Among the princesses, pirates, and popstars at Canton Village Park this past Saturday, a makeshift pumpkin patch waited for its first curious artisan to arrive. As attendees chose their gourds and began to shovel seed-studded guts into compost buckets, an unexpected visitor made an appearance. A beautiful monarch butterfly settled delicately upon a pumpkin. Did the butterfly feel kinship with its orange brethren?

As the vibrant autumn leaves begin to fall and the air starts to chill, it's time to be on the lookout for fairies in the North Country! Before they migrate south for the winter, Thimble and Blossom have taken up residence on our trails to enjoy fall activities such as foraging for acorns with the squirrels, tucking the bears in for hibernation, and collecting dew from the last blooming wildflowers.

             Fire is the best thing since sliced bread. Where would we be without man's best friend and foe, fire? Fire plays a role in our survival, and we would not be here without it.  We use it in everything from cooking to warming ourselves and much more. But something we have lost connection with is how fire used to be made.

The sudden en masse appearance of meat-eating, airborne insects with wingspans up to six inches across does not sound like welcome news.