Site Discussions

Are Moose maple leaves edible? The reason I ask is that I was wondering what kind of native leaves we could use to make plates: https://www.facebook.com/dw.globalideas/?pnref=story. I teach Issues in Sustainability at Plymouth State University.

A question arose as I was burning a chunk of dead elm last night -15 elm made a great banker for the overnite!
Last summer during the drought I noticed a lot of elm trees wilting and dying, was it the extra stress of fighting disease or is elm just more susceptible to drought?

Please remember that the accidental ingestion of slugs is required for the acquisition of brain worm. This parasite is decimating our moose population in much of New England.

Great article.  Using “local heat” is as important as local food but gets much less press!  The good news is there are also good incentives from Efficiency VT and the Clean Energy Development Fund to install modern pellet boilers and Efficiency VT has just reinstitued a $1,500 incentive for new wood or pellet stoves.  There’s no better time to move to wood heat!

Thank you for your write up about sensual snails! From it stemmed the ideas of placing snails on fungal feet and putting copper pennies around gardens to protect the snails from roundup and other promoters of the use of words against creatures.

Is a land owner in this program allowed to lease land for hunting?

I don’t have first-hand experience coppicing beech specifically for firewood, Michael, but in my forestry endeavors over the years I’ve noticed that beech is a prolific stump sprouter. The wood is also high-quality BTU wise. This leads me to believe it would be an excellent species to coppice.

Is Beech a good species to coppice?  How fast is the regrowth to get more firewood? I have quite a bit of Beech on our property.

So beautiful!

I don’t have any hard data on chunk wood at hand, Marion. And it’s hard to quantify because there are so many variables. A modern, high-efficiency woodstove burns more cleanly than an older model. But how dry your wood is also has a big effect. The other thing to take into account is where the fuel comes from. If you’re cutting trees in the backyard, splitting them, and burning them, there’s that much less of a carbon footprint than if you buy your wood.

If it’s a choice of one or the other, i’d pick whichever you’re more comfortable burning and then maximize the quality of your fuel, thus minimizing your GHG emissions. With pellets, this means buy the most efficient unit you can afford and buy premium pellets—if they’re regionally produced, even better. If it means chunk wood, buy or cut quality wood, dry it properly (age it, split, for at least a year in full sun with good air flow), and then burn it hot. If you can afford a new, high-efficiency stove, get one. (Some states have trade-in programs.) If not, just proceed with dry wood and hot fires. In the big picture, any type of wood burning is better than fossil fuel burning, so whichever route you take, you’re already heading in the right direction.

Linda, sorry to hear about your fish! I can’t be sure from your description, but my first guess is that your visitor was a mink. However, yes, long-tailed and short-tailed weasels can swim, although they’re not really known for it. All of these are members of the mustelidae (Lat. weasel) family, not closely related to rodents.

If only the politicians could think so sensibly.

The first mailed subscribed copy was wonderful. I agree with letter to keep stands of any new plants Black gum, spice bush, bitternut hickory, florida dogwood that are started by blue Jay Stork birds need to be protected and protected from nibbling rabbits and deer. They provide needed food for the new turkeys on the block(forest/field).

As a former teacher and wood burner, cutter and splitter for almost 40 years your opening comments brought to mind the wood harvesting poetry of David Budbill who recently passed away. Reading his work warms you once again.

Since oaks are monoecious, I’m wondering what Alice in NJ means by “male” and “female” oaks.

Your writing has relieved my fears of the unknown…meaning I wasn’t sure where wood burning falls in it’s contribution to greenhouse gases relative to other fuels. What I am unsure of now is how wood pellets vs. chunks of fire wood in a woodstove compare on their emissions. Any knowledge or thoughts on this comparison?

The day after Thanksgiving I saw a cute little rodent by my lily pond which is man made and next to my patio. I thought it was a weasel. It was brown. It was eating something. Duh.. it did not sink in. Next day I checked on my pond. Every single adult fantail was gone. Do weasels swim? Was it a weasel? What else could it be?

I had blisters that were itchy and weeping the day after my husband cut and worked with holly putting it around our door for a Christmas decoration. Every where he touched me I broke out. I thought it was poison ivy but don’t have any in the yard. Has anyone ever gotten a dermal reaction like this with holly?

The falls are quite wonderful and are worth the trip.

I brought my tadpoles in as their habitat started to freeze solid. They thawed out of dormancy and are now swimming around in their tub. Couldn’t stand the possibility of them dying after watching them for 6 months.