The Little Library
by Chris Woodside | Sep 17, 2025 | Get This
A few years ago my brother-in-law built an outdoor library with a long, tall window he found at the dump. I had wanted a Little Library for a while, and I registered it with Little Free Library, Charter #159455. Almost every day, I notice people stopping by, perusing...
Rest in peace Gregory L. Norris
by Chris Woodside | May 6, 2025 | Get This
Greg Norris died on Monday, May 5. He was the most enthusiastic writer to attend my second independent writing workshop back in 2016. Since then, I have remained in touch with him and a writing group he started and mostly led for many years in Berlin, New Hampshire. I...
The Bears Next Door
by Chris Woodside | Apr 21, 2025 | Articles
A short walk from a suburban driveway in Canton, Connecticut, a black bear and her cub sleep in their den, a shallow depression in leaf duff underneath a small brush pile and a few downed trees. State biologists Jason Hawley and Melissa Ruszczyk and technicians...
Outdoor trudging as career builder: my interview with Mentors Collective
by Chris Woodside | Mar 19, 2025 | Get This
In an interview just posted on Mentors Collective, I talk about the many parallels between pushing one’s body and mind in the wilderness and challenging oneself in the workplace or at home. Carrying my gear uphill, setting up camp, feeling cold and...Recent Posts
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- The Little Library September 17, 2025
- Rest in peace Gregory L. Norris May 6, 2025
- Outdoor trudging as career builder: my interview with Mentors Collective March 19, 2025
- Solo hiking as personal growth: me on Vision Pros podcast February 14, 2025
- Short fiction debut November 13, 2024
- The ever moving river of ideas November 6, 2024
- Book Talk October 15 at Bank Square Books August 20, 2024
- I’ll be on Hiker Trash Radio June 3 May 15, 2024
- Going Over the Mountain reading at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore October 14, 2023
- Launch party on September 10 at Breakwater Books. Reading September 13 at the Norwich Bookstore in Vermont May 23, 2023
- Health reporting that made a difference March 1, 2023
- Morning person? No. Night owl. December 30, 2022
- Writing below a mountain October 31, 2022
- New fiction in next year’s Running Wild Press Anthology September 20, 2022
- Update, early spring 2022 April 24, 2022
- November 23, 2021
- Symbols in a personal history July 26, 2021
- From endurance to hope June 25, 2021
- Tuesday, April 20: How to start a freelance career, 5-6 p.m. April 17, 2021
- Beginning my visiting professor year at UConn August 31, 2020
- Appalachia’s Accidents report here. Click on link at the bottom. June 25, 2020
- Testing Poop is the Future May 27, 2020
- Manage public outdoor spaces the way we manage grocery stores: like essential spaces that should never close April 8, 2020
- Mountains in a pandemic: a call for submissions March 26, 2020
- Announcing a one-day Writing from Nature workshop on February 15 January 2, 2020
- The clattering-of-feet landscape December 13, 2019
- Remembering a rescue effort November 9, 2019
- Sewage Overflows: Legal but Tainted October 4, 2019
- The archives of my mountain childhood June 25, 2019
- Spring bursts out May 19, 2019
- Raining in Arizona May 7, 2019
- Shoulder season April 1, 2019
- Seven-hour Writing from Nature workshop March 30 January 29, 2019
- Fear of rattlesnakes January 27, 2019
- The latest November 20, 2018
- Wet, wet, wet October 29, 2018
- Birds on the Flint River October 5, 2018
- SUN Award Day, yay for tutoring writers October 4, 2018
- Rock path August 31, 2018
- How not to make money: ice-cream vending tales August 20, 2018
- Mold concerns rise with the sea level August 15, 2018
- Packing up our mother’s things July 16, 2018
- Wilderness writing June 10, 2018
- Mountain safety stories, two talks this summer May 28, 2018
- Possum, passim May 11, 2018
- A quick lesson from a musk ox May 2, 2018
- Searching for a Lyme disease test February 22, 2018
- Moments frozen in memory February 9, 2018
- Spontaneous survival projects January 25, 2018
- 19 inches December 19, 2017
- Do we change, how much do we change, and does it show in our writing? October 14, 2017
- Gas wells meet wilderness October 9, 2017
- Step forward onto the land: starting new writing September 14, 2017
- Ideas come from trees September 6, 2017
- Studies! August 24, 2017
- On paperback prefaces June 16, 2017
- The link between walking and creativity May 15, 2017
