What's Your Nature?
Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!
Just Our Nature - news, updates and insights
On the Importance of Dirt
By Abigail Lateer on
Blog: Just Our NatureHave you ever spent time on a farm or around farmers? Do you remember helping your parents weed their garden as a kid–or do you make your kids help you weed yours? Chances are, you’re connected to agriculture in some shape or form, even if it’s just through the food you eat.
Some issues with the U.S. industrialized agriculture system seem more or less obvious. Most people intuit that…
Shell-ebrating North Country Painted Turtles
By Leslie Herold on
Blog: Just Our NatureAs soon as the ponds thaw and the temperatures warm, we know the earth is preparing for spring and summer. The flowers begin to bud and the grasses green again. We pack away our winter jackets and dig out the t-shirts and shorts. But it’s not just humans who recognize this transition. Our North Country wildlife recognize these same changes in the environment and come out for the warmer months of…
Fanfare in the North Country
By Liz Hart on
Blog: Just Our NatureIt’s nesting season, which means the skies and waters are filled with life; chirping birds calling out for a mate, waterfowl patrolling the waters for a place to roost. But for a few centuries, wetland areas have been missing the notable honking of the largest species of waterfowl in the world. Weighing an average of 26 pounds and growing up to 6 feet in length, the massive Trumpeter Swan is…
Ask A Fairy: Spring Into Summer With the Fairies!
By Thimble & Blossom on
Blog: Ask a FairyWe just heard that Thimble and Blossom, our migratory fairy naturalists, are back in the North Country! In the spring they like to bounce on blooming buds, zip around with dragonflies, and take cold dips in freshly melted puddles! Through all their woodland time they’ve become excellent naturalists, and are now here to answer any questions you may have! Between May 27th and June 24th, use the…
6th Annual Earth Day 7k Recap
By Kayla Edmunds on
Blog: Just Our NatureBy now any sore muscles have been iced and the race signs have been put away until next year, but we're still thinking about what a great time we had with the runners and walkers who attended Nature Up North's 6th Annual Earth Day 7k last Sunday! Although the morning started off a bit dreary with some sprinkles, by the time the starting countdown hit "go" at 10:30am, the sun was shining and…
4th Annual Cardboard Sled Race Recap
By Kayla Edmunds on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe 4th Annual Cardboard Sled Race, held Saturday, February 5th was an exciting way to start off Canton’s annual Winterfest. It was a chilly but sunny morning, perfect for speeding down the hill. Competition was fierce, with many racers fighting their way to the finish line by dragging themselves on tattered sleds or getting a boost from a teammate. Participants competed 1 v. 1 within their…
Beech Gone Wild: Raging Hormones
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe American beech (Fagus grandifolia) has been slowly dying out for the last 140 years. As a result, beech saplings have overrun many woodlots, making them less diverse, less vigorous, and less valuable.
That’s right – beech decline has led to a beech proliferation so extreme that in some places they are a barrier to forest regeneration. I’d call this an oxymoron, but don’t want to insult the …
Fungal Homes: Much Room, No Mushrooms
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureFor some reason, mushrooms have spawned more than their fair share of puns. As a kid I learned that they’re all fun-guys, and that the only rooms you can’t enter in a house are mushrooms. The last one might not work these days, as entire buildings are now being made of fungus.
Given that mold inside our homes can make us ill, you wouldn’t think that being surrounded by the stuff would be a…
An Army of Legs
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureWhether one has owned a pet cat, dog, chinchilla or what-have-you, or merely admired the grace and beauty of a horse or deer, most of us develop positive links with at least one four-legged animal. But for everyone except maybe scientists, warm and fuzzy feelings evaporate when you move up to critters with a thousand or more legs.
Insects, all of which have six legs, seldom elicit an oxytocin …
The Blazing Yule Log
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe tradition of burning a Yule log has largely fizzled out in most parts of the world. While holiday cards often feature cute, picturesque birch rounds in the hearth, old-time Yule logs in 6th and 7th century Europe were monster tree trunks that were meant to burn all day, and in certain cultures for twelve continuous days, without being entirely used up.
Apparently, if you didn’t have a…