Whoopie!

A deep dive into the nostalgic treat and its many sweet variations

It started as a way to raise money for her daughters’ synchronized swim teams — Heather Pfeifer of Goffstown made whoopie pies and presented them at bake sales to rave reviews. Eventually, she began serving pumpkin maple whoopie pies at the annual Goffstown Pumpkin Regatta; last year she sold out of nearly 1,000 before the event was over.

“People [in town] were going up to me and being like, ‘Are you the pumpkin maple whoopie pie lady?’ or they’d say, ‘They’re so good, where can I get them?’” Pfeifer said, “and I was just like, ‘Well I don’t know, I can bake some if you want.’ … I was cooking out of my kitchen for fun, but so many people were requesting where they could get them. So I started pursuing that.”

Pfeifer is now the owner and founder of Granite State Whoopie Pies and takes weekly pre-orders of the nostalgic treat in all kinds of flavors. She works out of the prep kitchen at White Birch Eatery in Goffstown, mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays when it’s closed for the day, and accepts requests to make any of her whoopie pies gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan.

Photo courtesy of Granite State Whoopie Pies of Goffstown.

With a regular offering of classic chocolate and vanilla or peanut butter, as well as two new special flavors released every two weeks, Pfeifer is proving that the whoopie pie can lend itself to all sorts of fun variations. Currently, she’s celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with chocolate and mint grasshopper and chocolate mocha Irish cream whoopie pies, while other flavors she’s previously dabbled in have included black forest, milk and cookies, red velvet, and peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes she’ll incorporate local ingredients — her maple bacon whoopie pie, for instance, featured bacon crumbles from Shaker Road Provisions of Loudon, while just last month she made chocolate milk stout whoopie pies using the Summit stout from Goffstown’s Mountain Base Brewery.

“I have a list of probably about 50 or 60 flavors … and more come to mind every day,” she said.

Similar whoopie pie flavor experimentations have been going on in the kitchen of Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop in Manchester. There you’ll find all kinds of whoopie pie flavors on the shelf, and you never know what bakers Laura and Adam Rexford will come up with next, like lemon poppy strawberry, Fireball whiskey pumpkin, tiramisu, pineapple upside-down cake and more.

“This year, people have been buying whoopie pies like crazy,” Laura Rexford said. “I can’t tell if it’s that we’re being more adventurous with flavors, or if people just want more comfort foods. … I feel like a whoopie pie is so much easier to eat than a cupcake, because of the distribution of cake to frosting. It’s almost like a sweet hamburger. The frosting is more contained.”

From the treat’s delicious creamy filling to the cakes surrounding it — which Pfeifer calls the “whookies,” or “whoopie cookies” — we take a look at how some local whoopie pies are made, and also attempt to trace back its origins as a New England staple.

Flavors and fillings

Today, the most common whoopie pie filling features a vanilla or marshmallow buttercream. Jordyn Hotchkiss of The Cat’s Pajamas, a home bakery based in Weare, said hers have a mixture of butter, confectioner’s sugar, marshmallow Fluff and a little bit of vanilla. The filling for her peanut butter whoopie pies uses those same ingredients, in addition to creamy peanut butter, kosher salt and milk — both flavors are stocked weekly at the Weare Real Food Farmers Market.

Pfeifer’s whoopie pies, meanwhile, have a roux-based filling, or a milk and flour thickener that’s mixed with granulated sugar, vanilla, butter, Crisco and a little bit of salt.

“I would equate the flavor … to almost like a Devil Dog,” she said. “The granulated sugar actually melts right into the roux … and what it does is it whips up so nice and fluffy, but it’s not overpoweringly sweet. … It creates this very light and creamy filling. It’s a more traditional way, but it’s not the most common way because it’s not the most shelf-stable.”

Pfeifer described her “whookies” as a thicker version of a muffin top, with a proper consistency resembling a brownie batter and a total baking time of around 10 to 12 minutes. Her roux is made first so that it has time to cool down once the cakes are baked.

Depending on the flavor she’s working with, additional ingredients are added to either the cakes or the filling. As for the diet-friendly options, she’ll substitute oat milk and plant-based butter for the dairy-free pies, and Bob’s Red Mill brand 1-to-1 flour blend for the gluten-free pies.

