W.H. Chip Gross
In the June 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine, I wrote my monthly Woods, Waters, & Wildlife outdoors column about pesky poison ivy in a story titled “Leaves of three, let it be!” In the July 2024 issue, I described my custom-made hiking staff in a column called “Walking-stick work of art.” It wasn’t long before I heard from Bertille Mayberry, commenting on both stories.
David Fullenkamp, Midwest Electric
Q. In the November 2025 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living, you wrote an article about migratory raptors. The story helped me identify the pair of birds hunting around my house, a pair of gyrfalcons. I have seen them most days since the first of December. I live two miles west of St. Henry, Ohio, in Mercer County. I have lived in the country all my life, and this is the first year that I have seen them. Is it unusual for gyrfalcons to migrate this far south? Just thought you might be interested and would like a comment.
Kathleen MacMurray, Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative
Q. Hi Chip: I live on County Road 220 next to the Hancock-Wood substation north of Van Buren, Ohio, and read your very interesting outdoor articles in Ohio Cooperative Living magazine. Perhaps you can solve a riddle for me: I had six very nice laying hens in a fenced yard, and one warm summer afternoon when I went out to refresh their drinking water, all six were lying dead, decapitated, with no signs of any predator around. I wondered, could it have been a fox, hawk, owl, or a mink that killed them?
One of the many things I enjoy about writing and photographing my monthly Woods, Waters, & Wildlife column in Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine is the interaction with co-op members. Almost every month after a column appears, I hear from a half dozen or so readers with their questions, comments, or attaboys. Although there is not space enough to run everyone’s question or comment in this “Ask Chip” online column, everyone receives a personal answer from me via email.
Mary Torges, Consolidated Cooperative
Q. Hi, Chip: I have lived on the same 10-acre lot, including woods, for about 51 years now. I am very interested in donating my place to some charitable organization that might be able to use it. Besides my home, there are three other buildings on the property, two that are quite large, which could be used for classes or workshops. If you have any ideas about organizations that might be interested, please let me know.
Even though Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine has circulation of 300,000 subscribers, I’m still often surprised at the publication’s “reach.” For instance, recently, after my May 2024 Woods, Waters, & Wildlife monthly outdoors column was published, I heard from Sarah Paul, who lives in Virginia. Her parents, Gordon and Jo McDonald, live in Radnor, Ohio, and receive the co-op magazine. They had read my story titled “Snakes on a Plain,” about the Buckeye State’s three species of venomous snakes, so when they received a photo from Sarah of a copperhead, they suggested she send
