Category: Outdoors

Kiddie Pool 23/01/26

Family fun for the weekend

Museum fun

• On Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry) will be hosting Lighter Than Air, an educational program and lecture about the people who pioneered flight through hot air balloons. The event will have photographs of the early pioneers of air travel, many of whom were in the Manchester region. Tickets to the event cost $10 for nonmembers and are free to members. Visit nhahs.org for more information.

• Join the Children’s Museum (6 Washington St., Dover) for a Robotics Petting Zoo presented by Sages Entertainment on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. Kids will learn about what makes robots special, how people use them in everyday life, and the code that brings robots to life. There will also be a robot scavenger hunt and robot-themed craft in the Muse Art Studio at the museum. Join the event by purchasing morning or afternoon play tickets at childrens-museum.org. Tickets cost $12.50 for children and adults, $10.50 for seniors older than 65. Children younger than 1 year old are free.

• Build a plane with the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry) at their student and family plane-build open house on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m. The open house is to promote a program with the Manchester School of Technology, where students will work with volunteers to build a plane from scratch during the school year. The program is free for students who meet the age requirement, and students from other schools or districts or who are homeschooled are able to participate as well. To learn more about the program, visit nhahs.org.

Showtime

• All three Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham) will have a little lunch date showing the movie Shrek (PG, 2001) on Friday, Jan. 27, at 3:45 p.m. The family-friendly showing will have dimmed lights. Admission is free, but reserve a seat with a $5 food voucher at chunkys.com.

• Get your claws and whiskers ready for a family-friendly production of Cats: the Young Actors Versionby the Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway). Opening night is Friday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. and following shows are on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 2 and 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $13 for seniors ages 65 and older, $10 for youth 17 and younger. Purchase tickets at majestictheatre.net.

• Red River Theatres (11 S. Main St., Concord) is screening Frozen (PG, 2013) on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. as part of the Concord Winter Festival. Tickets cost $10 per person; visit redrivertheatre.com to purchase tickets.

Save the date

• Get prehistoric with the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover) with a dinosaur-themed Valentine’s Day party on Sunday, Feb. 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. The party will have a dinosaur-themed craft, stories, and a meet and greet with a friendly dinosaur. This event is a special ticketed event. Tickets cost $10 for members, $16 for nonmembers, free for children under a year. Ticket sales start on Wednesday, Jan. 25, for members and open to the public on Monday, Jan. 30. To purchase tickets, visit childrens-museum.org.

• Winter vacation is just around the corner, and Park Arts (19 Main St., Jaffrey) is holding a winter vacation camp for all the little performers starting on Monday, Feb. 27. The camp will run the whole week and include a performance on March 4. The play for elementary students will be The Elves and the Shoemaker and the play for middle school students is Mystery Anyone? Each camp costs $90 for admission, with an optional $12 for a commemorative T-shirt. Registration is open and can be done at theparktheatre.org.

Spring flower shows are back!

Get your tickets now

The spring flower shows are always a contrast to the cold, icy days of winter. Bright flowers, garden paraphernalia and numerous workshops make these events fun, for both beginner and expert. Here are this year’s offerings.

The first show of the season is a specialty show: orchids. The New Hampshire Orchid Society is holding its annual get-together Friday, Feb. 10, to Sunday, Feb. 12, at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua. This is the show for orchid lovers. There will be vendors of orchids from Ecuador, Taiwan and the U.S. Members of the Society will bring their orchids to compete and to strut their stuff. Admission is just $10, or $8 for seniors.

Next up is the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show Feb. 23 to Feb. 26. This is a mammoth show with more than 3 acres of displays. As always, it is being held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Tickets are $20 at the door, or $17 in advance. Kids 5 to 12 are $5.

One of the greatest things about this show is the educational seminars. Here are a few workshops that interest me: “Good Bug, Bad Bug, Benign Bug.” This is great for anyone who tends to squish any bug in the garden even though most are not a problem. I assume there will be slides of insects we should recognize but probably don’t. Then there is one on organic lawn care, and another called “Shady Characters.” I know garden writer Ellen Ecker Ogden of Vermont will do a nice slide presentation and talk about kitchen garden design and how to make your veggies look artful. She always does.

