Site Discussions

Sharon, not all individual weasels change fur color, so it’s certainly possible. That said, I wonder if you saw a mink. I can’t guess based on your description, but you may want to look up mink photos on our website. (See ex. Nov. 2015 readers photo gallery, second image). Another possibility is a fisher.

The other day I saw what looked like a long tailed weasel in a swampy area while walking, but it was all brown and I live in upstate NY where it snows often in winter. Do you think it was a weasel? It was not white at all.

I really enjoyed all of your articles on the winter birch/pine teas, especially the previous one from 2013. Inspiring and well-done! I am so looking forward to doing a little “winter tea workshop” with my environmental club now that I have learned your first-hand insight on preparation. It makes it so much more meaningful. Keep doing more of these!

Workmens comp rates are one of the primary reason that most logging operations in Massachusetts are individual or family businesses with no employees who aren’t relatives because they aren’t subject to workmens comp.  (need to carry disability insurance instead).

Massachusetts has an even smaller logger workforce than Vermont and there is often no distinction between mechanized or non mechanized logging due to the small size of the eligible pool.  This raises rates across the board. Even worse, arborists and tree crew workers are often lumped in with loggers (or vice versa) in the rate determination and while logging has a limited number of injuries, tree work, which deals very often with weakened and danger trees, has a lot, which makes the rates even less affordable.

The arborists can generally pass on the costs to their customers but because loggers sell products whose price is controlled by markets they don’t control, the logger can’t deal with the excess cost by charging more for his product.

I am a wildlife rehabilitator and raise to release raccoons. I have a barrel lock on the inside of the large pre-release cage so when entering, they don’t get out. Learned the hard way to keep a long screwdriver hanging outside so when they lock me out, I can still get inside. They can lock it and do remember. Once it happens, it is slid into place every time I go back out.  Should not be long until they figure out how to open it.

January 2017, I have a nest about the size of a small soccer ball, but the shape of a hot air balloon, high in a tree at the at the tip end of a thin branch. Our home is on a lake in a forested area. The outside seems somewhat smooth, no sticks poking out. I have not seen a bird near it yet.

Thanks for the information. I want more. I like sumac but don’t really know how to prepare it for use, e.g. should I microwave it? (It looks like it’s got “bug dust” in behind the red florets.) How about white cedar, Arbor vitae?  And does black alder make a tea?

I had the pleasure of working with my older brother, Phil as an assistant log buyer for two years, after college. The most impressive factor I witnessed in my time with him, was his deep respect for his clients and their deep trust and appreciation for his honesty and consciousness of their livelihoods.

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.