Queen City roasts

Eighty-Eight Coffee Co. opens in Manchester

Over its nearly eight-year run, The Local Moose Cafe in Manchester gained a following for its soups, sandwiches and scratch-baked goods, including a rotating lineup of craft doughnuts. Now, the cafe’s owners are switching gears in favor of offering single-origin coffees roasted in small batches, in addition to teas, a daily selection of toasts and some grab-and-go pastries.

Eighty-Eight Coffee Co., as the Queen City Ave. shop is now known, arrived the week of Thanksgiving following a roughly four-month-long hiatus. Owners and brothers Bo Tong and Marc Lee — along with Tong’s wife, Natalia Umpierrez-Tong — temporarily took a break, closing the shop in early July with the goal to return later in the year.

“With The Local Moose, our intention when we opened seven years ago was to be a cafe, and from that, our menu grew and then it felt more like we were running a restaurant that served coffee,” said Umpierrez-Tong, who added that they began roasting their own coffees in house in 2020. “Whereas now, we’re a coffee roaster with some food items as well. … I think, for me, that’s one of the biggest differences is [that] now the focus is on roasting coffee, getting the profiles that we want and pulling out different flavors.”

The trio agreed that a name change was the best way to help introduce that concept. Their new name, Umpierrez-Tong said, is rooted in Chinese culture — both Tong and Lee are lifelong Manchester residents of Chinese descent.

“In China, the number 8 is considered very lucky, and two 8s are twice as lucky,” she said. “So we thought it would be fun to just bring some of our family’s culture to the community.”

From a Vietnamese coffee with sweetened condensed milk and espresso to house specials like a maple latte prepared with local maple syrup and a chili mocha with cinnamon, cayenne and chocolate sauce, there’s a lot of variety here for coffee lovers to enjoy. In addition to drip and pour-over coffees, there are cold brew and nitro brew options, with beans that are sourced from several regions in Central and South America, like Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua.

“With the pour-over, we’re manually grinding and brewing the coffee for customers instead of, say, getting it out of an airpot,” Tong said. “It takes a little bit of time, but it’s fresher and it’s cleaner. The recipes we use for the pour-overs are precise for that bean.”

The shop also carries an assortment of loose-leaf teas and, for food, offers a small toast menu utilizing its own house-made white breads — there’s an avocado toast with local honey and Maldon salt, a peanut butter and banana toast with chia seeds and the option to add granola, and a cucumber and hummus toast with sesame seeds and pea shoots, among others. A pastry case at the shop’s front counter also regularly carries a selection of items like doughnuts, scones, muffins, cookies and pastries they call crunch rolls.

“It’s a Japanese milk bread with almost like a crunchy cookie topping,” Tong said of the crunch rolls. “That’s something that I actually tried to remake from a pastry house in Chinatown. … I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent exactly like the ones in Chinatown, so that’s why I renamed it the crunch roll. So that’s something that’s different that I guarantee you won’t find in the city.”

Bagged coffees are available for sale inside the shop, and Tong said the trio also has plans to eventually obtain some local wholesale accounts.

Despite their name change, Umpierrez-Tong said they’ve already seen many of the same faces come through the doors in the days since their return.

“We are so humbled by the amount of customers that we retained,” she said. “Even after our longer than expected break, they came back and they were so psyched to see us.”

Eighty-Eight Coffee Co.
Where: 124 Queen City Ave., Manchester
Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
More info: Visit eightyeightcoffee.com, or find them on Facebook and Instagram

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Eighty-Eight Coffee Co. in Manchester.

Food for thought

Trends, predictions and what’s to come for local food and drink in 2023

Another year is in the books for New Hampshire’s food scene. Here’s a look back on what local restaurateurs, business owners, event organizers and other notable figures contended with in 2022, plus a sneak preview of what’s to come in 2023.

An early surge

New Hampshire began the year amidst a winter surge of Covid-19, largely driven by the then-new omicron variant. Events responsible for bringing together large gatherings were once again canceled left and right, at a breakneck pace almost reminiscent of March 2020. The most significant? What would have been the anticipated return of New Hampshire Wine Week.

On Jan. 12 of this year — with two weeks to go until the Easterseals Winter Wine Spectacular — the New Hampshire Liquor Commission issued a statement canceling the celebration due to the rise in Covid cases.

