Category: Outdoors

Kiddie Pool 23/03/30

Family fun for the weekend

Showtime

• The Southern New Hampshire Youth Ballet is performing Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Balleton Sunday, April 2, at 4 p.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester). The dancers will also perform The Ugly Duckling. Fancy Nancy follows two girls, Nancy and Bree, as they audition for the exciting and glamorous ballet Deep-Sea Dances. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $20 for children ages 12 and younger. See palacetheatre.org.

• Classic fairytales are retold in the Sondheim classic Into the Woodsperformed by the Palace Youth Theatre on Monday, April 3, and Tuesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for children ages 6 to 12. For more information, visit palacetheatre.org

Bunnies, eggs and more

• Join the Lions Clubs of Pinardville and Goffstown on Saturday, April 1, at Roy Park playground (31 Rosemont St., Goffstown) for an Easter egg hunt. Ages 1 and 2 hunt at 9 a.m., ages 3 to 5 at 9:45 a.m., ages 6 to 9 at 10:30 a.m., and ages 10 to 12 at 11:15 a.m. The clubs encourage hunters to bring their own egg baskets. Visit goffstownlions.org.

• Starting on Saturday, April 1, Charmingfare Farm (774 High St., Candia) will have Easter egg hunts from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The hunts will continue on Sunday, April 2, and Saturday, April 8, and Sunday, April 9. Kids ages 2 to 12 can hunt for a dozen candy-filled eggs that are prepackaged for them to bring home. The farm’s website gives a hint on where the eggs are located: Find the Easter Bunny and you will find the eggs. The hunt costs $22 a person and tickets must be purchased in advance at visitthefarm.com.

• Join the Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford) for its Egg-citing egg hunt on Saturday, April 1, at either 10 a.m. or noon. In addition to collecting eggs, kids can meet the Easter bunny, and get a special prize if they find the special golden egg. Tickets for the egg hunt cost $20 and can be purchased at theeducationalfarm.org

• The Easter Bunny will arrive at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry) on a student-built airplane at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 1. He will pass out candy and be available for photos until 12:30 p.m. Visit nhahs.org.

Outdoor activities

• Ring in spring at the Goffstown Citizens Committee SpringFest 2023 at Goffstown High School (27 Wallace Road) on Saturday, April 1, at 10 a.m. There will be a kids’ carnival featuring bounce houses, slides, table games, face painting, a vendor area with 70 booths set up, a food court for snacks and meals, and more. Tickets are $5 for adults; children 12 and younger are free. Visit allevents.in/goffstown/200024205160156.

• The Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford) is hosting Goat Stories and Masks for kids ages 1 to 6 on Monday, April 3, at 1 p.m. Kids will get to go around the farm and see and learn more about the goats before having the chance to make their own goat mask out of material provided for them. Tickets cost $15 per child. Visit theeducationalfarm.org for more information.

Save the date

• Join the Our Promise to Nicholas Foundation at the NH Sportsplex (68 Technology Drive, Bedford) for an indoor maze and egg hunt on Saturday, April 8, at 8:30 a.m. There will be 15,000 plastic eggs filled with candy and other prizes for kids to find spread out across the plex’s turf. Tickets for one egg hunter cost $8 online, $10 at the door, with pricing options available for families and larger groups as well. Visit ourpromisetonicholas.com to purchase tickets.

Bringing spring into the house

Cut stems, force blossoms, enjoy view

Even though spring has arrived according to the calendar, I fear winter is not done with us yet. Mother Nature is full of tricks,but to reassure me that she will provide us with flowers this spring, I am forcing her hand a bit. Or should I say, forcing some woody stems to blossom indoors now.

The easiest to force are forsythia and pussywillows. But it is also possible to force magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas, apples and crabapples, cherries, plums, dogwood, spirea and peach. Of course cutting stems off your young peach or plum tree will reduce your fruit crop.

Trees and shrubs that bloom early in the season are quicker to produce their flowers. Shrubs like hydrangeas that bloom in late summer or fall will not bloom now, no matter what you do. I’ve never had much luck with lilacs, though perhaps if I tried closer to bloom time it would work.

