Kiddie Pool 23/02/16

Family fun for the weekend

Night out

• Parents can get a night to themselves while kids enjoy activities like theater games, movie time and karaoke dance party at the Peacock Players (14 Court St. in Nashua; peacockplayers.org) on Friday, Feb. 17, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., according to the Peacock Players website. Kids will be entertained by the Players’ staff of performing artists and educators, the website said. The cost is $25 per child. Reserve a spot online for this Friday or for Friday, March 10.

Showtime

• See Gnomeo & Juliet (PG, 2011) at all three area Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham) as part of the “Little Lunch Date” series on Friday, Feb. 17, at 3:45 p.m. Admission is free but reserve a seat with a $5 food voucher.

• The Palace Youth Theatre is putting on a kid-friendly version of the Tony award-winning musical 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Beeon Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester). The show follows the lives of young competitors at their spelling bee and the lives they lead in and outside the competition. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at palacetheatre.org

Noonan’s new book

• Illustrator and artist Peter Noonan is the featured author for the storytime and crafts event at Bookery (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 11:30 a.m. He’ll read The Bike Bus: Adventures in the Queen City, which he both wrote and illustrated. The event is free; reserve a spot online.

Winter fun

• The YMCA of Greater Londonderry will hold its second annual Winter Fest on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at LaBelle Winery in Derry (14 Route 111). The day will feature snowshoeing, snow golfing, arts and crafts, a scavenger hunt and more, according to the YMCA’s Facebook post. The event is free; donations to the YMCA of Greater Londonderry’s annual giving campaign will be accepted, the post said.

• The Londonderry Conservation Commission is hosting a family-friendly Musquash Field Day on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Commission encourages families to experience local wildlife by taking to the trails in snowshoes, sleds, skis, or mountain bikes. At The Landing, there will be hot dogs, cocoa, cookies, coffee and a fire pit. At 11 a.m. the New England Mountain Bike Association will share an introduction to mountain biking and have some bikes available for people to check out. Use the Hickory Hill Road entrance (12 Hickory Hill Road) to get to the field day. See londonderrytrails.org/musquash-conservation-area.

Vacation camp

The USA Ninja Challenge February break clinic starts on Monday, Feb. 27, at 9 a.m. Kids will learn the basics of balancing, gymnastics and parkour along with building their confidence at USA Ninja Challenge (444 E. Industrial Dr. in Manchester). One day costs $55, three costs $160, and the full five costs $225 for members, $250 for nonmembers. Visit ninjamanchesternh.com to register.

Building a simple plant stand

It starts with a trip to the lumber yard

As I write this, the wind chill factor is well below zero, and summer seems a lifetime away. But if you are thinking about starting seeds indoors this year, this would be a good time to build a simple wooden plant stand. You don’t have to be a carpenter to build this, or have expensive power tools. Your local lumber yard will cut the pieces you need.

Mine is a simple A-frame, with one shelf, and the space for more plant flats on the floor. It stands about 4 feet tall, is 5 feet wide from end to end, and 2 feet from front to back at the base. It has space for four or five flats or trays, each of which will hold at least 32 plants — more if you buy the smaller six-packs that I avoid (some flats can hold 48 to 72 plants). And if at a later time you want to grow more plants, you can put another four flats or more on the floor and add lights above them.

The lumber for this cost me about $50 and the light fixture — a simple shop light with two 4-foot LED bulbs and a plug-in cord — cost $62, although often they are more expensive. Looking at catalogs, I see that one can easily spend much more for a pre-made plant stand. If you decide you like starting plants in the house, you could buy the extra lights next to illuminate more flats on the floor.

Here is what you need to buy for the model I built:

Four pieces of 1”x3” pine, 4 feet long

Four pieces of 1”x3” pine, 5 feet long

Two pieces of 1”x3” pine, 16” long, for cross bracing

One piece ¼-inch plywood, 18”x4’ (you can use thicker plywood if you have some)

One pair 3-inch strap hinges

4 feet of ¼-inch jack chain for hanging the lights and two small cup hooks to hang the chain

One 4-foot shop light with LED bulb and a plug-in cord

30 sheet rock screws (1¼” long)

Tools: portable drill with magnetic bit to fit the screws, and a measuring tape

Most lumber yards will cut all your materials to size for you but do not have small sheets of plywood. I found that Home Depot does have plywood in 2-foot by 4-foot sheets, and they cut mine to give me a piece 18” by 4’ for the shelf. You will need to ask them to cut the 1×3 pine boards as follows: four 60-inch pieces, four 48-inch pieces, and two 16-inch pieces.

