Monday, April 28, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Judy Isacoff

Writer, naturalist, educator, and garden designer Judy Isacoff has published in regional monthlies, weeklies and dailies as well as professional journals in the field of environmental education. She is a columnist for the Battery Park City, New York Broadsheet Daily and The Broadsheet, and for five years contributed a weekly astronomy column to The Berkshire Eagle. A leader in nature study and curriculum-based gardening at schools in urban and rural settings, Isacoff is passionate about cultivating the sense of wonder through her teaching and writing. Her website: NaturesTurn.org

written articles

NATURE’S TURN: Re-awakening awe

Let’s go out to greet the first ephemerals before their brief exuberance concludes as trees leaf out.

EYES TO THE SKY: We are all healthier under a starry sky

"Eyes to the Sky" comes to you as the Full Pink Moon, the first full moon after the vernal equinox, rises tonight, April 12.

NATURE’S TURN: Contribute to the vitality of the natural world — plant natives, uproot invasives Resources & Events Issue

In the wild, find a breathtaking expanse of hobblebush on the Bear Mountain Trail about half a mile from the East Street trailhead in Mount Washington.

EYES TO THE SKY: Don’t sleep on this — Total eclipse of the moon creates Blood Moon March 13 and 14

"During a total lunar eclipse the Moon takes on a variety of colors, the most obvious be-ing an orange tinge. This is an enthralling event not to be missed." — StarryNight7

NATURE’S TURN: Biodiversity, invasive species, and we the people

"We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." — President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

NATURE’S TURN: Blizzard paints the high country

Every branch, twig, and evergreen leaf sported a white brushstroke before snow changed to freezing rain.

EYES TO THE SKY: Planet Venus, the Evening Star, closest, brightest mid-February

At peak magnitude, seek out the goddess of love planet in a clear blue sky in the west-southwest during daylight hours, being extremely careful to keep eyes diverted from the sun.

NATURE’S TURN: Turning the corner to spring — a Valentine for Earth

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community.” — Aldo Leopold

EYES TO THE SKY: Contemplate the universe, planets in our sky, space for children in our lives

Let’s turn to the grandeur of our view of night skies away from light pollution.

NATURE’S TURN: Dynamic winter designs in snow, treetops

The first porcupine in a string of winter squatters and the first to enter right beside the doorstep to my home, this entitled individual even tread onto and then sidled sideways off the edge of the lowest steppingstone to my front door to reach the crawlspace.

EYES TO THE SKY: Shortest day, longest night of the year. Four-planet evenings.

The shortest days, longest nights of the year continue from this first day of winter in the northern hemisphere. Only seconds are gained until the end of December.

NATURE’S TURN: Snow prevails above all else as drought persists

Western Massachusetts and parts of neighboring Connecticut and New York are designated Severe Drought by U.S. Drought Monitor, Dec. 3, 2024.

EYES TO THE SKY: Early evening string of planets

I enjoy marking day’s end, beginning of nighttime, with a glance to the dazzling white Evening Star low in the south-southwest.

NATURE’S TURN: Good medicine

In the garden, when a melon harvest was complete at the end of August and potatoes dug in early September, the bare ground was sown to cover crops of peas and oats.

EYES TO THE SKY: Awe-inspiring Milky Way nights. Summer stars set

We are like the starry-eyed child in the picture above.
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The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.