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Will Climate Change Affect Maple Sugaring?

As I reflect on this past weekend's 60+ degree days, it's hard to imagine climate change not affecting maple sugaring since it is so dependent on weather. I am often asked why we tap our maple trees in the winter; wouldn't it be more enjoyable hiking out to check the buckets and tap the trees when it is 60 degrees? It most definitely would be; however, it is the alternating freezing and thawing cycle that occurs in late winter that controls the sap flow.

Studi...

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Interconnectedness


"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
John Muir,  My First Summer in the Sierra 1869


I want to talk about lakes, and lawns.  Ra...

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Bonsai, The Living Art

First of all, it's pronounced "bone-sigh," not banzai. Bonsai means "potted plant" in Japanese, an appropriately understated description of a great – and greatly misunderstood – art form. Banzai, on the other hand, is a Japanese war cry, derived from the phrase "may you live ten thousand years." It seems a little counterintuitive to wish your enemy ten millenia of life, but in fact, this wish was intended for their emperor. The English equivalent might be "God save the king". What ever ba...

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