Site Discussions

I’ve cut most of my life with a small timberjack skidder. Some lots come out good, some terrible. Glad to see some people looking out for our forests future as we are always looking for more hardwood lots in the area.

“Like race horses at a starting gate.” Very nice article. I will pay more attention come spring.

I swear I saw a coywolf at Cleveland Hopkins Airport area just last week. It was on a highway cloverleaf area by the airport catching rats or mice. It was diving in the snow with it’s snout and pulling up these mice and eating them. Really interesting and so close to the population. I have seen coyotes before in our parks but this was a larger species and more ‘german sheppard’ looking. Could it have been a coywolf?

Beautiful writing Dave!

I live in the Caribbean with average temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius…I have no knowledge of growing mushrooms and would like some advice on the best method to use growing the Shiitake mushroom for hot climates….

Would you suggest that I purchase the inoculated logs and see how they perform and maybe a few more strains of mushrooms that may perform in this weather…..I want to start small and get to learn as I go along with all of your assistance..ie type of structure needed to grow indoors etc

I have a small area of about 22 feet in length and 17 feet in width…..how many pounds of mushrooms on average can these logs produce?

Thank you for the wonderful article and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Andrew Waithe

Growing up in Scituate, MA, I saw beautiful sunsets overlooking the cranberry bogs right from the kitchen window. What was especially nice, was ice skating well into the evening with a deepening sunset.

Marsupials are not really native to North America. They originated in South America and then moved north when the oceans shrank and the Central America pathway was created. Before the continents divided the migrated to Australia where they basically mirror the mammal population here. An interesting question is why there are not more species in the Americas.

Sunrise OR sunset on these VERY cold days is nothing short of spectacular! Perfectly still and bitterly cold moonlit nights spent stargazing across the snow covered fields with the mountains in the background is euphoric! Your article hits the spot! THANK YOU!

Great photo. Even greater text. Bravo.

I am very pleased to finally see someone writing about the sky and all its wonders. I have been hooked on sunsets since I was a kid (which was a long time ago). I am also a cloud watcher and a star gazer. There is nothing more humbling than to go out at night far from the city lights and gaze at the sky…we are just one of many billions.

This is also the time of unbelievable beauty in moonlight on snow. Almost impossible to capture by photograph or painting, it’s an ephemeral phenomenon that can only be experienced in deep winter.

Recommend viewing a Public Television Nature program titled, “Meet the Coywolf.”

This person seems to fall into the category of the misinformed as concerns coyotes. She brings up the image of coyotes attacking children which seems to be an extension of our forebears mistrust and hatred of wolves. This ancient mistrust and lack of knowledge resulted in our eradication of a necessary prey species, the wolf. Thank goodness that Nature has seen fit to fill the void created by man. Coyotes fill a void in removing rodents and sick and diseased animals.

For the last six or seven years I’ve been hearing wolves howling not far from my house. If anyone has ever heard coyotes and wolves howl together there is no mistaking the sound. I have a recording taken from East Ryegate in the Northeast Kingdom region of VT with confirmed wolf howls with as many as 7 individuals. I have hiked, backpacked and camped in the wilds for years sometimes for half a year. I’ve seen pups emerging from dens, wildlife people taking measurements while denying wolves are repopulating here. The same goes for mountain lions. I have tracked and recorded audio of cougars here in the northeast. The populations of both are small (wolves may have 4 packs of less than 8 Individuals each and mountain lions are probably fewer maybe 7-10 in 300 square miles) . Its a start and gives hope that these animals have a future.

Interesting indeed. I am aware of convergent evolution, but because downies and hairies look SO similar, I assumed they were extremely close relatives…

None of us here are in a position to give an opinion on your purchase, Paul, but I will say that, in general, bigger is not always better. I know some successful logging companies who’ve gone big and outmuscled the competition, but I know more loggers who’ve tried to keep up in the equipment arms race, mounted a huge pile of debt, and crumbled. The key, like in anything, is to find a niche and run a good business. You can do that with a horse or a feller buncher.

Otherwise, my only advice to you would be to buy the newest, best equipment you can afford. 2008 sounds a lot better than 1978. When the conditions are right you want to be out cutting wood, not messing around in the garage.

I just saw, about 3 pm,1/13/2014, an opossum eating sunflower seeds under our bird feeders. Temperature is about 40 F. I have a picture. This appears to be very near its northern limit?

Hello,

I have recently started my own logging company (very small) and I have been both criticized and commended for the equipment I purchased to do the work.

I have purchased a 2008 Valtra N101 tractor with a Nokka 4472 log loader and trailer. The two pieces collectively cost me approximately $95,000.00 to purchase and I guess that is where the criticism from others starts.

I have a great operator and a great chopper that puts down 5 - 6 cord of wood a day for me.

Can you give me your opinion of my purchase and whether you feel this could be a viable set up for my new operation?

Any other advice is very welcome!!

Thank you,
Paul

I hold that oaks and beeches, being southern trees, have not fully evolved as they progress northward, and that the abscissa ring that attaches the leaf petiole to the twig never quite finishes its autumn decay, thus keeping the leaf attached.  Notice that it is relatively easy to pull the winter leaf off these trees.  They are held in place by just a small element of the abscissa.

Just want to get an inside help on when to tap trees here in Worcester, MA. I read the article above and it was a great help.