Photo courtesy of Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop in Manchester.

At Angela’s, classic chocolate and vanilla or peanut butter whoopie pies are always in stock, each of which is made with a house buttercream recipe. Those are sold individually, or you can try one of the shop’s themed duo packs — last month’s, dubbed “The Romance Package,” featured candied maple bacon and raspberry Frangelico-flavored whoopie pies. Currently available is the “Luck of the Irish” whoopie pie duo, with crème de menthe and milk chocolate Irish cream flavors. The shop also puts out bite-sized miniature whoopie pies in an assortment of flavors, sold in packs of a dozen each.

“Those have had a huge response,” Rexford said. “I think people feel a little less guilty about the mini whoopie pies, because you can just pop them in your mouth. They’re like little Munchkins.”

In Hooksett, The Cake Fairy has been baking whoopie pies since before it even had a storefront, back when it had a booth at the Deerfield Fair, manager Brianna Lucciano said.

“My mom would make these behemoth whoopie pies, like the size of a man’s hand, and people would walk around the fair with them, and others would say, ‘Oh, my gosh, where did you get that?’” she said. “It got to the point where we’d get a delivery, and people were just taking them out of the box because we couldn’t even get them on the table fast enough.”

They no longer sell at the fair, but you can still get that familiar gigantic “Deerfielder” whoopie pie at the bakery, along with a few smaller sizes. In addition to the classic, there’s a Funny Bone whoopie pie with a chocolate cake and peanut butter filling, and a Boston cream whoopie pie with a vanilla cake, chocolate ganache and a custard buttercream.

Photo courtesy of The Cannoli Stop at The Candy Shop in Concord.

At The Cannoli Stop at The Candy Shop in Concord, owner Melinda Sergi has a regular assortment of fillings for her whoopie pies, from vanilla or chocolate cream to raspberry, peanut butter or pistachio. But she also takes things a step further by making whoopie pies with any one of the shop’s more than 50 flavors of cannoli fillings — those options run the gamut from cake batter and cookie dough to red velvet, bubble gum, cotton candy, salted caramel and more.

Lemon cake whoopie pies are part of the regular lineup of products at Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co., an online-only bakery based in Salem featuring uniquely crafted limoncello-infused treats. Also in Salem, Chatila’s Sugar Free Bakery offers an assortment of sugar-free and dairy-free whoopie pie flavors using a fluffy French creme-based filling.

Competing claims

Multiple U.S. states claim to be the birthplace of the original whoopie pie. Two of those states in particular — Pennsylvania and Maine — are notably linked by their Amish heritage, Pfeifer said.

While there are several theories, according to at least one edition of The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, an encyclopedia edited by Andrew F. Smith and published by Oxford University Press, it’s generally accepted that the first whoopie pie originated around the era of the Great Depression. The story goes that the cakes were made from a leftover batter, contributor Susan McLellan Plaisted writes, and, according to Amish legend, kids would find the cream-filled treats in their lunch bags and yell “whoopie!” with delight, giving them their name.

A bakery in Lewiston, Maine, called Labadie’s claims to be “the home of Maine’s first whoopie pie,” with a recipe dating back to 1925, according to its website. Another possible clue into how the treat became so popular in New England involves the Massachusetts-based Durkee Mower Co., the manufacturer of marshmallow Fluff. According to its website, an episode of a 1930s weekly radio show called “Flufferettes” promoted The Yummy Book, a book of various recipes using Fluff as the cornerstone ingredient — one of those was, of course, for whoopie pies.

Photo courtesy of Sully’s Superette in Allenstown.

But who exactly was the first to create the sweet treat, and where, is likely lost to history.

“It’s like saying who made pizza first,” Lucciano said. “In reality, it’s a form of chocolate cake and a delicious filling. We all had the same ingredients, but whose grandmother did it first?”

Both Pennsylvania and Maine hold annual whoopie pie festivals — Maine’s is set to return on June 25 to the town of Dover-Foxcroft, featuring samples from various bakers across the state, while Pennsylvania’s is held at the Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn in Lancaster County in September. Since 2011, the whoopie pie has been honored as Maine’s official “state treat.”