Start by making two legs for your plant stand. Lay the 4-foot pieces end to end on the floor. Do it on your deck if possible, or next to a wall so that you can get them in a straight line by lining them up with something that is straight. Lay the hinges in place so that you will be able to fold them closed (most hinges only close one way). A cordless drill with a magnetic bit for Phillips screws will make your work much easier. To start the small screws on the hinges, make a hole first with a nail or awl, or a tiny drill bit.

Next close up the hinged legs and place them 5 feet apart on the floor. Place two of the 5-foot pieces on top of the first side. One should be screwed right at the top, one 24 inches from that. Flip over the stand, and do the same on that side. Stand it up, and spread the legs 2 feet apart at the bottom. Then add a cross brace on each end of the A-frame just below support pieces for your shelves.

Lastly you need to hang the light. Mine came with S-hooks and chain, which made hanging the lights easy. If yours do not, you will have to buy them. Most shop lights have slots and holes on the back side so that you can slip in S-hooks easily to hang them. You can also open a link of your jack chain and fit it in without an S-hook — just use two pairs of pliers to bend a link open. Screw two small cup hooks into a top cross piece and attach the jack chain. The chain will allow you to raise or lower the light — lights should be about 6 inches above the plants.

Starting seedlings indoors is miraculous for me — even after doing it for decades. I hold my breath waiting for germination, and fuss over the seedlings like a mother hen. And when I bite into my first tomato in August, I have the added satisfaction of knowing I brought that tomato into my world — with lots of help from Mother Nature.

Featured photo: The finished plant stand. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Saving heirloom seeds

Read the packets, don’t buy hybrid

As a boy in the 1950s I knew there were two kinds of tomatoes: deep red, plump and tasty ones my grandfather grew, and the kind that came four in a package wrapped in cellophane. The Cello-Wraps, as I think of them, had no flavor whatsoever. They were decorative. Sliced and added to our iceberg lettuce salads in winter, they added color.

My grandfather saved seeds from his tomatoes and started plants indoors in the early spring. He was not growing hybrid tomatoes like those sold in the supermarket. Hybrid tomatoes are carefully bred by crossing specific varieties of tomatoes so that they will have special characteristics such as surviving long trips in trucks, having a shelf life almost as long as a tennis ball, or resisting certain diseases.

My grandfather grew what we now call heirloom tomatoes: time-tested varieties that breed true from seed, generation after generation. Tomatoes that had been grown for many decades, seed shared with family and friends. Tomatoes so tasty that they were often eaten right in the garden, warm from the sun.

Examples of well-known heirloom tomatoes include Brandywine (often touted as the best-flavored tomato in existence), Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, Amish Paste and Black Krim. But there are hundreds of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, each unique and loved by someone.

All heirloom vegetables are what are called “open pollinated,” meaning that they will produce the same variety every year. Of course, in a packet of seeds some will produce better fruits than others. There is variety, but all Brandywines will take about the same length of time to reach maturity and taste about the same.

If you would like to start saving seeds, read the seed packet or catalog and make sure what you buy is labeled open-pollinated or heirloom, not hybrid. At the end of the season, save some seeds and store them in a cool, dry, dark place, perhaps in a sealed jar in a refrigerator.

I called Sylvia Davatz, the now-retired founder of Solstice Seeds in Hartland, Vermont, to talk about saving seeds. Solstice Seeds only grows and sells seeds from heirloom varieties, including some varieties from Europe.

She gave me lots of good advice, starting with the names of two good books on seed saving: The Seed Garden by Lee Buttala and Shanyn Seigel, and The Manual of Seed Saving by Andrea Heistinger. She recommends getting both books if you are going to be serious about saving seeds, as even among experts there are differences of opinion.

One of the reasons for having good books about seed saving is that they will advise you about such things as isolation distances to prevent mixing genetic material by pollinators or wind.

