The Tree Spirits
The Tree Spirits
|Brent Burkett
The Tree Spirits A glowing log, a badly timed lantern, and a tree with a remarkably busy afterlife. Otto found a fallen tree glowing green in the dark, which is... Read more...
The Trees Are Whispering Again
The Trees Are Whispering Again
|Brent Burkett
The Trees Are Whispering Again The forest is exchanging information. Otto is translating. Those are not the same activity. Otto stopped in the middle of the trail and asked for... Read more...
The Late-Summer Wardrobe Mystery
The Late-Summer Wardrobe Mystery
|Brent Burkett
The Late-Summer Wardrobe Mystery Echo answered the question in the first thirty seconds. The investigation continued anyway. Otto found feathers under the hollow tree. Several of them. They were glossy,... Read more...
The First-Rain Reopening
The First-Rain Reopening
|Brent Burkett
The First-Rain Reopening The forest floor did not close for the summer. It just stopped taking visitors. The first rain came after six dry weeks, and Otto handled it with... Read more...
The Hummingbird Farewell Committee
The Hummingbird Farewell Committee
|Brent Burkett
The Hummingbird Farewell Committee Why four inches of permanent jurisdiction does not need a going-away party Late summer had arrived in the forest, and Otto was watching for signs of... Read more...
The Premature Autumn Emergency
The Premature Autumn Emergency
|Brent Burkett
The Premature Autumn Emergency Why a maple can drop yellow leaves in August without moving autumn forward by six weeks The first yellow leaf of late summer did not fall... Read more...
Not All Cedars are Cedars
Not All Cedars are Cedars
|Brent Burkett
Not All Cedars Are Cedars Why a forest can be full of cedars without containing a single true cedar Echo made the mistake of saying one word. “Cedar.” There are... Read more...
The Mulch Argument
The Mulch Argument
|Brent Burkett
The Mulch Argument Why “more is better” stops being true somewhere around fourteen inches Otto gives good gardening advice. This is not in dispute. He reads carefully. He tests things.... Read more...
The Unauthorized Irrigation Department
The Unauthorized Irrigation Department
|Brent Burkett
The Unauthorized Irrigation Department Why a birdbath rarely keeps its water where you put it There are certain mysteries a garden offers up regularly. A chewed leaf. A missing strawberry.... Read more...
The Missing Cone
The Missing Cone
|Brent Burkett
The Missing Cone Otto had come down the ridge trail to look at fungus. Instead, he was conscripted. A Douglas squirrel stood on top of the midden with his tail... Read more...
The Cone Inventory
The Cone Inventory
|Brent Burkett
The Cone Inventory Some things in the forest ask to be investigated. A track pressed into stream mud. A fungus shouldering out of a rotten stump. A scatter of feathers... Read more...
The Banana Slug Summer Bunker
The Banana Slug Summer Bunker
|Brent Burkett
The Banana Slug Summer Bunker By midafternoon, the trail had taken on its late-summer personality: bright, dusty and slightly overcooked. Douglas-firs climbed into a cloudless August sky. Sword ferns curled... Read more...