While there are no large whoopie pie-centered festivals in the Granite State, Pfeifer does have a few upcoming local appearances where you can go to enjoy her whoopie pies. Find her at Mountain Base Brewery on Thursday, March 17, from 4 to 8 p.m., serving her classic, peanut butter, grasshopper and Irish cream flavors. Then on Saturday, March 19, she’ll be participating in the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to noon. More events are in the works for the coming weeks and months.

Whoopie pies at home

A simple whoopie pie recipe uses ingredients easily within reach in your kitchen.

“It’s a process … because you have the two separate parts of it,” Hotchkiss said. “I use Crisco, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and a little bit of salt, and that’s just for the cake itself. … The oven actually gets preheated to 425, so it’s a bit of a hotter bake, and they only have to bake for about 10 minutes each.”

When baking them at home, Hotchkiss said, it’s important to make sure the cakes are spaced out enough so that they don’t spread into each other. She places either a silicone baking sheet or a piece of parchment paper on the baking pan to prevent sticking and help with their removal.

“Generally, once I get the cake part of it all done, I let them cool for a few minutes and then I start with my filling,” she said, “because they need to be fully cooled before you put them together; otherwise the filling will just start to melt. … Personally, I love having Fluff in them.”

Rather than spreading the filling over both cake halves, Hotchkiss said she likes to scoop it on just one and pushes the two parts together to finish the whoopie pie.

“It just makes for a good ratio, in my opinion,” she said. “Everyone has their own viewpoint of how much cream to cake there should be … but for the most part they’re relatively even.”

The pies remain fresh when wrapped for roughly a week, or you can freeze them.

“A friend of mine actually discovered that they freeze really well, so that was good to find out,” Hotchkiss said. “So if you don’t want to eat them right away, they can go in the freezer and then, when you’re ready to eat it, it will thaw out no problem.”

Where to get whoopie pies

Check out this list of local bakeries, shops, homestead bakers and other businesses offering homemade whoopie pies, from the classic chocolate and vanilla or peanut butter to all kinds of unique flavors. Some have them on hand all the time, while others will rotate their whoopie pies out with other pastries and treats from their bakery case — be sure to contact each establishment directly for the most up-to-date availability on their products.

• Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop (815 Chestnut St., Manchester, 625-9544, angelaspastaandcheese.com) offers both large-sized whoopie pies and mini pies that are sold by the dozen, and you never know which flavors bakers Laura and Adam Rexford will be working on next. Classic and peanut butter are usually available, while other options have included lemon poppy strawberry, Fireball whiskey pumpkin, tiramisu, pineapple upside-down cake and more. Angela’s has also recently begun offering themed duo packages of whoopie pies — the current one available, a St. Patrick’s Day-themed duo called “Luck of the Irish,” features crème de menthe and milk chocolate Irish cream flavors.

• Baked Downtown Cafe & Bakery (1015 Elm St., Manchester, 606-1969; 249 Sheep Davis Road, Concord, 856-8871; bakeddowntown.com) offers classic, peanut butter and seasonal whoopie pie flavors.

• The Bakeshop on Kelley Street (171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com) offers classic and brown sugar maple whoopie pies, as well as several specialty flavors throughout the year, like pumpkin, red velvet, pineapple upside-down cake and a Bailey’s-filled chocolate Guinness whoopie pie for St. Patrick’s Day.

• Bearded Baking Co. (819 Union St., Manchester, 647-7150, beardedbaking.com) offers multiple sweets treats out of its bakery case, usually including whoopie pies.

• Benson’s Bakery & Cafe (203 Central St., Hudson, 718-8683, bensonsbakeryandcafe.com) offers classic whoopie pies, in addition to seasonal specials for flavors.

• Bite Me Kupcakez (4 Mound Court, Merrimack, 674-4459, bitemekupcakez.com) has a variety of pastries and sweet treats out of its bakery case, usually including whoopie pies.

• The Black Forest Cafe & Bakery (212 Route 101, Amherst, 672-0500, theblackforestcafe.com) offers classic whoopie pies, as well as seasonal specials.

• Buckley’s Bakery & Cafe (436 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 262-5929; 9 Market Place, Hollis, 465-5522; buckleysbakerycafe.com) offers whoopie pies with whipped marshmallow frosting at both locations.