I asked Sylvia what vegetable species are the easiest to save. She said tomatoes, lettuce, beans and peas are all easy. They are self-pollinated and annuals. No insects are needed, and seeds are ready by the end of their season.

Vine crops like squash, pumpkins and cucumbers are insect pollinated and more difficult. If you’ve ever let a “pumpkin” grow in your compost pile from last year’s crop, you know that sometimes you get weird things due to cross-pollination — a pumpkin crossed with a summer squash by a bee, for example, may not be something you want to eat.

Most difficult in our climate are the biennials, things like carrots, beets, parsnips and parsley. These plants have to be kept alive all winter so they can flower and set seeds in their second year. You can dig up carrots and store them in soil in a bucket in a cold basement and replant them in the spring. But carrots, Sylvia explained to me, bloom about the same time as Queen Anne’s lace, a biennial wild flower/weed that can be pollinated by them — which would not produce the carrots you want.

Sylvia pointed out that in the not too distant past seed saving was the norm. Farmers and gardeners saved seeds from their best plants, knew how to do so, and knew how to store them. She explained that the seeds you save will usually be of better quality than seeds from a packet. They will have more vigor and a longer life span.

A good source for heirloom seeds is The Seed Savers Exchange. It has, since 1975, collected and stored seeds from gardeners and farmers. You can join their nonprofit or just buy some seeds or books from them. According to their website, they now store some 20,000 varieties in their collection, although at any given time only a fraction of them are actually for sale.

So think about saving seeds this year, even if only a few from your favorite heirloom tomatoes. And go to solsticeseeds.org to see a wonderful eight-minute video of Sylvia Davatz explaining all the importance and benefits of seed saving.

Featured photo: Heirloom tomatoes are often irregular in size and shape, but they are tasty and you can save seeds for next year. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Kiddie Pool 23/02/09

Family fun for the weekend

Kids in history

• The Millyard Museum (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; manchesterhistoric.org, 622-7531) will present “Help Wanted: Children of the Mills,” a program geared toward school-age kids according to the website, on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets cost $12 and children must be accompanied by ticketed adults, the website said. The event looks at the mill jobs for kids as young as 9 in the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. mills during the second half of the 19th century, what jobs they did and what it was like for them, the website said. The event will include a pail lunch and hands-on activities, the website said.

Kids in the show

• The performers of West Running Brook Middle School in Derry will present Moana Jr.on Friday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 11, at 4 p.m. at Stockbridge Theatre (Pinkerton Academy, 5 Pinkerton St. in Derry; pinkertonacademy.org/stockbridge-theatre). Tickets cost $10 each.

• For teen audiences who want to see teen performers: The Palace Teen Company will present Cabaret, featuring student actors ages 12 through 18, at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $12 for ages 6 to 12, $15 for adults.

• And save the date for the High Mowing School middle schoolers (Pine Hill Campus, 77 Pine Hill Drive in Wilton; highmowing.org/hilltop, 654-6003) who will show off their circus skills with their show Circus with a Chance of Meatballs on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 for adults, $5 for children; bring a donation for the Wilton’s Open Cupboard Food pantry for free popcorn, according to a press release.

Hearts & dinosaurs

• Bookery (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) will feature the book How to Catch a Loveosaurus during the storytime on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 11:30 a.m. After the story, kids will make a tissue paper heart collage craft, according to the website, where you can reserve a spot for this free event.

• As of the morning of Feb. 7, spots are still available at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; 742-2002, childrens-museum.org) for the Dinosaur Valentine’s Day Party on Sunday, Feb. 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. Make dinosaur- and Valentine’s-themed crafts, hear dinosaur stories, meet a costumed dinosaur and take home a treat, according to the website, where you can purchase tickets for $16 per person (kids under the age of 1 get in free).

Give a toothy grin

• All February long, the Children’s Museum is celebrating Dental Health Month. The museum will have tooth-brushing and dental health-related activities and free toothbrushes from Northeast Delta Dental (while supplies last), according to the website. On Wednesdays, Feb 15 and Feb. 22, and Thursday, Feb. 23, the Tooth Fairy and Holly the comfort dog from Haas Dental Associates (in Dover and Derry) will be at the museum to meet guests from 10 to 11:30 a.m., the website said. Reserve a spot to attend the museum in advance via the website. Tickets cost $12.50 for everyone over 12 months old; $10.50 for ages 65+ (children under 12 months get in free), the website said. The museum is open Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to noon; Wednesdays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon.