What’s next for the future of Wine Week? A new name and a new time of year for 2023, said NHLC chief marketing officer Lorrie Piper. The large seminar-style tasting event traditionally serving as the week’s centerpiece has been rebranded as the New England Wine Spectacular and is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 15.

“Clearly over the past few winters, now that we have historical information on the pandemic, we know that we’re most likely looking at an uptick in Covid cases … and so when we kind of all got together and started talking about it, we just thought, ‘Why not June?’” Piper said of the NHLC’s decision to move the week. “It’s going to be great weather, I think people are going to be ready to get out there, and we won’t have the travel problems that maybe some people encountered during those winter months in New England. … So far, the conversations that we’ve had with the wine celebrities and the winemakers who come have been very positive.”

Details on 2023’s Wine Week are still being ironed out, but Piper said the plan is to keep the same format as in years past. The Spectacular will take place on that Thursday and will be surrounded by a week’s worth of other events like wine dinners at local restaurants and tasting and sampling events at several of the Liquor & Wine Outlet stores.

“I really want to have a very, very full calendar,” she said. “My own personal challenge is to make it really difficult for customers to pick which thing they would want to attend.”

Asked about trending products in 2022, Piper said the NHLC has been monitoring several — chief among them are wines and spirits in the ready-to-drink category, which overall enjoyed increasing sales at the nearly 70 Liquor & Wine Outlet stores. The number of ready-do-drink products available at each location increased by about 30 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, according to Piper.

“I think our customers love the opportunity to buy something that’s easy to prepare, that they are really just pouring over ice,” she said. “The makers of these products have recognized that there is a big need for it and our customers have certainly shown us that they love that ease of just being able to pick up a four- or a six-pack of canned cocktails. … We’re projecting that that’s going to grow even more in 2023.”

Low-calorie, low-alcohol and low-to-no sugar options — comprising what Piper called the “Better for You” category — have also become more popular, in addition to things like premium tequilas and mezcals, sparkling wines, spritzers and even barrel-aged whiskeys.

“I think kind of the overall trend that we’re seeing is more and more Earth-friendly processing and growing,” she said, “so we have customers that look specifically for organic wines and spirits. … The other thing that was happening was that, during the pandemic, a lot of the distillers and makers had some time to really think about reinventing some of the products or offering something really unique, and so now we see that coming onto the market.”

Food events return

A number of food festivals and events returned this year — in at least a few cases, for the first time since 2019. In downtown Manchester the Taco Tour was perhaps the most notable. The Greater Manchester Chamber worked closely with the City of Manchester’s Economic Development Department and Mayor Joyce Craig’s office to revive the popular street festival, which returned on May 5.

The event had the largest roster of participating restaurants — more than 70, many of which had not existed when the last Taco Tour took place. Firefly American Bistro & Bar took home the “Golden Taco” trophy after receiving the most votes by thousands of attendees — and a date of May 4 has already been slated for the Taco Tour to return in 2023.

“We are largely planning to replicate the event from last year, but we are looking for sponsors to support adding a concert to Taco Tour Manchester,” Cole Riel, member engagement coordinator for the Chamber, told the Hippo in an email. “We are sending out a message to restaurants and event partners soon with some updates.”

The Taste of Downtown Nashua, which allows participants to sample offerings from nearly two dozen restaurants, returned for the first time in three years in June, as did Merrimack’s Great American Ribfest & Food Truck Festival in July, and the Gate City Brewfest, also in Nashua, in August. In Concord we saw the return of the New Hampshire Brewers Association’s annual flagship festival in July, rebranded as the Keep NH Brewing Festival. That event has already garnered the support of more than two dozen participating breweries for 2023 and is slated to return on Saturday, July 8, at Kiwanis Waterfront Park.

And several new events joined the scene in New Hampshire in 2022. We saw the inaugural New England Coffee Festival in downtown Laconia in May, for instance, and the first New England Hot Sauce Fest at Smuttynose Brewing Co. in Hampton in July — they respectively brought together thousands of coffee and hot sauce aficionados with demonstrations, contests, vendors and giveaways. Both are due to return for the second year in 2023: The coffee festival is happening on Friday, May 19, and Saturday, May 20, and the hot sauce festival will return on Saturday, July 29.

Reached by email, coffee festival organizer Karen Bassett of Wayfarer Coffee Roasters in Laconia said the inaugural event drew more than 5,000 attendees to the area.

