Sundays are for Fishing

 Where do you want to go fishing? "Any place in Vermont" was my reply, and that's how we ended up walking down Jacks Brook with fishing gear in tow. One minute I was putting worms in the back of the Jeep and five minutes later I was taking them back out again. To people who know the area well we must have seemed somewhat peculiar unloading our gear on the side of the road. Jacks Brook flows under 142 through a small culvert between Tyler Hill rd and a cemetery on its way to the river. What we found picking our way through that muddy narrow ravine, reminded me that Vernon is just as good a place to adventure as "anyplace" Vermont.

I'll show you more of Jacks Brook later because that's when I once again tested my bone density. On a trail for the first time, nothing ever goes exactly as expected, and to our dismay we found that at the opposite end of Jacks Brook is a second culvert and a steep climb. It seems that both Wayne and I had forgotten about the train tracks that separated us from our destination. It's an unwritten rule of the woods to pretend that these sorts of things are entirely planned. I suppose this is exactly why Wayne and I typically spend the end of the day discussing exactly where it all went wrong. 

I don't know how it is that Wayne always gets so far ahead of me! 

Well it looks like Wayne in his hurry to get up there, missed this little gem.

 Where did Wayne go?

This tree was fun climbing over with fishing gear in hand.

Things started to look familiar at the top.

Clearly our journey on Jacks Brook had come to an end as there wasn't a chance that I was attempting the bank on the other side of the tracks. Oh I promise you, the brook is down there somewhere in this picture.

A change in plans had us walking up the tracks to Miller's Cove which is a perfect spot on a perfect day to do a little fishing. The thing about being adults with no children at home is that we get to decide when the weekend chores and errands are finished. The difficult thing about being an adult with no children at home is wishing that we had spent more time fishing with them instead of doing chores and errands. We were welcomed by a beautiful family of Canada geese and later by a wary beaver.

Do you see that dark spot in the clouds? I hadn't noticed it until posting it. I wondered if I had gotten dirt on my lens, but it only shows up on the next two photos. 

I don't have the patience to repair equipment, but Wayne doesn't seem to mind. The last time we went fishing below the dam, he pulled in another fisherman's line and gained a lure in the bargain. A few casts later and the river claimed his favorite lure. It's a good thing that Father's Day isn't too far off.

There are a lot of fishermen who have spent years honing their skills. My brother Doug has ten poles and a bass boat. My brother Charles won a tournament on Lake Champlain with a 12lb Bowfin. I prefer to use a bobber and worms when I fish, it reminds me of my childhood days fishing on Lake Champlain with my grandmother's bamboo pole and no reel. I once caught a Freshwater Drum on one of those poles, mostly I caught Rock Bass, Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch. Wayne likes lures and today he chose a froglike surface lure. I can't help but think about a time when we tied a fishing line with a bobber and worm on it to the dock ladder for our daughter Kayden who then caught a really big bass. I still have Helen's list of all the fish she caught as a kid. I couldn't tell you about the biggest fish I ever caught or how many, but these stories I remember. 

Several boaters traced the bank with rods casting under the trees. I had my eye on a weedy patch on the opposite side of the landing where Jacks Brook's and the river's current merged but Wayne had already claimed it while I was texting pictures to the kids.

I found my opportunity to move into Wayne's spot by way of invitation from the residents there. 

Canada geese in Millers Cove

By the looks of it's mouth, this Perch had been caught more than a couple of times, I tossed it back in after Wayne took our picture. 

Rain clouds had been playing cat and mouse with us since we arrived and it appeared that our luck was starting to run out. With wet shirts and gear, we decided that it was time to head out.