A week of adventure

Camps for the February vacation week

Winter break (Feb. 27 through March 3 for many area schools) is coming on fast. Here are some of the camps planned to keep kids busy. Know of any vacation camps for February or April not mentioned here? Let us know at [email protected].

Action Kids at Brentwood Commons (112 Crawley Falls Road in Brentwood; brentwoodcommons.com, 642-7200) is holding a February vacation camp for kids ages 4 and older from Feb. 27 through March 3 with different themes for each day. Camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an option for early or late care as well. Pricing is $85 per day, $400 for all five days, with early and late care costing $12 per day $50 per week and $15 per day $65 per week respectively.

• Young actors and actresses can participate in Bedford Youth Performing Co.’s (55 Route 101 in Bedford; bypc.org, 472-3894) winter musical camp, or the preschool February vacation camp. The musical camp will have kids acting in the classic tale of dogs to the rescue, 101 Dalmatians. At the end of the week the production will be filmed for the kids to bring home. The preschool camp will introduce toddlers and preschoolers to dance, music, performance and science through books and outdoor playtime.

• The Community Players of Concord’s Children’s Theatre Project will hold a musical theater camp to run Sunday, Feb. 26, through Friday, March 3, for kids ages 8 through 14. On Feb. 26 there will be a two-hour orientation session at the Players Studio (435 Josiah Bartlett Road in Concord), according to a press release. Monday through Friday, campers will rehearse for a performance of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr. which will be presented Friday evening at the Concord City Auditorium (where Friday’s day rehearsals will also take place). Tuition costs $225. Register at communityplayersofconcord.org/membership or contact director Karen Braz at [email protected] with questions, the press release said.

• Get cooking with the Culinary Playground (16 Manning St. in Derry; culinary-playground.com, 339-1664). The cooking school is offering two types of cooking camps, a traditional cooking camp for kids ages 6 to 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and a teen baking camp for ages 12 and older from 2 to 5 p.m. One day costs $60, four days cost $240. There is limited availability for the morning sessions.

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) is holding an in-person art camp from Feb. 27 through March 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through grade 9. The camp, called Dreamscapes, will encourage kids to use art to express their daydreams, nighttime dreams and any dreams in between. The week of camp costs $315 for members, $350 for nonmembers. Register at currier.org.

Girls, Inc. (administrative office at 1711 S. Willow St., Suite 5, in Manchester; 606-1705, girlsincnewhampshire.org) is hosting a February vacation campfor girls of all ages at both its Manchester (340 Varney St.; 623-1117) and Nashua (27 Burke St., 882-6256) locations, according to the website. Girls will have a chance to do activities like science experiments, arts and crafts, team-building workshops and more. Hours of the camp are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and include breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. Call to register and for pricing.

McIntyre Ski Area (50 Chalet Way in Manchester; mcintyreskiarea.com, 622-6159) is hosting a ski campfor kids ages 4 to 6 and 6 to 12 from Feb. 27 through March 3. Kids will learn all the fundamentals of skiing in lessons with other kids their ages. Camp time for the younger session is from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., for the older group is from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Camp prices for five days are $345 for the younger session, $370 for the older kids.

• Kids ages 6 through 12 can enjoy nature at the New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org, 224-9909) for nature camp. Kids will learn more about local nature with hands-on activities, crafts, storytimes and more. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Feb 27 through March 3. Registration is $65 per day.

• Get that extra energy out at a three-day ninja camp at Ninja Challenge Hudson (14 Friars Dr. in Hudson; ninjahudson.com) from Tuesday, Feb. 28, to Thursday, March 2. Kids will climb, balance, jump and swing while learning different apparatuses. Camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon and costs $225.

New Morning School (23 Back River Road in Bedford; newmorningschools.com, 669-3591) has vacation camp for kids ages 6 to 12 (kindergarteners and up) from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The camps feature themed clubs (such as basketball, Lego, art, comic books), according to the website. The cost is $75 per day or $325 per week.