“We received so much amazing feedback and are excited to elevate the next festival,” Bassett said, going on to note that 2023’s event will feature a greater number of hands-on workshops and outdoor vendors, plus a “latte art throwdown” on the Main Stage of the Colonial Theatre in front of a grand audience.

A year of resilience

Concord welcomed a downtown restaurant serving brick-oven artisan pizzas, Bedford saw a new self-serve wine bar and Nashua became home to the first area establishment offering drinks made with the South Pacific root known as kava. In January, longtime Concord restaurateur Joel Harris of Dos Amigos Burritos opened his newest eatery on Main Street, the New Hampshire Pizza Co., following a renovation of the space the previous year. Other additions to New Hampshire’s food scene included Hare of the Dawg Bar & Grill, a family-friendly neighborhood restaurant in downtown Derry, in January; Bellissimo Italian Steakhouse, which opened in the former Fratello’s storefront on Main Street in Nashua in March; Vine 32 Wine + Graze Bar, a self-serve wine bar featuring Italian-made Enomatic dispensers, which also opened in March; and the joint retail shop owned by Loon Chocolate and 603 Charcuterie that opened inside The Factory on Willow facility in Manchester in February.

We also saw the arrival in March of Rambling House Food & Gathering, a Nashua restaurant with a seasonally rotating menu of locally sourced items and a craft brewery on site, known as TaleSpinner Brewery. Later in the spring, George “Rocky” Burpee of Shaker Road Provisions, a company specializing in homemade bacon, opened a storefront in Concord, and the summer brought us the Manchester vegan cafe The Green Beautiful; City Hall Pub, the newest venture of Mint Bistro and Elm House of Pizza owner Tim Baines; and Root Awakening Kava Bar in Nashua, which was touted as “New England’s first kava bar,” by owner Greg Gately, who noted at the time that only around 200 such bars existed nationwide.

In June, LaBelle Winery opened its long-anticipated sparkling wine tasting barn and vineyard wedding ceremony space at its Derry facility — its chief purpose, owner and winemaker Amy LaBelle said, is creating sparkling wine varieties via Méthode Champenoise, a classic French technique. While it’s perhaps probably the last major addition to the space for a little while — “I know my husband is excited because I promised him I wouldn’t build any new buildings,” she joked — LaBelle said she’s looking forward to the new year. On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Amherst vineyard is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special masquerade gala, featuring a cocktail hour, a four-course dinner menu, and performers like jugglers and fire-breathers. The ALS Association, in addition to Empowering Angels, LaBelle’s own foundation promoting youth entrepreneurship, will be the event’s beneficiaries.

In the fall, we saw the opening of the Haitian eatery Ansanm in October, the latest venture of Top Chef alum Chris Viaud of Northern Comfort Hospitality — we should also note that, in February, Viaud was nominated as a semifinalist in the 2022 James Beard Foundation awards under the “Emerging Chef” category. We saw a rare milestone in October 2022 with the Red Arrow Diner’s 100th anniversary and just this month bid farewell to retiring longtime chef Edward Aloise and his wife, Claudia Rippee, owners of Republic Cafe and Campo Enoteca.

Asked about her thoughts on the hospitality industry in 2022 as a whole, LaBelle said that, while staffing challenges have loosened up at her two dining establishments — Americus Restaurant in Derry and The Bistro at LaBelle Winery in Amherst — inflation and rising food costs have been ongoing problems.

“Our staffing is in a much better spot than it was a year ago, certainly, so that’s helpful,” she said. “We’ve just had to ratchet up our labor costs, so we’re paying people more to get them … but the prices can’t really keep up with that, and so it’s a really tricky spot.”

Viaud also said rising prices have been among the biggest challenges his team has faced this year, but he added that staffing has improved. At Greenleaf, for instance, which celebrated its third anniversary in business in 2022, Viaud promoted chefs Justin O’Malley and Nick Breyare to oversee day-to-day operations in the kitchen, changing the menus within the growing seasons and leading the line cooks.

“For the most part we have absorbed the costs of the inflation of goods … without any disruption to service,” Viaud said in an email. “For Greenleaf specifically, I would have to say that we are in a much better position in terms of necessary staffing this year compared to last.”

One encouraging thing for LaBelle is that she hasn’t had a hard time filling seats.

“People are still going out and enjoying a good meal, and we’re grateful for that,” she said. “I think people are still willing to spend the money to go out, but they’re just being a little more choosy about it and making sure where they’re going to spend their money is top quality, and that’s what LaBelle can provide.”

