Rutland Regional Medical Center is pleased to host the first-ever virtual Vermont Great 2.4.6.8K Run & Walk, from sunup on Friday, Oct. 2, to sundown Sunday, Oct. 4. This year, participants can pick their distance, their route and complete their run or walk anytime during this three-day …
Put simply, the estrobolome is the way our bacteria metabolizes our hormones, specifically estrogen in women. The estrobolome is a complete set of genes that are found within a subset of gut bacteria. These genes regulate the circulation of estrogens within the liver, which then affects the …
Last spring, “out-of-stock” was the ubiquitous response for many gardeners when attempting to purchase seeds in person or online. Who would have guessed seeds were going to become a scarce commodity?
Plenty of backyard birdwatchers consider blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) the villains of the avian world. Mark Twain best summarized anti-blue jay sentiment when he compared the bird’s principles to that of an ex-congressman. In Native American lore, blue jays are portrayed as thieves and tr…
Now is the time to buy your bulbs for spring blossoms. Winters in New England are long, cold and snowy, so by March, I’m ready for spring. Most years, I have bulb flowers pushing their way up through mushy snow and fallen leaves in early March, delighting me with their improbably delicate flowers.
Here in Vermont every year, there are a number of ways to put venison in your freezer. The state offers a rifle season, a muzzleloader hunt and in only five days, an extended bow season.
“To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.”
Something we all have in common is stress. Everyone feels and experiences stress during their life. Some stress is good for us, because it helps us learn and try new things. Some stress is harmful, like traumatic experiences or long-term pressures. What differs between people, including the …
The September before my daughter was born, my husband and I went for our last pre-baby hike around Camel’s Hump. We stopped for a snack on the ridgeline, and as we sat munching granola bars, we were surprised to see a monarch butterfly flap past, battling the turbulence at this higher elevat…
Traveling around this part of New England, you’re often flanked on both sides by thick, inscrutable woods. If you didn’t know better, you might think it was the forest primeval. But after almost 400 years of invasive European habitation, it could hardly be that. Hidden by the dense second gr…
Sparkling clean, sterilized Mason jars stand at attention in Judy Hurd’s kitchen in Newport Center, where the dairy farmer and retired Vermont state employee preserves more than 20 types of fresh foods. Her method is highly organized: she removes every single thing from her counters, using t…
Big yellow school buses are on the road again … or at least, a few of them. Tree leaves in the swamps are turning red. Frost and cold weather are sneaking up on us. This year, I resolve to get my garden put to bed early so I am not wearing gloves and long johns as I cut back the daylilies an…
Ben Kilham never set out to become a bear whisperer or bear stepfather, but with 300 orphaned bear cubs raised and released into the wild, either title sounds appropriate.
America has seen nearly 6 million cases of COVID-19 with over 180,000 deaths. Many of these deaths are the result of the respiratory effects of the virus yet many of the risk factors, such as chronic kidney disease and diabetes, have little to do with respiratory function. So, how do these r…
Have you ever felt like your bucket was just too full? Like every little “bad” thing that happens is the last drop of water that makes the bucket overflow? This is understandable, considering the circumstances. This year alone, there has been multiple sources of increased stress, including j…
Summer 1959. I’d had a good winter working at the Lake Placid bobsled run, a good spring splitting firewood at the Upper Ausable Lake, bought a new car (1959 Beetle convertible!), and scored a summer job with the Ballard Construction Co. in Syracuse. The work was great — pick-and-shovel stuf…
Some of my favorite children’s books describe life cycles as heroic tales of persistence and redemption. From “The Ugly Duckling” to “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to “A Seed is Sleeping,” these stories have brought the miracles of growth and maturation to life for generations of readers. I c…
You could say Brielle Duprey got one heck of a birthday present on Sept. 3. The 13-year-old Chittenden resident shot her first black bear that morning.
Like a conscientious squirrel, I put away food for the winter in August and September. I freeze and dehydrate lots of vegetables, and store some in my cool basement. Here are some tips on ways to save food for later.
Fall brings many great things that come in beautiful shades of orange, yellow, red and brown. Pumpkins and winter squash are among the most wonderful of these.
In 1911 Montpelier held a Labor Day parade to honor work horses. Teams of Belgians, Shires and Percherons vied for ribbons and cash prizes as 10,000 celebrants watched from the city sidewalks. The parade was the main feature of the city’s Labor Day celebration and was the brainchild of the M…
As I look out at my perennial garden this time of year, it looks...tired. The Rudbeckia fulgida (black-eyed Susan) is at its prime, but just about everything else has gone past. The weeds were difficult to contend with this year, even with proper mulching in the spring. Even my showstopper p…
One might ask, why does the cancer center have to do with a road race?