- Appearances for Libertarians on the Prairie May 8, 2017
- Danbury, Connecticut and the Little House books April 5, 2017
- Procrastination no more March 23, 2017
- A misbehaving horse’s lesson December 21, 2016
- Laura Ingalls Wilder as a Voter November 17, 2016
- Testimonials on Writing from Nature workshop September 5, 2016
- Writing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s pioneer life August 30, 2016
- Libertarians on the Prairie Coming Soon July 20, 2016
- Long 91-Mile Trail July 15, 2016
- A slim biography of masterful storytelling June 2, 2016
- Nature and the Ghosts of Thinkers May 22, 2016
- Observing without a notebook or cell phone May 1, 2016
- Why I started a writing workshop, and what happened when I did March 3, 2016
- Squatter farmers of long ago February 25, 2016
- Fog, night, fear, and writing ideas January 22, 2016
- “Writers from the natural world” January 5, 2016
- My favorite bits on what the holidays should really mean December 17, 2015
- Book is in to the publisher December 2, 2015
- Sunday afternoon thoughts September 27, 2015
- Retreat over, have emerged September 15, 2015
- Back from the Mountains August 21, 2015
- Laura Ingalls Wilder devotees follow details July 16, 2015
- A Field Guide to a Morning June 29, 2015
- Writing From Nature, a wonderful first year June 14, 2015
- Meet the Appalachia writers: Elissa Ely June 1, 2015
- Getting ready to find new ideas March 24, 2015
- Laura Ingalls Wilder died on this day in 1957 February 10, 2015
- Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthday February 8, 2015
- Announcing the keynote speaker at my June writing workshop February 2, 2015
- New Hampshire circuit December 30, 2014
- Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoirs, and what they reveal December 27, 2014
- Testimonials from my writing students December 9, 2014
- Looking Back on the Outdoor Season November 12, 2014
- Writing From Nature: Sneak Peek, June 12-14, 2015 October 7, 2014
- The dark side of the Little House author August 21, 2014
- Iowa and Wisconsin July 31, 2014
- Save the date: Writing from the natural world, June 12-14, 2015 June 13, 2014
- My AT thru-hike May 5, 2014
- 80 years since the Dust Bowl’s horrible drought March 31, 2014
- Daylight acceleration time March 6, 2014
- Olympic hosts reject American yogurt February 14, 2014
- Coastal towns cope with rising sea January 15, 2014
- New work update December 30, 2013
- November in Crawford Notch November 15, 2013
- Open Letter to Libertarians October 28, 2013
- Woodlands: 76 Years of a Powerful Little Magazine October 14, 2013
- Raising roads for rising seas September 30, 2013
- Desk work, late summer August 22, 2013
- Little Libertarians on the Prairie August 15, 2013
- Watch for my story about Little House books in Boston Globe August 9, 2013
- Mountains, a place to find what matters July 15, 2013
- Metcalf Institute science immersion fellowship marks 15 years June 9, 2013
- Fan mail May 8, 2013
- The Power of Narrative April 6, 2013
- When missing letters influence scholars March 25, 2013
- History of Daylight Saving Time March 10, 2013
- Communication blackout 3: the submerged cell phone February 28, 2013
- Communication blackout 2 January 25, 2013
- Communication blackout: first in a series January 20, 2013
- Happy 2013 December 31, 2012
- Not for the holiday wreath November 21, 2012
- Climate change makes it into acceptance speech November 7, 2012
- Full moon over flooding river October 29, 2012
- Lubbock, Texas October 18, 2012
- Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Memory September 26, 2012
- Groundbreaking without realizing it September 12, 2012
- Actor’s Kilimanjaro quest, etc. August 21, 2012
- Alaska anyone? August 10, 2012
- Somewhere new July 22, 2012
- From a reader of Energy Independence July 14, 2012
- It’s all fine for them. They wear ear protection. July 9, 2012
- Back on the ridges, three days July 2, 2012
- Don’t take the train. That’s a certain train line’s slogan June 21, 2012
- Moody skies over Pattagansett River June 4, 2012
- Races May 21, 2012
- Crediting sources May 16, 2012
- Waterman Fund annual dinner April 15, 2012
- Shrinking Glaciers April 13, 2012
- R.I.P. Peter B. Lord April 9, 2012
- A tribute to environmental writer Peter Lord March 30, 2012
- Salaries March 26, 2012
- The narrower, yet expanding, environment beat March 16, 2012
- The wilderness narrative March 13, 2012
- Water scientist leaked conservative institute documents February 21, 2012