One of my favorite shows is always the Vermont Flower Show. It will take place this year March 3 to March 5 at the Champlain Valley Expo Center in Essex Junction, Vermont. The theme this year is “Out of Hibernation! Spring Comes to the 100-Acre Wood,”a tribute to Winnie-the-Pooh.

The main garden display is always a collaborative effort by members of the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association. For three and a half days members of VNLA will work together to create a 15,000-square-foot display using their own and donated materials. Other shows tend to have displays by professionals that are competing with each other, but not in Vermont — they work together.

There will be more than 100 vendors and 35 workshops to attend over the three days of the event. In the past I have purchased seeds, seed potatoes, bulbs, books and garden tools. Tickets are $25, or $20 for seniors. Kids are $7.

The Vermont show is a child-friendly event with a craft room open all day. Go online to see the schedule of events for kids — there will be a magician, marionettes and music. Be sure to attend this year — it only occurs every other year.

A bit farther afield there is the Philadelphia Flower Show. Last year they held it outdoors in May due to Covid concerns, but this year they are back inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philly March 4 to March 12. According to their publicity, “The PHS Philadelphia Flower Show is both the nation’s largest and the world’s longest-running horticultural event, featuring stunning displays by premier floral and landscape designers from around the globe. Started in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Show introduces diverse and sustainable plant varieties and garden and design concepts. In addition to acres of garden displays, the Flower Show hosts esteemed competitions in horticulture and artistic floral arranging, gardening presentations and demonstrations, and special events.”

I’ve been to the Philly show a couple of times and I am always amazed by the sheer size and diversity of the displays, vendors and workshops. It is best to go mid-week when crowds are smaller, and take two days, if you can, to see it all. Tickets are $43.50 for adults and $20 for kids.

A show I have yet to attend is the Capital Region Flower and Garden Show in Troy, New York, which will be held again this year at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy from March 24 to March 26. According to their website, there will be 160 vendors and exhibitors and eight to 10 workshops each day.

Then in May there is the New Hampshire Farm, Garden and Forest Expo being held this year at the Deerfield Fairgrounds on May 5 and May 6. It is now in its 40th year and is the least commercial of all the shows. It is focused on sharing information.

Finally May 23 to May 27 there is the Chelsea Flower Show of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in London, England. I’ve been, and it was well worth the trip. It’s held outdoors and is truly wonderful.

If you plan to go to Chelsea, join the RHS to get better access times and pricing. Members get a discount of over $10 per day, but prices still range from $89 to $46 depending on the day of the week. British women tend to dress up for this show and wear big colorful hats. The first two days are for members only, so it should be a bit less crowded.

The spring flower shows are fun — and we deserve that after a long New England winter.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Frozen fun

The annual Winter Festival in Concord is back

Intown Concord is bringing some post-holiday fun to the city with the annual Winter Festival, with ice sculpting competitions, unique food options and more starting on Friday, Jan. 27, at 3 p.m.

Haylie Stoddard, a representative from Intown Concord, one of the organizations that has partnered to run the festival for the last five years, said that this year will have a few new additions to the festivities.

“New this year we’ll have the Capitol Street warming hut and beer garden, and we’re excited to have that,” said Stoddard, adding that there is a lounge area in the tent as well, and the garden will serve local canned beers and drinks.

There will also be a dozen vendors, from media corporations to artisans. Stoddard said this was the first time in a while that the group had brought on vendors to the partnership.

The main event of the festival is the ice carving competitions, Stoddard said. This year the competitions will take place in front of the Statehouse. On Friday the sculptors will honor the sponsors of the festival with something inspired by the company’s logo or industry. Stoddard said that it used to be sculptures of the logos, but that proved to be too time-consuming for the smaller sculpting.

