Concord McLane Center–NH Audubon

For one of our recent fall field trips, we took the kids to the McLane Center in Concord, NH.  My plan was that they learn a whole ton about owls during a presentation and tour, then we would take them to see the new movie Legend of the Guardians, a movie about owls at war with each other.  This was a wonderful trip!  The highlight, no doubt, was the live animal presentation with one of the McLane Center staff, where kids got to meet a Barred Owl and a Red Tailed Hawk.  The beauty of these birds up close took my breath away…and the children were entralled.  We also learned all about birds, their characteristics (what makes a bird a bird), and the simple things humans can do to protect them.  On an outdoor hike following the presentation, we got a taste of the center’s extensive system of hiking trails and played some outdoor games to reinforce what we had learned.

I would highly recommend the McLane Center as a field trip destination or family outing.  For more information, visit http://www.nhaudubon.org/center_mcla.php

Stratham Hill Park

Located on Route 108 in Stratham, NH, this large park has several playing fields and a small playground.  I have driven by several times and finally took Olivia to the playground earlier this year.  (I would recommend this to older children but not to parents with kids 0-3 years old as there is no “little kid” equipment.) 

What I didn’t know until last week is that the park has hiking trails…lots of them!   I am planning field trips for school-aged children at work, and Stratham Hill Park was recommended as a destination for part of one of our fall trips.  When I went to check it out, the park manager gave me a trail map and recommended the Fire Tower Trail as a highlight.  This trail took about 8 minutes to reach the top of the hill.  The climb up the fire tower gave me a 360 view of the area…I could even see Mount Washington in the distance!

Definitely planning to do some more exploring at Stratham Hill Park!

Gardening for Beginners

Our big summer-long project this year was a small garden.  I say big project and small garden in the same sentence expecting women of greater talent and greener thumb to skip over this post…and hoping that those anxiously considering a garden for next year will read on and know that, if I can do it, so can you.  I am a person who has never owned a houseplant I haven’t killed…but I told myself this summer that I needed to plant a garden.  Why?  First, I wanted something that Olivia and I could share, just the two of us.  I am a working mother and rely on family to help me care for my daughter during the week…with a weekend waitressing job in addition to my normal work hours this summer, I felt like time together was fleeting and needed to be filled with something especially meaningful.  The art of growing something together seemed like a powerful and beautiful secret we could share.  I was also intrigued by a workshop I attended at a conference on gardening with children that discussed how early experiences with growing food can lead to more healthy eating habits.  Most importantly, growing veggies just screamed “summer!” and seemed like a great way to make our yard a space for exploration.

Before beginning our garden, I spent many hours researching on the internet, reading Better Homes and Gardens, and talking with my mom (she was born with a green thumb I was pretty sure I’d failed to inherit).  I decided on a small raised-bed plot in the backyard, where we planted two kinds of tomatoes (grape and some variety like “Better Boy”), cucumbers, zucchini, and peppers.  I also filled window boxes with herbs, lettuce, spinach, and asparagus beans, which were eventually transplanted to a second plot.  Finally, I took a free class on potting container plants at Churchill’s Garden Center in Exeter, NH and scattered pots filled with daisies, lantana, snapdragons, and superbells throughout our yard.  I wanted Olivia to see something beautiful wherever she went and to want to be outside all the time.

My experiment worked instantly!  Olivia helped me plant the garden and has been a great helper in “harvesting” our crop throughout the summer.  We get at least one huge zucchini each week and enough tomatoes that we can’t eat them all ourselves.  The peppers haven’t produced a lot…but when a small orange pepper does appear, it’s like a very special gift.  Olivia eats the peppers and tomatoes right off the vine and has even begun to ask for lettuce and spinach at meal time.  If she knows it’s from our garden, she wants to try it!  She also loves to water the flowers and has learned to pick off the dead blooms so that new flowers will grow.  Her favorite thing to do this summer is to “walk in the grass” and she demands this activity from every member of the family.  Yesterday, when I told her she was such a big girl for doing something by herself, she looked at me and said, “Luli growin…like a flower!” and put her hands up above her head in that crazy proud way she does.    I think our little gardening project has brought her happiness and a greater understanding of the natural world around her.  It has also provided me with a quiet, focused outdoor activity that I don’t have to drive into the mountains to experience.  Time with my daughter and our tomato patch is always right out the back door…

A Morning at the Farm

Olivia and I spent this morning at Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls, NH.  The farm is located on Route 88 (Exeter Road).  There is a large farm stand with fresh produce of all kinds and pick your own for just about any fruit you can imagine.  This is one of our favorite places in both the summer and fall because the fruits and veggies are incredibly fresh and the grounds are also a beautiful place to take a good mother-daughter walk. 