In general, flower buds tend to be bigger and fatter than leaf buds. Apple and crabapple trees produce flower buds on short “fruit spurs” but not on those tall water sprouts that appear each summer. So if you are pruning your apples now, look for branches with short spurs and fat buds. Keep those, and bring them into the house.

I lost a plum tree this winter — it broke under the weight of snow and ice. It took 20 years from the time I planted a bare root twig to the time it first produced fruit. This year it was loaded with fruit spurs and I was looking forward to a big crop of plums. I am making the best of it by cutting lots of stems with fruit spurs and placing them in vases in the house. I should get a multitude of blossoms in a few weeks.

I am also cutting stems from forsythia bushes, one of the first to bloom outside and one of the easiest to force inside. It produces bright yellow flowers in quantity. Look for branches with pointy buds on stems that are at least two years old. You will see skinny new-looking branches that grew last year. They probably won’t produce flowers. Stems that are closer in diameter to pencils are what you want. Older branches have stems growing out of them, often with flower buds.

Then there are the pussy willows. What we call pussywillows are actually the male catkins — pollen-producing parts — of two species of willows (Salix caprea and Salix discolor). Both grow wild, and are available at nurseries. Pussy willows, like all willows, like wet, swampy areas. They will grow up to be small trees but can be kept to a manageable size with yearly pruning — and now is a good time to do so. The more you trim your pussy willows, the more productive they will be. Left unpruned, pussy willows can easily reach 20 feet tall. Since they bloom on their upper branches, picking good-looking stems can be difficult unless you have a pole pruner.

An established pussy willow is next to impossible to kill. If you have wild pussy willow that is tall and gangly, you can take a saw and cut it all right to the ground. It will come back. It can grow 4 feet or more in a single season.

If you see yellow dust on your pussy willows, they are already producing pollen. So if you are allergy-prone, don’t pick stems with yellow on them. But you can halt pussy willows from producing pollen: pick them at their peak of beauty, and place them in a dry vase. They will stay looking the same for a year. If you pick them before they are fully developed, put them in a vase with water to let them mature. Drain off the water when the little gray kitties are at their cutest.

In 2005 I worked as a volunteer on an organic farm in the Dordogne region of France that grew willow for making baskets. I worked through an organization called Willing Workers on Organic Farms (wwoof.org). In exchange for four to six hours of work each day I got room and board, lived with a family, and learned a lot about willows, including how easy it is to root them.

To root willows, cut 8- to 12-inch sections of vigorous young stems in May or June. Strip off the lower leaves, and push the stems into moist soil, leaving just 2 inches above ground. Roots will develop at each node (where leaves start) on the stem below ground; new stems and leaves will grow above ground, so long as you leave at least one node above ground. Depending on your soil, you may need to poke a hole in the ground with a screwdriver before inserting your willow stem; be sure the ground is firmed up around it when you are done.

So cut some stems to flower and chase away the late winter blues.

Featured photo: Fruit buds on plum tree. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Kiddie Pool 23/03/23

Family fun for the weekend

Showtime

• The Broadway classic Singin’ in the Rainis being performed by the Palace Youth Theatre Company at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester) on Thursday, March 23, at 7 p.m. The show follows silent film actors as they learn to adapt as “talkie” movies become increasingly popular. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for kids ages 6 to 12. Visit palacetheatre.org

• Have a magical night at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road., Concord) Discovering Magic with Andrew Pinard on Sunday, March 26, at 2 p.m. The family-friendly magic show by Pinard will feature everything from sleight-of-hand tricks to lessons in history and science while the master magician beguiles his audience. Tickets are $22 for adults, $19 for students, seniors and members, $16 for senior members. Visit hatboxnh.com.

• Be our guest as the Bedford Youth Performing Company presents Beauty and the Beast at Derryfield School Theatre (2108 River Road, Manchester) on Friday, March 24, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 25, at 1 and 7 p.m. Join Belle as she learns that there is more to people, or Beasts, than meets the eye. Tickets cost $17.50 for general admission, $15 for students and seniors. Visit bypc.org for more information or to purchase tickets.

