We lost two newborn lambs that night. The earliest lambs born on our farm that spring were suddenly dead—the first time we’d ever lost sheep. The veterinarian said we’d just been lucky so far. Three lambing seasons without a bad experience? We were overdue for heartache.
By May, twilight arrives late. From the high and lonesome expanse of Interstate-89, evening alpenglow illuminates a flank of Mount Kearsarge, changing every second from yellow to gold and now pink, like an ember fallen from a fire. Purple shadows climb the lower slopes as the sun …
I can no more easily imagine a summer evening without bats overhead than the night sky devoid of stars…
On our small New Hampshire farm, we’ve always watched bats feeding over pastures and the adjacent Lane River wetlands. Now the specter of a rapid regional collapse of bat …
When autumn approaches, creatures great and small prepare for the winter ahead
After late autumn rains strip away the last bright maple leaves, and nights turn cold enough to drive hard frost deeper into the soil, New Englanders respond with instincts that mirror the activities …
I collect porcupine stories. It seems everyone who has lived in rural NH has got at least a few. The porcupine tale genre is predictable: disappearing garden or orchard produce, damage to structural lumber, repeated bouts of quills in noses of domestic dogs, and lastly, firearms. Often the tales …
The midwinter forest is an excellent place to start
The “Dark Skies” movement was created in opposition to pervasive, creeping nighttime light pollution that obscures constellations in urban areas. But what about noise …
November's gray skies carry the last of the migrating Canada geese, graceful ribbons of true wild Canadians on a long-distance flight. These aren't the New England locals, flying low from golf course to cornfield.
You know how New Hampshire likes to be first in the nation when it comes to politics? Well, it turns out we’re stragglers in another category: sandhill cranes. They’ve been nesting in our neighboring states of Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, but they never went granite until this year.
