What's Your Nature?
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Just Our Nature Posts
Our 2026 Community Calendar is Here!
By Dan French on
Blog: Just Our NatureProceeds from calendar sales benefit Nature Up North's community outreach initiatives. Each year, Nature Up North reaches thousands of local residents through guided hikes, paddles, workshops, and K-12 programs. Thanks for your support!
We hope you’ll support our programs and locally-owned businesses by buying a Nature Up North calendar this year. Proceeds from calendar sales directly…
Be Nice to Spiders - For Your Own Good
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureNote: The photo above is of a marbled orbweaver, a spider not featured in this article. Photo Credits: Troy Parla
Spiders can sometimes be dangerous in weird ways. At a Michigan gas station in 2015, a man tried to kill one with a lighter and torched a pump island, and in 2014, a guy in Seattle burned his house down trying to kill spiders with a blowtorch. But fire isn’t typically why we fear…
The Science of Apples
By Brooklyn Phillips on
Blog: Just Our NatureFall in the North Country doesn’t feel complete without a trip to the orchard and the taste of an apple freshly picked off the tree. Now that the season of apple picking is over, it's a good time to reflect on the months of growth and hard work that have made this year’s season possible. As we know, every fall farms across the country rush to pick their apples at the perfect time. The time when…
The Tale of the Turkey Vulture
By AJ DiFranco on
Blog: Just Our NatureI remember one time while in the North Country, I witnessed a group of turkey vultures gathered in a field off the side of an unknown road in Canton. It was quite a sight, seeing a bunch of those large, magnificent birds all gathered in one spot around what was presumably some sort of carcass. I also recall, both in the North Country and at my home in Pennsylvania, spotting many turkey vultures…
The North Country's Unnoticed Green Machine
By Zakithi Khumalo on
Blog: Just Our NatureWhen most people think of powerful carbon sinks, they may think of the vast Pacific Ocean or the dense Amazon Rainforest, which is all true, but we often miss the true unsung hero of carbon sequestration - the quiet, soggy peatlands. You may be surprised to learn that these carbon storages are right here in the North Country. Peatlands, also known as bogs or mires, are ecological powerhouses that…
Our Better Nature: Plants with a PR Problem
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature Names are important, as we often form opinions based on what we associate with them. Even if you’ve never watched an episode of the ’60s sit-com Gilligan’s Island, you could probably guess that the character Mary Ann Summers was not a millionaire on the show, and that Thurston Howell III wasn’t the down-home farmer from Kansas. Fiction writers like to play on common beliefs to convey…
The Forgotten History of New York's Firetowers
By Marina Garlick on
Blog: Just Our NatureIt feels like every other week this past summer there is a heat advisory for air quality. With all the smoke rolling across our skies this past summer it leaves us wondering where is it burning? And why isn’t it burning here?
Now this is an interesting question because as many of you may know there are multiple fire towers to the south of St. Lawrence County bordering the edge of the Adirondack…
Rockin Rollers: The Beatles' Endless Tour
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureGreek mythology holds that Zeus punished the murderous tyrant-king Sisyphus by banishing him to Tartarus for eternity, where he has to roll a big rock up a hill, only to have it tumble back down as he nears the top. Big deal – he got off easy.
Zeus could have condemned him to push a towering sphere of solid excrement that weighed ten times more than he did, walking backwards the whole time, and…
The Story of St Lawrence's State Parks
By William de Chabert on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe North Country is home to a rich set of state parks, but have you ever wondered how these beautiful, serene places came to be? Many of them sit on land that was once heavily used for logging, even before the timber industry dominated the landscape. These sites are the historical lands of the Mohawk and Iroquois, which are members of the Haudenosaunee. Over time, local advocates and state…
April Showers Bring May (Black) Flies
By Donatella DeFazio on
Blog: Just Our NatureAs we move from winter to spring and spring to summer, everyone's “favorite” insects are blackflies. So, where have they been for the past few months? Why do we even need flies in our world? Wouldn’t we be better off without them? We wouldn't be.
During the winter, most flies take cover to protect from the freezing temperatures in warm, insulated places either in houses or underground…