Site Discussions

Please send me the name of the John McPhee book about the pine barrens.  You have piqued my interest.  I used to read and enjoy his things!

I’m delighted by the trick about identifying Usnea by stretching. I just tried it on a dried sample from my forest that I’m trying to ID, and it worked. SO cool, thank you!

Really beautiful…thank you for this.

This is a great article! It shares the genuine presence of an individual excited by and in love with the natural environment around him.

I, too, grew up in the general surrounding area, Wellesley, Mass., and found great refuge and intrigue in small patches of woods and rambling streams.

My first field trip in in 1958 in kindergarten was a wandering walk along the buried aqueduct that passed by our school grounds. Our teacher, Mrs. Field (so aptly named!), encouraged our discovery and celebration as we found seeds, cocoons, and launched milkweed!  We always brought back treasures to our classroom to continue our observations and investigations.

She also introduced me to a nearby area down the trail known as “Indian Springs,” a place that provided my siblings and me many an afternoon of playing in a brook, turning over stones, and catching whatever moved before us.

Perhaps this is why I now lead a middle school classroom in the Finger Lakes of NY, known as ECO, in which I, too, offer students an opportunity, and perhaps a responsibility, to explore, learn, and embrace their natural world.

Thank you for sharing and continuing to inspire by introducing readers to Russ Cohen!

Thank you for a fascinating article! I’m now on a hunt for Shagbark Hickory! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any here in the southern region of the Tug Hill Plateau in NY. Perhaps that’s simply because I haven’t been looking. I am now!

Thank you again. Such a great read.

So glad to read this beautiful eulogy this morning. It brought tears, longing and memories to me as I read it. I grew up on a 50 acre farm and how I long for those childhood days of being at one with the awe of connectivity with nature. Starting on a walk recently we were honored with the beautiful reception of a mocking bird relating his orchestral song only just for us before he flew off into the sky. Regaling in that moment reminded me of that connectivity I was so lucky to have as a child and how much I am aware that it is missing with many of our youth growing up today. Our mission should be, first and foremost, to provide opportunities for our youth to know that connectivity with nature and its healing powers. May we all be open to those moments of awe and inspiring blessings of nature.

I live at the end of the road - about 5 miles from this museum. I have visited several times over the years, but need to again!! I just want to say that the legends of Ray and his wife, abounded! Adirondack story teller Fran Yardley has memorialized the pet Porcupine ‘Needles’ .  I drive by the museum most days and early, when Ray still lived across the street, it was the place I would see animals. Birds, a bear crossing. there are many many wonderful stories about him.  Not only his role as a lover and ‘communer with non-human animals but also his role helping students understand and love their heritage.  This museum has treasures and gifts from first peoples from other parts of the world that the Faddens have honored as part of their work.  It is not just ‘another roadside attraction’ as Tom Robbins would say:-)  it is one remaining piece of this sort of history in a very unlikely little spot.  I hope you can make it there.
Im sharing this link to ‘indiantime.net’ which is a story written about needles and Ray .

https://www.indiantime.net/story/2009/01/09/environment/ray-faddens-needles-and-porcupines/967.html?m=true#:~:text=When

I am so happy to hear about Russ Cohen’s nursery. Great adjunct to his engaging and fun wild edibles walks!

A beautiful read, thank you for writing this!

I believe A. verna is a european species of fungus that does not exist in the USA. There are many look-alikes. Older books in the usa recognize Amanita verna, the new feildbooks do not. it is often confused with Amanita bisporangia.

I saw a documentary called Fantastic Fungi. Very good. Check it out online.

Will deer eat shedded antlers?

This brings back memories. I started flying with Northern Wings shortly after I moved to Vermont in 2001. I met Bob Keller a couple times through that organization. I dropped out when Northern Wings merged with LightHawk. However, I still fly for various environmental causes. I used to do a lot of donor familiarization flights for Vermont Land Trust, and also flew their team around on a lot of easement monitoring flights, but that seems to have tapered off a lot in recent years (the advent of better and more up-to-date, publicly available aerial imagery has cut into my flights a good bit.

Bob Keller, if you see this, Hello, and I’m glad to see you are still involved.

I so look forward to visiting your museum - hopefully by next summer that will be possible.

I have visited this wonderful museum on several occasions from the mid 1950s through the 1980s.  I conducted a summer enrichment course through the ‘80s for the SUNY Plattsburgh Upward Bound program on Adirondack/Champlain Valley history and culture.  The Six Nations Museum was a must visit for my students.  Both Ray and John would give wonderful presentations, and capture the students’ interests.  May the museum exist for generations to come.

Grateful to learn more of your people.

Luckily, our backyard woodchuck likes the grasses, greens, and clover more than our vegetables.

I’ve observed only Voles in our unfenced vegetable garden.

Any ideas on how to keep Voles out of raised beds?

Dear Michael,

I am plagued by tunneling pest in my vegetable garden. I assume the Voles are eating my plants. I thought hardware cloth under my raised beds would work, but it didn’t. Any idea how high Voles can jump? Thanks for this article. Len

Such an interesting article Tiffany..this past summer we had a water hole with cattails and green frogs up on our land ...and so many dragonflies all colors shapes and sizes ..so much fun grandchildren had watching them dart around ...thank you for the enlightenment on them I shall share this !

I live in the country with a large wooded area 15ft from my garden. We have a lot of voles, moles, rabbits,raccoons, groundhogs, deer and turkey. I want to keep in particular the voles and rabbits out of my newly made garden.I have read to dig a hole two inches down from the soil level and put 3 ft of 1/2 inch hardware cloth bent 2 inches perpendicular at the bottom, and this would keep the voles and rabbits out. do you think this would work? My bed is 16ft square.