This is an accounting of my ordeal. I was driving home on Wednesday afternoon, and a field mouse ran across the dashboard of my car.
Nature in Autumn
Bird Migration Facts
Bird migration takes place two times a year. Generally, it happens in the spring and autumn of the year in the temperate regions. In the tropics, movement happens during the dry and rainy seasons. Food is a driving force. Birds migrate in temperate regions to places with better sources of food. In the tropical regions, the […]
A Chipmunk’s Winter Sleep (Torpor and Hibernation)
When the weather grows chilly, I imagine chipmunks snug in their burrows, peacefully sleeping away the cold winter months. During autumn they spend their time gathering food to last the long, cold winter. I like chipmunks. I like their small size. I like their soft earthy colors. I like their spunk and energy. In […]
Rose hips, what they are and how you can harvest them.
There are pink blossoms and orange rose hips in my garden. It is the beginning of the second week in December and the English rose in my garden is blooming still. At the end of November the buds were closed and I clipped, what I thought, were the last of its deep pink blossoms. But […]
New England Asters are a Buffet for Pollinators
From my nature journal – October 14, 2015 The New England Asters in my garden have finished blooming. The deep pink flowers began opening in late September and had a crowd of bees, flies, and beetles around the blossoms until last week. New England Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) are native from Massachusetts and Vermont to North […]
Fall Sunflowers, Bees, Flies and Pollination
From my nature journal for 28 September 2015 In the last day of summer and the first days of fall, sunflowers bloom in my garden. The flower petals glow golden-yellow in the sun. These autumn blooming flowers provide food, pollen, nectar and prey to visiting insects and resident spiders. I stood and watched several species […]
Seasonal Autumn Foods for Sustainable Living
Autumn is the time of the richest bounty. The food that has been growing all summer is ready for harvest. Through the late summer into autumn, now is the time to buy enough food at farmers’ markets to put by for winter when less fresh food is available. I like to make jam and preserves […]
Why Trees Shed Leaves in the Fall
We humans think we understand why trees shed leaves in the fall. As the leaves stops making chlorophyll, the tree seals off the old leaf and then essentially “cuts” it loose from the tree as it no longer needs it. Not only is the production of chlorophyll stopping and leaves dropping, but another process is […]
The Relationship Between Birds, Berries and Fruit
I have been watching the ripening of the fruit on the Shadbush tree in my garden. The birds take almost all the fruit every year. But, the relationship of the birds, the plants and the seeds have much to teach us about life on Earth. In the eastern deciduous forest, where I live, over 300 […]
Orange and Sunshine
A view from below.
