Tag: 260604

Herbs for food and health

Greenery is on the menu for the 17th annual Herb and Garden Day

As you might suspect, the New Hampshire Herbal Network is made up of herb enthusiasts.

“We are a social group that gets together to talk about herbs, gardening, herbal medicine, environment and society,” said Ann-Marie Jackson, the group’s president. The NHHN will hold its annual Herb and Garden Day Saturday, June 6, at the Forest Society Conservation Center in Concord.

“This will be our 17th annual Herb and Garden Day,” Jackson said. “It’s an educational fair, so there are workshops for all levels, plant ID walks, kids’ activities, and there’s also a market, and it’s an artisans market. It’s like a fair. There are activities that can be crafty, so [people] can make and take, or they can be super-fun and just interesting. [Activities] might be about gardening or they might be about health or a particular issue. For instance, one of the workshops this year is going to be on menopause, and another workshop is going to be on botanical beauty — how to use herbal products for your skin care and your hair care and things like that.”

The Herbal Network looks at herbs from perspectives of food and of health. In fact, Jackson said, there isn’t a huge distinction between the two.

“If you look at [herbs like] thyme, basil, oregano or garlic,” she said, “these are all actually medicinal herbs. In workshop sessions for a plant ID walk on Saturday, an herbalist will take you around the property and point out any medicinal herbs that they would see, or plants of interest that they would see, or even fruiting trees and mushrooms. Myself, I am leading the mushroom ID walk.”

Jackson said that this year’s Herb and Garden Day will be a little more tightly focused than in some previous years, with a more select group of vendors. This is due, she said, to the event’s new venue.

“This is our first time at the Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests’ Conservation Center in Concord,” she said. “And we could not take as many vendors as we have in the past. For the last four years we were at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner and we were outside and we had about 35 vendors. This year we have some indoor and outdoor space, but we only have 20 vendors at this one.”

According to a schedule of events posted on the Herbal Network’s website, in addition to plant ID walks there will be workshops on aromatic kitchen herbs, oils and mushrooms, herbs used for pain relief, herbs used to fight cancer, plant-based dyes, herbs’ role in gut health, self-sufficiency through food preservation, and more — highlighting the versatility of herbs in different aspects of people’s lives.

Jackson said Herb and Garden Day is a good way to introduce the public to the New Hampshire Herbal Network.

“We do not ask membership dues from any of our members,” she said. “In fact if you want to become a member all you need to do is either subscribe to our newsletter or buy a ticket for Herb and Garden Day and you will become a member. We have other public meetings through the year, but this is our big fundraiser. The money is to go toward paying our teachers and getting guest speakers and things like that.” She encourages people to visit NHHN’s website for more information about this year’s Herb and Garden Day.

Herb and Garden Day
The New Hampshire Herbal Network’s annual Herb and Garden Day will take place Saturday, June 6, at the Forest Society Conservation Center at 54 Portsmouth St. in Concord. Tickets are $35 in advance, or $55 on the day of the event. Visit nhherbalnetwork.org/herbday.

Featured photo: Herb and Garden Day will focus on culinary and medicinal herbs. Courtesy photo.

Local bacon, beer and help

High Hopes Foundation makes NH its focus at Bacon & Beer Festival

The High Hopes Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to providing life-enhancing assistance that promotes independence, inclusion and fun for New Hampshire’s chronically ill children. According to High Hopes’ Lisa Rourke, for the past decade the answer to getting buy-in from the community has come down to two factors: beer and bacon.

On Saturday, June 6, High Hopes will host its 10th annual NH Bacon & Beer Festival in Manchester’s Arms Park.

“This is really New Hampshire’s premier all-inclusive event,” Rourke said. “It includes all-inclusive tastings of craft brews, cider, seltzer, all-inclusive tastings of the bacon creations we have going on, and live music.” For Rourke, the key term here is “all-inclusive.”

“I’ve done my due diligence,” she said. “I’ve visited other beer fests to see what’s been going on. I’ve always had a great time, but then I’d get hungry and I’ve had to go pay for food. Not here. The general admission ticket prices are $70, but you don’t take out your wallet once you get in. The food is included, the drinks are included, it’s all included.”

“The High Hopes Foundation exists to serve the state of New Hampshire only,” Rourke said, and that is represented in the food and drink at the festival. “There will be more than 20 local restaurants, and food truck vendors participating. There are about 60 local brewers and makers of cider and seltzers. They all come together to support the Foundation and our mission. We award a people’s choice prize for the best bacon sample. It’s fun to see those guys get real creative. Over the years, we’ve come a long way from a bacon jam and now we’re up to dishes like inside-out pork belly and bacon-wrapped dumplings. It’s been really fun to see those guys having fun and getting really competitive with it over the years.”

Rourke said that because one of the organizers’ main priorities is to focus on the attendees’ good time, the restaurants coming up with these bacon dishes never present them to a panel of judges. “It’s all the people’s choice,” she said. “We have about 1,500 attendees [who] come to the event,” and feeding them something great is critical.

