New England Foliage Blog from YankeeFoliage.com

2010 Fall Foliage Season in New England

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers, Foliage ambassadors and Outdoorsy folks in general...

Well several of you have already opened up the season by throwing some questions my way and just as the Red Sox are on their way to spring training to get limbered up, I will start to limber up my foliage thoughts and pull together information for the upcoming fall foliage season.

My first thought is that we tend to love maples for several reasons. First in my mind is the wonderful shades of crimson and orange-yellows they can turn. But! Another is the wonderful maple sugar product we love so dearly. (Just this morning I had maple cream on my toast, so go with me on this...) :-)

We're getting ready to go into the maple syrup season and as seasons go, this one tends to be even shorter than the fall foliage season. Maybe it can also be a seventh season in between the winter and mud seasons. Although maple season really runs concurrently with mud season. Let me know if you think it qualifies for its own season?

Well for those who crave that sugary goodness or you remember my article from last fall about sugar shacks being a magnet for fall color then I thought you might like to have a listing of sugar shacks!

I went and pulled many lists together so you don't need to scour the internet. I've put together a list that you can download and print. As it says in the PDF. Please contact the owners if you are going there for purely photographic purposes as they may or may not allow photography of their operations. I have not photographed any of these so please let me know if they do not allow you to photograph and I can remove them from the list.

Mark your calendar for NEK Fall Foliage Festival.

I just got my first update that Peacham is going to have their fall festival on 30 September 2010. The other North East Kingdom towns will be out shortly so I'm sure those folks who love to head out early in the fall foliage season will have many NEK towns to choose to visit.

This begins the foliage season with Jeff Foliage and if you have questions during the upcoming year then you have many avenues to contact the foliage gang. First, if you have a need to chat with folks who love the fall colors, you can visit the Yankee forum by clicking here. And if you like to visit via Facebook please visit our Fan page at www.facebook.com/yankeefoliage. I, of course am never far away and you can find me prowling the foliage forum at Yankee or you can reach me at jeff.foliage@gmail.com.

I'm looking forward to chatting with all of you during this coming season!

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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2009 fall foliage season comes to a close

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers!

This will be a short missive since today is the last day of Fall (If you ignore the 8 inches of the white stuff outside my window). Tomorrow at 7:10AM you can go celebrate the Winter solstice at Marblehead's Beach Bluff Park Sun Circle.

This now ends the fall season for me officially but have no fear! If you have a need to chat with folks who love the fall colors, you can visit the Yankee forum by clicking here.

If you like to visit via Facebook please visit our Fan page at www.facebook.com/yankeefoliage. All the contest winners have been posted so be sure to go by and see if you won @ www.yankeefoliage.com

I, of course am never far away and you can find me prowling the foliage forum at Yankee or you can reach me at jeff.foliage@gmail.com.
I look forward to chatting with all of you next season!

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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2010 fall foliage prediction by Jeff Foliage

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers! 6 Days until winter means 6 days of fall left!

Well I don't know how many of you found this year's fall foliage season but from my emails everybody was very happy with what they found from peepers in Israel to Wisconsin, everybody was happy. I myself give this year a 7 on the Jeff Foliage scale. The rain was for me a deciding factor and let's face it; given the choice to photograph on a sunny afternoon or a rainy one, most of us will take the sunny one.

Butch Lombardi who is very active on the fall foliage fan page on Facebook has posted many pictures where he admits, it was drizzling or worse snowing and he got wonderful pictures in spite of the weather. Check his site out at East Bay Images. Also there are many others and if you send me a link to an online gallery I will try to post it here. (note) It has to be to a permanent gallery and can have no advertising! Send your link to jeff.foliage@gmail.com.

2010 fall foliage prediction!

I always quantify my predictions with should be and could be and this prediction is no different. (So don't buy airline tickets based on this prediction) In reading the Old Farmer's Almanac this year I calculated about a 60% accuracy rating so based on this I probably have a 10% accuracy with what follows? :- ) For full details pick a copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac (click on the link to check out their site and you can even subscribe). OK, due to a slightly dryer year in 2010 (Yaaa!) and also cooler (Booo!) I predict a normal start to the season but it will be shorter than this year's (2009) but it may be much brighter (Yaaa!). So I think 2010 has a chance of being a great foliage year... Now the bad news...

The Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) had a really good year in 2009 and it looks like it will wreck havoc with the maples and oaks in various parts of New England. This little bugger has made it onto the Boston news and in the papers several times in the past few weeks while it came out in record numbers during its breeding season. Right at the edge of Salem woods where several of my favorite maples and oaks reside, Lisa and I observed thousands of the males (if not more) fluttering at the edge of the forest. If you would like to read more click on the paragraph.

Check out our Facebook page @ www.facebook.com/yankeefoliage and if you want to see won the fall foliage contest for this year visit the fall foliage contest page.

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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How to find iconic fall foliage images

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers! 20 Days until winter means 20 days of fall left!

If you have shots from this fall there are many places to show them off (besides your computer screen). First you can click on this link to go over to USA Today's On Deadline you can find instructions for submitting your fall picture. AND we would love to see them over on the

Facebook page that Yankee has so if you came north and took pictures please post them so we can see them!

Over the years I've been asked constantly two main questions. First they want to exactly when to come to New England to get here for peak? And my answer is always the same! If you figure out exactly when peak will be then you let me know.

Second, they want to know where every iconic scenic location is in New England. I've never been one to travel to the iconic scenes (I didn't even know where the Jenne farm was, OK, I admit it!).

I have to stress that I love exploring areas that don't show up on the radar of tour companies or in books. (so that's my excuse) I'm going to spend this winter and next fall trying to hit all the Iconic locations that I can fit in since.. well, I've never done that. This brings me back to the question? .... How does one find the Jenne farm and these other places?

Well I found a pamphlet that a Massachusetts photographer, Arnold Kaplan, self publishes. I decided to talk to him and see why he put this information out there.

I think you know that I try to share what and where I find places but I wanted to hear about why he does it. Now I'm probably one of the higher mileage photographers in the fall but I pale in comparison when you consider he's been doing photography since the 1940s and is currently 94 years old! And he still drives to Vermont in the fall!

Following is why he wrote the book. Back in the 1960s he belonged to a photo club that would travel to Vermont to photograph in the fall. They would get up in the early morning and a small select group would take off and come back later with great iconic fall shots and wouldn't share with the rest.

This led Arnold to start exploring every back road in VT and over the next 20+ years he compiled where all the postcard views were located and then he would hand out sheets with the locations documented. He said this made him and his sheets very popular with everyone except for those trying to keep these locations to themselves.

Around 1977 he put all the locations he had into a yellow book "How to find (and photograph) The Photo-Scenics in Vermont" and he started selling it to local photo groups. It currently sells for $19.95 and currently has an addendum with some new locations and a few locations that are sadly no longer available due to fire, destruction of property or in one case a large orange maple tree at the Jenne farm had split and fallen down.

I hope to get out and test his notes that say these places are just as pretty in the winter and if you keep checking back here I will post what I find during the winter and into the spring.

Check out our Facebook page @ [www.facebook.com/yankeefoliage[5] and if you want to see more wonderful fall photography then be sure to visit the reader photo gallery and email your favorite image to your friends and family. Jeff "Foliage" Folger Of course I can be reached at jeff.foliage@gmail.com if you have questions between now and next fall. Got Foliage?

Click here to follow my foliage reports in real time on twitter? Visit my Facebook fan page for Vistaphotography

Are Sugar Shacks magnets for Fall Foliage?

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers

One of the things that make a great fall foliage picture is a strong subject and without that you pretty much just have color which is wonderful to behold but if you want to take your photos to a higher level read on...

In the first photo I went for a walk this last weekend and I took my camera which caused a short walk to be an extended outing. I like the shallow depth of field (narrow band of focus) but how long does your attention stay on the picture?