Seacoast United is hosting a February vacation soccer campat the Seacoast United Indoor Facility (10 Ferry St., Suite 105, in Concord) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a half-day option at noon as well. Kids ages 8 to 14 will learn more about their favorite sports, and run drills and practices to get even better. Camp with a half-day release costs $230, with a full-day release costs $320. Visit seacoastunited.com to register.

Planning a garden in the lawn

Start with an outline and some compost

This is a good time to make plans. If you are willing to spend just 15 minutes a day, every day, from spring to fall you can create an edible showcase for beauty: the splendid look of ripe red tomatoes, multi-colored Swiss chard or glossy green peppers. It’s not nearly as difficult as you think. And unlike maintaining a lawn, you get to eat the results of your labor. Here’s what you need to do:

To grow good vegetables you need sunshine, at least 6 hours a day and preferably more. For most people, the sunniest part of the yard is in the middle of the lawn. A well-maintained vegetable garden can be as gorgeous as a flower garden. And if you like flowers, you can plant some of those in your vegetable garden, too.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew — or weed. A nice lawn garden can be just 10 feet across and 12 feet long. Properly maintained, it will provide you with fresh veggies much of the summer.

Using string and stakes, define the borders of the garden and pry out the sod after cutting it into 1-foot squares with an edging tool or a spade. Use the sod to start a compost pile.

Start early enough in the season — say the first of May — so you can work just 15 or 20 minutes a day for a week or more to get all the grass out. That way you get in the habit of spending time in the garden, but don’t develop blisters or an aching back. Gardening should be fun, not hard work. Still, it can give you a workout without going to the gym.

Your lawn garden will have two raised beds separated by a walkway. Once you have removed the sod, you can just mound up the soil to form beds about 30 inches wide with a walkway up the middle and a 6-inch space between the lawn and the beds all the way around the garden. To do this, (after removing the sod) loosen the soil with a garden fork, shake out the soil and then rake the soil from the perimeter and the walkway onto the beds.

Then spread out five bags of composted cow manure on each bed (each bag is usually labeled 30 quarts), and work it into the loose soil with your garden fork or favorite hand tool.

Alternatively, you can build wood-sided beds using ordinary 6- or 8-inch-wide planks. For more years of service, 2-inch-thick lumber is even better. Gardener’s Supply (www.gardeners.com) sells a variety of brackets for building raised beds, and I suppose others do, too.

If you build wood-sided beds you will have to buy more filler than if using mounded beds. Most garden centers sell topsoil and compost by the tractor scoop, which is usually two thirds of a cubic yard of material. They’ll dump right into the back of your pickup truck, or even deliver (for a price). I recommend a mix of topsoil and compost, a 50-50 mix.

If you make wood-sided beds you can place them right on the lawn without removing the sod, which saves a lot of labor. Just scalp the grass with the lawnmower and put a thick layer of newspapers over the lawn, then fill the box. Long carrots might hit the bottom the first year, but most other plants won’t be bothered.

What to plant? Make a list of the veggies you like best and that taste best freshly picked. If you plant tomatoes, dedicate at least 24 inches of a row to each plant. And buy those wire cages for your tomatoes, so they won’t flop over and shade out your carrots or broccoli nearby.

I like to plant lettuce seedlings all around the tomatoes at the beginning of the season while the tomatoes are still small. By the time the plants get big, the lettuce will have been harvested and eaten. Run your rows north-south, and plant tomatoes (or any tall plants) on the north end of the garden so they will shade other plants less. Buy some bagged organic fertilizer and stir some in at planting time.

Oh, and about those weeds: The easiest way to prevent a problem is to mulch. Put down six sheets of newspaper and cover it with straw, mulch hay or last fall’s leaves. This will keep the soil dark, turning off the switch that weed seeds have to tell them when to germinate. Mulch also holds in the moisture during dry times. But when a few weeds do turn up — and they will — be sure to pull them before they get big and make more seeds. That’s preventive maintenance.

Gardening is said to be a middle-aged sport. After all, what parent of three toddlers has time to weed? But if you wish to reduce your food costs and feed your family well, a garden is great. And done this way, you can maintain it in 15 minutes a day. I promise. Just keep at it daily, and you’ll be surprised and delighted at how good your garden looks, and how much food you can grow — right in the middle of the lawn!

Featured photo: Adding composted manure enriches the soil. Courtesy photo.

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