Category: New Hampshire

New Hampshire locations and local events and fun things.

Now I Need a Wood Stove

In May I found a guy who charged only $170 for a cord of “green” wood to be delivered so I ordered some. It will have to sit and dry out (fat chance with all this rain we’ve been getting) during the summer and hopefully will be ready to burn by winter.

Wood Delivery
Wood Delivery

I didn’t grow up with a wood stove, but we did have two fireplaces and I don’t know how much my parents paid for heat, but I remember always being cold as a kid.

This past winter I paid almost $1800 for oil to heat my small house and I kept the thermostat set at 64 most of the time. I also suffered through 8 days without any heat at all in December when a horrific ice storm came through. Thanks to my nice landlord and neighbors who had wood stoves, I was able to sleep on couches and heat canned soup up on the top of their stoves. I had just moved into my place in September and hadn’t had a chance to think about getting a wood stove- so of course that was when I needed it most.

Stacking on Pallets
Stacking on Pallets

I’m thinking that it’s a good thing I bought it early because most of the month of June has been too rainy to move the wood to the piles I had started. I’m hoping for sun soon to dry it out.

And now I just need to find a stove.

Strawberry Season in New England

Enjoying strawberry season in New Hampshire.

Strawberry season is here already. I was at Tenney Farm the other day and the owner was just setting out baskets of gorgeous looking berries…right on the counter so we couldn’t miss them!
So I had to buy some.  This quart size container cost me $5.00.

Farm Fresh Strawberries
Farm Fresh Strawberries

I am growing my own plants, but something – a chipmunk or red squirrel I suspect- has already eaten all the green berries. I did get ONE red one for myself, so next year I will be covering them with netting of some kind. I read that the first year the berries should be taken off anyway to let the plant mature for a better harvest next year.

My Strawberry Plant
My Strawberry Plant

This one is growing on my porch but will be going into the ground by Fall when I expand my garden.

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Canadian Geese and Goslings at the Lake

Luckily I took my camera to the bus stop this morning because two families of Canadian Geese had just decided to cross from one side of the lake to the other.

Early morning geese swimming in Gregg Lake
Early morning geese

Once the bus left, I managed to get a few shots. My camera isn’t too good (or maybe it’s just me!) at getting the zoom shots, but you can see how cute the babies are..and big! They were tiny just a few days ago.

Family of geese swim under the bridge
Swimming in a line

One family, mom, dad and four babies, decided to swim under the bridge to get to the other side.

Family of eight geese cross the road
Family of 8 crosses the road

And the other, larger family, decided to walk across the road. This is a rural area which makes it a safe place for geese to raise their babies. I love seeing them although some people think geese are a nuisance.

Two groups of geese in the shallow water near Gregg lake in New Hampshire
Both Families Having Breakfast

Do you know why geese fly in a V formation? Check out the answer here.
My question is this; When they swim in a line, who leads? The dad or the mom? Or do they take turns?

New England Farm Stands

Farmers are hard working people and summer is their time to shine.

Summer means ice cream in New England…fresh farm grown vegetables too…but the ice cream is what I remember about summer as a kid. Kimball’s was the big place to go. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it.

Sometimes we’d skip supper altogether and just go get a big fudge sundae or banana split. That was cool.
We’d drive into the big gravel parking lot and get into one of the lines at the many windows and watch the people walk away with towering cones and bowls of delicious gooey treats. I must have changed my mind a dozen times while waiting to get up to the window.

The farm stand in my little town has a small ice cream stand, but a huge variety of ice cream flavors and cooling drinks. The Panda Cooler is one of my favorites. My son tends to get the same thing all the time…cookie dough in a cup. I’ve tried to broaden his horizons, but he won’t budge.

Farm Life postcard
Last year we lived near Beech Hill Farm in Hopkinton and besides buying sundaes you can make yourself, there is a little barnyard area with farm animals.

The goats are fun to watch if the weather isn’t too hot and they are all sleepy, and the little cows with their big eyes are so pretty. In the Fall, Beech Hill Farm has corn mazes to walk through.

Young Goats at Beech Hill Farm
Young Goats at Beech Hill Farm

Baby Goat Poster print
So we eat ice cream all summer and hopefully burn off all that accumulated fat next winter shoveling snow and lugging wood in for the stove. I like to get started on the fat burning by going kayaking too.

The Pigs
The Pigs
Pretty Bunnies
Pretty Bunnies

Beech Hill Farm postcard

Another favorite local farm of mine is Tenney Farm in Antrim. Whenever it’s time to buy pumpkins and gourds, that is where I head. They also have bags of fresh picked apples in fall for those people who don’t want to pick their own.