• A teen version of the cult classic movie turned off-Broadway show Heathers the Musical is being performed at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester) by the Palace Teen Company on Wednesday, March 29, and Thursday, March 30, at 7 p.m. The show follows Veronica as she tries to find her way through school and deal with her new mean-girls friend group, the Heathers. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for kids ages 6 to 12. The Palace website notes that the show contains mature content including mentions/depictions of suicide, school violence, and the use of a prop gun. Visit palacetheatre.org.

More maple

• Charmingfare Farm (774 High St., Candia) is celebrating Maple Month with its Maple Express event on Saturday, March 25, and Sunday, March 26, with entry times starting at 10 a.m. featuring a ride to the sugar shack, where you can watch the syrup making process, get a look at tree tapping, meet farm animals and taste syrup on silver dollar pancakes, according to the website. Admission costs $22 per person and can be purchased in advance at visitthefarm.com.

• Ben’s Sugar Shack has two weekends left in their educational maple tours at the Temple Sugar House (83 Webster Hwy., Temple). Saturday, March 25, and Sunday, March 26, are the last days to try out the location’s maple doughnuts and maple ice cream. Tours run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekend. Visit bensmaplesyrup.com for more information.

Spring celebrations

• Celebrate the Irish in you at the Manchester St. Patrick’s Parade on Sunday, March 26, at noon. The parade will start at the corner of Elm and Salmon streets and end at the grandstand on Central Street. The parade will have pipe-and-drum bands, Irish step dancers, school marching bands, police motorcycles and more. Visit saintpatsnh.com for more information.

• Join the Greater Merrimack and Souhegan Valley Chamber of Commerce for the Southern NH KidsFest on Saturday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Westwood Park Branch of the YMCA of Greater Nashua (90 Northwest Boulevard, Nashua). In addition to kids’ games, activities and live music, parents and caregivers can learn more about year-round classes, summer camps, and businesses that cater to kids. Visit gmsvcc.org.

Pruning fruit trees

Use good tools and don’t overdo it

Ask a farmer, “When should I prune my apple trees?” and you will most likely hear, “March.” That’s an old tradition, but not because it is the only time to prune. You can prune any time. But March is a month on a farm when not so much is happening outdoors and farmers have time to prune their apples. Me? I often prune in the fall, or later in the spring when the ground dries out and it warms up. I say, “Prune when you have the time and inclination.”

Pruning serves a number of functions. First, for many of us, it helps to create a work of living sculpture. Next, pruning opens up a tree and lets sunshine hit every leaf so that it can produce food for the roots and fruits. A well-pruned tree will be healthier and produce tastier fruit. My pruning mentor told me decades ago that a bird should be able to fly through a well-pruned apple tree without getting hurt.

When pruning a fruit tree it’s important to know which branches will be blossoming and producing fruit. Look for fruit spurs on apples and pears. These are roughly 3- to 6-inch-long protuberances with buds on them. As you prune you will have to make choices about which of two branches to cut. Look for those fruit spurs, and be guided by them.

In general when making cuts on an older, neglected tree, it’s better to remove a few larger branches than to make many smaller cuts.

It’s important to know where to make your cuts. If you cut off a branch flush with the trunk you will create a bigger wound than if you cut it off a little farther out from the trunk. Notice that most branches swell a bit at their base. That swollen, wrinkled area is called the branch collar, and it is where healing takes place. Cut just beyond the collar. But if you cut too far out on the branch, you leave a stub which will not heal quickly — it will have to rot back to the collar before it can scab over.

Start by removing any dead or damaged branches. Cut them back to the trunk, or to a larger branch where they originate. Heavy wet snow and high winds this winter have created lots of broken branches. Clean them up. Knowing if a small branch is alive is easy: scrape it with your thumbnail. If it shows green, it is alive. Bigger dead branches will have flaky, discolored bark and will not be flexible if bent.