Or! does it move back to the article, or the next picture? The next photo has two strong elements, the rock on the pond and the boat house at the water's edge. With this one where does your attention travel to? Does it wander from object to object searching out more details? (It does for me)

In the last two shots, your eye travels among the blaze of color, it also settles on the building and pulls out details like all the wood laid in for the spring. It creates visual interest and makes the picture more interesting. (If you disagree, comments are open below)

Now I don't usually visit a sugar shack in the fall but given that they are usually centered in an area heavy with sugar maples, it makes sense to search them out in the fall.

If you find a sugar shack they are normally weathered buildings (a good subject? ...Hmm... By Jove, I may be onto something here) and then you add the color ingredient with the maples in the vicinity of the sugar shack and you may create a really nice image.

So where I'm leading with this?

I was out in October looking for color (as usual) and I headed up route 4A towards Enfield NH. I suddenly came upon a sugar shack on the side of the road and it was surrounded by colorful maples.

I pulled over and walked back to get a better view of it. The shack was across the driveway from the house and I shot these from the side of the road with a 24-70mm telephoto lens.

So when you come up next fall for your foliage trip, plan on looking for the sugar shacks in your area and see if they will allow you to photograph on the property.

So the final take away is... you locate someplace that in the springtime feeds your sweet tooth and in the fall it takes care of our soul with a spectacular show of color.

Next week, A guide book for finding iconic fall foliage images.

If you find yourself with some time and you would like to discuss your foliage discoveries, you can always discuss your fall thoughts either on the Yankee foliage forum which is a great place to chat with foliage peepers from around the world. Or if you prefer the social network of Facebook, you can discuss your thoughts over on the Yankee foliage Facebook fan page .

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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Fall foliage affected by weather in Sept/Oct

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers

I was asked to rate the 2009 foliage season and compare it to the last few years. I've thought this over and I didn't consider it fair to just go by my observations. So I judged it by the photo results on Yankee's reader gallery to see how others reader's photos along with mine turned out. Great by the way...

It's no mystery that we as leaf peepers had the deck stacked against us with roughly 15 rain days in Oct and that doesn't account for non-rain days that were just cloudy. Plus we were hit with one Nor' Easter and winds on those rain days that brought down the leaves (especially the reds) earlier than normal. To top that off we had Snow in mid Oct!

Results: All in all I found with all this "bad" weather the photographs that are up on the

Yankee Foliage reader's gallery really show that if you persevere and just get out and shoot you will be amazed by the results. I've looked over the a few of the 780+ pictures in the 2009 contest and lets just say I'm glad I don't have to try to pick the best shot from all of those. It's not the numbers of shots but it's the wonderful shots by everybody that were submitted.

Old Farmer's Almanac accuracy: In early Oct I said I would revisit the

Old Farmer's Almanac and see how accurate it was for Oct. I didn't keep good enough records, so I went online to NOAA and found their climate archive to see what October's weather looked like to them. Now I'm not a statistician person so if my estimates aren't professionally accurate please forgive me!

There were 15 rain days in October and the Almanac said:

1-5: rain & snow (well the rain was accurate but the snow didn't come for 2 more weeks)
6-10: sunny mild (we had 3 days of rain this week)
11-17: rain THEN SUNNY (where was the sun this week with 4 days of rain)
18-22: Showers, mild ( Here we had only 1 day of really cold "rain", but who would have thought it!!! SNOW)
23-28: Rain, then sunny (right on here)
29-31: showers seasonable: (Again right on but where was the wind advisory?)

Considering this was forecast 12 months prior I think a better than 60% accuracy rating is amazing! They may not have had 100% day by day accuracy but for the month, I think they really called it.

What's coming in 2010? Well the Old Farmer's Almanac says mostly average temps for the year and it will be a dryer year than 2009. And the big news is October is going to be??? Well I can't give it all away, pick up your own copy on the stands today and see for yourself.

Make your own conclusions as to what kind of year we're going to have?

Next week, "Sugar Shacks are they magnets for great fall foliage color"?

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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Dark Forces Haunt the Neighborhood

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers

Haunt report:

Each year children wait eagerly for the dark and scary time of All Hallows' eve or Samhain and when I say children I also mean everyone old enough to go out and wander through shadow lined streets in search of treats. I know that I always enjoyed the mysteries of Halloween where I would cross the street to haunt each neighbor and receiving treats that kept the dentist in business.