Wayne thought that it would be a good idea to cut through the cemetery and avoid that steep bank again. I wasn't about to be caught walking through a cemetery with fishing gear, so once again I convinced Wayne to take the wrong trail. On the way up the bank, it had given way under our feet and so Wayne warned me to be cautious on the way down. I was navigating fairly well with a large stick that I had found to be my third foot. I even informed Wayne that I would be the first to go down the steepest part near the bottom and then hand up my stick to him.  I clearly remember standing on riprap purposefully positioning my stick and then three days later informing my Physical Therapist that I had taken another fall on the trail.

 

At first I could actually see myself starting to fall, then the most dreadful thought crossed my mind! Wayne's phone was in my pocket and Jacks Brook was directly below me. When I hit, I hit hard; but I had lost Wayne's phone to the river before and I wasn't going to have that happen again. I heard Wayne yell, "Norma are you alright!" My back, my ribs, my shoulder my arm, my stomach, my hip, just about everything had hit the rocks and I was lying in the brook attempting to push myself up. No, I wasn't alright but got to my feet and fished through my soaked pockets looking for his phone. 

My Physical Therapist questioned me again on why I thought I had taken so many falls in the past year ( I was seeing her for a torn bicep from our canoeing incident). Wayne informs me that my center of gravity has shifted with age. Gravity must be the answer. 

Aside from being a poor choice for those interested in fishing, Jacks Brook is an interesting place visited by deer as evidenced by numerous tracks along the brook. There is also an abundance of interesting plants like the Jack In The Pulpit posted earlier, ferns and this plant that I don't know the identity of yet.

Water in VT is a public trust and people are within their rights to be within the low water marks. Jacks Brook is not posted private land, though there is a house being built above the brook. Wayne and I did our best to stick close to the waterway. 

 

It's almost a week after that I am writing this blog, tomorrow is Sunday. I'm still very sore from last weeks expedition and Wayne's phone is intact. I also survived the embarrassment of emerging from Jacks Brook soaking wet, carrying fishing gear and knowing once again that Wayne's trail pick would have been the better bet.  In the end, I highly recommend casting a line at Miller's Cove on a Sunday with your family and I recommend visiting Jacks Brook; but perhaps make it two separate adventures.  Oh, and one more thing Martin, do you suppose Jacks Brook is named for the plant found there? -Norma Manning

 Full text of,  A history of the town of Northfield, MA (1875) in which Jack's Brook is identified under Introduction 9.

The Falls on Island Meadow Brook

 If you're in search of a waterfall without the long hike in, where Island Meadow Brook empties into the Connecticut River may be a perfect outing for you. However, if you relish a reward at the end of a longer hike, then I encourage you to pick up the Green VAST trail that connects to the Vernon Rec trails. Either way, I think that you will agree that these falls are worth checking out. Before we get started, if you are the sort who loves a good back story to an area prior to visiting, I suggest that you read Volume five of The Vermont Historical Gazetteer, The Towns of Windham County, Vernon, 1861

A couple of notes before you go; though a short walk to the falls, some areas are steep and the ground is covered with loose leaves. Make certain that you have appropriate footwear prior to entering the area and I recommend trekking poles. This may not be the place to explore with small children. Additionally, this area is not posted (yet) so please respect it so that its owners keep it open. 

When traveling south on 142, just past Vernon Green is the north end of Stebbins Road on the left. On Stebbins Rd, look for the fire pond on your right with a small pull off. Directly across the road from the pond's damn is a worn path to the left of the ravine which leads to the falls. This path will give you a vantage point above the brook and falls. On the way back we walked along the brook.

A look down river from where the falls empty into it.

An Ideal location for a selfie with my daughter Helen

A steep narrow path perhaps made by fishermen goes down to the river. 

The river current and level varies depending on the hydroelectric plant's outflow from up river.

We first noticed these falls in August of 2020 while canoeing from the Vernon Damn towards Stebbins Island. On that day we lost our canoe when we capsized after being forced up onto a fallen cottonwood tree. Unfortunately, I also lost Wayne's cell phone and all of my pictures of the falls during that event. You can read about that adventure in Our Lifejackets Saved Us.  

