By Laurie Morrissey It’s just a tiny black dot moving very, very slowly. But if you’re interested in astronomy, this is an exciting dot. It is Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, passing between the earth and the […]
Category: The Outside Story
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: Molting season
By Joe Rankin “Boy, he’s really red! I don’t think I’ve ever seen them that red before,” my wife said admiringly of a male purple finch crunching sunflower seeds at the feeder. He was a nice burgundy. The male goldfinches […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: The truth behind maple syrup color and flavor
By Dave Mance III Some years sugaring season goes by the book, which is to stay things start cold, and over the course of four to six weeks spring arrives gradually and consistently. In such a scenario, the syrup usually […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: How loons winter
By Tiffany Soukup When I was a child, I looked forward to spending summers with my grandmother at our family cottage on a Canadian lake. Every year, as soon as I was out of the car, we would run to […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: Turkey Tail Fungus
By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul During my walks through the woods these days, I am often accompanied by curious children. These children, who are my own, notice many things that I often do not, and they are filled with questions. Who […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: How are caves created?
By Susan Shea To enter the cave, we donned hard hats and descended a vertical drop with the aid of a rope. We crawled on our knees and bellies through a wet, narrow passageway, emerging into a large underground chamber […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: Weasel “Evel Knievels”
By Elise Tillinghast My friend Gordon Russell sent me a letter recently describing a wildlife encounter. He had been following deer tracks along a stone wall when a movement caught his attention. “Almost before its image could travel to my […]
The Outside Story
The Outside Story: The buzz on honey flavors
By Joe Rankin It’s still the middle of winter, but the sun is climbing higher each day and I know that it won’t be long until my honeybees are out seeking nectar and pollen. From early-blooming red maple trees. Then […]
The Outside Story
In cold, wet woods, needle ice sprouts
By Rachel Sargent The bare ground of the trail wound through dead leaves and patchy snow. At a short overhang in the trail, I noticed spiky threads of ice growing up from the soil in crunchy clusters. A careless boot […]
The Outside Story
To boost plant growth, growers enrich soils with biochar
By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul At this time of year, many a gardener’s daydreams turn to the springtime promise of sprouting plants. Seed catalogs start arriving in the mail months before the soil will be thawed and drained enough for planting, […]