A Year in the Kitchen: 2022 edition

The Hippo’s In the Kitchen Q&A series continued in 2022, featuring voices of New Hampshire’s food scene, from restaurant chefs and bakers to homestead business owners.

We like to ask these experts for their thoughts on the food trends sweeping the Granite State. Food trucks won out as the most commonly cited trend this past calendar year, but other themes were also commonly mentioned, including farm-to-table and plant-based cooking movements in many Granite State restaurant kitchens.

“Using local farms is so cool because I think it’s a great engaging point for the servers to talk with the customer … so they get to know where their food is coming from, but they also feel like they are putting value into the economy in their area,” chef Matt McCormack of the Granite Restaurant & Bar in Concord told the Hippo in February.

Some interviewees this year chose more specific menu items as leading trends, like smash burgers, charcuterie boards and sampler-sized offerings such as flights and tapas.

“Just any small amount of something that’s served on one plate. You’re seeing a lot of that now — burger flights, taco flights, you name it,” Weare native Joe Bernier of the Angry Hog Barbecue Co. food trailer told the Hippo in May.

Megan Kurs of The Yolk Grill in Pelham gave us a similar answer in March, saying that the term “flight” doesn’t necessarily pertain to just beers or cocktails anymore but rather to any type of food that can be presented in a sampler-style setting. “People like to have different things they can take pictures for and post them on social media and tag us and things like that,” she said.

A fun question we always ask during these interviews is either “What celebrity would you like to see eating at your restaurant?” or “What celebrity would you like to have a meal with?” For the third year in a row, the No. 1 answer was television chef Gordon Ramsay of, among many other popular cooking shows, Hell’s Kitchen. Saurav Goel of Raga Contemporary Kitchen in Nashuatold the Hippo in April he considers Ramsay to be “a mentor in many ways,” while George “Rocky” Burpee of Shaker Road Provisions in Concord said in September he considers himself to be a “die-hard fan” of the chef. Justin Hoang of Luk’s Bar and Grill in Hudson and Bellissimo Italian Steakhouse in Nashua told the Hippo in July that he regularly watches just about every show Ramsay is on.

“As intimidating as he comes off as in those shows, I think he’s a phenomenal chef,” Hoang said.

The runner-up for the most commonly given answer to this question came as no surprise — Manchester’s own actor and comedian Adam Sandler. Other celebrities that received two or more answers this year? Actors Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey and Food Network personalities and chefs Alton Brown, Guy Fieri and Jeffrey “Duff” Goldman.

Finally, asking our interviewees to give a shout out to their favorite local dining establishments in the Granite State always yields a diverse lineup of answers. The most common answer of 2022 was The Riverhouse Cafe in Milford — three people throughout the year told the Hippo that the popular breakfast and lunch spot on the Oval is among their favorites. Industry East Bar in Manchester, Revival Kitchen & Bar in Concord, Surf Seafood in Nashuaand the Stark House Tavern in Weare were among some of the other recurring answers this year.

Featured photo: Firefly American Bistro & Bar received the “Golden Taco” trophy for winning the 2022 Taco Tour on Thursday, May 5. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 22/12/29

News from the local food scene

• A toast to the new year: Join the Copper Door Restaurant (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677; 41 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033; copperdoor.com) for a special New Year’s Eve prix fixe dinner menu, which will be served on Saturday, Dec. 31, from 4 to 9 p.m. at both locations, featuring meals of two, three or four courses. Options include truffled risotto, crispy Tuscan meatballs, shrimp bisque, butternut-apple salad, grilled filet oscar, braised short rib, sesame-crusted tuna, truffled mushroom ravioli, crispy duck confit, caramel apple pie and chocolate hazelnut cheesecake. The cost is $74 for a two-course meal, $84 for a three-course meal and $94 for a four-course meal. Reservations are highly recommended. The Copper Door’s regular menus will also be available from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both locations, and live music will be featured from 6 to 9 p.m. For more ideas on how to spend New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day (there may still be time to plan depending on where you go), visit issuu.com/hippopress and click on the Dec. 22 issue to read the e-edition for free. Our New Year’s Eve listings begin on page 24.