The other side of this evening was scaring yourself silly by listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the leaves blowing around your feet. A few years back I started to decorate my sister's house to make my niece and nephews Halloween something special. Over the years it has grown and I realized this year that not only have my sister's kids enjoyed the event but all the kids in the neighborhood.

I would love to hear if you had someone that made your Halloweens special.

Yankee has a new photo gallery for Halloween decorations so you can show off what you have created that makes Halloween special in your neighborhood?

Yankee Contests:

Once again I'd like to remind everyone that all the fall contests don't finish until November 15th. In the kidzone, if your child is still drawing that fall colored image, you still have time to mail it in so it can be judged by the staff. Also the interactive foliage page is still accepting reports and all those reports count! Last but not least the Photo contest (my favorite!) can be found by clicking this link. The leaves may have left the trees for the ground, you can still visit fall through all the wonderful photography in the reader gallery.

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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3 Nov foliage report for New England

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers

Once again I'd like to remind everyone that all the fall contests don't finish until November 15th. In the kidzone, if your child is still drawing that fall colored image, you still have time to mail it in so it can be judged by the staff. Also the interactive foliage page is still accepting reports and all those reports count! And last but not least the Photo contest (my favorite!) can be found by clicking this link. So don't give up on fall just yet!

Foliage report:

It's 3 November and we still have some leaves on the trees in southern New England. Here in Salem and Swampscott we haven't quite lost all the leaves which is amazing after the rain and wind we received on Halloween. The leaves are still hanging on in my neighborhood.. And I'll be exploring this over the next few weeks..

Hart's Turkey Farm Restaurant:

Lisa and I stopped into Hart's while we were in Meredith NH. Russell Hart the owner greeted us at the door and he and I chatted for a bit about his business. RT as his employee's call him admitted that the summer could have been better did say that they did serve 1800+ meals on Columbus Day and I couldn't believe that wasn't a record!

Lisa and I sat down and had turkey related lunches and his carrot relish that came out for the crackers was phenomenal and we asked the waitress to add a jar to our order and it came to our table already wrapped up with our check. I can...t think of a meal more appreciated on a cool fall day than a hot turkey sandwich (dark meat for me) and that really warmed me up. Lisa had the turkey platter and the home made French fries really hit the spot. He even took the time to pose with me at the sign out front and then ran off when a tour bus pulled in to go and greet them which he says he does in all weather!

I don't think there are too many business owners who subscribe to that kind of customer service. Well if you find yourself up in the Lakes region and traveling into Meredith, you'll find Hart's at the junction of route 104 and route 3 (Daniel Webster Hwy).

My personal contest closed on Halloween and my total mileage hit a new record. I drove a butt numbing 4803.03 miles this fall season in my search for foliage color. The winners were Julie from TX and Kit from NC. I hope you all come back next fall and enter your guesses!

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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30 Oct foliage report | Fall Foliage in Cemetery

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers

To start off, my editor would like me to remind everyone that all the fall contests don?t finish until November 15th. In the kidzone, if your child is still drawing that fall colored image, you still have time to mail it in so it can be judged by the staff.

Also the interactive foliage page is still accepting reports and all those reports count! Should we have a new category added to the reports called "stick season"? I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. And last but not least the Photo contest (my favorite!) can be found by clicking this link.

So don't give up on fall just yet? Let's wring a little more color out of it yet even if it's only in our digital camera.

Well Wednesday's rain and wind seems to have taken some more of the leaves down and the color feels a bit more russet, gold and brown. Many of the trees in my neighborhood have gone from orange to more of gold and a tree at the corner that was a glorious yellow and orange on Monday now has about 20 leaves on it (no I didn't count).

I have to admit though that you will still have a chance to find some color as I did on Wednesday. I took my father to the barber and we drove past the Swampscott cemetery and as I always tell all of you that just because its not sunny doesn't mean there aren't foliage shots to be found.