- Little House writing process, redux January 20, 2012
- Shutting off the lights at work January 10, 2012
- Low snow year (not counting October) January 3, 2012
- What to do with the card I sent December 27, 2011
- Car, Plane, or Train? December 14, 2011
- Most Significant: How Long They Stayed November 15, 2011
- Top strange facts learned in Miami October 23, 2011
- Rest stops close and cars clog mountain lots October 11, 2011
- Nipmuck Trail Marathon October 2, 2011
- R.I.P., Bill Hamilton September 16, 2011
- Makeup doesn’t matter August 25, 2011
- My talk on straight-up trails August 22, 2011
- Citizen heroes in Berlin, NH August 19, 2011
- Straight up trails in NH and CT August 6, 2011
- Buy food from farmers July 27, 2011
- Wilds of My Home State July 24, 2011
- A forgotten book July 21, 2011
- Couch potatoes blame potatoes July 12, 2011
- Four Miles Not Beers July 4, 2011
- Crashing an author’s dinner June 24, 2011
- Big skies of Iowa June 21, 2011
- Appalachian Trail reunions June 14, 2011
- Where that balloon ends up May 28, 2011
- Think Globally, Rain Locally May 24, 2011
- Our neighborhood inspiration, Joan Brainard May 4, 2011
- Dropping everything to visit your daughter April 29, 2011
- Connecticut gobbling power at home April 21, 2011
- She browsed the newsstand and found… April 4, 2011
- Extreme weather March 23, 2011
- Social scientists with the hot potato of climate change March 8, 2011
- Think Norwegian February 5, 2011
- Obama says end oil subsidies January 25, 2011
- Wikipedia, the People’s Misinformation January 17, 2011
- NYC’s underground, as inspiring as Everest January 5, 2011
- 1920 or 2010? December 27, 2010
- Thoughts on consumption, part 2 December 9, 2010
- Thoughts on consumption November 23, 2010
- Junk from the past, all part of trail work November 12, 2010
- The last sunset, sort of November 6, 2010
- Free water October 26, 2010
- A mountain next to your town October 15, 2010
- Legs begin to move, thoughts begin to flow September 21, 2010
- The mountain I said I would never climb August 23, 2010
- A set of expectations punishing to women August 10, 2010
- What ignites the outdoor passion of the next generation? July 23, 2010
- Flooded swimming area July 15, 2010
- Sign at restored prairie, Coralville Lake, Iowa July 10, 2010
- Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Dandelion Wine July 7, 2010
- Selling the new book at Chester Market, June 27 June 16, 2010
- Heading back to the prairie May 11, 2010
- Occupational necessity April 11, 2010
- Increase our climate change IQ March 22, 2010
- Money, Money, Money March 9, 2010
- Majority of 1,001 surveyed say they want to conserve energy but don’t February 17, 2010
- Kleen Energy, 2 Days Later February 9, 2010
- The price of electricity from solar power January 10, 2010
- Dogs January 8, 2010
- People Using Less Oil December 31, 2009
- Against Keeping Chickens December 21, 2009
- Flannery O’Connor December 18, 2009
- The Neglect of Obituaries December 17, 2009
- Buildings Scattered in the Green Spaces December 4, 2009
All Newspaper Articles
- Weighed down by loss, we took to the trails November 11, 2024
- Little Libertarians on the Prairie March 30, 2015
- Japanese article quotes Chris Woodside. Subject: the Little House books October 8, 2014
- Barn Voyage: Newer buildings reflect Connecticut’s farm roots April 13, 2012
- Solving the Mysteries of a Rising Sea October 17, 2011
- Moving to a “Green Economy”: The Unmarked Road Ahead March 14, 2011
- Freight rail in Connecticut suffering from neglect December 6, 2010
- Different Views on the Use of Waterfront Land November 2, 2010
- Paying a Price to Conserve Energy March 23, 2010
- Does a Bit of Africa Sit in Deep River? March 12, 2010
- Please Don’t: Our Obsession With Cars And Convenience Wastes Time And Energy December 22, 2009
- Mom and the Girls, Taking the Upward Trail December 22, 2009
- Trying to Save a Refuge for Birds December 22, 2009
- Bracelet Bears Legacy of Hope and Grief December 22, 2009
- A Unique Talent for Being Herself December 22, 2009
- A 1998 Warning About Polar Bears December 22, 2009
- A Frenzy for Glass Eels December 22, 2009
- Pushcart Flop: The Cold Reality of My Short, Unsuccessful Stint as Vendor December 22, 2009
- Towels, Sunblock, and, Oh Yeah, Checkbook December 22, 2009
- Closing in on the Killer of the Lobsters December 22, 2009
- Bring Back Recess December 22, 2009
- Drawing a Line on Outdoor Clothes Drying December 22, 2009
- Return to Levittown December 22, 2009
