· Outdoor Recreation
Hiking during hunting season: blaze orange, timing and common sense
Fall woods are shared with hunters. A practical checklist for hikers covering blaze orange, timing, dogs, noise, where hunting happens and simple courtesy.
The Journal
Every piece we have published, newest first: field notes, explainers and practical guides on water, air, wildlife and life outdoors. 27 pieces so far.
· Sustainable Living
How much firewood do you need for winter? Cords, face cords, ricks
How much firewood you need depends on climate, house, stove and how much you rely on wood. Here's how to size a winter supply in cords and measure a delivery.
· Water & Rivers
What fallen leaves do in a creek: inside the leaf-pack food web
Autumn leaves that fall into a creek feed a whole food web. How leaf packs form, who eats them, why the tree species matters, and how to look inside one.
· Air & Climate
Battery backup for a gas furnace: best power stations, sizing, hookup
Battery backup for a gas furnace: a power station runs the blower and controls in an outage. Size it from the rating plate; hook it up via a transfer switch.
· Sustainable Living
Wood stove accessories worth owning, and the ones you can skip
The wood stove accessories that earn their keep: a moisture meter, a stove thermometer, CO alarms, a metal ash can and a yearly sweep. The rest is optional.
· Air & Climate
What radon level is safe? Reading 4 pCi/L, 2 pCi/L and 100 Bq/m³
No radon level is known to be risk-free. What the EPA's 4 and 2 pCi/L mean, how WHO, Canadian and EU limits convert, and what to do with your own result.
· Water & Rivers
How to shock a well: bleach amounts, contact time and flushing
To shock a well, mix plain bleach into the standing water to 50 to 200 ppm, draw it to every tap, wait 12 to 24 hours, flush it out and retest for bacteria.
· Water & Rivers
Best well water test kit: strips, home kits or a certified lab?
The best well water test kit is a pairing: a home screen for quick checks and a certified lab for bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and lead. Here is how to choose.
· Sustainable Living
How to tell if firewood is seasoned: signs, a meter and the wait
Seasoned firewood reads under 20% on a pin meter at a fresh split face. Without one, look for cracked grey ends, loose bark, light weight and a hollow knock.
· Air & Climate
Best radon detector for a home: charcoal kit, alpha-track or monitor
The best radon detector depends on the question: a charcoal kit for a quick lab result, alpha-track for a yearly average, a monitor for watching changes.
· Air & Climate
Flash floods in steep terrain, explained: rain, rock and runoff
Why steep, narrow valleys turn heavy rain into sudden floods: stalled storms, thin soils, fast runoff, the forecast terms to know and how to stay safe.
· Community & Lifestyle
Rail-trails and the small-town comeback along old railroad grades
How abandoned railroad lines became trails, why some trail towns thrive while others stall, and a practical checklist for riding a long rail-trail well.