“I think food just brings people together,” she said, “and certainly, especially in the Manchester area, there’s some culinary greatness coming out of there. And we’re excited about a lot of the restaurants we have this year, like Campo Enoteca, Stashbox, and Industry East; those guys are just so good at their craft. And they’re really good at ramping up the crowd. They’re just fun people to be around. For all of us, I think it’s more about getting together over great dishes than anything else, and just coming together for the good of the community and having a great time.”

Rourke said the Bacon & Beer Festival has become the unofficial launching point of the food festival season.

“The other thing I like about this festival,” she said, “is we promote it as a kickoff to summer. So you can go sample from 60 different breweries and figure out what they have that’s new and fresh and that you want to bring to the lake with you all summer. We hope. that attendees have a great time, that they feel good about their ticket proceeds going to a nonprofit that supports our state. And we hope that attendees get to experience different vendors within our state and what they have to offer and hopefully remember them and visit them after the festival.”

And that they eat a lot of bacon.

10th Annual NH Bacon & Beer Festival
When: Saturday, June 6, from 1:30 to 5 p.m., with last pours at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Arms Park, 10 Arms St., Manchester
Tickets: General admission tickets cost $70 in advance or $80 at the gate if they are still available. A three-hour session includes continuous 3.5-ounce brew tastings from 60 brewers. More: nhbaconbeer.com

Featured photo: Lucky Pig BBQ. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 26/06/04

• Manchester farmers market opens for the season: Manchester Farmers’ and Makers’ Market has opened for the season. Wednesdays, 4 to 7 p.m. at Arms Park — the one by the river, with the painted steps. Has your local farmers market opened for the season yet? Let us know at jfladd@hippopress.com.

• Popcorn and pinot: Red River Theatres (11 S. Main St., Concord, 224-4600, redrivertheatres.org) and Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) will host a Sip and Snack party Thursday, June 4, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Theatres. Snack on classic movie concession treats paired with fun, sippable wines and a voucher to a movie of your choice. Each $40 ticket includes four classic movie snacks, four complimentary wines and a glass of bubbly. Visit the Wine on Main website.

• A daze of wine and roses: Lose yourself in an evening of painting, flowers and wine. There will be a Paint & Sip workshop on floral watercolor paintings on Thursday, June 4, at LaBelle Winery Derry (14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898, labellewinery.com/labelle-winery-derry) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Paige Lindsey of Paige Lindsey Design will teach you how to paint expressive summer florals while exploring foundational watercolor painting techniques in a relaxed, creative setting. All class materials are provided, and no experience is necessary. Tickets start at $64 through the LaBelle website.

• Rhubarb! The Town of Bennington will hold its Annual Rhubarb Festival on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sawyer Memorial Park, 148 Route 202. Enjoy a celebration of all things rhubarb. There will be a craft fair, vendors, food trucks, children’s activities, a petting zoo, a story walk, music, plants, baked goods, jams, beverages and more. Visit townofbennington.com/rhubarb-festival.

• Brunch at the winery: Flag Hill Winery (297 N. River Road, Lee, 659-2949, flaghill.com) will hold its first Brunch and Bubbles event of the summer Sunday, June 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sparkling Cayuga White is included with your brunch; have fun with a make-your-own-mimosa bar. Tickets are $42.30 through the Flag Hill website.

• Classy but relaxed: Local Street Eats (112 W. Pearl St., Nashua, 402-4435, local-streeteats.com) will host Bubbles and Bumps, an evening of Champagne and caviar with Island Creek Caviar and Moët & Chandon, Wednesday, June 10, at 6 p.m. Guests will explore four distinct varieties, from buttery California white sturgeon to bright Danish trout roe, while sipping perfectly paired Champagne and building their own bites with elevated accompaniments. Tickets are $95 per person through the Local Street Eats website.

• Cupcakes and martinis! The theme of June’s cupcake-and-martini pairing at the Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677, or 41 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033, copperdoor.com) is mango and coconut. The Mango and Coconut Martini includes coconut tequila, coconut rum, mango juice and pineapple juice with a toasted coconut rim for $14.75. The Mango and Coconut Cupcake is a coconut cupcake with a mango puree filling, coconut frosting, a white chocolate cup, coconut cream drizzle, dried mango and dried coconut flakes for $12.

Treasure Hunt 26/06/04

Dear Donna,

We have a partial set of encyclopedias, with just one missing. Is there any interest in these? Would love to see them reused at a good home. All are in good clean shape with no smell.

Thanks.

George

Dear George,

Not sure what the secondary market will bring these days for an incomplete set. I would think being from the late 1950s into the ’60s these Golden Book encyclopedias would have some interesting information.

I think as far as value goes the missing one would be important for a sale. The value of a complete set would run in the $75 range. But to give them away you just have to find the right place. If it were me, I might try a used book store, a donation store or possibly an afterschool program. It could be tough, though, to find the right one. I hope this helps you, George, and wish you luck. Thanks for sharing with us.

The bees’ needs

NH Audubon expands plant sale with Pollinator Festival

For most non-specialists, knowledge of pollinators begins and ends with honeybees. Honeybees are certainly important, said Diane DeLuca of New Hampshire Audubon.

