Through The Garden Gate
September, The Art Of Letting Go By Leslie Watkins Autumn is the time of year when nature begins to let go of the surplus accumulations of summer. Leaves wither and drop, ripe seeds are released and swollen fruit falls. The life energy of plants begins to retract with shorter days and less moisture. Plants […]
It’s Only Natural: An Owl Encounter
By Eric B. Anderson Driving up the slight incline on Rt. 44 near Bazzano’s Oil on October 30, I saw a good-sized bird rapidly descending in front of me. I applied the brakes as hard as I could, but unfortunately, the bird still bumped into the top of my cab and fell backwards onto […]
Jellyfish in Tobey Pond?
A Norfolk high school senior makes startling discovery By Katherine Kasacek Craspedacusta sowerbii? No, it’s not a galactic spaceship of science fiction movies or a fantastical monster found in books. Think more along the lines of a mop-head or Medusa, or maybe an invertebrate of the cnidarians family. In short, a jellyfish, a freshwater […]
It’s Only Natural: All You Wanted to Know About Wild Turkeys
By Leslie Watkins For the past few weeks, I’ve observed 30 to 40 wild turkeys as they pass through my yard each day; three adult females and their broods. I want them to keep coming around, but don’t want to encourage deer by putting out food. I did some research on what foods will […]
Through the Garden Gate: August, Keys to Better Gardening
By Leslie Watkins Anyone can have a garden, but very few people have great gardens. People with nice gardens can easily have better gardens. By observing a few simple practices you can expect to see improvement in a relatively short time. Expect change. Gardens are alive, and all living things will change over time. […]
Norfolk’s June 2017 Weather
A Fairly Normal June By Russell Russ June’s low temperature of 40 degrees was observed on June 3, and the high of 89 degrees was observed on June 12. With an average monthly temperature of 64.1 degrees, it was 0.8 degree above normal. There were two daily records set this month. The 89 on […]
Through The Garden Gate: July, Lunacy
By Leslie Watkins “It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.”— William Shakespeare, Othello Extreme eccentricity, intermittent insanity related to phases of the moon, and an un-soundness of mind sufficient to incapacitate one for civil transactions, are descriptions of some […]
Norfolk’s May 2017 Weather
Beneficial Rainfall By Russell Russ May’s weather was not the most pleasant. Following a much warmer than normal and very spring-like April, May was mostly cool, cloudy and wet. On the plus side, May did bring much needed rainfall to the area. It was the first month since February 2016, where the monthly precipitation […]
Marble Cliffs, Open Fields and River Walks
Visiting Bartholomew’s Cobble By Susannah Wood Less than half an hour away from Norfolk is a little gem of a place where walking ferns trail their way down marble outcrops, a miniature grove of white trillium marks a recent burn, and neo-tropical migrants fly in to rest along the banks of the Housatonic. Bartholomew’s […]
June, Ticks Suck!!!
By Leslie Watkins Ticks really, really suck. They are reported to suck on more than 300,000 Americans each year, and actual numbers are believed to be far higher. Migratory birds carry the ticks around the world and it’s becoming a pandemic. And can you guess where tick headquarters is located? New England has the greatest […]