We decided to descend the bank and walk along the brook's on the way back to Stebbins road. 

Eastern Hemlock is a major tree in south eastern VT and makes up much of the forested land here in Vernon.  I was alarmed to see the high level of infestation of  Hemlock Wooly Adelgid in this area. This insect kills Hemlock trees in four to six years by feeding on it's sap. Given that it has also been found in the Town Forest, I hope that Vernon has a plan to save our trees. 

Eastern Hemlock are the predominant tree around the falls.

I turned around to take a last look at the river and was surprised at how the view changed dramatically from viewing at brook level versus looking down on them from the top of the ravine.

A marker on the opposite bank

A leg bone from a deer

Deer hide

As I mentioned above, this area comes with noted history, some of which involves conflict between Native American's and the settlers here. This story begins in the Gazetteer with, "Aug 20, 1756 Capt Joseph Stebbins of Hinsdale (Now Vernon)... were harvesting wheat upon his farm" Abby Maria Hemenway author of The Gazetteer, also retells in the same paragraph, the finding of a Native American skeleton unearthed in this area.*

Weather you are looking for a pleasant place from which to view the river, a fishing spot, or perhaps interested in imagining the life of the indigenous people and settlers of Vernon, this nature find has something for everyone. -Norma Manning

Resources:

* Vermont Historical Gazetteer, Volume 5

VAST Trail Breakers Map 

Water Features In The Windham Region South Eastern VT (map)

NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

Entomology Today, Biological Control for Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

Saturday's Tree

 It's Saturday March 13th and I have an idea. My mom Annette constantly asks me why I don't expand my horizons and write about things outside of Vernon. I always tell her that there is so much more left to write about. "like what?" she asks, "like worms mom, I haven't even touched on all the worms in Vernon." Mom knows that when I was a high school senior, though my career exploration survey came back suggesting that I become a nun or military officer, I had aspirations of studying Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. Mom on the other hand wanted me to become a teacher. 

Along the way, I fell in love with writing but never had the nerve to go public with any of it. You see, I was a lousy speller and my grammar wasn't any better. I look back at my early short stories and poetry with an unforgiving mindset. I see mistakes where I should be looking for growth. That survey had one thing correct, I'm the sort of person who needs a mission to garner enough gumption to overcome my doubts. I'd probably be sitting on the town forest floor like a rotting log had someone in town not commented, "That pond is nothing but a piss hole and it's always going to be a piss hole." Talk about a catalyst for growth! 

Everyday at work we strive for equity in the classroom. Not every student gets the same, instead we strive to support each student with what they need. This virus has been an extreme challenge, we contain students inside a prescribed space with all desks facing forward. Kindergartners don't belong at desks and they certainly don't belong segregated by chunks of floor space. Anyone venturing into our classroom will see students standing at their desks, sitting on their knees, bodies twisted through and around their chairs and some laying their upper bodies across their desks. It's difficult to remember that they are just five and six years old in such a formal setting. Sometimes I push them too hard. 

When John Reed was my children's principal he used to say, "Childhood is not a race" our current principal Mary Ross favors, "Throw kindness around like confetti." Another former principal explained to me that, "They (parents) have the right to say it. They may be wrong, but they have the right." I was wrong a lot when my kids were growing up but not always. 

When I was talking to then eighteen year old Ethan about his major in college, he had a solid explanation as to why he chose it. For my part I explained, "It's also okay to major in something that you love." How short sighted is it to require that someone declare their entire life at eighteen?  A faculty member once told Ethan that he is overly kind towards others. Ethan and I are a lot alike; but in this he takes after Wayne. 

When I decided to write Saturday's Tree, I discovered that my intended subject, a  Silver Maple out back had already started without me. How appropriate for that's how I always felt as a student. 

