Kiddie Pool 22/10/27

Family fun for the weekend

• Milford’s Trick or Treat on the Oval returns to the Oval gazebo area on Friday, Oct. 28, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Downtown businesses and nonprofits will hand out candy to trick-or-treaters as supplies last. Visit milfordrec.com for more information.

• The Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester) is hosting a kids Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. There will be story time, sing-alongs, a costume parade, book signings and more. The event is free, but a space must be reserved. Visit bookerymht.com to access the Eventbrite page to reserve a spot.

• Celebrate the reopening of the Allard Center pool with a spooky open house on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown (116 Goffstown Back Road). In addition to free pool activities like lap swim and open swim, there will be lifeguard swim tests, free family gymnastics, free open climbing, Halloween treats, a selfie station and more. Guests are encouraged to come in costume. Visit graniteymca.org for more information.

• Join the Fisher Cats for Trick-or-Treat at the Ballpark on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive, Manchester) beginning at 1:30 p.m. The annual event will have a monster mash dance party, a spooky movie marathon, a costume contest and, of course, plenty of delicious treats. This event is free to attend and more information can be found on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Facebook page.

• Beaver Brook Association (Maple Hill Farm, 117 Ridge Road, Hollis) will hold its Enchanted Forest family Halloween event on Saturday, Oct. 29, with arrival times starting at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $12. The event will feature “stars, stories, songs and s’mores,” according to the website, which bills the event as “non-spooky fun” with a wildflower trail featuring pumpkins, learning about New England wildlife and more. Visit beaverbrook.org for more information about this event.

• Nashua will hold its Halloween Boo Bash on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the bandshell in Greeley Park. The evening will feature a haunted house, a hayride, a bonfire and, at 6 p.m., a silly scary movie, according to the Nashua Parks and Recreation Department. See nashuanh.gov.

• Manchester’s Trick or Trot is on Sunday, Oct. 30, at Arms Park (10 Arms St., Manchester), with a kids’ run at 10 a.m. and a 3K at 11 a.m. Registration is $25 for adults ages 21 and over, $20 for teens and adults ages 12 to 20, $25 for kids ages 9 to 11 and $10 for kids ages 8 and under. Visit millenniumrunning.com to register in advance.

• Even more trick/trunk-or-treating and Halloween parties, movies and events can be found in the Halloween edition of the Hippo, which was published last week on Oct. 20. Find the e-edition at hippopress.com.

Taking shelter

Wine and Whiskers fundraiser to benefit dogs in need

By Mya Blanchard

[email protected]

As of 2010, an average of 2 million animals were euthanized in the United States every year. This number has gone down in recent years to 920,000 thanks to people like Stephanie Kehas of Manchester, who earlier this year started Tailgait Transport and Rescue, a nonprofit to save the lives of countless dogs in need. To fund her mission, Kehas is hosting a Wine and Whiskers Fundraiser on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester.

It was 14 years ago when Kehas started dedicating her Sundays to the Manchester Animal Shelter. Through volunteering, Kehas was able to bring comfort not only to the animals but also to herself.

“I call it my church [because] it’s just such a spiritual and sacred place for me. I get a lot of healing there,” Kehas said.

4 puppies at door of metal kennel
Cupcake, Muffin, T-Bone and Meatball are cattle dog and lab mixes from Mississippi. Photo courtesy of Tailgait Transport & Rescue.

At the time she started volunteering, Kehas had been working at Elliot Hospital as a physical therapist, which has been her profession for nearly three decades. About 10 or 12 years ago, she became a traveling physical therapist, and was consequently no longer able to continue her ritual of volunteering. Realizing how much she missed it, she began volunteering at the local shelters in the states she found herself in for work, gaining connections in southern states like South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

Of the nearly 1 million animals that are euthanized every year, half come from the South. Population control issues and surrenders mean that many of these animal shelters run out of space, causing an overabundance of animals to essentially be put on what Kehas calls “death row.” It was while she was on the road that she had an epiphany: “‘Oh my god! I could [totally be] driving dogs back right now’ — [and so] … that’s how it kind of all started,” Kehas said.

Kehas started tailoring her work schedule around her trips of collecting animals from the South and bringing them up to New England.

“Being located in New England, I feel like … I have the opportunity of creating a safe haven for animals to get out of harm’s way down south and bring them up north and just give them a chance,” she said. “I’ll have to stay overnight in a hotel or something, and I’ll bring these dogs into the hotel room. … They always end up on the bed with me [and] the look in their eyes … exuding happiness, love and gratefulness [is] why I do it.”

