Category: Outdoors

Kiddie Pool 23/09/14

Family fun for the whenever

Season ender

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats play their final home games of the season with a series slated to start Tuesday, Sept. 12, against the Somerset Patriots. On Thursday, Sept. 14, game time is 6:35 p.m. and the evening’s theme is 2000s night, with post-game fireworks and a performance by Tyler’s Amazing Balancing Act. On Friday, Sept. 15, game time is 6:35 p.m. and the Fisher Cats become the Gatos Feroces de New Hampshire for a night. The game also begins at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, when the first 1,000 fans will get a bobblehead and there will be post-game fireworks. On Sunday, Sept. 17, the game starts at 1:35 p.m. and the theme is Fan Appreciation. See milb.com/new-hampshire for tickets and more information — and to get a peek at 2024. According to the schedule, the first home game of next season will be Tuesday, April 9, when the Fisher Cats will once again play the Patriots.

Special screenings

Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com) has two special screenings planned for this Friday at all three theaters. A sensory-friendly presentation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (PG-13, 2023) will screen at all three theaters on Friday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m. The sound will be down and the lights will be up. Also on Friday at 3:30 p.m. all three locations will present a “Little Lunch Date” screening of Horton Hears a Who (G, 2008); admission is free but reserve a seat with a $5 food voucher.
And save the date for some upcoming non-movie happenings at Chunky’s. On Friday, Sept. 22, at the Chunky’s in Manchester it’s family-friendly theater candy bingo at 6:15 p.m. Admission costs $10 (plus fees). On Sunday, Sept. 24, 6 p.m. at Chunky’s in Nashua it’s family-friendly Taylor Swift trivia night. Farm fun

DeMeritt Hill Farm (20 Orchard Way in Lee; demeritthillfarm.com, 868-2111) will hold a Family Weekend at the Farm on Saturday, Sept. 16, and Sunday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring face painting, children’s games and photo opportunities with the tractors, according to the website.

For the little guys

The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2002) will hold Toddlerfest, its annual celebration of the littlest museum-goers featuring special activities and events, Tuesday, Sept. 19, through Saturday, Sept. 30, including a reading of Eric Carle’s A Very Hungry Caterpillar with a visit from the Caterpillar (Sept. 29 and Sept. 30), a celebration of the museum’s 40th birthday on Sept. 23 and a Frozen dance party on Sept. 22. The museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays with play sessions from 9 a.m. to noon or 1 to 4 p.m. and Tuesdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to noon. Admission costs $12.50 for everyone over 12 months; $10.50 for 65+.

Save the date

The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will hold Lead Like a Girl, a community walk and fundraiser, on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to noon at Manchester High School West. The cost to register is $15 per person with a $50 family cap, according to a press release. The first 100 people to register get a free T-shirt; sign up at https://bit.ly/LeadLikeaGirl.

Performers and puppeteers bring to life the time of the dinosaurs in Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) with tickets on sale now for $35.25 and $48.25. For an additional $28.75 you can also attend a VIP meet and greet.

Rockets & music

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center holds annual AerospaceFest

By Jill Lessard
[email protected]

The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center welcomes scientists, stargazers, explorers and learners of all ages to a celebration of the 120th anniversary of flight at AerospaceFest 2023 on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission to the Fest is free, as are tickets to a new planetarium show that will play at times throughout the day. Planetarium tickets will be given out at the Welcome Tent on a first-come first-served basis. Parking is also free. Cookout-style food, beverages and ice cream will be available from The Starlite Cafe.

For the first time ever, AerospaceFest will encompass both indoors and out, allowing guests to visit exhibit halls, the observatory and the new Science Playground while enjoying an impressive line-up of guest exhibitors, science-based activities and top-notch entertainment. The event will also feature the premiere of a brand new planetarium show, “3-2-1 Liftoff!,” as well as a couple of highly anticipated rocket launches.

Highlighting the occasion will be a keynote address by astronaut Jay Clark Buckey Jr., an American physician who orbited the Earth 256 times aboard a 1998 NASA Space Shuttle mission.

“We have worked with Dr. Buckey in one way or another since he went to space aboard NASA’s Neurolab Mission in 1998,” said Jeanne Gerulskis, executive director of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. “He is a great partner and friend and a wonderful speaker. Since coming back to Earth after his mission, he has been fully engaged in exploring more about human physiology in space and the psychological effects of long-duration missions. His work is advancing human knowledge as we prepare to live and work on the moon and Mars, and we want to know more about it.” 