On Saturday, the six sculptors will spend the whole day working on creating the semi-permanent masterpieces. Stoddard said that it was important to the festival committee to give the sculptors as much free range as they wanted when it came to the creation of the frozen artwork. She said there is something magical about the ice and the way sculptors work it into their own vision.

“It brings uniqueness … during a colder time of year,” Stoddard said about the sculptures. She said it also gives people a chance to enjoy the winter weather. “Not everybody has the opportunity to get out, especially if they have a family and if they don’t do skiing or snowboarding. [The festival] gives a free option for families to get out and do something during the day and get some fresh air.”

Red River Theatres is partnering with the event this year and is showing family favorite Frozen (PG, 2013) on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. The Concord Public Library will host a snowy storytime that might feature everyone’s favorite ice queen and her younger sister.

The Black Ice Pond Hockey tournament,originally slated to coincide with the Festival, has been postponed to March 17 through March 19. According to Intown’s website, the O Steak & Seafood ice bar also has been postponed.

The winter festival is all about bringing the community together and outside during a time of year when most like to stay indoors, Stoddard said.

“It’s fun and something to do in the wintertime,” said Stoddard. “Get some fresh air and check out beautiful pieces of art. Even though it’s temporary, it’s exciting and unique.”

Concord Winter Festival
Where: New Hampshire Statehouse, 107 N. Main St., Concord
When: Friday, Jan. 27, from 3 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Visit: intownconcord.com

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Intown Concord.

Kiddie Pool 23/01/19

Family fun for the weekend

Stories plus…

• Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) will hold a storytime and craft on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 11:30 a.m. centered around the book Kunoichi Bunny, by author Sara Cassidy and illustrator Brayden Sato. Described as a “wordless picture book in graphic novel format,” the book tells the story of a girl and her stuffed bunny and their adventures throughout the day, according to the website. After the story, kids will do a handprint bunny craft, the website said. Admission is free; reserve a spot online.

• Get some science with your story at Storytime Science at the SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org, 669-0400) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. The storytimes are geared to kids ages 2 to 6 and include a story and a STEM activity, according to the website. The series is slated to run through March and is included in the price of admission ($12 for ages 3 and up). Register for the storytime in advance via the website.

Live performances

• The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra will host a chamber music concert designed for the whole family on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Epsicopal Church (101 Chapel St. in Portsmouth). There is a suggested at the door donation of $15 per family, the release said. See portsmouthsymphony.org.

• See Dragons and Mythical Beasts come alive on stage at the Capitol Center for the Arts’ Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $55 plus fees. The trailer for the show on the Cap Center’s website shows a production full of elaborate puppet creatures, some worked by more than one person. The doors open at 1 p.m.

• Palace Youth Theatre will present Disney’s Newsies Jr.featuring student actors in grades 2 through 12 on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and Wednesday, Jan. 25, as well as Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Wednesday, Feb. 1, all at 7 p.m. Tickets to the Palace Theatre show (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) start at $12.

• See Llama Llama Liveon Tuesday, Jan. 24, with performances at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. at the Music Hall Historic Theatre (28 Chestnut St. in Portsmouth; themusichall.org). The show is geared toward ages 3 to 6 and is about an hour long. Call 436-2400 for tickets.

Basketball!

• Catch some Saint Anselm Hawks basketball action this Saturday, Jan. 21, when the women’s team plays Southern Connecticut State University at 1:30 p.m. The men’s team will play Southern Connecticut on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Tickets to a game cost $10 per person and are available for purchase (credit cards only) at the ticket booth at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium (73 College Road in Manchester), where the games take place. See saintanselmhawks.com.

• Catch some Southern New Hampshire University Penmen basketball at home next week. The women play Southern Connecticut State University on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 5:30 p.m. The men play Southern Connecticut State at 7:30 p.m. Both games take place at Stan Spirou Field House at the SNHU campus, 2500 N. River Road in Manchester. Admission is free. See snhupenmen.com.