Remove any branches that are rubbing other branches. Keep the best-looking branch and remove the other. Remove any branch that is headed into the center of the tree instead of growing toward the outside.

Or perhaps you’d like to begin with the easiest branches to remove, the water sprouts. These are vertical shoots coming up from a more-or-less horizontal branch. They are very numerous in some trees, not so much in others.

Water sprouts are generally a tree’s response to a need for more food for the roots. Trees that haven’t been pruned in years have many of these as there are many leaves shaded out and not producing much food for the roots. Or after a heavy pruning, a tree may produce lots of water sprouts to replace food-producing branches that have been removed.

If water sprouts are not removed when they are the thickness of a pencil or a hot dog, they will become as thick as your arm or leg and be difficult to remove. Clean those up every year.

You can change the angle of growth of a branch that is only an inch or less thick. Once winter is over, attach string or rope to a branch and tie it to a peg in the ground or to a weight to bend it down. A half-gallon milk jug works well. Just add water until you have the correct angle on the branch. Forty-five to 60 degrees off vertical is fine. You can remove the weights in June. Branches that are 45 degrees from the horizontal produce more fruit than more vertical branches.

If you have to remove a bigger branch, do it in two steps. First make a cut 2 or 3 feet out from the trunk to reduce the weight of the branch. Then make a second cut just outside the branch collar. Use one hand on the saw, one hand supporting the weight of the branch. That will prevent tearing the bark on the trunk if it falls before you finish the cut.

When pruning, don’t overdo it. Trees need their leaves to feed the roots and fruit. In any given year don’t take more than 25 percent of the leaves (woody stems don’t count when calculating how much you have taken off). In winter you just have to estimate how much live wood you can take off.

A few words on tools: The basics are a good pair of hand pruners, kept sharp. A good pair of geared loppers for medium-sized branches. A good hand saw with a tri-cut blade for branches bigger than an inch or so. Don’t buy the cheapest you can find. Buy the most expensive you can afford. My new curved Stihl hand saw went through a 3-inch apple branch like a hot knife through butter. With the leather sheath, it cost about $65 and is worth every penny.

Featured photo: Fruit spur on an apple tree will produce fruit and leaves. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

More space for more comics

Double Midnight Comics settling in at new spot

After 20 years in their old space, brothers and co-owners Chris and Scott Proulx and their business partner Brett Parker decided to move their Manchester comic book shop Double Midnight Comics to The Factory on Willow.

“It’s a community that we have, in the comic and game world,” said Scott Proulx. “It’s just amazing. For the most part we all get along and share common interests and a [its] place we all escape to together.”

The new location is 5,100 square feet, 1,200 more than the store’s original location on Maple Street. Proulx said the move has provided extra space for comic storage, shopping and in-store entertainment.

Proulx said the team wants to add miniatures for tabletop role-playing games and add more resources for the people who run those games.

A change that customers can already see is that the size of the back catalog has grown tremendously, Proulx said.

“It’s been really nice to build things out on our own and not be limited,” Proulx said. “It allows us to have a dedicated shipping and storage area, instead of packing things in different parts of the store. It effectively allows us to do more.”

The space isn’t just bringing new merchandise into the store; it’s also bringing more activities and gatherings for gamers, people looking for anime watch buddies, and more.

The new location boasts a large meeting room that, with dividers, can become two separate spaces. This means that nights for tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons can happen at the same time as anime screenings.

Proulx said the room will be invaluable when Free Comic Book Day comes around in May.

A huge draw for the store, Proulx said, was the fact that The Factory on Willow seemed excited to make Free Comic Book Day into something bigger than their previous space had. In addition to free books, the store is marketing this year’s event as a free mini ComicCon.

“In 48 hours we were completely booked by artists,” Proulx said. “We’re going to have 35 artists, some food trucks, outdoor activities, free comics and a lot of other things.”

The Factory on Willow is an apartment building with an artist in residence and art showcases, and soon will have a brewery opening up. Because of the community of artists at The Factory, Proulx said he is excited to see how people respond to the area.

