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Just Our Nature - news, updates and insights

Pumpkin Patch Pollinators

By Samantha Haab on
With the colder weather, the changing colors of the soon-to-be-orphaned tree leaves, and the emergence of Halloween decorations throughout the North Country, it is safe to say that fall has officially arrived. As we turn up our thermostats and begrudgingly get out our winter clothes (did we really ever stash them away?), we can look forward to indulging in such autumnal delicacies as pumpkin…

Fall Migrants

By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
What can cruise at an altitude of 29,000 feet, is a beloved icon of the great outdoors, and yet can be the bane of lawn lovers? It’s the honking harbinger of advancing autumn and coming cold (and sometimes, bad alliteration), the Canada goose. The familiar autumn voices of Canada geese overhead can at once evoke the melancholy of a passing summer and the anticipation of a bracing new season of…

Maple Monitoring at Colton-Pierrepont

By Jennifer Morrill on
Blog: In the Schools
During the month of September, students from Colton-Pierrepont Central School participated in the Monitor My Maple Project through Nature Up North.  Through this citizen science project, students at different grade levels are asked to monitor the phenology of the maple trees around campus over the course of several weeks.  Students in the sixth grade participated in the Monitor My Maple project…

Holey Maple Leaves

By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
Only a joker would argue that plant breeders have secretly crossed our beloved sugar maples with Swiss cheese, but given the way this year’s maple leaves are riddled with mysterious holes, it almost seems a plausible explanation. Beginning in August, near-perfect circles of leaf tissue have gone missing from sugar maples, and from other trees to a lesser extent, as if swarms of Hole-Punch Fairies…

Early Fall Color Changes

By Justin Dalaba on
Blog: Just Our Nature
  Some of my most vivid childhood memories involve plopping into that pile of red, yellow and brown fallen leaves neatly gathered into a mound by my dad.  I remember running off the school bus in the golden afternoon sun to roll around in the yard amidst the unforgettable sound of crunching leaves and smell of fall decay.  As carefree kids, we thought little of the hard work the trees were doing…

A Bounty of Bees in our North Country Gardens

European honeybee. Photo:  Jennifer Berbich.
By Samantha Haab on
Blog: Just Our Nature
The buzzing of bees is as much a sound of summer in the North Country as is the drone of cicadas or the nighttime call of frogs. It is, hopefully, a common sound we hear outside during the summer and fall months, but just what kinds of bees are in our gardens and why should we care? We’re all familiar with honey bees and the larger, more conspicuous bumble bees, but what many people fail to…
Pollinator pan traps in a vegetable garden. Photo: Samantha Haab Colorful pan traps mimic flowers to attract pollinators. Photo: Samantha Haab

Carry Wood, Boil Water

By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
  How much are you willing to pay to boil water? I don’t mean to make coffee or cook pasta, but for the heck of it. Would you spend $200 to $600 annually just to let off some steam? Probably not, right? But if you heat with wood, you already shell out hard-earned money each year to boil water for no practical reason. Every drop of moisture in your firewood costs you money as well as effort, and…

Unwelcome Decorations

By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
What’s round to oval-shaped, mostly orange, and is a common sight leading up to Halloween? Everyone knows the answer to that: Harmonia axyridis, obviously. Better known as the multicolored Asian lady beetle, this insect, while beneficial to gardens, is no treat when it masses by the hundreds on, and inside, homes in the fall. Lady beetles, or lady bugs, are the darlings of small children…

Golden Rod

By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
  While most plants respond to late summer’s shorter days by starting to wind down their business for the season, goldenrod is a “short-day” plant, the kind that is stimulated to bloom by waning day length. It’s a perennial in the aster family, and is widespread across North America. We have something on the order of 130 species of goldenrod in the genus Solidago. As one of the most abundant…

Hot Sounds of Summer: Cicadas

Photo: Creative Commons LadyDragonflyCC
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our Nature
Probably everyone has a sound they connect with high summer. For me, nothing says “August” like the drone of a cicada, its song a miniature buzz saw that cuts across a hot afternoon, undulating a bit and then dropping off near the end of its arc. Cicadas are stout, ancient-looking bugs with bulgy eyes and clear wings. While the largest species is about three inches long with a seven-inch wingspan…
Photo: Creative Commons Ziva & Amir