Site Discussions

This essay deserves wider distribution. I’m doing my part by sending a link to it to many people I know, but it would be great to expand that range. Also to see it in print in an important national/international publication. Anybody who can help disseminate such a balanced, reasonable, and well-written piece to a wider audience, please do so!

Thanks for the unequivocal debunking of the sugaring season myth. I think that your point generally applies to much of the weather that we experience. We are made aware of how the daily weather supposedly varies from normal. Really, normal rarely occurs because what is normal is for weather to vary considerably from one day and one year to the next. Simply put, if one day had a temp of zero, and the next 100, then the normal (average) would be 50. Whereas 50 never really occurred, except as a brief moment as the temp ascended or declined.

Very insightful , it certainly would be great to believe more of what we read and you make that possible Dave.

Wonderful! As an ag and natural resources writer, communications manager and editor, thank you for this!!! So much “journalism” now days is what I call “infotainment.” I was thinking today at lunch that, if everyone had to take classes in chemistry, biochemistry, biology and physiology, what an educated outlook on the real world there would be.

Nice work Dave. Very cogent essay. Ricker

I live in Montgomery. I was sitting on my porch talking on the phone with my porch light on and my driveway sensor lights on and a large canine came out from the side of my garage and across my driveway, crossed the street and disappear into the dark field.I believe it was a wolf -  very large and it looked husky. There are no dogs in the area that look like this. And it definitely was not a coyote. I’ve seen a coyote. It sure didn’t give a hoot that I was sitting there. A dog? No, dogs are too nosy and like to sniff you. A hybrid? Well I just don’t believe wolves and coyotes mate, not going to happen (well, only if in captivity and brought up as pups together, yes maybe). And Coy dog? Well that is just a name New Englanders came up with -  no such thing. Coyotes do not mate with dogs either. I have never seen this animal again, but have seen plenty of coyotes. This actually happened this summer and I live 15 mins from the Canadian border. Is this possible? I believe it is -  anything is….

Now I understand why our elm trees have produced hundreds of thousands (seriously) of seeds/now seedlings in our 10 huge flower beds and alongside the driveway in the grass - our unprecedented drought in 2011. Obviously, they have to come out, which will be quite a job and it will make me feel a little sad knowing how much energy they used up producing them.  The big trees look pretty good, so I think they’re going to make it.

But how did the wildlife like the Autumn Olives?  Deer, Turkey, Birds & etc??

Hi John,

Yikes! I’d suggest three things:

1. Find a new shop guy.

2. Clean out the groove in the bar with a tongue depressor or popsicle stick or a flat head screwdriver.

3. Make sure the groove for the oiler is also clean. It is a little hole near the slot for the bar lugs (you can run a piece of wire through it), and you’ll also want to check the oiler port on the saw and be sure it is clean. Once you’ve got it all back together, you can fire up the saw and rev it a few times while pointing the bar at a piece of paper or something else absorbent and light colored. You should see fresh oil coming off the bar and being deposited on the paper if all is working well.

Best,
Carl

I’ve often heard that Mt. Monadnock in southern New Hampshire has a “false treeline,” noticeably lower than the Whites, because the top was burned off back in the 19th century to kill off marauding wolves that were killing the farmers’ livestock at lower elevations.  The top of Mt. Monadnock has an elevation of 3,165’ and the treeline is some 100’ to 200’ below that.

I just got my chainsaw back from the shop. The engine will finally kick over, (old gas and a clogged fuel line) but when I got it fired up, the chain made a slight grinding sound and it soon started setting saw-dust smoldering when I began cutting.

I killed the engine, pulled it apart, and found a ton of dirt and grit in both the chain and deep down in the grooves of the bar. The friction was actually setting things on fire! Since it was clean as a whistle when I brought it to the shop, I’m a little ticked, and don’t trust them anymore to get the job done. Anywho. I know how to clean the chain, but how do I get all that crud out of the bar’s grooves?

The 1/4 cut technique is a good way of wedging small diameter trees.

For Japanese knotweed, mechanical treatments, or hand cutting then spraying, are not very effective.

We’ve had great success eradicating Japanese knotweed in the Adirondacks using cane injections of glyphosate and foliar spray only to canes too small to inject.  The treatments are done after the plants start to flower, when they are taking nutrients (and glyphosate) to the root system.  Injections minimize exposure to surrounding plants, and pure glyphosate is used for injections, so there are no problems with toxicity from adjuvants.

Don’t know for sure what a maul ring is, but i’d guess it’s some sort of handle guard that sits right beneath the maul head. Today they’re made of rubber—don’t know what they would have been made out of in 1820.

I am trying to find out what a maul ring is.  I am doing research on a farmer from the 1820’s in Pa and he mentioned buying a ring for his maul.

The point of Chuck Wooster’s article is significant and well taken. Placing a particular experience into larger context, as this article does, serves as a reminder that enriches one’s experience and appreciation.

No wolves in New England ? Check out this link about a wolf shot in Shelburn Ma. This article doesn’t mention it but another article I read has this wolf’s DNA traced back to a pack in Quebec. This is one of many wolf story’s that don’t make the headlines.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080305-AP-wolf-return.html

Hi Dave- 

I always look forward to your annual sugaring adventure.  Great writing and keep up the good work!  Hope all is well…

Interesting to think about what mutual strengths / adaptations come from interactions between:
communities of humans and bears / deer
exotic invasive species and our “native” ecosystems
different human cultural groups

Oh my god this made me laugh!!...

“If you’re in any sort of romantic relationship, this is hands down the hardest time of year. By now, nerves have been keenly honed by four months of low light, cold, mud, and slop. Just the other night my buddy was jarred awake by a 2 a.m. elbow to the ribs. “Stop breathing,” his wife admonished him. “You mean snoring?” he replied sleepily. She didn’t answer.”

This journal would have made a great blog! One thing I love about you guys… you understand and love nature and you know how to write! Great combinations. Keep up the great work!