Do You Know the Pawpaw Tree?
Pawpaw is a fruit that grows in the woods in our area.
Ants Ants Revolution
Ants are everywhere. In fact, if you took the total mass of all the ants on Earth, it would far exceed the total mass of all the people. But not all ants are created equal. While black ants and carpenter ants are common anywhere and normally inoffensive, there is one kind of ant that
Fire and Lightning
Firefly. Lightning bug. Call them whatever name you want, these insects (actually a type of beetle, but then again, who’s counting?) are an indispensable part of summer across the United States. Children make games of catching them, and for adults, nothing sets the mood for a romantic outdoor dinner like a swarm of glowing
Weather or Not
Not too long ago, seasons were clearly defined things. Winter was cold. Spring was warm. Summer was hot. Autumn was cool. Nowadays, however, man-made climate change has made telling the seasons apart and predicting what the weather will be a real headache—especially for farmers. In the space of one month, we might have snow,
Share Your Garden With Wildlife
What do you think of when you think of a garden? Perhaps a neat, orderly arrangement of flowers, or maybe rows and rows of fruits and vegetables? Whatever you think of, you probably don’t think of it as a wildlife habitat first and foremost. Of course, that doesn’t need to be the case. After
The Dirt on Decomposers
Think about soil for a moment: the brown, lumpy, crusty stuff that makes up the ground you walk on. Have you ever wondered where it all comes from? Soil is the end result of a process called decomposition, which is the breakdown of organic material (dead plants and animals) by organisms called decomposers. When
Night Owls
Perhaps you’ve heard one when you were in bed. Or maybe you were lucky enough to see one while you were walking in the evening. Few animals are more emblematic of the night than owls. We associate owls with mystery and wisdom—and, in the past, with magic and witchcraft. But these superstitions obscure much