Not having a shelter of her own, the dogs that Kehas brings north end up going to other shelters in the region, which can be constraining. It is her hope that through the fundraiser, she will be able to raise enough money to open her own.

At this wine and chocolate event, attendees will be able to enjoy hors d’oeuvres while participating in auctions and raffles, to win prizes like a gift basket of 52 bottles of wine, or a “week of no cooking” package, consisting of gift cards from seven local restaurants.

Wine and Whiskers Fundraiser
When: Friday, Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Derryfield Country Club, 625 Mammoth Road, Manchester
Cost: $35; purchase on Eventbrite
More info: Visit tailgaitrescue.org, find them on Facebook and Instagram @tailgaittransportandrescue or email [email protected]

Featured photo: Kehas with Marcia, a chow mix from North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Tailgait Transport & Rescue.

Kiddie Pool 22/10/20

Family fun for the weekend

Bookstore craft
• Head to Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester) for a fun and exciting story and craft time called Renaissance Kids on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 10 a.m. The story will teach kids about fun and interesting chemical reactions, and the craft will have kids seeing some of those reactions with their own eyes. While the event is free to attend, it does require registration. Visit bookerymht.com for more information and to register.

Cooking outside
• Parents and kids can learn all about the delicious herbal remedy called fire cider at the Kid’s Fire Cider Course on Saturday, Oct. 22, at noon at the Plaistow Town Forest (Main Street). In addition to learning about the nutritious tonic, kids will have the ability to control how spicy the fire cider gets and get to gather wild herbs for their concoctions. This event is recommended for kids ages 5 to 14. Parents will need to bring a knife and a cutting board, and everything else is provided. Tickets cost $35 and can be bought on the allevents website.

Museum fun
• Join the Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road, Canterbury) to experience how people lived in the village in the Let There Be Light: Natural Illumination event on Friday, Oct. 21, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is removing the special protective UV filters that cover the windows of the buildings so guests can experience the historic sights the same way that members of the Shakers did. Tickets for this event are $100 per person and can be bought at shakers.org.

Showtime!
• Travel down the rabbit hole with the students at the Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts in their performance of Wonderland running Friday, Oct. 21, to Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Majestic Theatre (880 Page St., Manchester). Shows begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The show is a retelling of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, where Alice meets old familiar characters and a host of new ones. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors 65 and above, and $10 for youth 17 and under. Tickets can be bought at the door or at majestictheatre.net.
• Epping Community Theatre is doing Shrek the Musical from Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 23, and Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30, with 7 p.m. shows and 2 p.m. matinees. The musical follows an ogre named Shrek and how he is hired to save a cursed princess with the help of his loyal steed, a donkey named Donkey. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $15 for children. More information is available at eppingtheater.org.

