another issue often mentioned, we should keep in mind that the colonists were opportunistic and they would readily repurpose a Native stone structure into a pig pen or a Native stone wall into a property boundary or animal enclosure. In fact, there is well-documented evidence of this at Mystery Hill in NH. For this reason, many Native American stone structures may appear colonial when they are much older.

Upon hiring a local forester to help me with my land, he arrived with a copy of The Place You Call Home (A Guide to Caring for Your Land in Connecticut). A masterpiece. Thank you! Question: I am very interested in visiting the stone bridge pictured on page 54, part of Stephen Long’s article, ‘Healthy Rivers are Made in the Shade.’ If you can help me with that location, I’d be greatly appreciative. Thanks, Paul Belanger

Hi Cory, I have a research question for a book I’m writing. The book is set in Montana and some scenes involve a Christmas Tree farm. I’m trying to picture how the trees would be harvested and transported. Are the trees cut down in the field, loaded onto a smaller trailer, then brought to a central location to be netted and loaded on a larger tractor trailer? (To be then transported to a garden center or inner city tree lot.) Your help will be much appreciated!

Your rates for NYS are what the self insured group WJ COX would be, but with the State Ins Fund , I do believe they beat the Vermont rates.

I found two tiny tadpoles with no legs in a puddle with almost an inch of ice. They are not frogs, so I don’t know what to feed them. Does anyone know?

I grew up near this forest. It is absolutely worth a visit!

A timely article, as we were just discussing the other day how pests like scaly bugs manage to infest our indoor plants.

Sharon, not all individual weasels change fur color, so it’s certainly possible. That said, I wonder if you saw a mink. I can’t guess based on your description, but you may want to look up mink photos on our website. (See ex. Nov. 2015 readers photo gallery, second image). Another possibility is a fisher.

The other day I saw what looked like a long tailed weasel in a swampy area while walking, but it was all brown and I live in upstate NY where it snows often in winter. Do you think it was a weasel? It was not white at all.

I really enjoyed all of your articles on the winter birch/pine teas, especially the previous one from 2013. Inspiring and well-done! I am so looking forward to doing a little “winter tea workshop” with my environmental club now that I have learned your first-hand insight on preparation. It makes it so much more meaningful. Keep doing more of these!

Workmens comp rates are one of the primary reason that most logging operations in Massachusetts are individual or family businesses with no employees who aren’t relatives because they aren’t subject to workmens comp.  (need to carry disability insurance instead).

Massachusetts has an even smaller logger workforce than Vermont and there is often no distinction between mechanized or non mechanized logging due to the small size of the eligible pool.  This raises rates across the board. Even worse, arborists and tree crew workers are often lumped in with loggers (or vice versa) in the rate determination and while logging has a limited number of injuries, tree work, which deals very often with weakened and danger trees, has a lot, which makes the rates even less affordable.

The arborists can generally pass on the costs to their customers but because loggers sell products whose price is controlled by markets they don’t control, the logger can’t deal with the excess cost by charging more for his product.

I am a wildlife rehabilitator and raise to release raccoons. I have a barrel lock on the inside of the large pre-release cage so when entering, they don’t get out. Learned the hard way to keep a long screwdriver hanging outside so when they lock me out, I can still get inside. They can lock it and do remember. Once it happens, it is slid into place every time I go back out.  Should not be long until they figure out how to open it.

January 2017, I have a nest about the size of a small soccer ball, but the shape of a hot air balloon, high in a tree at the at the tip end of a thin branch. Our home is on a lake in a forested area. The outside seems somewhat smooth, no sticks poking out. I have not seen a bird near it yet.