Site Discussions

From my grandfather I inherited what was said to be a maul. It has a four inch wooden handle,  and is attached to a heavy piece of wood that is about six inches in width and is circular - about six inches across the base.  I’ve been wondering what it was used for - and you can see that it was used in a fairly brutal fashion. It is well worn, and looks as tho’ it had been used to hit something or to pound with. Any answers?

In response to John’s question, all our (north eastern) snakes can swim and are sometimes seen in water, but watersnakes are master swimmers that can dive, hide under submerged rocks, chase fish underwater, or swim with only their heads out. The size and coloring of the snake would help to determine the species.  A large adult watersnake could be 3-4 feet long and as large around as your wrist.

In response to Joe, I have never had that experience, but watersnakes are very curious.  I have had them come right up to me to see if I was food.  Once they checked me out they left.

Hi Michael, Would you be willing to be interviewed by me for my weekly gardening column? I’m in several Vermont papers including the Herald, Times-Argus, Reformer and Caledonian-Record. I am keenly interested in knowing more about root growth, particularly in the fall.

Would you please send me your phone number and a good time for me to call? I’m at 603-543-1307, but am often not there.

Thanks, Henry

It is raining and windy here this morning, October 10th, and while looking out the window at my poplar, maple and pecan, I noticed that the pecan still looks like it’s spring with full healthy green leaves blowing beautifully in the wind, but my poplar and maples are turning colors and have dropped leaves.  Marcescence, trees that retain their leaves long after others have dropped, could be a marker left to us by God in certain trees that provide fall and winter food to people and the animal kingdom, in addition to the other reasons you have enumerated.

I have a question. Near my house is a small tree trunk, approx. 12 inches high and 8 inches in diameter. It is covered with a white spreading growth that looks like vanilla frosting. I have never ever seen this before. Does anyone know what it might be? It is beautiful.

I have an unbelievable amount of Praying Mantis around my house! I have been watching them through out the year from the time they were nymphs to grown adults.

I have at least 2 different species, the European and I believe the Carolina mantids. At any given time you can root around the perimeter of my house and find at least 2-6 crawling about. This past weekend I had the pleasure of watching a female lay her egg sac in one of my bushes.

It always takes me an extra hour or so to mow the lawn, because I am always looking out for Mantids and the box turtles that call my yard home.

I heard, a long time ago, that some folks from out of town asked a Vermont State Police officer if he knew why the leaves turned so colorful in the fall.

The officer, with a perfectly straight face, replied that it was simply state law.

My husband just found a 4 toed salamander in our garage. It’s tail broke off as soon as he tried to pick it up and the tail was wiggling furiously while the animal itself lay quietly. We are having a huge rainstorm right now, and perhaps that is how it got into the garage. He released the creature under the Rose of Sharon bush just outside the entrance to the garage and hope it will be okay. This is our first sighting. I Googled NH salamanders and was able to identify it by the description about its tail dropping off. Pretty interesting!

What other snakes might commonly be found in the water in Vermont? I watched an unidentified snake in Chickering Bog (East Montpelier) last summer.

They may not be dangerous, but they are most assuredly aggressive (for their tiny little teeth). I have been chased off of my dock (on an Adirondack pond) more than once. They are common on local ponds, and bask on logs (or docks) along the pond edges. I took a picture this summer of three Northern water snakes basking together in the lower branches of a cedar tree at the water’s edge.

These lines really resonated with me: “It was a nice, simple fall day. No epiphanies. No dramatic action sequences. No game. Just a nice, simple day, the kind where you get to hang out with a buddy and soak in the last of summer’s sun. Take a deep breath before pre-winter chores dominate your domestic life.”

That about describes the better part of life in rural Vermont.

I’ve seen these clumps of white fuzz for years, only recently did I notice that they are aphids, an interesting note: I don’t know if the aphids glow or if the wooly tendrils that they produce glows, but if you shine a light on them at night, they phosphoresce(sp?)its a bit spooky on a dark night on the way into the woods

I always enjoy reading stories of Lookouts; aka, fire towers, etc. anywhere in the world and asa FFLA Historian try to include all in my on-going “Lookout Library”

I don’t know where to turn. I’m a first time winemaker, 2013. I started with a purchased kit and 5+ gallons of picked wild grapes (26.8 pounds per the scale). I started the bucket adding about 3 gal spring water and 14 pounds of sugar plus 9 camden tablets per recipe for 6 gal of wine. Also 30 drops of pectic. Started 9/22/13 at 12:00 pm. Hydrometer read 1.12. Added Lavlan wine yeast 24 hrs later. Waited and on 9/24 nothing seemed to be happening. Stirred all every 4-6 hours. I had left the top on this whole time since I thought that was to be done. Not seeing bubbles I thought fermentation wasn’t happening so searched the Internet for reasons. Read I shouldn’t have covered until camden had dissipated. Removed the top and let air-out for 24 hrs. Temperature in my basement is 68.8 degrees so that looks okay. Added a second pkg of yeast yesterday at 10 am and this morning the top is covered with skins/debris for the first time. Don’t see any foaming. I’m not sure what to do next…just wait another day? Should I do another hydrometer reading? Any help? Any ideas?