As we drove by the cemetery, what caught my attention was the bright orange behind the sign. Then the gold and orange trees nestled around the chapel really leapt out at me. So I returned after dropping my dad at home.

As I walked around the cemetery I worked the scene which means that I viewed the chapel from all angles and sometimes it meant I actually (carefully) walked backwards since I have on occasion found that the shot I really wanted was right behind me. So I'm always turning around to see how a different angle looks and trying to see from a different perspective.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and if you have any questions email me at jeff.foliage@gmail.com or please leave me a comment here on the blog.

My personal contest is closing in a little over a day (the witching hour on Halloween) so I'll be tallying up the guesses and letting the winners know who know who won and I'll post their screen names on the site and in the blog.

Next blog article will be about a place in Meredith NH, Hart's Turkey Farm Restaurant. And since we are moving into November and Thanksgiving it seems somehow natural?

Halloween is almost here and I'm in the process of setting up decorations at my sister's but if you have a last minute questions I will try to answer them (If I get home to check my email) But remember you can always ask the question over on the foliage forum or in the Yankee's Foliage Fan page on Facebook and the other folks will do their best to answer them. Or you can email me at jeff.foliage@gmail.com.

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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26 Oct foliage report | Fall Foliage in Merrimack Valley

rss@ypi.com (Yankee Publishing Inc.) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0100

Greetings Leaf Peepers Well we had rain most all Saturday but Sunday arrived amid sunny splendor and I was lucky enough to get out and had a reason to drive to my sister's house to set up Halloween decorations.

I have to admit to a bad call last Thursday. When I was asked by the guys at WCAP 980 (Merrimack talk radio) if I thought the Merrimack valley would have any good color left, I said I didn't think so. In most years, by this time, this is true. But the leaves have slowed down so much that I'm still finding good color out on my drives. And with that note:

[Jeff's mileage guessing contest is coming to a close on the 31st click this link for rules and details

A Sunday drive: Lisa and I drove up route 1 to 133 towards Georgetown. Then took I-95 south to the next exit and took route 97 for a short distance then jumped off on some side streets towards Boxford. Then made our way to Bradford and picked up route 125 up and then back on 97 to Atkinson NH.

The pictures say it all and the remaining Maples are putting on a glorious display. Also I think due to the amount of rain we had this spring, the oaks in this area are turning a beautiful gold to dark red and in a few cases I've seen a few bright reds... But they are definitely bringing up the rear with a kaleidoscope of color...

Halloween sightings: Lisa and I aided my by nephew Patrick started to set up his yard for this coming weekends event. We (mostly Lisa) spent four hours going into the basement to retrieve the monsters for this year's graveyard and I must admit this should be one of the best Halloween displays to date. We have a circus theme running this year and we'll see if the trick or treaters make it out alive?

Also in related news Winnekenni Castle's grave wandering ghouls are active again this year and for those in the Merrimack valley can stop in and have their nerves tested. From the time you get out of the car (they're waiting in the parking lot for you to arrive) to the castle itself you'll find the undead sneaking up on you... This Friday and Saturday are the final days with Sat evening being a Monster Bash and reservations required.

Michael Myers (From Halloween #1) was seen in Salem's Nightmare Gallery this past Friday and this time he wasn't wearing a mask and leaving bodies in his wake. This time he only left autographs behind. Tony Moran was the first to don the mask back in 1978 and the genre of horror mask wearing, slasher flicks was created. Assuming you missed this like I did, Mr. Moran will be back this coming Friday (30th) from noon to 4PM at the Nightmare Gallery in Salem.

If there is anything you want to discuss you can always visit the Yankee foliage forum which is a great place to get updates or better yet tell the forum folks what you found and where you found it. Also you can discuss your thoughts over on the Yankee foliage Facebook fan page.

Halloween is coming and I'm still answering my emails on last minute plans so if you have any questions please feel free to ask them here in the comments section or in the foliage forum or in the Yankee's Foliage Fan page on Facebook and I and the other folks will do their best to answer them. Or you can email me at jeff.foliage@gmail.com.

Jeff "Foliage" Folger

Got Foliage?

Click here to Follow my foliage reports in real time on twitter?

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