Garlic: a virtually work-free crop

Back in the 1980s the Dartmouth Film Department showed a film by Les Blank called Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers. It was shown in “Smell-o-Rama.” Cooking garlic smells were mysteriously introduced to the air system, filling the 900-seat auditorium with the delicious odor of roasted garlic. I attended, and loved it all. Just for the record, my one mother was better than garlic — but I love garlic, too, and plant plenty of it.
One of my favorite fall appetizers is to take whole heads of garlic and roast them in oven-safe ramekins or small dishes at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or so. I peel off the outer layers of the head of garlic, cut off the tips of the head and drizzle it with olive oil. When done the cloves of garlic are soft and easily squeezed out of their skins after cooling. I like to serve this on crackers or a baguette spread with goat cheese.
In order to have enough garlic for treats like the one described above I plant a lot of garlic each October. Usually I plant about 50 cloves, but I have planted up to 100 — always enough to eat daily and some to share. It really is a virtually work-free, pest-free crop. All you need is “seed” garlic sold for planting, or failing that, some organic garlic purchased at your local farmers market or food coop. Grocery store garlic is often treated with chemicals so it won’t sprout.
In addition to seed garlic you need a sunny place with decent soil, or even crummy soil you can improve with compost. To plant 50 cloves of garlic the space you need is minimal: a spot perhaps 4 feet long and about 3 feet wide. You could even find the space in a flower bed for a few, or on the front lawn around the light pole.
I plant garlic in a wide raised bed. I loosen the soil with a garden fork or my CobraHead weeder down to a depth of 6 inches. Then I add some good-quality compost, either homemade or purchased, and stir it in. I make furrows 8 inches apart and add some organic fertilizer like Pro-Gro into the furrow. I work it in with my single-tined CobraHead weeder. Or you can sneak cloves into a flower bed individually using a hand trowel.
Each clove needs to be planted the way it grew — the fat part down, the pointy end up. I plant cloves about 3 inches deep and a hand’s width apart in the row. After pushing the clove into the loose soil I pat it down and when all are planted I cover the bed with about a foot of loose hay or straw. This will keep the garlic warm longer in the fall, allowing it to establish a good root system before the ground freezes.
Next spring the shoots will push right through the hay, but most weeds will not. If we have a warm fall, you might even see green shoots pushing through the hay now. Don’t worry. That won’t be a problem, come spring.
There are two kinds of garlic; hard-neck and soft-neck. Here in New England we do best growing hard-neck garlic. It has a stiff stem in the middle of each head where the scape grew last summer, while soft neck garlic does not.
Just as there are sweet onions and pungent onions that make you cry when you chop them, not all garlic tastes the same. If you are ordering garlic from a seed company, read the descriptions carefully. Be sure you are ordering hard-neck garlic. They should tell you about the flavor of each, and I recommend getting three different kinds for your first trial. Since seed garlic is relatively expensive, you will want to save some garlic each year for planting the next year.
If you use a lot of garlic in your recipes, pay attention to how many cloves are in each head. It is less work to peel one big clove than three small ones. I grow mainly large heads, and I often have to cut one clove into two or three pieces to fit it into my garlic press. The product description should tell you not only the size of the bulb but also the number of cloves per head.
You can store garlic best in a cool, dry place. Ideally 50 degrees with moderate humidity. You can freeze it in a zipper bag or jar for a year or more. Don’t store garlic at room temperature in oil, as it can produce deadly botulism.
Garlic plants are handsome, especially in July, when they send up tall flower scapes that twist and turn in great shapes. Think creatively and you can find a space to plant some. I often cut the scapes and use them in flower arrangements, and they are also good sliced and sautéed in a stir-fry.
In a recent article about putting the garden to bed, I failed to mention that it is a good plan to leave some flowers standing. Why? Because some beneficial insects lay eggs in or on the stalks to overwinter. Birds will also eat the seeds of things like black-eyed susans and coneflowers. So you have an excuse now not to clean up the gardens completely. You can finish in the spring.

A garlic bed ready for planting. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Kiddie Pool 22/10/13

Family fun for the weekend

Festivals and expos

• Gather up the troop and head over to Bedford for the Girl Scout expo on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at the New Hampshire Sportsplex (68 Technology Drive). Registration for the event closes on Oct. 13. The expo will have events including giveaways for the girls, live performances, hands-on exhibits and more. The program is appropriate for girls in kindergarten through grade 12 and adults, and they do not need to be members of the Girl Scouts to participate. Tickets for everyone cost $5 and can be purchased at mygs.girlscouts.org.

• The fourth annual Hudson Harvest Festival is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Dr. H.O. Smith Elementary School (33 School St., Hudson). In addition to a costume parade for all ages with prizes to be awarded, the festival will feature games, music, vendors, craft tables and a pumpkin carving contest. See “New England Vendor Events” on Facebook for details.

• The Town of Windham is planning a harvest fest at Griffin Park (111 Range Road, Windham) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from noon to 4 p.m., featuring food trucks, family-friendly activities and more. At 3 p.m., kids can go trick-or-treating around the park. Visit windhamnh.gov for more information.

• One Church Manchester (1308 Wellington Road) will hold a fall festival on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., with food, games and pumpkin decorating. Volunteers can come and decorate the outpost on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to attend. Visit church.one/events/fallfestivalmanch for more information.

• The Londonderry Fall Fest is going to be on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Londonderry Town Common (Mammoth Road). There will be more than 50 local vendors on hand to showcase their products, as well as various options from food trucks offering different tasty treats. Admission is free. See the Eventbrite page for more details.

Museum fun

• “My Year of Toys: An Art Journal,” theart exhibit at the Children’sMuseum of New Hampshire’s Gallery 6 (6 Washington St. in Dover), will run through Sunday, Oct. 16. The exhibit displays works by author and illustrator Sandy Steen Bartholomew, who created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collection every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free; paid museum admission (which is $12.50 per person age 1 and up; $10.50 for seniors) is not required for entrance to the gallery only. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. See childrens-museum.org.

Outdoor activities

• A brand new all persons trail is opening at the NH Audubon McClane Center in Concord (84 Silk Farm Road, 224-9909) on Saturday, Oct. 15. The grand opening ceremony will start at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a “birding for all” session. The trail, designed to help people with mobility challenges, was completed in September; it follows the nature trail and goes through the pollinator meadow. For more information on the trail, or to reserve a spot for the grand opening and birding outing, visit nhaudubon.org/event/all-persons-trail-grand-opening-october-15.

