WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Another maple sugaring season is in the books. All in all about an average year for me. Made about 7.5 gallons of syrup from 17 taps or 0.44 gallons of syrup/tap, which seems to be my normal. I think the take-away from this seasonContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? One of the largest wild grapevines I’ve ever seen. There haven’t been farms in this area where I was hiking last week for about 100 years, but surely a legacy from farm days. Wild grapevines survive by climbing trees for their natural trellis toContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Each winter I burn last fall’s brush and this winter’s fruit tree prunings in the yard. Inevitably, there is collateral damage on the mice population. However, they aren’t mice, but really voles. Voles are mouse-like animals that eat only plants (i.e. roots, stems ofContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Found this sprouted acorn hidden beneath the leaves the other day just after seeing a large red oak fallen over. It’s no secret that if you read our stuff or listen to our “From the Forest” radio show that we’re losing our oak trees.Continue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? I just finished this excellent book, written in the 1950s by Anthropologist Omer Stewart. I have to admit that it was both enlightening and depressing. It was enlightening in that Stewart shines a light on how significant Native American fires were on the growthContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Came across this monster red oak near a trail in Sundown Wild Forest. Check out those trunk flares near the base. Notice the double-leader on this behemoth. This was probably a stump-sprout from a cut tree back in the mid to late 1800s, perhapsContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Been working on a leather laptop case for my wife’s computer. The leather was from a doe taken in 2022 and tanned using hemlock bark. Just glad to see it used for something. My wife sure is getting good at that sewing too; LotsContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Thursday, January 25th marked my first boil of the 2024 Maple Sugaring Season. Although last week was quite “wintry” with cold temperatures freezing everything up, this week and the foreseeable forecast is quite “maply.” Highs are climbing into the 40s and freezing at night,Continue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Finally got some winter weather. This photo was taken on the Shawangunk Ridge in Cragsmoor, Ulster County. Here, we are reducing the height of an overgrown pear tree. In the other photo we’re pruning an old apple tree riddled with bear damage. As I’veContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Somehow came across this blog online where people across the country had submitted old hunting photos. Many of them were intriguing for a variety of reasons, mainly the size of bucks taken back in the day. It wasn’t just their antlers, but their massContinue Reading