This place is extremely special to me because it is my grandparents’ farm. I’ve spent much of my childhood here and have always loved this view. The tree with the bench swing is actually the first tree I ever climbed. Every Tuesday growing up, I used to go to my grandparents’ house after school. And every time I was always in awe of how beautiful the sunset was. Their house sits at the top of a hill overlooking the Lehigh valley. This place is where my love for the outdoors began and I hope you can appreciate the simple beauty of the Pennsylvania countryside as well.
The ecology and phenology of Pennsylvania is not that different from Vermont. Many of the same trees are common in Pennsylvania like red oaks, maples (the one above is an October Glory). My grandparents farm also has an abandoned apple and peach orchard in the background of the pictures. They also have a beautiful sycamore tree in their yard. PA also has an abundance of white tailed deer and a growing beaver population like Vermont. I think the main difference between Vermont, the Burlington area especially, and my grandparents’ farm is the soil composition. Pennsylvania soil is extremely rich, loam soil, where as Vermont soil is a lot rockier and sandier. Agriculture is huge in Pennsylvania for this reason, so while Vermont is mostly forest, PA is mostly agricultural land, especially center and eastern Pennsylvania. The season transition from fall to winter happens a lot more gradually in Pennsylvania than Vermont. The cold air from the arctic jet stream doesn’t hit us as hard so our winters are much more mild. So Pennsylvanias phenological transition from fall to winter, while similar to Vermont’s, happens later and at a slower pace.