• The Cake Fairy (114 Londonderry Turnpike, Hooksett, 518-8733, cakefairynh.com) offers whoopie pies in a variety of flavors, like classic, Funny Bone, Boston cream and more, all in several sizes. The “Deerfielder” size is a throwback to the bakers’ days selling oversized whoopie pies at the Deerfield Fair, manager Brianna Lucciano said.

• Candia First Stoppe Country Store (285 Old Candia Road, Candia, 483-4888, candiafirststop.com) offers classic whoopie pies in small and medium sizes, as well as larger whoopie pies that are made to order.

• The Cannoli Stop at The Candy Shop (239 Loudon Road, Concord, 224-9706, thecannolistop.com) offers whoopie pies with a variety of fillings, from vanilla or chocolate cream to raspberry, peanut butter or pistachio. You can also order whoopie pies with any one of the shop’s more than 50 cannoli fillings, like cookie dough, red velvet or salted caramel.

• The Cat’s Pajamas (available at the Weare Real Food Farmers Market, 65 N. Stark Hwy., Weare, catspajamasnh@gmail.com, and on Facebook @catspajamasnh) offers classic and peanut butter whoopie pies, as well as a pumpkin whoopie pie that’s available seasonally.

• Chatila’s Sugar Free Bakery (380 S. Broadway, Salem, 898-5459, sugarfreebakery.net) has several sugar-free whoopie pie options, like classic, pumpkin spice, red velvet and more.

• Crosby Bakery (51 E. Pearl St., Nashua, 882-1851, crosbybakerynh.com) has whoopie pies available most days, as part of its lineup of freshly baked pastries and sweet treats.

• The Crust and Crumb Baking Co. (126 N. Main St., Concord, 219-0763, thecrustandcrumb.com) usually offers three or four whoopie pie flavors to choose from daily, like classic and salted caramel, as well as a blueberry cake with lemon filling and a raspberry cake with coconut filling. Ice cream-filled whoopie pies are also available seasonally.

• Dulces Bakery (87 Amherst St., Manchester, 606-2613, find them on Facebook @dulcesbakerynh) offers multiple options on its pastry menu, usually including whoopie pies.

• Duston’s Bakery & Deli (153 Portland Ave., Dover, 742-2506, dustonsmarket.com) has classic whoopie pies, as well as pumpkin seasonally, in addition to a few other flavors.

• Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co. (Salem, fabrizialemonbakingcompany.com) offers lemon cake whoopie pies, baked with Fabrizia Spirits limoncello worked into the batter. They’re wrapped two per pack and available for online ordering only.

• Frederick’s Pastries (109 Route 101A, Amherst, 882-7725; 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 647-2253; pastry.net) offers several flavors of whoopie pies, including dark chocolate and chocolate chunk cookie. Miniature whoopie pies are also available.

• Good to the Last Krumb (Hudson, find them on Facebook @goodtothelastkrumbnh) offers multiple sweet treats available for pre-order, including whoopie pies. They can also usually be found at Mack’s Apples (230 Mammoth Road, Londonderry) and Estey’s Country Store (9 Old Nashua Road, Londonderry).

• Granite State Whoopie Pies (Goffstown, granitestatewhoopiepies.com) offers classic and peanut butter whoopie pies, as well as a selection of two specialty flavors that rotate out every two weeks, available for pre-order by the dozen as regular or miniature sizes. Currently available are chocolate and mint grasshopper and chocolate mocha Irish cream whoopie pies. Any flavor can also be made gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan. Weekly orders are due by Friday for pickup the following Wednesday through Saturday, between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., at White Birch Eatery (571 Mast Road, Goffstown). Single-serve pies are also available for purchase there, as well as at Little Red Hen Farm & Homestead (85 Norris Road, Pittsfield). Find owner and founder Heather Pfeifer with her whoopie pies at Mountain Base Brewery (553 Mast Road, Goffstown) on Thursday, March 17, from 4 to 8 p.m., and at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market (7 Eagle Square) on Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to noon.

• Harvey’s Bakery and Coffee Shop (376 Central Ave., Dover, 742-6029, harveysbakery.com) offers several specialty pastries and sweet treats, including whoopie pies.

• It’s All Good in the Kitchen (184 N. Broadway, Salem, 458-7434, itsallgoodgf.com) is a specialty gluten-free bakery offering a wide array of treats, usually including whoopie pies.

