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Outdoor

Witch Hazel comes to life in November

Once our fall foliage is past peak, there is a sense of inevitability. Winter will soon be here. The rainbow of leaves that blanketed the canopy now lay on the forest floor. But there is still one more show among nearly bare branches of the deciduous woods in late fall. For that is when Witch ...

Post-Halloween pumpkins serve a purpose

With Halloween just passed, many households leave their pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns outside for the remainder of the fall season. Watching a jack-o-lantern sag at our doorstep can be unsightly, a reminder of past costumes and trick or treaters. If we shift our mindset to one of curiosity, this ...

Fall is duck and goose season

Every spring and fall, I am a little more vigilant as I drive into Celoron on a road just inland from the Chadakoin River. The road I drive cuts through wetlands along the riverbank, and either side of the road has a steep cutout that, for most of the year, is full of water. It’s not a ...

The animals tied to Halloween

Fall is in full swing now and it is a treat. Leaves turn from green into bright reds, oranges, and yellows before falling to the ground, leaving the most satisfying crunch when stepped on. A unique seasonal smell of burning wood and spices fills the air. As the trees become bare, a holiday ...

Woolly bear caterpillar right in season

Throughout history, we have taken cues from nature to predict the weather, temperature, and seasonal changes. That might be anything from observing the sky to see how the changing clouds can indicate incoming weather to using a groundhog to predict how many more weeks of winter are on the way. ...

Explaining the rut

When someone says they’re stuck in ‘a rut,’ our minds jump to a problem that needs to be fixed. However, when a nature enthusiast or hunter mentions ‘the rut,’ our minds think of deer. The rut happens throughout a span of weeks, peaking in late autumn, where male deer, called bucks, ...