• Ready for flight: The Flight Center Restaurant Group, which operates both Flight Center locations in Manchester and Nashua, in addition to the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford, has acquired Smuttlabs Brewery & Kitchen (47 Washington St., Dover) — the storefront reopened to the public on Dec. 16 as Aviation Brewing Co., the company’s newest business venture, according to a press release. “We have been dedicated to supporting the craft beer industry … featuring the best local brews on over 50 rotating taps at our restaurants and have been working towards opening a brewery to complement this for some time,” Flight Center owner Seth Simonian said in a statement. “Acquiring the Smuttlabs brand and 7-barrel brewing system allows us to begin our next phase of growth in the craft beer world.” According to the release, Aviation Brewing, will begin operations as a restaurant for the next three to four months as the Flight Center Restaurant Group navigates federal and state licensing regulations to transition their restaurants into brewpubs, with the goal to begin producing its own beer in Dover. Aviation Brewing Co. is open seven days a week, featuring a menu of Detroit-style pizzas, appetizers and burgers, along with plated entrees, like braised short ribs and pan-crusted steak frites. Visit aviationbrewingco.com.

• New Liquor & Wine Outlet store coming to Derry: The New Hampshire Liquor Commission is building a new Liquor & Wine Outlet store in Derry, which is expected to open sometime in the spring of 2023. According to a press release, the new outlet is located off Manchester Road in the Pinkerton Place shopping center, and will span about 8,000 square feet. It will feature high-efficiency materials and LED fixtures, plus oversized aisles for easy shopping and an extensive product selection. According to the release, it’s being modeled after several other recently built Liquor & Wine Outlet locations, including those in Manchester, Concord and New London. Since 2012, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission has renovated, relocated or built 40 new Liquor & Wine Outlets across nearly three dozen communities. Currently, the NHLC operates 67 of them statewide and has raised more than $4 billion in net profits since opening the first store in 1934, the release said. Visit liquorandwineoutlets.com for a state directory and details on product availability at each of the stores.

On The Job – Michael Teixeira

Personal transportation provider

Michael Teixeira is a non-emergency medical and personal transportation provider and owner of MFT Transportation Services based in Pelham.

Explain your job and what it entails.

My job is to bring clients to and from doctor’s offices. People always say I’m different because when we’re going out to their doctor’s offices, I’ll make stops along the way for them, if they want McDonald’s or they need to stop at CVS for a prescription or whatever. I’ll do whatever I can to help them out, because for some people this is the only time they’re leaving their house all month.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

We also have a home care business, and one of our clients needed a ride to the doctor’s office. I just decided to go out and buy a van and give her rides. I realized that there was a need for it, and that there were a lot of people who couldn’t get around because of Covid and stuff. It started as just helping somebody out, and then I just fell in love with it. I love being around people.

How long have you had this job?

August 2020.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I’m a driver by trade. I’ve worked on cars for 19 years, and in 2017 I got a class A driver’s license, and I drove an 18-wheeler. But what I’m doing now is non-emergency medical transportation, so I don’t need a special license for it or anything. All I had to do was buy the van and register my business with the state.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I just wear jeans and a nice shirt.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

I think I’m learning every day as I go along. One of the things I’m always learning about is the finances. I wasn’t charging that much at first, and I’m starting to realize that I have to raise the price a little bit because the price of everything is up right now. But you live and learn, and you have to keep moving forward.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

Nobody sees the things I do behind the scenes. If you have a doctor’s appointment at 12 o’clock, I’m starting my day at 10 o’clock so I can stop at the car wash and make sure everything is clean, and then I’ve got to drive the 45 minutes or whatever to your house to pick you up.

What was the first job you ever had?

Market Basket.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Always do your best. People notice what you’re doing, and everything always comes back to you the way you should be rewarded.

Five favorites

Favorite book: There’s a book based on Rocky that I’ve always loved.
Favorite movie: Well, it’s Rocky, of course.
Favorite music: Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre, Tupac and Guns N’ Roses
Favorite food: I’m Portuguese, so my favorite is Portuguese food.
Favorite thing about NH: I like the snow in the winter and the colors of fall — basically, the seasons.

Featured photo: Michael Teixeira. Courtesy photo.

What to do after a big storm

Put on a hoodie and shake off the snow

We recently got hit by a big winter storm that dropped at least 15 inches of heavy, wet snow. It clung to branches, breaking some and bending others to near their breaking points. If you suffer the same sometime this winter, here are some things you might consider to help your woody plants.

