Debbie Philp

Resilience: the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens (Merriam-Webster) In my last post, muddy and buggy wetlands were something people wanted to change so the land would be usable for recreation or development. What humans fail to notice, however, is the value of unaltered wetlands in keeping us safe and helping us recover when…

For my Druidic studies I have been reading books about my local ecology. I couldn’t resist the crossover with my work with turtles, so my current read is The Ecology, Exploitation, and Conservation of River Turtles by Don and Edward Moll. In there is a section on wetlands. There are four types of wetlands in the Adirondacks: marshes, bogs, fens,…

The valley I live in is known as “the banana belt of the Adirondacks.” The weather is generally milder than that of the mountains which surround us. While they do not at higher elevations, red oaks grow here. The land surrounding my house, however, is devoid of oaks. There are a few down the road and there are large stands…