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Mountain Year
A Southern Appalachian Nature Notebook
Barbara G. Hallowell
John F. Blair, Publisher
978-0-89587-222-7
$18.95 paperback
7 x 9
289 pages; color photos throughout
Published in 1998
Appalachian, Environment & Nature, North Carolina
After years of teaching nature classes and workshops, Barbara Hallowell felt that people interested in nature were looking for more than guidebooks on identification and location. They wanted a book that would answer simple questions abut the trees, flowers, birds, and animals they saw in the mountain environment. Using a month-by-month format that follows the seasons, Hallowell offers 84 essays packed with interesting and useful information.
For example, did you know:
That the average one-acre garden has an estimated 50,000 dirt-eating worms?
That by the time a robin is 12 days old, it can consume 14 feet of earthworms in one day?
That a square foot of soil can support three healthy dandelion plants, which will produce 18,000 seeds?
That a tree can add height or length only at its tips?
Do you know:
How birds keep warm in winter?
How you can tell the temperature by looking at rhododendron leaves?
How you can tell the difference between a bee, a wasp, and a hornet?
Why birds don't fall out of trees while they're sleeping?
All of this and more information about the flora and fauna of the Southern Appalachians can be found in Mountain Year.

Reviews
“Barbara Hallowell has certainly done it this time—written a wondrous book about life in southern Appalachia. The life she writes about is that which we step on, the ground, the worms and insects, trees, flowers, ferns, and birds. She has charted the book monthly so one can know what to expect at each time of the year, and she takes you through the depths of winter, to the glories of autumn, stopping off for a good look at spring and summer. Did you know there were orchids in 'them thar mountains' and what to do about snake bite? Did you ever wonder what the early days of a baby robin might be like or what a ghost forest is? Hallowell has taught nature classes and workshops for many years and has now turned her knowledge into this informative book with beautiful photographs for those of us not part of her classroom. And I am grateful. It's a wonderful book for any nature lover to cherish—almost encyclopedic with information yet delightfully readable.”
Amazon.com reviewer
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