Last week we learned about the seven basic principles of Leave No Trace (LNT). Familiarize yourself with the LNT essentials by clicking visiting last week's blog entry. This week, we’re exploring easy ways to share these important guidelines with the children in your life. Let’s get started.

If you’ve been to a Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts meeting, attended a wilderness summer camp, or participated in the Great American Backyard Campout, you may already be familiar with the principles of Leave No Trace (LNT). These valuable principles aren’t just useful in the woods, they can be applied in every environment. This week, we’re exploring Leave No Trace so our collective small steps can lead to big changes in the natural world (and in ourselves)!

On Valentine’s Day, we all want to do something thoughtful for our sweethearts. Why not double up and help someone you don’t even know have a hot, nourishing meal? It’s so easy!

This is the 14th year for Be a Sweetheart. The event was founded in 2004 when a need to fill their pantries was communicated by our food security partners. In the beginning, Mast Store matched each pound of candy purchased with our own pound of food. Then, because of the ability of our food banks and food rescue partners to stretch a dollar into more, Mast Store began donating $1 for each pound purchased. It was a natural tie-in to link Valentine’s Day, when many of us do something nice for someone we love, to supporting efforts to feed a desperate need in our communities.

Winter is gradually making its grand appearance with sinking temperatures and driving snow. After the wintry mix is plowed and the wind abates, it’s time to head outside for some wintertime exploration. The detail, clarity, and focus across multiple mountain ranges are most spectacular in the deep of winter. Closer views are just as thrilling because the bare trees reveal details on the landscape that are easy to miss when blocked by rich foliage.

Last week, we explored the basics of layering to help you stay warm and dry in winter weather. This is the most important place to start because a warm core sends blood to the rest of your body and helps keep your extremities warmer, too. This week, we offer a few tried and true tips for pant layers in addition to ways to protect your neck, face, fingers, and feet.

When it comes to winter sports like snowshoeing, hiking, skiing, and sledding, layering up is the best way to comfortably enjoy your favorite cold weather activities. Used to maximize comfort, this simple concept is easy to apply when you understand how it works.

With another unseasonably mild holiday season behind us, folks in the southeast were very excited to wake up to 6 to 10 inches of fresh fallen snow the first full weekend of the New Year. If your family is anything like mine, we were totally unprepared for the powdery goodness. (My husband chalks it up to wearing shorts from March straight through December in 2016.) Below, you’ll find a few ideas for how to make the most of your next snow day. Our fingers are crossed that we have quite a few more in store this winter…

There’s that moment each year after all of the gifts are unwrapped and the last of our Christmas dinner leftovers have been put away that I find myself alone in our living room. “The children are nestled all snug in their beds,” the multi-colored tree lights bounce off the hardwood floor in a cheerful rainbow, and I’m flanked by a snoozing dog and cat, thinking to myself, “Is Christmas over already?” Within days, I’m preparing for the new year and am faced with a new set of questions: “What will 2017 look like?” “How and where will I invest my time in the New Year?”

Do you ever find yourself stumped when selecting thoughtful gifts to give your loved ones during the holiday season? This year, we’ve compiled a list of gift themes to please a variety of folks in your life. We hope this guide will help make your gift selecting (and your recipient’s receiving) a little more creative and a lot more fun.

This past weekend, dear friends of ours invited us to a “12 Appetizers of Christmas” party. Each of the families that were invited brought an appetizer to share. Guests brought sweet and savory dishes that made for a delicious and very celebratory feast. Below, you’ll find a few simple recipes from our Mast Store family that you might want to share at your next family gathering or party with friends this holiday season.