Norfolk’s May 2016 Weather
From Cool and Raw to Hot and Humid By Russell Russ This May was about average for weather. It was very unlike May 2015, which was near record dry and far and away the warmest May on record. This year the month started out cool and cloudy, and many days had that early spring […]
Through the Garden Gate
July, Berry Season By Leslie Watkins July is the beginning of the great berry harvest, keeping both people and birds busy as can be. Blueberries, red raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries all begin to ripen now, providing us with delectable and nutritious berries for pies, tarts, sauces and pancakes—if the berries make it back to […]
Thoughts Along the Chattleton Road at Great Mountain Forest
By Hans M. Carlson The road at Great Mountain Forest’s (GMF) west gate is a new spur off an older thoroughfare. Jean’s Trail is the intersection, and from there the old Chattleton Road once ran down behind where Rustling Winds Stables is now. It still goes south to Meekertown in the other direction, but […]
Through The Garden Gate
June, Full Tilt Gardening By Leslie Watkins June may be the busiest month in the gardener’s calendar. It’s time to get the tender vegetables into the ground. Tomato, pepper, and eggplant starts may be planted and melons, squash, beans and cucumber seeds can be direct sown. Water new plantings deeply and consistently as needed. […]
Norfolk’s Weather— April 2016
Springtime Snow and Cold By Russell Russ April’s weather was statistically fairly normal. Following a warm February and very warm March, one would have almost expected to be swimming in Tobey Pond by mid-April, but that was not the case. April’s temperatures began on a record warm note then quickly cooled off to near-record […]
Melville, the Mountain and Moby Dick
By Michael Kelly Only a writer with Herman Melville’s phantasmagorical imagination could look out his window in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts at Mount Greylock, 16 miles due north, and envision a great white whale surfacing for air in the remote seas of the South Pacific. Yet this is precisely what Melville did […]
Tobey Bog: The Centrality of Marginal Places
By Hans M. Carlson Many of the articles I’ve written for Norfolk Now have concerned the interconnectedness of the natural world and human communities. By highlighting stone walls, collier’s hearths and the remnants of early conservation work, I’ve tried to show that even the deepest woods here in the northwest corner of Conn. are […]
Norfolk’s Weather—March 2016
Record Low Winter-Season Snowfall By Russell Russ This winter’s unusual and relatively snowless pattern continued through March. Temperatures were well above normal for most of the month. Record warmth on March 9 and 10 cleared the remaining ice from most local lakes and ponds, which was over five weeks earlier than last winter. For […]
Through The Garden Gate—May 2016
Getting Your Garden Back Into Shape By Leslie Watkins Here in The Icebox of Connecticut, tradition holds that our last possible frost date is Memorial Day. Global Weirding may fool us into planting out earlier, but it is better to hold off for the tender annuals like tomatoes, basil, peppers, begonias and impatiens. There […]