• The Nashua Duck Derby is going to take over Renaissance Park (23 Water St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15. In addition to the 10,000 duck drop goal, there will be a beer tent, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, games and kids’ activities. Live music by the Joe Mack Band will start at 11:30 a.m. and the duck drop will be at 2 p.m. Admission is free; to participate in the duck drop event, one duck costs $5, six cost $25, a dozen is $50, and 25 is $100. The first, second and third place ducks will win cash prizes of up to $2,500. Visit duckrace.com/Nashua for more information and to purchase ducks.

Putting the garden to bed

Don’t let the bed bugs bite

Frost has already lightly brushed my garden, and hard frost is not far behind. Even in warmer spots it is good to start getting ready for winter. Let’s look at some of the key activities for all of us.

First, remember to visit and support your local garden center. They want to unload as many plants now as they can — perennials, shrubs and trees. So they are discounting plants, often 25 percent or more. I recently got some big burr oaks at a 50 percent discount, a considerable saving. And it is not too late to plant.

I have read that woody plants store up food all summer when the sun is bright, and use some of it now to extend their roots out away from the main stem. So I like to plant trees in the fall especially since it is cooler and more rain is falling now than in mid-summer. If you plant a tree, be sure to spread 2 inches of mulch around the tree to keep the roots warm as late into the fall as possible.

You may have already done so, but let me remind you anyhow to bring in your houseplants that have summered outside. Do it now, not after frost even for plants like rosemary that can sustain a temperature down to 25 degrees or so.

Aphids are the biggest pest on houseplants. Outdoors they are eaten up by other insects or washed off by heavy rains, but indoors a plant that is already sulking is ripe for an infestation. Use your hose to wash not only the tops of leaves, but the underside as well. And wash the surface of soil in the pot — do this by laying the plant on its side. This will help you to get rid of eggs and adult aphids, though a few elude me every year. Watch for aphids or their sticky droppings on leaves. If you see some, spray with Safer Soap to dehydrate the aphids and knock them dead.

Your least favorite fall activity may be weeding and plant cleanup, though I kind of enjoy it. It is very important to remove rotten fruit, stems and leaves of tomatoes, potatoes, and vine crops as they often have mildew or fungus by now. Be sure to get them out of the garden ASAP. And if you have had bugs on any plants, put them in the household trash or on a burn pile. You don’t want them wintering over in the garden or the compost pile. You don’t have to wash tomato cages; their diseases won’t winter over on them.

Getting rid of weeds now is important, but so is covering the soil with leaves or mulch so those seeds blowing in the wind don’t land on bare earth and settle in, ready to grow in early spring even before you have thought about planting next year’s veggies.

Fallen leaves are the best mulch available, and free. You can compact them and make them easier to move to the garden by running them over with the lawnmower. They will settle in and not blow around if you do this just before a nice rain. But you can use grass clippings now, before leaves have all fallen. And if you use a mowing service, ask them to leave the leaves and grass clippings for you to use. But do that only if they do not use any chemicals on the lawn. You don’t want any chemicals in your garden.

Cutting back the flower gardens is hard work and time-consuming if you have extensive flower beds as I do. Many gardeners use their hand pruners and clip away, stem by stem. Not me. That is very hard on your paws. I like to use a curved serrated knife or small “harvest sickle” to do so. I grab a handful of stems with my left hand, then slice them off with my right. One motion, and no work for my fingers the way pruners would do.

You might also consider using a string trimmer to cut back big beds. I’ve done it, but don’t usually do so. It’s fast but less precise. And I like to leave some flower stalks standing, things with seed for winter birds like chickadees and finches. I leave black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, sunflowers and anything else that looks tasty from a bird’s eye view.

The most radical way of cutting back flower beds is to use a lawnmower. In late fall I used to put the blade of my riding lawnmower up as high as possible and ride over it, mowing it all down. Now I no longer have a riding mower, and I doubt my battery mower would chomp through it. I will have to use the string trimmer, I guess. It’s about 75 feet by 10 feet, so a motorized tool helps.

If you have dahlias and other tropicals growing in the ground and want to save the tubers for next year, only dig them up after a frost or two. Bring them into the basement or barn after you have shaken off most of the soil.

I store my dahlia tubers in a cold basement that doesn’t freeze. I put them in a box or tub with some sphagnum moss that is lightly moistened, and spray some moisture on in February. You can also store them in a plastic bag with holes punched in it and some bedding sold for gerbils in it, lightly moistened.

I love winter, but I’m always sad the morning after the first hard frost. Most of my annuals will have fallen, like wounded soldiers. But I also know that at my age, a season of rest from the garden will be good, too.

Featured photo: A harvest sickle. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

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