by George Jacobi Not long ago, Joshua’s Trust past President Rob Beach and I had a conversation within which he wished he could see where the natural world ended up after another human lifetime, to compare it with the changes during his own. Alas, we are afforded but a brief glimpse of environmental evolution in […]

by George Jacobi Like they do every October, Orionid meteors decorate the night sky over the Mt. Hope River bridge. Winding Route 89 encourages slow car travel, and outside of the yips of coyotes, it’s a “quiet corner”. No one occupies the Church Farm anymore. Not even a cow or sheep remains. But this place […]

by Kailyn Murphy Itchy, sneezy, wet, buggy, dirty, too hot, too cold…these are the words we adults often use to describe being outside, or rather why we don’t want to be. But for kids (or at least my toddler), the word to describe being outside is: fun.  At the beginning of this year I was […]

I hope this response to Michelle’s heartfelt personal essay inspires more of the same from readers. I too found it rewarding to reconsider my “Inspired by Nature” moments, and I think you will feel the same about yours. I moved to western Connecticut when I turned 5, living a year with my mother’s father while […]

It’s been said that the only difference between a weed and a flower is the value we place upon it. I’ll be the first to admit that my own evolution of thought regarding certain plants has shifted over the years as I’ve learned more about the natural world around me. There is one plant, however […]

By John Hankins, August 2023 When I was eight-years old I somehow got in my head that the government had a program that would reimburse land-owners $100 per acre for thinning their forest stands.  I don’t know where this idea came from, but my parents didn’t discourage me from believing this odd theory and from […]

I just wanted to see more of the brook. Down my back hill to the west runs one of the numerous Connecticut waterways named Cider Mill Brook (doesn’t every town have one?). To be honest, the valley view is half the reason I bought the property. You’ve been treated to some of my animal neighbors […]

Meadow Wind Sitting on a low, broad stone today, looking at a hodgepodge of a stone wall and, beyond that, meadow, I am taken back to the solace of a childhood meadow in Vermont. My brother, sister, and I crossed a similar wall to get to it. So little was I that I was engulfed […]

Late April still feels empty here in the Dorothy Goodwin Reserve. We are poised on the cusp of spring, tree buds just beginning to pop. No migrant birds have yet arrived to fill the woods with warbler song. (I like these colorful yearly migrants: keep the border open.) Just one Red-bellied Woodpecker follows me, bagpiping […]