One summer day, I lifted the black plastic top of our composter and jumped back, startled — a large snake was curled up on top of the compost. The yellow stripe down the center of its dark back and two yellow stripes along its sides identified it as a garter snake, our most common snake, fou…
Daphne mezereum was the registered name of my Corgi, Daffy, who passed away on Aug. 25 of this year. Born in 2006, Daffy was my constant companion who was always ready for an adventure — or especially, a meal or snack. When her back legs gave out, she figured out ways to propel herself forwa…
The distinctive flavors of fresh herbs during the summer can feel fleeting. Thankfully, there are many simple ways to enjoy summer herbs year-round.
We are all in the middle of an unprecedented event in our lives, and it has certainly been a difficult experience individually and collectively, to say the least. As with most challenging situations, there is a silver lining of opportunity to the COVID-19 experience. We now have a chance to …
The living light of bioluminescent organisms like fireflies, anglerfish and marine plankton, is legendary. The dazzling light shows put on by synchronous fireflies in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are so popular that park managers have had to institute a lottery system for viewing them…
When I was a boy, I always took note of cemeteries as we drove by them. I’d lost a beloved grandfather, the original Henry Homeyer, and my mother’s mom. I was taken with a shrub or small tree in cemeteries that I called either “the snowball bush” or the “cemetery bush.”
Projection (psychology) — The unconscious attribution to others the faults, desires, etc., that one feels in oneself. Example: a cheating spouse suspecting their partner is being unfaithful.
The mission, 30 years ago, was a memorable one. I was invited to climb up, with snowshoes, into some big country, the Lye Brook Wilderness in Sunderland, so that a bear biologist and his team could locate a bear in its den in March and replace its radio collar.
From the Boston Marathon to the Indianapolis 500, endurance and strength have always been celebrated. Even in the bygone age of horse power, a stress test to find the best horse and rider was first staged by the Morgan Horse Club of New England in a feat of stamina and survival for Vermont h…
There are varying opinions about the recreational use of marijuana. Most of us can agree that young kids should delay or avoid using substances. Developing brains, like the ones of our middle and high school students, can be altered from early substance use. What we do know is the number of …
There are varying opinions about the recreational use of marijuana. Most of us can agree that young kids should delay or avoid using substances. Developing brains, like the ones of our middle and high school students, can be altered from early substance use. What we do know is the number of …
It was a perfect day to complete a quest or a pilgrimage: blue sky at 7 in the morning; cool, but promising heat later; a weekday respite from crowds of hikers. But it started in the most unprepossessing of places: the parking lot at the foot of the Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail on New Hampshire…
Last July, Rich Kelley posted a most unusual photograph to the Vermont Birding Facebook group with the caption, “Someone bit off more than he could chew.” The photo, taken in the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, showed a belted kingfisher weighted down by a mussel clamped firmly onto its…
Tired of mowing your lawn, but afraid to stop? What would it look like, and what would the neighbors say? I was on a panel discussing “re-wilding” the lawn on New Hampshire Public Radio recently. Here are a few of the points we discussed.
Tired of mowing your lawn, but afraid to stop? What would it look like, and what would the neighbors say? I was on a panel discussing “re-wilding” the lawn on New Hampshire Public Radio recently. Here are a few of the points we discussed.
Ospreys, a species once endangered in Vermont but now flourishing, have hatched and fledged young for the 23rd straight year on a man-made platform on the southern side of Lake Arrowhead in Milton.
We’ve all been there. We start up a new fitness routine and we start it hard. We commit to five days a week, no matter what and, when we exercise, we do it hard. The first week we are pretty sore, but we suck it up and press on.
Whether you are currently walking with Come Alive Outside’s 100 miles in 100 days or training for the Vermont Great 2.4.6.8K in October, here are a few healthful eating tips to make sure the foods you eat help you reach your walking and fitness goals. What you eat provides the fuel for all y…
Recently, I saw a beautiful orange butterfly speckled with black — a great spangled fritillary — feeding on orange hawkweed in a meadow. I observed it through binoculars, so as not to scare it off, then slowly crept closer. I watched as the butterfly unfurled its proboscis, a tube that funct…
Three plants you don’t want on your property are wild parsnips, purple loosestrife and Norway maples. The first causes severe skin reactions in many people, the second can take over our wetlands, and the last can out-compete our native sugar maple — and eventually take over our woods.
