Recreation
Places to Go, Things to Do ...
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October: Apple Tasting at Scott Farm
Just north of Brattleboro lies Dummerston, Vermont, home to Scott Farm. A long-time dairy farm, Scott Farm was tranformed into an apple orchard in the mid-20th century by owner Fred Holbrook. In 1995 Mr. Holbrook donated his farm to the Landmark Trust with the stipulation that it remain in agricultural use for perpetuity. Over the years since the Landmark Trust has owned the farm, the orchard manager, Zeke Goodband, has used classic grafting techniques to convert the 45 acres of orchard from Macintosh apples to a mixed orchard of heirloom apples. Among the varieties grown at Scott Farm are Roxbury Russet, Belle de Boskoop, and Cox’s Orange Pippin, as well as…
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Apple Picking at DeMeritt Hill Farm
This past Saturday we met up with our oldest son, his wife, and his wife’s sister in Lee New Hampshire to do some apple picking at DeMeritt Hill Farm. Elisa and I arrived a bit early, so we spent a little time watching children interact with the goats, chickens, miniature horses and alpacas that form a cute little barnyard petting zoo. Once we were all together we purchased our apple picking bags from the farm store and waiting for the ride to the orchard–a hay wagon with seating that was pulled by a farm tractor. Once among the trees we picked up some apple picking poles (haven’t seen those before) and…
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Prairie Home Companion Live at Tanglewood
For my father’s day gift from my wife Elisa we went the following Saturday (June 27) to Lenox, Massachusetts and Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was our fourth visit to Tanglewood and the third time that we saw Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion performed there. The guests that were scheduled to appear were Martin Sheen, Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers, multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, and singer Heather Masse. During the brief warm-up before the show goes live on the radio, Garrison announced that Arlo Guthrie would also perform. In a word, the show was awesome. Arlo played a couple of nice songs during the show…
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Whale Watch From Boston Harbor
On May 31 I went on a whale watch along with my wife, my mother-in-law, and my son Matthew. We selected the 2:00 pm whale watch tour that is run by the New England Aquarium. Prior to boarding the ship, a relatively modern catamaran that can reach the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary in about 90 minutes, we were told that the seas would be a bit rough. This is a bit of a concern for me, as I have experienced sea-sickness once before on a whale watch and didn’t want to go through that misery again. Luckily, I had no problem at all this time, although there were several people on…
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Camp Stark: New Hampshire’s WWII POW Camp
Northern New Hampshire is a beautiful place. The Connecticut lakes at the headwaters of the Connecticut river are pristine and wonderful, and the wide variety of activities draw people north all year around. If you should happen to find yourself there, consider making a sidetrip to see New Hampshire’s only World War II POW camp, which housed German POWs from 1944 until 1946. Up north in Coos county is the small town of Stark, New Hampshire. Stark was home to a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in in the 1930s which was abandoned by the time the United States entered World War II. Late in the war it was converted to…
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Planning Your First Backpacking Trip
Maybe you’ve never gone backpacking before, or perhaps it’s been so many years that you don’t quite remember how to go about planning a trip. Or maybe the last time you went you were a child and your parent, a scoutmaster, or some other responsible adult was responsible for insuring that you arrived back at home all safe and sound. Whatever the case, you’ve decided to venture forth and explore the backcountry, you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, but you have a nagging fear that you might forget some detail, some item, or something that once overlooked means instant doom when you’re on the trail. Let the…
