Site Discussions

I have a couple of bird feeders outside my window that are regularly visited by red squirrels who make tunnels under the snow all through the area.  I noticed that there have not been many squirrels around lately.  Then this afternoon I saw a white weasel pop halfway out of one of the squirrel tunnels, look around for a few seconds, and then go back in.  Now I wonder if it is living there and having squirrels for lunch.  I am hoping to see it again.  I have seen them around in the summer when they are brown, but I never saw a white one before.

Are high bush cranberries related to cranberries?

We have one Coopers Hawk that comes around for a small meal ever 4th or 5th day. The Red Wing Hawk about once every 10 days. This I can understand by natures checks and balance. My biggest Rant is Domestic and Ferrell Cats that I have to use the BB Gun on to stop a total devastation.

I think it’s important to recognize that the tons of food offered to birds doesn’t just come from the feed store, just like our groceries don’t come from the supermarket. I purchased bird seed recently that was grown in Ethiopia, and Egypt. Are humans destroying vital habitat of one species to grow food for another half a world away?
I love feeding birds as much as the next person, but I believe a more sensible approach to what we offer them is in order.

Ben,  I’m sure it was a Timber Rattlesnake. I found one on a trail just off Skyline Drive in Virginia. Jet black , about 4’ and well fed .

What an amazing opportunity to see a Timber in the wild. 

Dave,

I’m always a fan of your column, but this one knocks the ball out of the park. Beautiful. It entirely resonates with me, a “Forest Christian.” (One old English-proffy quibble: like so many nowadays, you write “homogeneous.” The word is “homogenEous.”

Great article. I have been an arborist in charlotte, NC for years and have owned my own charlotte NC tree service for quite some time now, and caring for trees has been more of my job description than simply removing them. Knowing about the sealing process has been a huge part f my business, because through this we have brought back many trees to life, and helped them flourish. I appreciate the compartmentalization process of a tree. They work a lot like we do in my opinion. Glad I ran into this. Great read.

Psalm 19 in the King James version is worthy to be pondered. “The heavens declare the Glory of God.“God took the form of a tiny baby humbling himself as a man and dying on a cross so you and I would have a way of eternal salvation from this fallen world. His presence is declared to us in the incomprehensible intricacy in the tiniest of creation. Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself . and provided a way of salvation for all those who believe. Belief in Him and what he did for us all is all we need for eternal life. please read John3:16
The tiny baby Jesus is the greatest gift for all of us!

I am just a fisherman but I can tell you most of what I read about the Conn river mud puppy is bull. If you catch one most likely there are hundreds in that area. In the winter you can find them in shallow water always around rocky bottoms, they hate warm water and will eat anything they can fit in their mouths. If you’re gonna keep one as a pet keep the water cold and clean with a good filter. I have caught thousands over the years and sometimes kept them as pets for awhile.

Hi do you happen to know the species or common name of the trees that are planted around homes and on property lines throughout Iceland?

Dave, thanks for touching on this subject at such a special time of year. As a farmer,beekeeper, carpenter, outdoorsman, I feel that there are many things that occur on a daily basis, that to me, can only be answered by a higher power. In my 20 years as a beekeeper, I see it a lot. For instance, how does a honeybee, who’s lifespan as a worker, is only 42 days, know how to build a 6 sided wax cell, at a 12 degree upward angle so the nectar won’t spill out, right after it emerges from it’s pupal stage. How in it’s 42 days of life, it goes from being a nurse bee, to a housekeeping bee, to a gatherer of water and tree resin, to it’s final stage in life, a forager. None of this is “taught”, so it fascinates me. Every morning on the farm is different, oh the chores are the same, but the sunrise on the Green Mtns, is always different, and so are the clouds, and the storms that roll in,and as I wheel that wheel barrow of manure out onto the manure pile and dump it, I thank God every morning for what I have, what I am able to do, and what I get to look at each and every day. I look across the Mad River Valley at the mountains. Sugaring season will be starting up soon, and as I head up into the woods to tap, that too is a time to reflect on nature, her beauty, and her power.  There are many things in the outdoor life that to me, can’t be explained, and that is just fine by me. Merry Christmas, and thanks again for a great article.

I loved this article. I am a Christian living in rural Nova Scotia and find that being out in the woods behind the house is often a mystical experience.

I will try to express to you a heartfelt experience with a fox in my backyard.
On a beautiful sunlit day in late spring, I saw a beautiful, healthy looking red fox on the back slope of our property.  I ran to the bedroom window, sat on the edge of the bed and had the privilege to watch him in the tall grass for an hour. 
He was very close to the house at this point and he was walking very carefully through the grass from left to right, pausing every now and then and tipping his head forward with ears erect.  Finally, he leapt forward right up in the air and pounced on the ground!  It looked very much like our family cat pouncing on a toy.  The difference was that it came up with a rodent in its mouth and procedeeded to dine there in the sun.  Afterwards, I saw it retrieve three more meals at various locations. 
Finally, he curled up on the slope in the sun and groomed itself right in front of me, unaware that I was spying.  I was amazed to see that he washed his face with his paws just like my cat!  He laid there curled up with his nose in his tail and rested for a while and then moved on.  I have to tell you that I felt so privileged to have witnessed that wonderful moment in his life.  It brought me to tears with a sense of warmth I have no words to explain.

Nicely done. Merry Christmas!

I hate to be a killjoy here, because I understand the economic and environmental pluses of heating with wood. However, what people don’t seem to talk about is how painful it is—financially painful, to convert a whole-house heating system from oil to wood, and physically painful to process, haul, and stack it (referring here to firewood logs, not bagged pellets). Then, of course, there’s the mess it makes in the yard and house and clothing, doubling the labor. Once you’ve acquired injuries—from whatever occasion—that make key body parts lame, and/or once you’ve achieved senior citizen vintage, the cost of heating with wood takes on a new burden. Particularly if you don’t have children or local kids needing allowance money to stack it for you. Then there’s the hazard factor loggers have to deal with to get those trees down and processed and delivered. As well, if you happen to have a lean income or a temporary setback, there are subsidy programs available to help buy heating oil or propane but none I’m aware of in our state for wood, and you can purchase oil/gas with a credit card if need be but for local firewood it’s usually cash-on-delivery. Getting it stacked early enough in the season to be dry for winter is also a challenge if you have to spread out deliveries and payments across the warm-weather season, and can’t overbuy each year to stockpile. So yeah, wood is great, but not in all situations. I miss the simple button-pushing days of oil heat!

I’ve heard of the spring leaves of red and sugar maples being eaten, and the report was they weren’t unpleasant but weren’t good either. My guess would be that a mature moose maple leaf would be very leathery and unpleasant, but if you try it and learn differently let us know.

I think the first, Amy. Elm does prefer moist soil and is susceptible to drought, but dutch elm disease is the primary stressor of trees over a certain size. They’re all, unfortunately, living on borrowed time. The beetles that spread the disease need fissures in the trees’ bark to lay their eggs, so they spare the young trees. But most mature trees will be infected by the disease and it will eventually kill them. If anything, the drought may have just accelerated this process a bit.

I saw an animal 3 years ago at night, but could not see it’s body until I walked closer. The first feature I noticed were it’s bright yellow green eyes. The creature was standing in the dark beneath a towering pine. The nearest street light to the creature was about 75 yard’s from the eyes. Can I assume, based on it’s bright yellow green eyes, that the creature had good night vision?

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?