• Just Like Mom’s Pastries (353 Riverdale Road, Weare, 529-6667, justlikemomspastries.com) offers dozens of traditional and specialty whoopie pie flavors and flavor combinations.

• Klemm’s Bakery (29 Indian Rock Road, Windham, 437-8810, klemmsbakery.com) offers a wide array of pastries and sweet treats daily, usually including whoopie pies.

• Purple Finch Cafe (124 S. River Road, Bedford, 232-1953, purplefinchcafe.com) offers several specialty flavors of whoopie pies that are usually rotated out, from chocolate chip with vanilla to red velvet, maple cream and more.

• The Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 112 Loudon Road, Concord, 415-0444; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091; 149 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua, 204-5088; redarrowdiner.com) offers classic whoopie pies, as well as red velvet and pumpkin whoopie pies that are available seasonally.

• The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub (72 Manchester St., Concord, 224-4101, theredblazer.com) offers both large and small whoopie pies on its dessert menu, as well as a whoopie pie cake on its bakery menu, featuring chocolate cake layered with the classic whoopie pie filling and finished with chocolate ganache and a white chocolate drizzle.

• Sully’s Superette (39 Allenstown Road, Allenstown, 485-9955; 10 N. Mast St., Goffstown, 497-8176; sullyssuperette.com) offers classic whoopie pies at both locations.

• Wild Orchid Bakery (836 Elm St., Manchester, 935-7338, wildorchidbakery.com) has a rotating selection of pastries and sweet treats out of its bakery case, including whoopie pies.

• Zizza Authentic Pizzeria (653 Elm St., Milford, 249-5767, zizzapizza.com) offers multiple flavors of whoopie pies on its dessert menu.

Featured photo: Funny Bone whoopie pies from The Cake Fairy in Hooksett. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Lou Saviano

Lou Saviano

Compost collector

Lou Saviano and his fiance, Meagan Boucher, are the owners of Renewal Garden & Compost, a residential compost pick-up business serving the greater Manchester area.

Explain your job.

Primarily, we collect food scraps from households, businesses and events [and] process the food scraps into compost to be used as a soil additive at farms and for gardening. … We [also] offer backyard raised garden builds and vegetable and meat CSA delivery. Our goal is to divert waste from going into landfills and turn it into nutrient-rich soil … to help support local farms.

How long have you had this job?

We started Renewal one year ago.

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

I studied environmental science at the University of New Hampshire. When workplaces started to shut down … [and] my place of work quickly switched from an office to remote … I gave the work-from-home a chance, which gave me a lot of time to reflect. … I remembered why I had chosen to study environmental science. I wanted to work outdoors, but here I was, sitting at a computer. I realized I needed a change, and we started talking about starting our own business. … There’s a need for compost pick-up in Manchester and surrounding towns; many people don’t have the space to do it themselves. It all seemed like a natural fit to begin this journey.

What kind of education or training did you need?

Although it wasn’t necessary for starting a compost business, [studying at] UNH did provide a foundation for this passion. I was fortunate enough to work on both the organic and conventional dairy farms. What’s required for starting a business is patience and perseverance. I’ve also obtained my certificate in solid waste management in order to process compost, according to New Hampshire DES rules.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire? 

Wrangler [jeans in] Cowboy Cut, a Renewal T-shirt, good dirt-working boots, Darn Tough socks, a ballcap, sunglasses if it’s hot and a flannel if it’s cold.

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

Part of the fun of owning our own business is figuring out how we’re going to solve problems that arise. One thing that has been interesting to troubleshoot is frozen compost in 64-gallon totes. … In extremely cold temperatures, not all of the material can be emptied. At first we tried using hand tools to chip away at the frozen compost but quickly realized it was more efficient to invest in extra containers and switch the frozen ones out for empty ones, then store the frozen containers and wait until a warmer day [to empty them]. [Challenges] like this are what make the job interesting.

What do you wish other people knew about your job? 

Many people have heard about composting but aren’t yet aware that we’ll do the work for them. Our job is to make composting easy for households and businesses. Also, I’d like people to think of food scraps as useful material. If you switch to that mindset, we can divert waste from filling our landfills … and turn it into nutrient-rich material.

