Across the North Country, the traditional sugar-making season is underway. Most northern New York maple syrup producers get busy tapping their trees in late February or early March, in preparation for the greatly anticipated four to six weeks of sap flow generally expected to begin in mid- to ...

In early fall, deer’s bodies begin converting large amounts of the food that they consume into stored fat and the deer start to put on weight. This occurs regardless of the quality of the nutrition that’s available, but in years when mast trees, such as oaks or beech, have produced an ...

Very few northern New Yorkers believe that cold weather is a reason to stay indoors. In fact, for most North Country families, winter is fun! For kids, it’s the season of snowballs, snow forts, snowmen, snow sculptures, snow angels, sledding, tobogganing, tubing and ice skating. And for ...

Food security. It’s a term we hear a lot these days. But defining food security can be difficult. There are literally hundreds of definitions and an even greater number of food security indicators. As defined by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, food ...

In the weeks before Christmas, friends of a friend told me about a bobcat sighting they had while hiking on a trail in southern Essex County. And not long after that, a very dear friend of mine who lives in the same area sent me a couple of photographs she’d taken of a mound and scratch ...

When I ask people what they think are the two cheapest, cleanest, safest, most environmentally friendly and most reliable energy technologies available today, the answer I receive is almost always wind and solar. But the correct answers — conservation and efficiency — have nothing to do ...