Site Discussions

Your articles are a great help, thank you

I had heard that witches brooms from balsam fir, spread to blueberry bushes caused the blueberry to ‘broom’, and ceased their production of blueberries.  The fungus or disease often spread through mulches spread around the bush.  Wondering if you Joe, or others might be able to confirm this cause and effect?
Thanks

This article has solved what was a mystery to me. The trees in my area seem to have seeded no earlier than 1938 or so.  Many I have cut date to this time regardless of the size.  I had always been mystified by a mound and pit in my woods.  It is very noticeable and I had guessed that it might be the location of an old outhouse. It is located on a northeastern facing slope but the pit and mound are oriented pretty much south-southeast. There do not appear to be any other pit/mounds in the immediate area.

Jenn in PA, I know this is almost a year after your post, but we just happened to make scones with whole autumn olive berries in them, in place of raisins. They were delicious (much less tart than raw).

Very good article Ross. I never thought of carving it green. Much better than trying to keep logs and splits from checking.  It’ll certainly save on anchor seal.

Which is what I use to paint the ends, BTW.

I live in Maine. Are there any short tail mice…or would it be a vole or mole??  I saw something yesterday about 6” long w/ a short tail. 

I’d like to know if picking cones (taking squirrel caches) is detrimental to their winter survival. I pick for cash but not at the risk of their health.

I found a wooly bear (?) today in my garage.  It appeared to be all black.  I saw on another site that popular belief is that the less orange/brown on this caterpillar means a harsher winter for that area.  I hope not, but I’m sure it still won’t compare to other parts north of us.

What might be a sudden killer of healthy Wh. Pine saplings?

Two years ago nearly all of the 6-10 ft Wh. Pine saplings that had been prolific and healthy after a thinning and pruning of a pine-dominated section of our woodland.  The thinning was done professionally about 25-30 years ago over a 10 acre area. Most of the saplings died completely within a short time.

There is no obvious sign of or weevil damage, or blister rust, with no known currant or gooseberries on our immediate area.  (There is a commercial red and black currant operation on the opposite side of Springfield, about 5 miles away. )

Can young beeches that came in along side the pines interfere by cutting off much of the open overstay?  Any other ideas for the die-off of so many pines?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Betsy Owen

P.S.  I have been a huge fan of Northern Woodlands and particularly your pieces in it!

I can not remember an acorn harvest like this year’s.
I find the variety fascinating. One species has a tiny and very delicate tip.., it resembles the shape of a candy kiss.
Some retain their caps better than others, and some are more colorful, or more striped, than others. Some caps embrace their acorn nut, and some have a fuzzy flare.
The beauty of their creation is certainly no (accident).
Thank God for these little delights of nature.
Squirrels are smiling all the way to their winter nests.

A shrew wouldn’t eat birdseed, would it? So if what I caught in my birdseed bag in my house is definitely not a mouse, then it must be a vole, right?

I have what I thought was a mouse in my house and I’ve been trying to catch it to release it.  This morning I saw something moving in the bag of bird seed so I quickly closed the bag and took it outside. Yay!!! It had a short tail so not a mouse, but it was mouse sized. The snout wasn’t really long but it wasn’t really rounded either. Its fur was brown.  I tried to get a picture but it kept moving and I let it go.  I think it was a vole, especially since they’re herbivores whereas shrews are carnivores, plus I think shrews are smaller than mice and more gray. I know that we have mice, shrews, voles, and moles around here; I live in Long Island New York if that helps. Thanks!

I have seen blackthorn and white thorn grown as naturally ‘barbed’ fences.  They were grown in a row spaced a couple of feet apart.  Once they reached a desired height a slash hook was used to partly cut through the main leader.  The partly cut leaders were bent over the adjacent shrub, and the leader of it’s neighbor was bent over that and so on down the row.  The last one in the row was tied down with bailing twine and the result was an impenetrable thorny living hedge.

Structure Diversity means the variability of a stand’s structural attributes (dbh,  no. of trees per hectare, etc) whereby stand complexity is more of a generalized ranking of the level of this diversity: either patchy, dense or multi-storied   (moving from simple to complex levels).

My kids saw the Wooly Bear Caterpillar and wanted to know what it would turn into.  Thank you for your site.  I love that I don’t have to know everything but instead can share in the adventure of learning with the kids.  They are 6 and 8.

We go kayaking on Lake Champlain every summer. This summer we could not help but notice the near total absence of zebra mussels in the area of Button Bay.

I photographed a praying mantis on the leaf of a house plants I left on the front porch recently.  It was very green and I’d say at least four inches long. The abdomen was very large.  It was very curious and watched me intently while I took its picture. It’s the second one I’ve seen this year.  The other at the beginning of summer was climbing over my herb plants.

I think it’s always a bad idea to feed wildlife, Sandy. You’re training the skunk to associate humans with food, and your neighbor might not have the same tolerance that you do. If you want to encourage skunks in your yard, encourage beetle larvae in your lawn. Leave your garden a mess so the skunk can glean leftovers. Creating habitat will help skunks and other wild animals; turning wild animals into trained dogs who come in for dinner is just asking for problems. My two cents.

I just identified a tiger moth caterpillar. Thanks for the informative website!

Hi: 
Just read your interesting article on the Journal of Earnest Magoon.

Going to Ancestry.com I found a fair amount about him,  He was born on March 11, 1886 to Asa Magoon and Nellie A. Magoon.  He was one of 7 brothers and sisters as of 1910 Census and at that time was 23, single and lived at home helping his father on the family farm.  He married Christine Hurd Magoon and they had two children, Doris Nellie Magoon Hutchins and Edna Irene Magoon Wilson.  He died on October 8, 1959 and is buried in the West Topsham Cemetery.

There was a lot of other data also readily available.

I am a long time subscriber, having a vacation home in Pomfret and a daughter living in Bradford.  I find your articles and magazine among the most interesting items I read.

Cal Carver

At the time this journal was written, Mr. Magoon was living on the farm were I grew up and my parents still live. His mother lived on the farm I presently own.

What interested me was how much lumber and firewood he cut off these farms and surrounding woodlots and I have cut a lot of wood of the same properties over the past 45 years and they have more wood than ever. A testament to the sustainability and productivity of these forests.