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
Holey Maple Leaves
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureOnly a joker would argue that plant breeders have secretly crossed our beloved sugar maples with Swiss cheese, but given the way this year’s maple leaves are riddled with mysterious holes, it almost seems a plausible explanation. Beginning in August, near-perfect circles of leaf tissue have gone missing from sugar maples, and from other trees to a lesser extent, as if swarms of Hole-Punch Fairies…
Early Fall Color Changes
By Justin Dalaba on
Blog: Just Our Nature
Some of my most vivid childhood memories involve plopping into that pile of red, yellow and brown fallen leaves neatly gathered into a mound by my dad. I remember running off the school bus in the golden afternoon sun to roll around in the yard amidst the unforgettable sound of crunching leaves and smell of fall decay. As carefree kids, we thought little of the hard work the trees were doing…
A Bounty of Bees in our North Country Gardens
By Samantha Haab on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe buzzing of bees is as much a sound of summer in the North Country as is the drone of cicadas or the nighttime call of frogs. It is, hopefully, a common sound we hear outside during the summer and fall months, but just what kinds of bees are in our gardens and why should we care?
We’re all familiar with honey bees and the larger, more conspicuous bumble bees, but what many people fail to…
Carry Wood, Boil Water
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
How much are you willing to pay to boil water? I don’t mean to make coffee or cook pasta, but for the heck of it. Would you spend $200 to $600 annually just to let off some steam?
Probably not, right? But if you heat with wood, you already shell out hard-earned money each year to boil water for no practical reason. Every drop of moisture in your firewood costs you money as well as effort, and…
Unwelcome Decorations
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureWhat’s round to oval-shaped, mostly orange, and is a common sight leading up to Halloween? Everyone knows the answer to that: Harmonia axyridis, obviously. Better known as the multicolored Asian lady beetle, this insect, while beneficial to gardens, is no treat when it masses by the hundreds on, and inside, homes in the fall.
Lady beetles, or lady bugs, are the darlings of small children…
Golden Rod
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
While most plants respond to late summer’s shorter days by starting to wind down their business for the season, goldenrod is a “short-day” plant, the kind that is stimulated to bloom by waning day length. It’s a perennial in the aster family, and is widespread across North America. We have something on the order of 130 species of goldenrod in the genus Solidago.
As one of the most abundant…
Hot Sounds of Summer: Cicadas
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureProbably everyone has a sound they connect with high summer. For me, nothing says “August” like the drone of a cicada, its song a miniature buzz saw that cuts across a hot afternoon, undulating a bit and then dropping off near the end of its arc. Cicadas are stout, ancient-looking bugs with bulgy eyes and clear wings. While the largest species is about three inches long with a seven-inch wingspan…
Funtography Tips Part II: DSLR Cameras
By Justin Dalaba on
Blog: Just Our NatureThere’s nothing more frustrating than reaching for your camera when you see something exciting and not being able to capture the shot that you imagined. Although automatic settings on cameras are getting better and better, there are some situations that can be tricky to capture without making some manual adjustments. Lighting can make or break a photograph and can be the reason your picture…
Nature Up North Teacher Workshop: A Community of Educators
By Conner Eldridge on
Blog: In the SchoolsIt has been a busy two days at the Nature Up North teacher workshop. Twelve educators from across the North Country convened to share our ideas for diverse learning experiences with an emphasis on local, natural features.
During the workshop, Nature Up North director Dr. Erika Barthelmess and project manager Jake Malcomb introduced us to Place-Based Learning. Their goal was to inspire us to take…
Touch-Me-Not: When a Weed is Not a Weed
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureBy definition, a weed is any plant growing where you don’t want it. To clarify, this holds true only in the garden beds or acreage under your cultivation. “Weeding” flowers in a park planter because they offend your sense of aesthetics is frowned upon.
To a plant, having “weed” embedded right in its name is probably akin to having a “Kick Me” sign on your back. Right out of the box there is…
