Fourth Week of September

Beaked hazelnuts are ripe and, though small, are edible. Squirrels and chipmunks are likely to get to them before you do. Moose, deer, hare, rabbit, and beaver eat other parts of this shrub.  

Canada geese are on the wing.

Crush a few leaves of sweet fern, a shrub of dry or sandy soils, to recapture the fragrance of summer.

These listing are based on observations and reports in our home territory at about 1,000 feet in elevation in central Vermont and are approximate. Events may occur earlier or later, depending on your latitude, elevation - and the weather. 

Grab a handful of soil. Go ahead, step outside and scoop up a small amount in your hand. It's hard to imagine all that's going on in there. You're holding trillions of creatures, though that's just an estimate. Nobody has done the actual counting...

Download the Article  

It's apple-picking time! Most of your students have likely experienced the joys of apple picking at local orchards. They are probably less familiar with the challenges to producing those picture-perfect orchard apples. Commercial apple production touches on a number of ecological, ethical, and social issues, including wild bee decline, pesticide usage, and migrant labor for harvest. Apple scab is just one of many pests that plague apple production. Help your students learn more about the apple-growing process. Plan a visit to a local orchard. Before you go, have students generate questions about apple growing. While at the orchard, encourage them to seek answers to as many of those questions as possible. After students have been immersed in the complex issues surrounding apple production, take them into the orchard for picking - they're sure to view the apples in a whole new light.

Back in the classroom, have students research and report on some facet of apple production - whether focusing on a specific issue, like organic versus non-organic pesticide usage, or on a broader story, like apple tree care throughout the year, from winter pruning through autumn harvest.  

Website: Vermont Apples is a non-profit organization promoting apple growing in Vermont. They many teaching resources, including information on topics like integrated pest management, history of Vermont apple growing, and an apple-growing fact sheet. Visit www.vermontapples.org. 

The University of Vermont hosts a website on organic apple production, 

http://www.uvm.edu/~organica/index.html, with links to many information sources.

Download the Teacher's Guide 

(This activity is on page 4)

Download the Article:

Apple Scab 

Click here for the complete Teacher's Guide archive! 

Bennington County forester Chris Stone took this picture on Friday, September 16. Well? 

Every other week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you'll be eligible to win a copy of The Outside Story, a paperback collection of our Outside Story newspaper columns. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner's name, will appear in next week's column.