First, the best thing to do is be proactive. Even before the storm had finished I went outside and started shaking branches to get snow off them. Wear a hoodie! Snow can go right down your neck if you don’t. For shrubs and small trees, you can shake the central stem, and it will clear the snow from the entire plant. For larger trees, you will need to shake individual branches.

A good tool for clearing snow is a bamboo pole, the longer and thicker the better. Some hardware stores and feed-and-grain stores will have them. I used one to knock snow off branches I couldn’t reach.

So what can you do to repair cracked and broken branches? Generally, nothing. Take a sharp saw or loppers and remove the branch back to its point of origin — the main trunk or a large branch. But don’t cut flush to the trunk if you can avoid it. And never leave a stub as it will have to rot back to the branch collar to heal.

The tree heals itself at what is called the branch collar. The branch collar is a swollen area at the base of each branch. If you cut that off flush to the trunk, it will be harder to heal and take longer. Often the branch collar has ridges or rings around it, and you should leave them in place.

Two winters ago we had a big snowstorm and my small leatherwood shrub (Dirca palustris) split up the middle. The break was not complete: There was still an attachment point for both halves of the shrub. I didn’t notice the damage for a few days, but when I did, I decided to try to repair it.

Grafting is a well-known but difficult skill whereby a skilled person can add a branch to a living tree. This is most often done with fruit trees, allowing orchardists to add other varieties of apple on a tree. I have an apple with three different flavors of apple because it had other varieties grafted to the original tree. Truth be known, the tree came like that. I’ve taken classes in grafting and tried to do it, but have never succeeded. It’s an art.

But back to my little leatherwood tree. Because it was still hinged at the bottom of the break, I moved it back together and used some stretchy green plastic tape to wrap the two halves together. I wound it tightly, and lo and behold, it worked! I removed the tape (which is usually used for tying flower stems to stakes to keep them from breaking in the rain) after two or three months. Now, two years later, the shrub shows no signs of ever being damaged, other than a little scar tissue.

What else did the storm do? It almost flattened a small grove of willow trees I had planted 20 years ago. They are a variety of Salix integra called Hakuro Nishiki. Very popular, these willows have tri-colored leaves (green, white and for part of the summer pink) and are fast-growing. There is nothing I can do for them. They are bent over and weighed down by snow, but should recover once the snow melts in a week or two. And if they don’t spring back up? I will lop off the bent stems and let them re-grow. It’s difficult to kill a willow, and they should have been shortened long ago.

The storm also knocked down a large tree on our property, a wild black cherry (Prunus serotina). The black cherry doesn’t produce cherries we can eat, but birds eat them. The fruit is just a third of an inch across with a pit. Not much food for anybody, really. The blossoms are not important, either, but it is a good plant for pollinators, one of the keystone species.

The tree we lost had a diameter of 14 inches at its base and stood over 67 feet tall — I measured it after it fell. It was not one I had planted, but a bird probably dropped a seed in our woods. I will count the growth rings when it gets cut up for firewood. Where it grew is a good example of where not to plant a tree.

So what was wrong with our tree? Most trees do not have tap roots going down deep into the soil. Two feet is probably average. But they spread widely. I was told in a horticulture class to think of a tree as a wine glass sitting on a dinner plate. The plate represents the root system, the wine glass the trunk and branches.

But ours was growing right next to a rock ledge that was actually showing above ground. The roots could not grow that way, so all the roots were on just three sides. The wind came from the fourth side, and with the snow load, it blew over. So if you plant trees, be mindful of bedrock and ledge. Keep away from them. You can use a steel rod or crowbar to poke the soil to find ledge before planting.

Although I will miss that big tree, I try to never mourn a plant that dies. After all, it provides me a chance to plant something else there. My best wishes to you all for the holidays.

Featured photo: Cut back a broken branch to the branch collar. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Treasure Hunt 22/12/29

Dear Donna,

I have a pair of old snowshoes that I would like to sell. Can you give me a price range and point me in a direction? Thank you, Donna.

David

Dear David,

Your vintage 1930s snowshoes look to be in good shape.

Antique snowshoes are a very popular decorative item in today’s market. In order for reuse they have to be in really good condition with no wood fractures and the leather very secure. You find many older ones refitted to work again today.

Values on them in original condition are in the range of $200+ per set. Higher depending on age, rarity of style, and condition. My suggestion would be an antique shop in your area. Or possibly a local online marketplace.

Either way, David, I don’t think you will have a hard time finding them a new home. I hope this helped and thanks for sharing.

Donna

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