What was the first job you ever had?

Market Basket cart collector extraordinaire.

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

No matter what it is [that you do], choose it.

Five favorites

Favorite book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Favorite movie: The Fighter 
Favorite music:  Country, [especially] Toby Keith
Favorite food: Lobster
Favorite thing about NH: The outdoors. We’re so fortunate to have a ton of outdoor activity options with the White Mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and so many lakes, ponds and rivers all right here in the state.

Featured photo: Lou Saviano and fiance Meagan Boucher. Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 22/03/03

Family fun for the weekend

Aviation Thursday

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org, 669-4820) will open on Thursday, March 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — a vacation week addition to the regular hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Admission costs $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6 to 12 and free for children 5 and under.

Science Friday

• And if you want more fun with a side of learning, go to the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (2 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2002) on Friday, March 4, for their “Science Friday” programming, part of the regular admission to the museum, which is open Tuesdays through Sundays, with sessions from 9 a.m. to noon all six days as well as from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission costs $11 per person, $9 for 65+ (no charge for children under 1). Reserve admission online.

• The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) is open daily through Sunday, March 6, with sessions from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m. There will be four planetarium shows daily, according to the website, which recommends purchasing timed tickets in advance. Admission costs $11.50 for adults, $10.50 for students and seniors and $8.50 for kids ages 3 to 12 (admission is free for children 2 and under; masks required for visitors over the age of 2). Planetarium show tickets cost $5 per person (free for children 2 and under); see the website for the schedule of planetarium shows. And after a day in person at the center, get an extra helping of science programming with this month’s Super Stellar Fridays online event, “The Dinosaurs and Geology of Thermopolis, Wyoming.” In this presentation, Discovery Center educator Brendan Clement will discuss his summer internship at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, according to the website. The event starts at 7 p.m. and is free but online registration is required.

Story Saturday

• The Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in downtown Manchester; bookerymht.com) will feature a St. Patrick’s themed story time on Saturday, March 5, at 11:30 a.m. with the books Tim O’Toole and the Wee Folk by Gerald McDermott and Three Ways to Trap a Leprechaun by Tara Lazar and illustrated by Vivienne To, according to the store’s website. After stories, attendees can make rainbows out of paper plates, the website said.

On stage

• Disney’s The Aristocats Kids, featuring a cast of student actors in grades 2 through 12 from the Palace Youth Theatre’s vacation camp, will hit the stage at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) on Saturday, March 5, at 11 a.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12.

• On Wednesday, March 9, head to the Music Hall (28 Chestnut St. in Portsmouth; 436-2400, themusichall.org) to spend some time with Rosie Revere, engineer, and her buddies Iggy Peck, architect, and Ada Twist, scientist. The musical stage show Rosie Revere, Engineer, and Friendswill feature the characters from the popular books by Andrea Beaty and will be presented at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The shows last about an hour and tickets cost $7, according to the website.

Save the date: for that first gig

• NH Music Collective and the Belknap Mill (25 Beacon St. in Laconia; belknapmill.org, 524-8813) hold a Young Performers Open Mic at the Mill on the fourth Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. The open mic sessions will run for two hours and are open to all middle and high school students, according to a press release. The events will run through May 22 and are family friendly, according to the press release.

More summer camp

• The Children’s Theatre Project of the Community Players of Concord will hold a summer camp for young actors ages 8 to 14, Sunday, July 31, through Friday, Aug. 5. The kids will rehearse Peter Pan Jr. which will be presented on Friday evening, according to a press release. The camp begins with a meeting at The Players Studio (435 Josiah Bartlett Road in Concord) on July 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. and then runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 1, through Thursday, Aug. 5 p.m. On Friday, the camp moves to the Concord City Auditorium from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The cost is $225; see communityplayersofconcord.org or email k.braz@comcast.net with questions, the release said.

Let’s get it started

Plant your seeds indoors

By now many gardeners are fed up with winter: icy sidewalks, misplaced mittens and dogs that need to go out at 5 below zero. But it will soon be time to start planting seeds indoors, so you might want to start getting ready now.

It’s true that greenhouses and garden centers do a nice job of starting plants if you are not interested in babying seedlings along for 8 to 12 weeks. I do let them start some for me but find that there are plenty of things I want to grow that are not available. So I do both. I start some now and buy others later.

