Wildwood Notes

Although there are few in the animal world whom I look on with disfavor, pigeons are one of them. While I'm (perhaps unreasonably)...

Given our land-based way of life, country people around the world are uniquely situated to understand the complexities involved in saving...

I’ll admit it. I’m a huge fan of Hallmark movies. The beautiful settings. The lightweight plot-lines. The sweet romances. Despite...

Many years ago a north country girl was caught and feeling rather lost in the realms of the big city. Having moved to Duluth from a land...

Although it's controversial, there are many who claim ants can predict heavy rainfall. Ever since hearing of this, I've tried to keep a...

Like so many others who enjoy such events, I kept an eye on this week’s lunar eclipse. We missed the beginnings but when we first...

Last weekend, an icestorm swept through Michigan's Upper Peninsula leaving a delicate, ephemeral world in its wake. It's difficult to...

A cold winter’s day will find me huddled inside, hot cocoa in hand, watching through the window as snowy winds blow fiercely through the...

As the blustery cold weather of the winter season heralds its own arrival in the winds knocking at my door, it seems a good time to...

From an October walk after an Anishinaabe-gichigami fog Colorful leaves crinkle underfoot on woodland paths. Crows delight in the great...

A walk on the bogside of a northern inland lake is unlike any other. The spicy damp smell. Cold water seeping up between your toes,...

Red Cliff tribal member Walt Bresette often reminded us, “We have not yet mourned our pines.” For several decades at the turn of the...

Autumn is falling slowly on the north country this year. The maple’s red still at first blush. Cherry’s gold just begun. The seed...

In my experience, most autumns the golden glow in the forest that is cast overhead by the wild cherry leaves begins in earnest by mid- to...

At first blush, a trout stream and a wildflower meadow don’t appear to be particularly related. Unless of course the former meanders...

Several of the courses I teach are based on the Anishinaabe concept of “kinomaage.” In the language the word is translated as...

For the last nearly twenty years, we’ve had many wild berries on our land from wild strawberries to blueberries to raspberries to...