I decided on a Sugar Maple out front. I hadn't initially chosen this maple because when it was planted, someone had laid down landscaping tarp around it and as the tree grew it became girdled. Its roots are both on top of the tarp and underneath it. Though I cut the tarp back away from the trunk as much as I could, the tree it seems may never reach its natural majestic maturity. Standing by the road, exposed to salt, the tree is stressed. Last summer GMP limbed the street side of the tree. It was so dramatic that my neighbor asked me why my tree was suddenly dying. This tree has challenges, none the less it is my Saturday's Tree.

3/20/21 Happy first day of spring! We had a hard frost last night and today's forecast calls for a high of 55. This week we saw two Wooly Bears on the move. The Silver Maple out back is in bloom. Is there new growth on the bud of Saturday's tree or am I wishful thinking? 

3/27/2021 I found a Dandelion blooming on Tuesday, but the bees are nowhere to be found. It was seventy degrees on Thursday and Friday brought with it light showers and the peepers calling for a mate. Everything seems perfect for a growth spurt to show up on Saturday. I also took a picture of our (same as above)  Silver Maple that seems a week behind the rest of Silvers along the back line.

Saturday's Tree. 

On Sunday it rained. Tuesday I met a woman who said that they were finished boiling syrup for the season and that they made seven gallons this year. It has been a cool gray and wet week with snow flurries on Friday. It's Saturday April 3rd and its nineteen degrees this morning.  I saw a little girl in downtown Brattleboro this afternoon, she was wearing an Easter dress with a winter coat and a pom-pom on her knit hat. It doesn't seem to be ideal conditions for Saturday's Tree to show growth. Readers may notice that this is a different bud on my tree which is an honest mistake.

On Wednesday, it is sixty three degrees out and though we are ten degrees above normal, I am surprised to see that our ornamental cherry trees have begun to leaf out. While I know that it is cheating, I make a beeline to Saturday's Tree only to find out that the bud has not changed. On Thursday I saw my first bees of the year at the Vernon Post Office! The average temperature in Burlington for Saturday is 53 degrees.

4/10/2021 Finally progress has been made!

I planted a Black Walnut from seed years ago. It is always the last tree to leaf out in my yard. When it finally does leaf out I plant my outdoor seeds. It has only steered me wrong once.

The Silver Maple out back is forming seeds. 

I find myself walking around my property amazed that so many of our trees and shrubs are already leafed out or flowering. Our Forsythias are at their peak.  Dandelions, Daffodils and Forsythia awaken me from the bleak greys of late winter and yet each year in June I consider cutting the Forsythias down. By June their long, untamed, droopy, small leafed branches are reaching into beds that they have no business being in! Today however, I admire them and I must remind myself come June that they will awaken me again and so I must allow them to remain. 

We had a favorite sapling planted by the road. I had selected it because it is on a list of, "Trees for Bees." I put the Eastern Redbud in the ground where two trees previously planted had failed. The spot was chosen with the intention of hiding a utility pole glaring at me through my front window. I poured all of my knowledge and experience into keeping this tree alive and it rewarded me with the most beautiful branches full of flowers! Then one spring, the yellows, blues, pinks and whites all came and went without the tree so much as showing any signs of life. With the end of June approaching I decided that all hope was exhausted and so I retrieved my bow saw from the shed and tearfully cut it down.

 I went to the nursery and purchased a cherry to replace it. Of course I watered and nurtured the cherry which was only a few feet behind the stump of the Redbud. One afternoon I noticed that the Redbud stump had started to send up branches from it. I took out my pruners and snipped them off close to the base only to have it happen again. Now Wayne loved that tree and was very upset when I cut it down, so I couldn't let him know anything of my terrible error. So for two summers now, I have been snipping those branches. Finally this spring, I asked Wayne if he could dig the stump out which led to my confessing the whole truth. 

Today is Wednesday, April 14th and it's supposed to snow Thursday night. The maple next to Saturday's tree is flowering.

On Friday morning we woke up to snow on our Forsythias. Facebook informs me that three years ago it was hailing. What would we do without social media to record such important moments?