Growing food for flavor

Look for old favorites and new varieties

We gardeners love our home-grown vegetables. As John Denver sang long ago, “Only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” And why do they taste so good? We can grow tomatoes that don’t have to conform to commercial requirements of size, shape, color and transportability. Our soils generally are rich in compost or manure and host a wide range of minerals and microorganisms that enhance the flavors of our vegetables. And of course we eat them fresh from the garden.

We can taste five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. These flavors were important to our evolution as they told early humans what was safe to eat and what to avoid. The fifth flavor was not named until the last century: Umami signals available protein in meat, eggs, milk and beans. It is not as easily described or identified as the other four, but it is sometimes described as the flavor of contentment.

So how can we recognize the complex flavors of a good stew, and aged cheese or a bowl of exquisite ice cream? Our noses can recognize many thousands of distinct scents, and our noses and tongues work together to create tastes. Good chefs recognize this, and many farmers do, too. I recently read a book that contains interviews with fine organic farmers who treasure their soil and what it imparts to the scents and flavors of the food they grow.

That book, by Michael Ableman, is Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. Ableman, an experienced author and organic farmer in British Columbia, spent three months traveling around the States in a 15-year-old VW van. He went with his 23-year-old son back in 2004. They camped out, ate local food and met with organic farmers, some of whom were growing food for the best restaurants in America.

There is much to love about this book: Ableman is a skilled writer and storyteller, he is a talented photographer, and he is adventurous and inquisitive. Not only that, he included recipes from many of the farmers, and they all sound delicious — and mostly vegetarian.

Each of these farmers he wrote about had a unique approach to farming. One let weeds grow rampant. Another had fields that were weed-free and managed with “precision, control, formal science and discovery.” But all ate their own food, fresh from the field — or in the field. And each interview gave me something to think about, and perhaps to apply to my garden.

One of the most startling interviews was with Bob Cannard in Sonoma, California. Raised on a farm, Bob went to agriculture school but dropped out and started his own farm. When starting out, Bob grappled with this question: Why are natural places naturally healthy, while the fields and orchards of commercial agriculture are a continual battleground with weeds, insects and diseases?

His approach to farming was to try to mimic nature — weeds and all. He believed that plants that struggle to survive would develop more complex flavors — a belief later adopted by some wine makers. He believed that a monoculture — acres of the same crop — encouraged insect pests to arrive and necessitate insecticides. He succeeded as a farmer, selling vegetables to Chez Panisse and other high-end restaurants in San Francisco.

I was fascinated to read the section on Strafford Organic Creamery in Vermont. Earl Ransom has a small herd of Guernsey cows and bottles their milk in glass bottles and makes fabulous ice cream, which I know and love. Ransom believes that he gets wonderful flavors by letting his cows graze in pastures with a variety of grasses, wildflowers and weeds. Diversity in the field creates better milk, and the fat in milk absorbs flavor.

The book provides the names of many varieties of vegetables that are exceptional. Organic farmers Gene and Eileen Thiel of Joseph, Oregon, specialized in potatoes and particularly like LaRatte, Yagana and Sante. Sante, he said, is like a Yukon Gold, but bigger. Yukon Gold also got high marks, as did Ranger Russets and Yellow Finn. They avoid losing his crop to blights, in part, by growing lots of different kinds of potatoes — as did the Incas, where potatoes came from. Of course there is no guarantee that a potato that does well in Oregon will do well for you.

Ableman, a farmer for decades, mentions some of his own favorite vegetable varieties. For sweet peppers he likes Ariane, Red Lipstick (I want to grow it, if just for that name) and Corno di Toro. Then there is the Charentais melon, about which he waxes poetic.

Of beans, varieties mentioned as excellent include Valentine and Sophia flageolet shell beans, Maine Yellow Eye, Vermont Cranberry and Red Streaked Borlotto. According to the book, thin-skinned dry beans are easier on the digestive system: “the skins harbor the chemistry that causes digestive problems.”

