Arts & Life
Pigs and acorns make an intriguing mix for farmer
By DAVID BROOKS
On Snow Brook Farm in Eaton, as on many New Hampshire farms, there’s a desire to take agriculture back to its natural roots. When it comes to feeding pigs, the farm’s owners have taken to using plants that aren’t even part of agriculture.The four...
Ghost town of Pembroke: A walk in the Whittemore Town Forest
By LOLA DUFFORT
Thanks to the Merrimack and the Suncook rivers, Pembroke is blessed with multiple floodplains. But not, as it turns out, quite as many as early European settlers had hoped. Settled by the English in the 1730s, the town was first laid out on a grid,...
A new use for an old book? Fold it into art
By JENNIFER FORKER
Books have more uses than might be obvious. Sure, you can press flowers in a heavy one and set out the pretty ones as decoration. You can read the darn things. But have you tried turning a book into three-dimensional sculpture?The process can be quite...
Turn green apples to jelly pectin
By HILLARY NELSON
The roadsides and field-edges of New Hampshire are full of apple trees, chance seedlings for the most part, the offspring of cores dropped long ago by lunching humans or thieving raccoons.I am sure you know some of these trees – scraggly survivors...
Ground chia seeds can make vegan pudding
By JOE YONAN
It was summer, a few years ago, and we were at a dear friend’s house, finishing up a lovely, casual supper, when out of the fridge they came: little cups filled with chia pudding.The guests – none of whom had tasted this before – were all polite, but...
Frog chorus
By RUTH SMITH
Spring is usually the season associated with frog calls. It’s a thrill to hear the first spring peepers and wood frogs sending their songs into the chilly April evenings, assuring us that winter is really coming to an end. But that was months ago. We...
Flies can kill a cow
By CAROLE SOULE
Even though I had washed several times, two maggots were squirming on my smartphone screen as I called my vet, Christina Murdock. A Highlander calf, born five days earlier, had an army of maggots on her back and legs, which we were trying to...
Ducks can live in trees
It’s May, and my yard is lively with a marathon of nest building. Bluebirds are stuffing nest boxes with grasses and pine needles; the phoebe has created a cradle of moss in her usual spot under my porch roof; and downy woodpeckers are excavating a...
The Tragic Story of the Hesitant Photographer
By DAN SZCZESNY
Daniel Rossiter was alone now. Old Peppersass – one of its cog teeth broken – was picking up speed, hurdling down the tracks toward Jacob’s Ladder.This was supposed to be Peppersass’s triumphant return up Mount Washington. In 1929, the curious...
Prepare your plants for vacation
By JOYCE KIMBALL
Now is a great time of year for gardeners to get away – before the digging and sowing and planting and watering and – well, you know, all the things we need to do to get our gardens off to a good start for the season.We must remember, however, to be...
Growing own paprika supplies fresh spices
By HILLARY NELSON
It’s spring, and at my house that means indoor seed-starting time, when the garden of my December daydreams starts to become reality. Or not, as the case may be, like when all the snapdragons damp off, or the mice devour the sprouting sweet...
Reconsider opinion on lima beans
By EMILY HORTON
We all have those foods we turn to, without elaborate planning or complex execution, when we want to feel taken care of. We don’t worry that they won’t turn out, because they always do. Time and time again, they fill us with warmth. For me, it is a...
Beer-making grains get second life
By CAROLE SOULE
What do beer and pigs have in common? If you said, “beer-drinking pigs,” you might be right. I have seen pigs and other livestock drink beer, but that is not what I had in mind.Depending on the taste, different types of grains are used to make beer....
Your fix-it questions answered
By JEANNE HUBER
Q: The border tiles in my master bath shower look horrible! The tiles are dark brown, but the color is slowly coming off, probably because of chemicals in cleaning solutions. The tiles are not flat and smooth like the surrounding tiles. Is there any...
Raising child costs more than $233,000
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Expecting a baby? Congratulations! Better put plenty of money in your savings account.The Department of Agriculture said the estimated cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 is $233,610, or as much as almost $14,000 annually. That’s the...
History and ecology of stone walls
By RUTH SMITH
Winter is a wonderful time to get out and enjoy the natural world. When I do, I often encounter old stone walls in the woods. These relics of our region’s history tell many stories about past inhabitants and current residents of the landscape.The...
Cheese, onion tart can be made early
By The Culinary Institute Of America
We know that it isn’t always enough for a holiday recipe to be delicious. When you are knee-deep in holiday cooking and baking, it can feel like you never turn your oven off. So the most helpful recipes are the ones we can prepare ahead of time, and...
Root systems can reveal underground secrets
The brilliant autumn leaves of October have faded and are being ripped from their branches by November winds, so this is a perfect time to think about other parts of trees, namely the roots.Tree roots have several functions. They absorb water and...
Capture the colors of fall leaves
By HOLLY RAMER
As a lifelong New Englander, I know how beautiful and fleeting fall foliage is each year. Thanks to my latest test-drive of various crafting techniques, I now know how finicky and frustrating it is to try to preserve some of that color.Though some...
Scarecrows have long history
By JOYCE KIMBALL
What would autumn be without an abundance of scarecrows, pumpkins and bundled corn stalks? The scarecrow is one of the most familiar figures of our rural landscape, not only in the United States but throughout Europe and many other countries of the...
