ALIVE IN THE FOREST — Spring 2020
IN THIS ISSUE: Stay-at-home doesn’t mean stay-indoors. Now is the perfect time to listen and observe deeply in your nearby forest, and to engage in careful forest conservation practices. In this issue, you can explore spring wildflowers on a virtual walk with herbalist Ali Zimmer, learn to make ramial mulch, and dip into the nighttime escapades of local spotted salamanders.
Medicinal & Edible Spring Ephemerals:
A virtual forest walk with herbalist Ali Zimmer
Check out this 11-minute video, our first in a series of virtual forest walks with herbalist and naturalist Ali Zimmer. She’ll introduce you to four spring wildflowers blooming now in Vermont’s Center-West Ecoregion and describe their uses in food and medicine.
Apple Tree Pruning:
Making Ramial Mulch
Last week, VFF executive director and conservation forester David Brynn had three of the white ash trees in his family forest inoculated against emerald ash borer.
In his latest blog he describes the inoculation process, his reasons for inoculating, and the potential for accessing low-cost inoculation by working collectively.
One Dark and Rainy Night:
Up Close with Spotted Salamanders
Through VFF’s Colby Hill Ecological Project, herpetologist Jim Andrews has monitored amphibian populations at four small ponds in Lincoln. On a recent rainy night, we had the thrill of witnessing the migration of spotted salamanders to one of those ponds.
Chainsaw Training Courses, Autumn 2020
We had to cancel our spring 2020 Game of Logging classes, but we’ve rescheduled them for the fall. Check out our new line-up. In addition to Game of Logging Levels 1-3, we’re also offering a new course, Basic Chainsaw Use and Safety for Beginners.