AerospaceFest 2023 marks the 32nd year the event has been presented.
“No pandemics, construction of the museum, festival name change or change from a state agency to an independent nonprofit museum has stopped the festival,” says Gerulskis. “It’s a fun day!”

Entertainment for the festival will be provided by Nazzy and Mr. Aaron.

“Their pure enthusiasm, dedication and talent makes their presence a real asset for us,” Gerulskis said about the entertainers. “Mr. Aaron plays space-themed music and children follow him around like the Pied Piper! It is a delight to see and hear. Nazzy helps let the public know what is happening at AerospaceFest, and brings his eclectic musical tastes to the event. Music, space, robots, food, fresh air, and fun — what’s not to like?”

Although Gerulski has attended two dozen of them since becoming head of McAuliffe-Shepard in 1998, the annual festival never gets old. What does she enjoy most?

“Seeing the excitement on children’s faces when they look through a telescope for the first time or see themselves in infrared. Seeing the joy and excitement from people of all ages when they meet an astronaut. Talking with the people — scientists, engineers, educators, hobbyists — who have come to spend their Saturday sharing the wonders of Earth and the universe with the festival-goers. People’s happiness, curiosity and enthusiasm — including the festival-goers, our staff, volunteers, partners, our speaker and presenters — is what makes the event special for me. I have never missed one; they are the high point of the year!”

What does Gerulskis hope guests will take away from the event? “Increased curiosity about space, flight, the natural world and the universe in which we live. Increased enthusiasm for learning more about all things STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Memories of a fun day spent together, exploring new ideas. A desire to become members of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and come back over and over again to keep learning about our universe.”

AerospaceFest 2023
When: Saturday, Sept. 16, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain or shine)
Where: McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, 2 Institute Drive, Concord
Admission: free
More info:  www.starhop.com

Cooking and gardening: a marriage made in heaven

Grow basil, eat pesto, let the kids help out

I love to cook, and I love to eat. I got started gardening in the vegetable garden more than 70 years ago, in part, because everyone I knew loved to eat homegrown vegetables — raw in the garden, fresh in the kitchen or cooked for dinner. I’d pull a carrot and rinse it off with a hose — or just wipe off the dirt on my shirt. My mother didn’t care if I ate some fresh (organic) soil with my carrot; she was just glad I liked carrots.

This is the season for pesto, a dish that is heavenly — and simple to make. It has just four basic ingredients: fresh basil, garlic, Romano or Parmesan cheese, olive oil and nuts (and salt and pepper to taste). I used to use pine nuts, but when their price went north of $20 a pound I switched to walnuts. They taste great, too.

We grow a lot of basil each year — 20 plants or more this year. You can grow it in big pots if you don’t have space for a vegetable garden. But this year, if you didn’t grow basil, visit your local farm stand and get a couple of big bunches. For my recipe you will need 2 cups of basil leaves packed down in a 2-cup measure.

If you grew your own basil, hopefully it has not started to bolt — get tall and flower. It will still be usable even if it has, but it is tastier before that happens. Throw away any flowers that have appeared — and snip off flowers on other plants that you are not harvesting today. Blossoming makes the basil a bit bitter.

Wash the basil, then spin dry in a salad spinner if you have one. Remove the leaves from the stems and then pat the leaves dry with a cloth towel. You need enough basil to fill a 2-cup measuring cup with leaves packed down firmly, which is a lot of leaves.

Place leaves in a food processor and add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of roasted walnuts or pine nuts and pulse a few times. I brown the raw nuts in a cast-iron fry pan at medium heat. They brown better if you lightly oil the pan. But be careful: They can easily be burned, so stay right there, stirring constantly until they just brown. I find roasting improves the flavor considerably.

Next, prepare the garlic. You can use a lot or a little, depending on your love of raw garlic. I crush three large or six small cloves of garlic in a garlic press, add to the blender and pulse. I grow my own garlic but you can buy it if you don’t. Har-neck garlic is more flavorful than soft-neck — ask for it at a farm stand, as grocery stores don’t tend to sell it.

Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil slowly with the food processor running. Blend the ingredients until the leaves, nuts and garlic are totally blended. Finally add half a cup of grated Parmesan or Romano cheese and pulse until well mixed in. Taste immediately on a toasted baguette or an English muffin. This is heaven.
This has not been a stellar year for tomatoes. All the rain and the paucity of sun has caused many tomatoes to get overwhelmed by fungal diseases. Fortunately, one of my favorites has done well. It’s called Sun Gold. It’s a cherry tomato that is not only delicious but also relatively productive and disease-resistant. I grow a dozen plants each year and each plant gives me 100 tomatoes or more. They grow in clusters of 10 to 20, producing from early to late in the season.

I dehydrate most of my Sun Golds, but also love them fresh in salads, in sandwiches, or cut in half and mixed with pesto. When I put them in a food dryer, I cut them in half with the cut side up. They turn into little nuggets of summer I use all winter in soups and stews.

Pesto is also good with boiled homegrown potatoes. I serve it as a potato salad with fresh tomatoes and a little celery. Yes, after giving up on celery years ago, I grew it this year and it has done well with all the rain. Although in the past it was tough and stringy and attracted slugs, this year it has been a pleasure to grow. I don’t harvest it all at once, but go down to the garden and cut what I need for that day. The stems are much smaller than commercial celery, but I’m glad I grew it.

I think the world would be a better place if every child learned to garden and learned the joy of eating fresh vegetables. You can teach your kids or grandchildren to love gardening the way my family did: Welcome kids to the garden, offer them meaningful jobs that are easy and fun, and never leave them alone to pull weeds. Let little ones ride in a wheelbarrow on top of a pile of weeds you pulled.

One of my first jobs in the garden was to stir the “tea” my Grampy brewed in a wooden barrel full of rain water and hen manure. I stood on an apple crate and stirred it with a long stick. It was a messy job, and a bit stinky, but it seemed like real work to a 3-year-old. Eventually I was allowed to dip out the tea in a metal frozen orange juice can, and give each tomato plant one full can. I’ve been hooked on gardening ever since.

Gardening really should be for everyone, so get your little people to spend time with you in the garden, even if they only search for toads and bugs or push trucks around.


Henry is a lifetime organic gardener living in Cornish, N.H. He presents at garden clubs and libraries around the region, and is the author of four gardening books. Reach him at [email protected].

Featured photo by Henry Homeyer.

Kiddie Pool 23/09/07

Family fun for the whenever

Music on the farm

Mr. Aaron will perform on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 3 p.m. at the Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; theeducationalfarm.org). Tickets cost $20 per family. The afternoon will also feature food trucks, vendors and face painting, according to the event’s Facebook post, where you can find a link to tickets.

Save the date for comics

The American Independence Museum (1 Governors Lane in Exeter; independencemuseum.org) will host a series of free Constitution Comics workshops on Saturday, Sept. 16. New Hampshire-based cartoonist Marek Bennett (marekbennett.com) will hold a workshop at 10 a.m. for educators about how to use comic-making in the classroom to explore primary sources, according to a press release. At 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., participants will practice what they learned by instructing families and kids on basic techniques of cartooning, the press release said. Preregister on the museum’s website; the events for kids and families have a suggested donation of $10, according to the website.

Keeping the farm in the fair

The Hillsborough County Agricultural Fair, among the oldest agricultural fairs in New Hampshire, opens its gates for the weekend of Friday, Sept. 8, through Sunday, Sept. 10. Fairgrounds open at noon on Friday and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and admission costs $10 for adults and $5 for students, seniors and military members and veterans.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Fair, which first pitched its tents in 1958 and was founded after the New Boston Annual Agricultural Fair folded in 1948. The Hillsborough County 4-H joined with the Future Farmers of America, the Future Homemakers of America, the Grange Agricultural Committee and the Joe English Grange to start work on a new agricultural fair that would serve New Boston and surrounding communities.

“We work hard to maintain the ‘agriculture’ in the Hillsborough County Agricultural Fair,” said fair Vice President Michelle Rowe in an email. The activities of the Hillsborough County 4-H make up the backbone of the attractions, including livestock exhibitions, farm horse and mule competitions, rabbit conformations, pie auctions, sheepdog herding demonstrations, the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off and the stock farm tractor pull.

The New Hampshire Agricultural Excellence Award is awarded annually to individuals, farms, businesses and organizations that enter exhibits promoting a better understanding of agricultural and rural life. The Bennington 4-H Club, run in conjunction with the University of New Hampshire, won the award last year and will be defending their title at this year’s fair.