Saturday April 17, It snowed most of Friday. This morning we have  snow on the ground with bright green grass poking through. Saturday's Tree has made big progress!

Our Silver Maple has also made progress.

I have the poster, Advice From a Tree by Ilan Shamir. It says, "Sink your roots into the Earth." I don't know how I feel about this advice. I also have an old shirt by Life is Good that states, "Not all who wander are lost." Perhaps Saturday's Tree would be healthier if it could move to the backyard. Perhaps it would have fallen years ago had some of its roots not been so deep.

Today is Saturday April 24th. I woke up to the farms spreading on the fields. Thursday was Earth Day. It hailed and we had flurries this week along with below freezing temperatures. Our flowering ornamentals are going to bust out all over today. The forecast today is 70 and sunny. Saturday's Tree made big progress!

I once attended a lecture where the educator stated, "We don't want our children to peak in high school" I have thought a lot about this over the years. I was twenty one when I learned why school was such a challenge for me yet learning in another way wasn't. I was in my fifties when I finally dared put aside my doubts about writing. It's Saturday the 24th and our Black Walnut agrees with that educator.

I had planted two Blueberry bushes, a River birch, and a NJ Tea last Autumn and none of them look happy this spring. I abhor synthetic fertilizers, relying instead on products that enhance soil structure like our compost does. The trouble comes in when applying semi rotted compost, which is quite inviting to grubs, skunks and chipmunks who promptly dig it up along with my plants. Today however, with a lot of added effort, I separated semi rotted compost from black gold with a small soil sifter. I then walked around my property applying it to struggling plants, one of which is a Rhododendron that for some reason, Wayne dropped a large piece of plywood on. 

On Friday at the end of a very windy day, I found a Mourning Dove's egg under Saturday's Tree. Actually, Luna found one first and ate it.  It's early in the season, the birds will lay more eggs. 

 It's Saturday, May 1st and it's Green Up Day. Happy 83rd Birthday Mom!

When I was a young parent, my mother asked me, "Why fight what has to be anyway?" I still don't have an answer for her, but think it might be, "Are outcomes preordained?" My mother is the wisest person that I have ever known. She knows me well, though admits that she never understood me. I view myself as a fighter by nature but mostly by experience.  My oldest points out in a phone conversation that I am an empath. I have to look that word up. Sometimes her insights make me feel challenged in a way that I cannot describe. I always wanted my children to have a hometown. I chose Vernon for them but they all live in other states. People ask me where I grew up and my answer is "everywhere." Wayne is a BF boy born and raised. Some trees are bought at the nursery and planted, others find their way as seeds carried by the wind and water. 

 "Once upon a time there was a little seed that grew into a big big tree that could touch the sun." - Brayden, age 6

Have you ever hiked to the top of a hill to just where the treetops meet the sky? I'm not talking about where someone has cleared the way for a view, or even on Hogback Mountain where anyone can ride in a car to the top. What I'm talking about is, have you ever seen what a tree sees at the tips of its highest branches after decades of growth? Have you passed by their ground littered with leaves and branches turning into soil and nourishment? Do you see the scars in their bark that have healed, the ones that still need healing and those that never will? Have you witnessed the promise of new growth and the beauty in the Autumn of the old? - Norma Manning

5/09/2021 Saturday's Tree

Addendum: today is June first and the Silver Maple out back that had "started without me" has now dropped it's seeds and is finally leafing out.

Further Reading:

Turning School Inside Out, Nature Based Education in a New Hampshire School

Common Thread, Antioch Grad Filming Documentary About Chesterfield School's Outdoor Learning

Waterford.org, Why Understanding Equity vs Equality in Schools Can Help You Create an Inclusive  Classroom

cpe, Educational Equity, What Does it Mean? How do We Know When We Reach it?

Seven Days, How the Climate Crisis and Pests are Impacting Four Tree Species in Vermont's Woods