In order to be successful with your seed-starting efforts, you will need supplemental lights. If you try to save money and just start a few seedlings on a sunny windowsill, you will most likely be disappointed. Even under the best conditions, direct sun only reaches your seedlings about six hours a day, much less than they need.

Fluorescent lights are the least expensive solution to the need for supplemental light. My fixtures are 4 feet long and use two T-8 tubes each. The fixtures are available at hardware and big box stores, and cost from $16 to $40 each, depending on where you buy them.

T-8 tubes use 32 watts of energy per hour, while older-model T-12 tubes use 40 watts. This year I bought some LED bulbs that fit my 4-foot fluorescent fixtures but use only half the electricity. I’m switching over to LED for the sake of the environment, but as the tubes cost about $8 each, I am spreading out my purchases over a few years. If you want to make the switch, make sure the package says they do not require any rewiring of the fixtures (older models did require that). One nice thing about the LED lights is that they don’t break if you bump them hard or drop them. Select lights that are 4000K or 5000K color spectrum, which are close to daylight color.

I use a biodynamic calendar called Stella Natura to help decide on planting dates. It uses the sun, moon and stars to determine the best time and day to plant four categories of plants: flowers, fruit, leaf and root. It also has “blackout” days when nothing should be done. I am not 100 percent convinced that this calendar really works, but have done some informal experiments planting seeds on their suggested days, and on blackout days, and it seemed to make a difference.

Read the seed packages carefully if you are new to starting indoors. Onion-family plants and peppers take a long time to develop, so most people start them in early March, though I started my onions and scallions on Feb. 20 this year. Tomatoes I start around April 10 — I don’t want them to get root-bound or too tall before I put them out on June 10. If you plant outside earlier, start seeds earlier.

Not everything needs to be started indoors. Most root crops are direct seeded in the garden, though you can start beets indoors. Some flowers hate to be transplanted — larkspur, for example, which also needs cold temperatures after planting. Lettuce can be planted indoors or out, or both. I like to get some started early indoors. All the cucumber family plants I start indoors four to five weeks before planting outside as this protects them from striped cucumber beetles when they first germinate.

An important key to success with your seedlings is to water properly. If seeds dry out before they germinate, or when they are tiny, they are likely to fail. On the other hand, keeping seeds soggy all the time can lead to root rot. Check them every day. If you see the planting mix turn a lighter color or if it feels dry to the touch, water. I water with a dilute solution of fish or seaweed fertilizer once a week.

To get seedlings to wake up and start to grow, I use heat mats sold for that purpose. They plug in and gently warm the seed flats. But I only use them until most seeds have germinated as too much heat for seedlings is bad. For one thing, the “soil” dries out fast with extra heat. I prevent that by using clear plastic covers sold to fit over the flats, creating mini-greenhouses that hold in the moisture.

I mostly use flats with 32 cells per trays that are roughly 9 by 18 inches, although others are sold with up to 108 cells per flat. I want plenty of room for roots to grow, so I buy cells that are as deep as I can find. I plant two or more seeds in each cell, just in case one seed does not germinate. For onions, I plant three or four seeds per cell, as they don’t mind a little crowding.

Most seeds germinate about 90 percent of the time. For tomatoes I sometimes snip off one plant when young, other times I let both grow, and separate them and replant both in bigger pots when they are 4 to 6 inches tall. For me, it’s hard to kill seedlings by snipping them off and I can always share seedlings with others.

Garden centers and catalogs sell a variety of stands with lights for growing seedlings. Most are quite expensive. You can also go to my website, gardening-guy.com, and search for “Building a Plant Stand.” That will give step-by-step directions for building an inexpensive A-frame plant stand that will hold six flats, and have room below it for four to six more flats on the floor.

Starting seedlings is not rocket science. It involves some investment, but the lights and plant stands last nearly forever. And, as the bumper sticker says, “Growing Tomatoes Is Cheaper than Therapy — and You Get Tomatoes!”

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

Treasure Hunt 22/03/03

Dear Donna,

I’m hoping you can provide me some help. I have three of these antique cast iron brackets. I would like to use them but would need to have a fourth. Can you shed any light on where to find a match?