Thanks for any guidance…

Mark

Dave,

It’s nice to know there are public servants dedicated enough to enforce a camping ban in the dark of night, not to mention in the rain…I guess. That public land is really not so public is distressing. Last I checked, there didn’t seem to be hordes of rogue campers anywhere in the Northeast degrading the woods as another commenter suggested. I agree with her about one thing though, you’re not crazy. Thanks.

Ed

Interesting story.

Ted Natti, who was State Forester in NH when I worked there in the 1980s, was fascinated by forest history, the ‘38 hurricane in particular. He told stories of lumbermen stashing white pine logs in our lakes and ponds because the mills couldn’t handle the mass of wood. Nor could the market, I suppose. Those logs are still found today and fetch a high price.

In Ted’s office at the NH Division of Forests and Lands was a cardboard box of old forest-related photos: the charcoal mill at Fox Forest, the 1940s wildfires-and the hurricane. One in particular showed the NH State House lawn littered with downed trees, lying in all directions. I hope they still have those photos.

I’ve learned a lot about hurricanes since moving to FL. :-) One thing to consider when looking at a site is that ‘canes often generate small tornadoes, especially in the northeast quadrant. That could account for some of the patterns.

As long as we tax forestland, it is essential that it be taxed on its current use as opposed to its development potential. The Current Use Program does this.

But the time has come to realize the ecological benefits of wild, self-willed forests—clean water, carbon storage, wildlife habitat, resistance to invasive exotics, and more.

Wild forests are “working forests” too!

Our definition of forest products has traditionally recognized timber, firewood, and chipwood and non-wood forest products such as maple sap.

It is time to follow the UN FAO’s lead and to recognize forest ecosystem services such as water filtration, flood reduction, soil stabilization, carbon sequestration, forest-based recreation, to name a few as forest products.

The Current Use Program should as well.

I’ve heard that mycorrhizae also serve as “communication systems” for the forest, signalling impending infestations etc., triggering the trees defense mechanisms and collective mast production. Is this true, and how does it work?

Dear Dave,

A lot had changed in the world of outdoor recreation with the advent of Leave No Trace Ethics. The old image of a boy scout heading out into the woods wielding a hatchet to cut down trees to build a shelter and a fire is no longer celebrated or taught (although many people still envision this scene when they think “camping”).  The reality is that this “do as you please in the woods” attitude leads to degraded wilderness areas, with birch trees stripped of bark as high as a man can reach, food particles and gray water tainting sources of fresh water, and – yes – high concentration areas of human waste. The “oh well, we’ll figure it out when we get there” mentality also allows for poor planning and this inevitably lead to more injuries and lost hikers.

Are you crazy? No, perhaps the public lands in Vermont do have too-tight restrictions and it certainly sounds like access and education for visitors could be significantly improved. However, some of the items that you mentioned as annoyances – like having to dig a cat hole for your solid waste and camping at least 100’ from a fresh water source – are just common sense and good stewardship of the lands. Do you want to camp where toilet paper or waste is obvious? Do you want to drink water where the previous camper may have placed dirty dishes and soap? Of course not. Leave it better than you found it, my friend.

Thanks for your thoughts and best of luck in finishing the Long Trail.

Sincerely,
Erica Kaufmann

This article pops up in the top 10 in a Google search for “vermont current use” so I’m going to post my gripe here. Hopefully it may help others to avoid the issues we are facing. We have 50 acres in current use and are far from “land barons”, I think it is a great program to keep development from taking over as it has in other states.

The Tax department which runs current use has an insidious new form to be filed by anyone in current use who wants to take a bank loan. It is called the subordination form - this allows the bank first dibs over the current use program in liens against the property. As part of the paperwork process (which will hold up your loan for over a month) there is a “routine” check to “update documentation”. They compare your current use land map to an updated aerial photo with an overlay of the latest grand list boundaries. If the hand drawn sketch from 20 years ago on your old plan happens to look a little different from the online database, get ready to bend over!

In our case the 2 acres excluded from current use for our house on our old plan did not match what the computer screen showed, so we will be paying to add a new exclusion area, plus paying a forester to redo the plan, plus paying taxes on the old exclusion area until we can get it re-enrolled, all because of what boils down to a clerical error!

Now Northern Woodlands is not our forester, but I can only imagine the filing cabinets full of old incorrect maps just waiting to generate revenue for the Tax department and the map makers as people try to get mortgages or take new loans.

It’s these type of shenanigans in government bureaucracy that really stick it to the little guy. If I was one of those wealthy out of state landowners I’d get my land out of current use as fast as I could and put up condos instead.