Tracking the Present

Eastern Yellow Robin

For the Birds

You may already have heard about this staggering conclusion of a recent study — over the last half century, some 25 percent of birds in North America have vanished. Those hardest hit have been birds that depend on grasslands —...

Nature Prescription

For the last year, doctors on Scotland’s Shetland Islands have been given the OK to treat patients with nature. The idea for these “green prescriptions” — whether going for a walk, beachcombing or birdwatching — takes its cue from the...
Nfamara Badjie working in his rice farm (photo by John Munson, courtesy of Cornell University)

African Transplanting

Farmer Nfamara Badjie is trying something that hasn’t been done in the Hudson Valley in more than 180 years — growing rice. While Henry Warner failed in his attempt to establish rice paddies in Constitution Marsh in the 1830s, Badjie...
peregrine falcons

Bird’s-eye View

In addition to facilitating travel across the Hudson River’s Tappan Zee, the New NY Bridge offers a seasonal home to peregrine falcons. The state Thruway Authority provided a nest box for a couple of the endangered birds to raise their...
Pumpkin Apple Soup

Smashing Pumpkins

When helping your kiddoes choose a pumpkin for jack-o’-lantern carving —here’s a list of the valley’s top pumpkin patches—pick up an extra and make this tasty seasonal soup.  As the recipe shows, pumpkins are good for more than pies. Here...
spaghetti squash

Nature’s Pasta

Local farmers markets now contain a bumper crop of spaghetti squash. True to its name, it tastes like pasta—yet it has none of the calories and lots more nutrients. However, also like pasta, it requires some “dressing up” to make...
osage orange

Strange Fruit

Now’s the time to spot one of the most unusual fruits found in the Hudson Valley — the Osage orange. FYI, it’s not edible and it’s not an orange. It’s actually a member of the mulberry family. Originally native to...