Charles

Dear Charles,

Your Victorian-era shelf brackets look to be in great condition. The design is sweet! Finding a match could be tough but you might get lucky.

I think there are several ways to search. Today with the internet right at our fingertips, some difficult finds can be easier. I would start there looking for Victorian-era cast iron brackets. You know the measurements, so look carefully and see if you come up with one or even several.

Next I would look in antique shops, flea markets, thrift stores, etc. The hunt can be fun. It just depends on what you feel comfortable with. All of it could be necessary to find that exact one you are looking for. Good luck in your hunt, and I too will keep my eyes open if you can send me dimensions. Who knows, maybe even a reader has one or another pair.

As far as what you might expect to pay, a single one would be around $10. A pair is tougher to find so expect to pay $30 to $40 depending on size.

A little dirt, a little risk

Learning and fun on Head’s Pond Trail in Hooksett

By Dan Szczesny

danszczesny@gmail.com

I can’t think of a better word than feral to describe my daughter’s love for the outdoors, so for now, I’m going with that.

We’ve raised Little Bean to be as unafraid of the traditional challenges of nature as possible. Mud. Wind. Snow. Dirt under the fingernails. All fair game.

The constraint of goal-setting when on the trail can often stifle exploration. The mountaintop will always be there, but hey, look at that cool rock! That sort of thing.

There’s a whole line of child psychology, in fact, that studies a developing field called Risky Play. Remember when you were a kid and you spent basically the whole day outside, unsupervised, doing things that adults today would be horrified to learn you were doing? Well, folks like Mariana Brussoni, a professor at the University of British Columbia, remembers. She says it was good for you, and a little of that today would also be good for kids.

The Head’s Pond Rail Trail runs along a 1.7-mile section of the famous Portsmouth and Concord Railroad line. Between 1847 and 1861 the line connected New Hampshire’s Seacoast to Concord. Photos by Dan Szczesny.

Risky Play done in the context of a relatively safe space is “really a fundamental way for them to figure out the world — how the world works, how their body works,” she says.

This was on my mind recently during a hike with Little Bean along the Head’s Pond Trail in Hooksett. This amazing little jewel of a rail trail sits right off Route 3 and is built along a 1.7-mile section of the old Portsmouth and Concord Railroad line, which dates back to 1847. Back then, it connected the coast to the capital and ran right through Hooksett. Today, it’s a super fun family hike during any season. Flat. Wooded. Water and rocks all over.

We love this trail, in part because it’s the home of Sheep Rock, a huge glacier erratic that looks like a sheep head, and a rock that we included in our Field Guide NH Rocks That Rock. On this trip, we were thrilled to have a crew from New Hampshire Public Radio accompany us to the rock.

All that was great. Except for the ice. And except for the fact that my daughter wanted badly to engage in Risky Play, the one thing we taught her to do and the one thing I wished, just this once, she wouldn’t!

How would this group of professionals with microphones and an itinerary react to my daughter taking great running head starts and sliding on the ice on her knees, screaming at the top of her lungs? How would they react to her being distracted by a cool branch or an icicle in the middle of asking her a question about rocks?

Well, pretty well, it turns out.

To their credit, the crew took their cues from Little Bean, letting her lead in her own way, letting her be a little crazy because sometimes crazy just means joyful and joyful is OK.

Push too hard and you’ll lose them. Keep them boxed up and they won’t come back. Let them be in a little bit of controlled danger to find their own footing.

There’s a more universal lesson here as well about the power of creating your own story, of building memory and self-worth. There’s lots of places to do this, but hiking with kids, I’ve found, lends itself best to forging bonds, building a history and boosting confidence.

But you need to be patient. And you need to exist in the same space as your kid, not the other way around.

We reached our destination that day, and by the time Little Bean sat atop that rock shaped like a sheep, her knees were filthy, her hair was a tangled web and she had bruises on both elbows. In other words, it was a good hike, and more importantly, it was her hike.

Featured photo: The author’s daughter sits atop Sheep Rock, just off the Head’s Pond Rail Trail in Hooksett. Sheep Rock is listed in the NH Rocks That Rock 25 field guide, a collection of the state’s most famous and historic rocks and boulders. Courtesy photo.

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