It’s time for all of us to be studying seed catalogs and seed websites to pick the vegetables we’ll grow this year. I’ll be referring to Ableman’s book for new varieties, but also going back to my old favorites.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 23/01/12

Family fun for the weekend

WinterFest fun

LaBelle Winery (14 Route 111 in Derry) will celebrate WinterFest on Saturday, Jan. 14, and Sunday, Jan. 15, featuring tastings and other events. Especially for the kids: on Sunday, LaBelle will hold a WinterFest Family Bash from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The celebration will feature children’s musician Steve Blunt, winter animal activities with the Audubon Society, and hands-on crafts and story time with the Derry Public Library. Admission to the Family Bash costs $10 for ages 4 and up (kids 3 and under get in for free). Admission to LaBelle Lights, the walking tour through a light display, costs $16 for ages 13 to 64; $10 for 65+; $8 for ages 4 to 12 and is free for ages 3 and under. LaBelle Lights runs daily, Wednesday through Sunday, from 4:30 to 9 p.m. and has been extended through Saturday, Jan. 21. Purchase tickets for LaBelle events at labellewinery.com.

Learning artsy things

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) has a full slate of winter classes for kids, both in person and online. In-person classes include “Pen, Pencil and Marker!” a four week drawing class running Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. (starting Jan. 25) and “Draw, Paint, Print!” a four week class on Saturdays at 12:15 p.m. (starting Jan. 28). On Tuesday, Jan. 17, a five-week “Comics for Kids” class begins running from 4:30 to 6 p.m. via Zoom. All three classes are for students in third through fifth grade. The Currier also has four-week in-person classes for kindergarten through second grade: “Art Explorers” on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. (starting Jan. 26) and “Strawberries, Ice Cream and Candy” on Saturdays at 10:15 (starting Jan. 28). For grades 6 through 9, a four-week in-person “Expressive Landscapes” class runs Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. (starting Jan. 25). For teens, a five-week online class “Character Design for Storytelling” runs Saturdays (starting Jan. 21) from 1 to 3 p.m. and a four-week in-person class “Patterns, Paints and Printmaking for Teens” (14+) is on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. (starting Jan. 26). Go online to register.

• Kids who are curious about learning music can take a free trial class at the Nashua Community Music School (2 Lock St.) on Thursday, Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. Students ages 8 to 11 can meet one of the teachers, Miss Holly, and test out two of the classes: Master Musicians and Intro to Singing. While the trial is free, the school does request reserving a spot in advance. Visit nashuacms.org for more information. Library activities

• Kids in grades 4 through 6 can join the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St.) for a hot chocolate bar and book swap on Thursday, Jan. 12, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The library recommends bringing a couple of books to swap over a steaming cup of hot cocoa topped off with goodies from the library’s topping bar. Registration is recommended and can be done at nashualibrary.org.

• The Heights Branch Library (14 Canterbury Road, Concord) is hosting storytime stations on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 9:30 a.m. There will be stories, crafts, activities, felt boards and more. Kids and their caregivers can take their time at each of the stations without feeling rushed through the activities during the two-hour story time. For more information about this event, visit concordnh.gov.

• The Manchester City Library (405 Pine St.) is hosting a train party on Tuesday Jan. 17, at 10 a.m. There will be train games and a simple craft, a sing-and-dance-along featuring songs like “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” and a special train-themed story time. This program is designed for kids ages of 2 through 5. Registration is recommended and can be done by calling 624-6550, ext. 7628. Visit manchester.lib.nh.us for more information.

Showtime!

• Come to the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester) to see Frozen Jr. on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. The show follows the plot of Disney favorite Frozen (PG, 2019) and is cast with teens in the Palace Theatre’s youth theater program. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased at palacetheatre.org.

Save the date

Look forward to Dragons and Mythical Beasts at the Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St., Concord) on Sunday, Jan. 22. The show brings audience members face to face with fantastical creatures like the Stone Troll, the Indrik and Japanese Baku, the Tooth Fairy, a unicorn and a majestic griffin through the puppet mastery of Nicoll Entertainment. Ticket prices start at $25. The show starts at 2 p.m., doors open at 1 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ccanh.com.

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