Because of the Air BnB in The Factory, Proulx said they can have a room reserved for special guests, and he hopes to be able to have meet-and-greets with writers and artists and others from the communities the store caters to. Proulx said that it feels like the store is being included in a society of like-minded businesses at The Factory.

“The biggest thing is being part of a community,” Proulx said. “We have all these businesses who get together once a month and have a roundtable to talk about how we’re doing…. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Double Midnight Comics
Where: 252 Willow St. in Manchester (Double Midnight also has a shop in Concord at 341 Loudon Road)
Visit: dmcomics.com
FCBD: Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 6, with a free comic con in the Factory’s event space from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the website for updates.

Featured photo: Double Midnight Comics at The Factory on Willow. Courtesy photos.

Kiddie Pool 23/03/16

Family fun for the weekend

Showtime!

• The Peacock Players’ (14 Court St., Nashua) youth mainstage production Once Upon a Mattress is opening on Friday, March 17, at 7 p.m. The show, which is a musical retelling of The Princess and the Pea, runs at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through March 26. Tickets start at $12 and can be purchased at peacockplayears.org.

• Join the Kids Coop Theatre for Big, The Musical at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway in Derry) on Friday, March 17, at 7 p.m. The show, based on the 1987 movie, features performers age 8 to adult and also runs Saturday, March 18, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 19, at 1 p.m.. Tickets cost $15 and are available at kidscooptheatre.ludus.com.

• Join Chunky’s 707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com) for a little lunch date featuring the movie Home (PG 2015) on Friday, March 17, at 3:45 p.m. Tickets are free, but a $5 food voucher is required to reserve a spot.

Books galore

• Children’s author Matt Tavares is doing a book signing at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord) with his debut graphic novel, Hoops, on Thursday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m. The novel, based on a true story, follows Wilkins Regional High School girls’ basketball team in 1975 and how the girls grow from having to make their own uniforms and practice at an elementary school while being undefeated. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com for more information.

• The annual Friends of the Nashua Library Book Sale is happening at the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St.) on Saturday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, March 19, from 1 to 4 p.m. Books, movies, music, games, puzzles and more will be on sale, prices ranging from 25 cents to $2. Visit nashualibrary.org.

Indoor adventures

• Join the New Hampshire Historical Society (30 Park St., Concord) for a family fun day on Saturday, March 18, at 10 a.m. Families can tour the historic buildings, test their local trivia knowledge and do a New Hampshire-themed craft. For more information, visit nhhistory.org.

• Learn more about the Girl Scouts at their sign up and unicorn party on Monday, March 20, at 6 p.m. at the Center Woods School’s music room (14 Center Road, Weare). Girls will get to do a unicorn-themed craft as well as find out what the Scouts are all about. Visit girlscoutsgwm.org for more information.

• The Nashua School District Art Exhibition is on Tuesday, March 21, at 6 p.m. at the Nashua High School South (36 Riverside Ave.). Students in all grades will have their artwork on display, and there will be activities like face painting, a scavenger hunt and a $5 ice cream social. Visit nashua.edu/south for more information.

Summer camp catch-up

• Executive Health and Sports Center’s (1 Highlander Way, Manchester) 2023 Summer Camp is open for registration. The camp has eight sessions, each session being one week long. The kids are broken into groups for ages 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10. Pricing for a partial week starts at $130, for a full week at $275. Visit ehsc.com to register.

• Registration is open for You’re Fired’s summer camp Camp Fired. The summer camp will have eight week-long sessions for kids ages 5 to 12 running from June 26 through Aug. 25. Registration for one week is $135, and for two or more weeks it’s $125 per week. For more information or to register, visit yourefirednh.com

Save the date

• The Girl Scouts are offering a kindergarten readiness series on April 4, April 6, April 11 and April 13 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Marion Gerrish Community Center (39 West Broadway, Derry). Girls entering kindergarten in the fall in Derry and the surrounding area are welcome to come and meet new teachers and friends. Visit girlscoutsgwm.org for more information.

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