The Outside Story By Olivia Box As spring arrives, so do… bats. Like many other naturalists, I spend lots of time during this season looking for migrating salamanders and blossoming bloodroot. I’ve never thought much about what bats are doing this time of year. It turns out these flying mammals, who retreated into hibernation back…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of an Aries Moon, on the eve of the Sun’s entrance into Gemini. By the time Wednesday rolls around, the light and airy energy that permeates the matrix when the Sun’s in the sign of the Twins will…

The Movie Diary by Dom Cioffi The backyard of my property is framed in a thick cluster of trees that blocks almost any hint of other homes. I can hear voices and lawnmowers in a number of directions, but my visual range sees only greenery. Obviously, this is the case during the spring and summer…

By Merisa Sherman Tarentaise. Ascutney Mountain. Grafton Maple Smoked Cheddar. Vermont Smoke & Cure Summer and Fortuna’s Cacciatorini Sausages paired with some fresh made six-grain bread and all washed down with some Mac & Maple Cider. It’s amazing to think of all the wonderful foods we have in Vermont just at the tip of our…

By Laurie D Morrisey One of the first spring wildflowers you’ll see – perhaps even before the last shaded patches of snow disappear – is the violet. This common flower, which blooms from April through June, is widely known and easily identified. There is more than one violet, however. The genus Viola contains some 500…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Capricorn Moon. The big news this week is that a bunch of planets are going retrograde, and a couple of them are changing signs. Here is the list: Saturn goes retrograde on May 11, at the…

By Gary Salmon Are you tired of the lives we are living (or not) since this corona? Days are certainly moving more slowly than in the past and each invites us to do something spectacular with warmer days and anticipations of the future. We need some sort of key movement to welcome us into spring…

By Mary Ellen Shaw One of my favorite things to look forward to each year is the colorful display of flowering trees and shrubs. Although they may be short-lived compared to a garden full of perennial flowers they certainly brighten the landscape. With the world topsy-turvy as we deal with Covid-19 anything that resembles normalcy…

By Dom Cioffi One of the things I’ve tried to do during the quarantine is to influence my son on a variety of topics. His school is doing a good job assigning projects and staying on top of his education, but I’ve opted to take this opportunity to steer him toward experiencing a few of…

By Kevin Theissen Stimulus checks are arriving. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has distributed over $150 billion through over 88 million stimulus payments, according to Andrew Keshner of MarketWatch. If you have recently lost a job, or you’re having difficulty paying bills, your check may already be spent. However, if you’re still working, or remain financially comfortable,…

By Rachel Mirus This May, while we thank the human moms around us, I’ve been thinking about the many dedicated moms throughout nature, too. Nurturing mothers come in many unexpected shapes and sizes, including a few diminutive examples – like spider moms. All spiders lay eggs and wrap them with silk into some kind of…

By Cal Garrison This week’s horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Libra Moon. This week is huge, on multiple levels. As the Moon moves from Libra to Scorpio, it will reach fullness on May 7. The full moon in the month of May is known as the Wesac Moon and is significant…

By Merisa Sherman Leaning on my shovel, I take the bandanna from my Carhartts and wipe the sweat from my brow. It’s hot in Vermont and I can’t seem to stop the sweat from burning my eyes as I work on this garden reclamation project. A beautiful and productive garden until Irene came through, we finally admitted…

By Merisa Sherman Let the rain kiss you.   Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.  - Langston Hughes The rain would announce its arrival by the pitter patter of drops on the roof. A random drop here and there until they would find their…

By Michael J. Caduto Anyone who has shared a home with a dog or a cat has learned something about the silent language of tails. Wild and domesticated animals may use tails for everything from communication to courtship, balance to locomotion, and defense to swatting flies. Tails can range from short to long and be…