Jim Neureuther and his wife, Donna, meet Berkshire naturalist Thom Smith in Lanesborough and invite him to view the town’s Arboretum at Laston Memorial Park, just up past The Old Forge on Route 7.
Read article
Pitcher plants and wild bloom iris in Hawley Bog
Half a mile from the trailhead, the boardwalk heads into ferns almost as tall as I am, and I’ve only seen a place like this once or twice before. It’s been eight years since I came to Hawley Bog.
Read article
How do we respond as Massachusetts starts to reopen?
The governor’s announcement this week allows some local places to begin to reopen, and it raises questions for all of us as. And as I talk with you about the community, it raises questions for me.
Read article
How do we garden in the pandemic?
“… For example, snapdragon flowers will only open if stepped on by a bee of just the right weight.” Wing and a Prayer native plant nursery offers thoughts on gardening, even in the pandemic, and I’m looking for local places where I can find seedlings.
Read article
Coming round the mountain at Pleasant Valley
It was a Saturday in the middle of May, and the day was warm in the sun, and I decided to take a walk at Mass Audubon’s Pleasant Valley Sanctuary in Lenox. It didn’t go as planned — gloriously.
Read article
Coltsfoot blooms in early spring
The first adventuresome blossoms of the tiny yellow dandelion mimic we call coltsfoot come up in March, and a April settles in, masses will appear along the banks of gravel roads.
Read article
Thom Smith looks for giants — old growth trees
Old growth woods have never been harvested. As much as 70 percent of the Berkshires’ woods were cut down between the arrival of the first European colonists and the Civil War — but in pockets, often in hard-to-reach places, giant trees still grow.
Read article
10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival warms up downtown
The 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival is in town, and Pittsfield is at play. Every year in late February, downtown Pittsfield holds a weeklong celebration with art and music, new plays, independent film and more.
Read article
Berkshire birders join in the global Great Backyard Bird Count
On February 14 to 17, some 32 million people around the world will join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, and Berkshire birders will share the quest.
Read article
Movement and light come to the Berkshires midway between winter and spring (By the Way column)
Sunday is midwinter, halfway between the first day of winter and the first day of spring, and in the Berkshires energy is stirring in performances like Vuyani Dance Company’s Cion, on college campuses and in the woods.
Read article