What's Your Nature?
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Just Our Nature - news, updates and insights
Welcoming Our Summer Interns
By Emlyn Crocker on June 11, 2018
Days are getting longer, butterflies and dragonflies are out, and it's swimming weather by North Country standards - summer is here! At the start of June we welcomed our three summer interns Alyssa LaCoy, Maggie Jensen, and Jess LaMay to the team here at Nature Up North. They'll be with us through early August, and are looking forward to spending their summer visiting farmer's markets, organizing…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
Ask A Fairy: Spring 2018
By Thimble & Blossom on June 8, 2018
The wait is finally over! The fairies are thrilled you found their houses, and have been working hard to answer all of the thoughtful questions. Thimble Hickory and Blossom Dewdrop are your fairy experts on North Country nature and fairy culture again for this round. They’re on their way to their northern summer nesting spot, but they already can’t wait to pass through the North Country again in…
Blog category: Ask a Fairy
What's Good for Your Lawn
By Paul J. Hetzler on May 26, 2018
The Memorial Day long weekend is often a time to put in the garden, spruce up the yard, and of course, mow the lawn. After the snow from our prolonged winter melted away, many homeowners were disappointed at the condition of their lawn. Areas of dead grass are sometimes, but by no means always, due to heavy feeding by last fall’s grub crop. Grubs, of course, are beetle babies. Not like Ringo…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
Best Buds: How Spring Plants Survived Winter
By Ella Gurney on May 23, 2018
While our springtime in the North Country has been a bit more unpredictable than usual, there’s still the usual spring trend: warmer weather and sunny skies! We’re not the only ones starting to venture out- animals are waking up from hibernation, and we’re starting to see signs of new growth in all our favorite flowers.
But how are flowers still here? I mean, it gets cold out there in the winter…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
Spring has Sprung: Waking Up In The North Country
By Ella Gurney on May 8, 2018
It’s spring in the North Country! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the animals… are waking up!
When I think about hibernation, an image of a bear curled up in a cave comes into my mind. The bear is cozy and warm, and when spring finally comes outside, he opens his eyes, yawns, stands up to stretch, and then walks outside like he’s waking up from a long nap. I imagine that all the…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
Woodland Fairies Visit North Country Trails
By Thimble & Blossom on May 6, 2018
The fairies are here, the fairies are here!
Each spring a merry group of fairies migrates through the North Country on their way home for the summer. These aren't just any fairies – these fairies live in the woods, where they spend their days bonding with birds, talking with trees, buzzing with bugs, and getting friendly with fungi. As you might guess, over time they’ve become expert naturalists…
Blog category: Ask a Fairy
Trap Trees
By Paul J. Hetzler on March 26, 2018
When I hear the phrase “trap tree,” an image of Charlie Brown’s kite-eating tree in the Peanuts comic strip comes immediately to mind. But trap trees, or sentinel trees, are meant to nab a much smaller airborne object, the emerald ash borer (EAB).
The idea is to make certain ash trees more attractive to EAB, to serve both as a monitoring tool and as a means of slowing the rate of ash death. Early…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
North Country Voices: Andy Hurlbut
By Andy Ostler on March 14, 2018
Owned and operated by Andy and Elisha Hurlbut, Hurlbut’s Maple has been producing local Maple products since 1995. Andy Hurlbut first started tapping trees in high school, working and learning from his father and grandfather. Alongside their maple sugaring operation, the Hurlbuts also grow several acres of corn, beans, and hay and raise grass-fed beef.
Nature Up North: Describe your perfect day…
Blog category: North Country Voices
Invasive Species Awareness Week
By Paul J. Hetzler on February 27, 2018
In Grade 3, a brilliant joke made the rounds. We’d hold up a sheet of blank white paper and announce it was a polar bear in a snowstorm. Genius is relative for kids. But the first time I drove into a whiteout made me realize how accurate that “art” project was. Anything can hide behind a veneer of snow.
This leads me to ask why February 26 – March 3 was chosen as “National Invasive Species…
Blog category: Just Our Nature
2018 Canton Winter Olympics: Recap
By Emlyn Crocker on February 12, 2018
Do you love getting outside in the winter? If so, you might just have what it takes to be a North Country Olympian! As winter enthusiasts all around the world prepared to kick off the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea, Nature Up North and the Canton Recreation Department teamed up to challenge North Country residents with a local challenge... the first annual Canton Winter Olympics.
The…
Blog category: Just Our Nature