“They do a lot of the pollinating of our agricultural crops and fruit trees and things like that. But the native pollinators include hundreds of species of native bees in New Hampshire. We’re still learning about the native bees in New Hampshire. … We have over 100 species of butterflies in New Hampshire and we’re still learning about those as well. So in terms of pollinators we’re talking about native bees, butterflies, flies, beetles and ants. The hummingbird is really the only bird that would probably be considered a pollinator in New Hampshire.”

For many years one of the missions of NH Audubon has been to educate the public about the importance of native species. Pollinators — species of animals that carry pollen from one plant to another, fertilizing them to produce the next generation of plants — are some of the most important of those native species, DeLuca said.

“For years we’ve been having a native plant sale,” she said, “where we’ve invited native plant nurseries to come and share their plants at New Hampshire Audubon. And in the last couple of years we’ve joined that with a spring craft fair. And so up until now there’s been the native plant sale outside, and the craft fair has been inside the building. But this year we’re expanding and having what we’re calling a Pollinator Fest. It will include native plant vendors and our spring crafters and a number of pollinator conservation organizations. New Hampshire Audubon will also give garden tours and have informational tables about pollinators and gardeners. The whole thing is going to take place outside in the fields near [NH Audubon’s] McClane Center. This will be our first Pollinator Festival, and we’re pretty excited.”

“There will be activities for families,” DeLuca said, “for children. There’s going to be a story hour with crafting for children, and the nature lab’s going to be open, and there will be an hour or two of an educational staff person sharing out the animals that we have. There will also be food trucks and live music as well.”

Different species of plant blossom throughout the year, DeLuca said, so it’s possible to see many different species of pollinators at different times of the year, but June is a particularly good time to pay attention to them.

“Our spring ephemerals — our early bloomers — many of the trees are blooming or even past bloom at this point, so it’s an important time of year for blooming. It’s also an important time of year for many of the pollinators. For instance, the bees are out and about right now because the queen bees are actually gathering food so they can lay eggs and raise young, and they’re going to be doing that underground for the most part. Some of them nest in like pithy stems or woody areas and stuff, but a lot of them are just nesting underground. So it is a really important time for many of the native pollinators.” This will provide an excellent opportunity for visitors to learn about some of the hundreds of area pollinators first-hand, she said.

NH Audubon Pollinator Festival
What: There will be native plants for sale, as well as a wide variety of handmade crafts by local artisans. Experts will be on hand to discuss pollination and native pollinator species.
When: Saturday, June 6, with a rain date of Sunday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: NH Audubon McClane Center, 84 Silk Farm Road, Concord, 224-9909
Admission: free
More: nhaudubon.org/event/pollinator-fest-2026

Pride Month

Find Pride celebrations in several area towns and cities in June. Here are a few of the events on the calendar.

• The First Friday Concord on Friday, June 5, from 4 to 8 p.m., has the theme Concord Pride, according to firstfridayconcord.com/june, where you can find a map and full schedule. The evening will include LGBTQ+ organizations on the Statehouse lawn from 4 to 5 p.m.; live music performances by Ashborne (City Hall Plaza, 4 to 8 p.m.), Kyle Erickson (Bicentennial Square, 4 to 5:45 p.m.) and Trade (Bicentennial Square, 6:15 to 8 p.m.), and food trucks Nothing Bundt Cakes, Nice Ice Baby, DeadProof Pizza and Stacy’s Grill, the website said.

• The 6th annual Windham Pride will be held Saturday, June 6, from noon to 4 p.m. and feature live entertainment, food trucks, kids’ activities and more, according to a post on the Windham Citizens for Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Facebook page.

• The Concord Pride 5K Run/Walk 2026 will take place Sunday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Statehouse with the start/finish line on Capitol Street, according to posts on the Equality Health Center Facebook page, where you can find links to sign up.

• The Milford Pride Fest 2026 will take place Sunday, June 7, from noon to 4 p.m. at the stage at Keyes Park in Milford featuring music, drag performers, food trucks, vendors and more, according to the event’s Facebook page

• Portsmouth Pride 2026 will take place Saturday, June 20, kicking off with a parade at 12:30 p.m. followed by the festival, which runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, according to nhoutright.org/portsmouth-pride, where you can find more details on this and other Pride month events in Portsmouth.

• Nashua Pride Festival will run Saturday, June 20, from 2 to 7 p.m. at Holman Stadium in Nashua, according to downtownnashua.org. The day will include live performances, food trucks, local vendors, community organizations and activities for all ages, according to the website. The festivities begin with a parade that starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (at the intersection of Concord, Amherst and Nashville streets) and ends at Holman Stadium, according to nashuanh.gov.

• The Manchester Pride Festival & Parade will take place Saturday, June 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Manchester, according to manchestertrue.org. The parade will kick off the day, followed by live performances, food, local vendors and community organizations and more, according to a post on the Manchester True Collaborative Facebook page. See the Manchester True Collaborate website for details on other Pride events happening throughout June including the Pride Youth Hop on June 23 and the official Pride afterparty on June 27.

Know of an upcoming pride event not mentioned here? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!