Farming/Nature
The Recluse
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When the kids were young, we knew an honest-to-goodness recluse.
Farming/Nature
Cowbirds, The Neighborhood Shirkers
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When we were very young, my mom was big on recitation and definitely had her favorite books and children’s poems that she would perform for us.
Farming/Nature
In Praise of Grass
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The bobolink, a songbird, is one of the stars of these habitats. About the size of a sparrow, the male bobolink is mostly black with a striking top half of black and white and a yellow patch on the back of his neck resembling a pulled-down hood.
Farming/Nature
Beautiful Migrants Are on the Wing
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When I was a kid my best friend a few houses down and I would take to the woods in the wee hours waiting for the sun to come up so we could find some birds.
Farming/Nature
Second Fiddle
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These March evenings I am straining my ears to hear the spring peepers as they call and signal that spring is around the corner. But there is another local frog who often plays second fiddle to the notorious peepers as a harbinger of spring.
Farming/Nature
Turtle Travels…vrooom!
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The warmer months in New England are turtle season, when the slow-moving reptiles cross the road, often in search of a mate or a nesting spot.
Farming/Nature
Bumblebees Buzz On
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Back when the kids were still living under our roof, for much of the spring we would have a bumblebee that would fly back and forth in front of our house close to the windows. We nicknamed her Babbity Bumble.
Farming/Nature
Water, Water, Anywhere
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As I write this, a mourning dove is taking a sip from a puddle in our driveway. His red legs look sharp against the water, and he seems to be really enjoying this impromptu water hole.
Farming/Nature
Meadows and Meadowlarks
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I have always had a soft spot in my heart for meadows. I spent much of my childhood racing through them in my cut off Levis, en route to my uncle’s pond.
Farming/Nature
Beauty in the Canopy
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I know exactly where I was when I saw my first scarlet tanager. I had been visiting my grandmother in Glastonbury and had spent the day exploring the brook and the ruins of the old gunpowder mill which was later used to process cotton, both around the corner from her house.