While the agricultural exhibits and attractions make up the backbone of the fair, they’re just one aspect. Families with young children will want to check out the horseshoe tournament, which runs all day throughout the fair and offers prizes in boys and girls divisions. Tycho’s Twisted Tubes will be making balloon animals in the Children’s Venue. If you enjoy live music, don’t miss the Battle of the Bands on Friday night, and be sure to check out the live broadcasts and giveaways from 96.5 The Mill. If you’ve shared a meme from Dog Rates or Dogspotting, you’ll definitely enjoy Sgt. Nick Hogden and K9 Gibbs, who will share a demonstration of canine obedience, article search and apprehension skills. Amusement rides from Fanelli Entertainment open at 3 p.m. on Friday and at noon over the weekend. There will also be midway games like skee-ball, whack-a-mole and ring toss, in which players can win giant stuffed animals and other great prizes.Rowe promised a full spread of local food vendors in addition to the corn dogs, funnel cakes, lemonade and deep-fried everything you’ve come to love at county fairs.

Rowe described the Hillsborough County Agricultural Fair as “a small county fair, great for families and with something for everyone.”

Hillsborough County Agricultural
Where: New Boston 4 H Youth Center at 17 Hilldale Lane in New Boston
When: Friday, Sept. 8, from noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 10, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 11, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children, seniors and veterans.
More info: hcafair.org

Wags to Whiskers

Humane Society’s annual festival returns

On Saturday, Sept. 16, humans and canines alike will gather by the thousands at Anheuser-Busch in Merrimack for the largest pet dog event in New England, the Humane Society for Greater Nashua’s annual Wags to Whiskers Festival. The money raised will support the animals at the shelter.
“[It’s] one of the largest community events that the shelter hosts,” said Olivia Echteler, the director of community engagement at the shelter. “Basically it’s just an afternoon of dog-friendly family fun. People of all ages would benefit from this event. There’s plenty to do.”

Of all the activities at the festival, including raffles, games, vendors, demonstrations and food from stands and trucks such as The Traveling Foodie food truck and Ben & Jerry’s, the most popular, according to Echteler, is the adoption tent.

“When [people] find out that we have the adoption tent, that’s the first thing they want to go to when they arrive at the festival,” she said. “We typically have a line forming at that tent right as we open up the festival.”
The Humane Society for Greater Nashua works with transport companies from Arkansas and other southern states that bring puppies of various breeds up from overcrowded shelters, Echteler said. Prior to the festival, the staff spends time with the puppies and performs medical and behavioral exams.

“We want to make sure, of course, the dogs are ready to be adopted out and that they’re healthy and that emotionally they’re all set to go with their new families,” she said.

Last year, all of the puppies, around 20, were adopted. About the same number is expected this year. Two tents will be set up, one where the puppies will be, and another where people can go to fill out applications. If they are a good fit, they can get their picture taken with their new addition and take them home that same day.

In addition to the adoption tent, the Merrimack police department will bring their dog, Drei, who will demonstrate commands, and the Granite State Disc Dogs will return to show off their tricks. Attending dogs can join in the fun too and try out the lure course provided by Good Mojo Dog Manor, who is one of the vendors this year. Others include Paws and Spas Boutique, Gunther’s Goodies, Point and Shoot Photography and Stitch N Stick Boutique. There will also be a raffle where you could win a gift basket filled with dog toys, beds and food dishes, a wine basket or a Yankee Candle holiday basket. Multiple organizations have donated gift cards, like Pet Supplies Plus in Nashua, Starbucks and Bahama Breeze, that you could win as well.

“We’re also planning on doing … something to honor our alumni,” Echteler said. “We have a lot of people come to this event with dogs that they’ve adopted from our shelter in the past, and we usually either have an alumni bandana, a badge or a little name tag that indicates that that dog was a previous Humane Society pup. We get a lot of people who will send us updates on their alumni and usually we will post those up on our social media pages, but it’s just nice to of course meet those previous adopters in person again and see how their dogs are doing.”

Wags to Whiskers Festival
When: Saturday, Sept. 16, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Anheuser-Busch, 221 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack
Cost: $15 for adults 21 and older (includes one free beer), $12 for ages 17 through 20, free for those 16 and under. Purchase tickets at hsfn.org.

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