What a bad winter for ice! The cold weather began rather early; but after an initial snowy period the snow disappeared until recently. Unfortunately along with the dramatic rises and drops in the temperature we got quite a bit of rain. And when the resulting standing water froze it produced… Continue reading
Happy New Year to everyone in Cavan-Monaghan! On the last Saturday of the old year I felt the need of a walk and so, in the late afternoon, I headed out to walk the Baxter Creek Trail from the Millbrook fairgrounds to Medd’s Mountain Park. It was a frigid but… Continue reading
On the night of November 23 I watched a beaver soar high into the sky from behind Medd’s Mountain. It rose silently, purposefully, and climbed into the starry night over the mill pond. In the unseasonably frosty air its face, turned toward me, was cold and bright and so big… Continue reading
A team of film-makers, runners, and pollinator advocates are working on a new documentary to tell the story of the flight of the monarch butterfly seen through the eyes of ultra-runners who will follow a similar path of 4,200 km from Peterborough to Mexico next fall. Entitled The Monarch Ultra,… Continue reading
First off, a big thank-you and well done! to Lisa Stefaniak for her splendid column last month on Monarch butterflies, “What’s in a Weed?” I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you noticed that it was a guest author! Most of our native trees are pretty well leafless… Continue reading
As October looms, we have just left behind what anyone with functioning sweat glands must agree was a very hot summer. As I write this, on the first official day of autumn, two words perfectly evoke the new feeling in the air and the new quality in the sunlight: sweater… Continue reading
When the Millbrook Valley Trails (MVT) Master Plan was first drafted back in 2010, a connecting link to the Ganaraska Forest trails was included as one of the ambitious plans that the committee had hoped to someday take on. The challenge has always been a limited workforce of volunteers… Continue reading
Gardeners don’t have it easy. There is always something that has us fretting. The predation of the fruit on my apple trees is one of those things. Squirrels and chipmunks are the usual felons but today I saw a Blue Jay pecking viciously and repeatedly at one of my apples…. Continue reading
Compass Early Learning and Care and Millbrook Valley Trails hosted an evening walk for preschoolers, their families, and educators on April 24, 2018. Compass educator Norma Curtis rallied 36 eager walkers from childcare campuses in 3 adjoining counties. For many it was their first visit to Millbrook. And for… Continue reading