Our usual routine is to park in the farm stand parking lot, break the jogging stroller out of the trunk, and take off on a gorgeous 5-mile loop around Hampton Falls.  From the parking lot, we take a right onto Rte 88 and then a pretty quick left onto Nason Road.  Nason is pretty unspectacular, but it feels secluded with few cars passing us by.  The road is also shaded by a canopy of trees.  There is a giant hill just before our next turn (onto Drinkwater Road) that always makes me feel as though I’ve made up for the decision to cut back by eliminating my membership to the sports club this year.  Another left onto Drinkwater Road brings us through another mile or so of shaded country road with some pretty houses and wooded areas.  On days when we need to cut the walk short (Olivia is fussy or we got a late start), we take a left onto Parsonage Road, then another left back onto Rte 88 to take us back up toward Applecrest (to avoid walking on the busy main road, we cross and push the jogging stroller through the orchard here).  On days when we’re in the mood to go farther, we keep going on Drinkwater, all the way past the library and town hall.  We cross Rte 88 at the Hampton Falls Historical Society and bear right, then take a quick left onto Brown Road.  This is another route with little traffic and some very large, beautiful houses.  It is also home to the Gay Lee Stables, where we stop and watch the horses in the field.  Across the street from Gay Lee is a house with a large front yard and a duck pond.  We have started to bring bread so that Olivia can feed them, and their owners do not seem to mind.  Further along Brown Road, we pass a large patch of undeveloped marsh land, which is a great spot to see birds.  There are also tons of wildflowers along the road.  Brown Road eventually loops around back to Rte 88 (at the top of the road, take a left and it will take you back to Applecrest), but we usually opt to cut into the orchard early (there are several entrances along the back side of the farm) and meander through the beautiful farmland.  There are so many different areas to explore!  We walk through the apple and peach trees, over a small bog (a great place for spotting frogs!), and through the various garden patches growing pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and every berry and bean you can imagine.  The trail through the orchards is a dirt track that dips and dives to reveal constantly changing views of the farm and its surrounding natural landscape.  Here, New Hampshire does not seem understated or underwhelming.  I have the same “breath it in” response that I get in the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills National Forest.  Eventually we find our way back to the farmstand, where we always stock up on fruits and veggies as well as a loaf of herb bread (from the Loaf and Ladle in Exeter) to take home.  Walking at a mommy pace with no pit stops, our walk takes about an hour and a half…on slower days, when Olivia wants to jump in and out of the stroller to feed the ducks and run through the apple trees, we can spend 3-4 hours.  Bring lots of snacks and drinks so both you and your little ones can go at your own pace!

This morning we broke our usual routine entirely to explore Applecrest’s Harvest Festival (held September 4, 5, 6 this year).  The event featured a petting zoo, horse-drawn hayride, face-painting, and a bluegrass band.  We did everything and only spent $5.00.  Then we visited the farm stand and took home a jug of apple cider, some blueberry stilton cheese, and a sweet orange watermelon.  It was a wonderful late summer morning…and we were happy to see the pumpkins ready in the patch for our next visit!

I would recommend a visit to Applecrest Farm Orchards to anyone!  This large farm is a great place for kids to explore where food comes from and for all to enjoy the flavors of the season.  The farm also opened a creamery this year, and they sell ice cream made from their own fresh fruit (I recommend peach pie a la mode with peach ice cream).  There are a variety of festivals and other events throughout the spring, summer, and fall as well as pick your own fruits in season.  Check out their website for more details: www.applecrest.com

Great Bay Discovery Center

I am starting this blog late in the summer…my favorite time of year for outdoorsy activities…so I have a lot to write about.  Instead of backtracking to begin at the beginning, I will start by writing about today.  Olivia and I set off on an “adventure” (this is our usual for Saturday and Sunday mornings, so much that I say the word and her face lights up and she runs to get her sneakers) that began with a trip to Target for new dress shoes and a comb (I know, less than awesome but necessary) and then finished at the Great Bay Discovery Center on Depot Road in Stratham. 

I am considering the GBDC as a possible field trip destination for one of our fall adventure trips at work and thought I’d check it out with small girl…their website promised me that the trail leading out into the marsh at Sandy Point was perfect for her short, clumsy legs.  As advertised, this trail is short enough for a two-year-old to walk by herself (in fact, she insisted we do it twice!) but it also offered a beautiful view of the marsh that allowed me to escape for an hour and enjoy this early fall day! 

The trail begins from the parking lot behind the building that houses the discovery center itself.  The beginning is a dirt path through a wooded area.  We stopped to check out a model lobster boat and gundalow at the trail-head then made our way into the trees.  A few steps in, we were in the forest!  The trail was a clear path with markers every few feet but was surrounded on either side by an array of plants, flowers, and trees.  We stopped to check out some yellow blossoms, a large chunk of birch bark, and a large osprey nest displayed near one of the educational trail markers.  

After several hundred yards (?), the dirt trail gave way to a boardwalk that led us into the marsh grass.  Here, there was also a beautiful view!  We saw dragonflies and several small birds playing in the tall grass.  The boardwalk is decorated with various animal footprints and Olivia loved trying to guess what animal they were from (“Birdy, mum?”) and then imitating that animal.  We used a footprint identification card we picked up at the visitor center to help us guess.  The boardwalk is a loop and Olivia insisted on going around twice.  We saw only one other group (a older couple out for a morning walk), so it was easy to go at her pace, stopping to explore everything that caught her eye on the side of the trail.

On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped to explore a smaller trail off of the main dirt path.  This took us to a wigwam and camp with a fire pit and weaving loom that modeled some version of traditional living (no information was provided here, so I won’t assume to know what native culture the creators were attempting to portray…although the woman at the visitor center told me the wigwam as built by a local boy scout troop).  The wigwam structure was impressive.  It was made entirely out of birch bark and had benches inside constructed from tree branches and twine.  Olivia loved sitting inside and running in and out through the doorway.  Because it was built along the trail, the camp allowed us to explore at our own pace without the distraction of other people or exhibits.  It had the feel of a fort in the woods and invited us to spend some time.  It would surely be a great place to play a game as a family or just sit and visit with each other.

After our exploration on the trail, we visited the main building where the Discovery Center is housed.  We were the only visitors and the two women at the welcome desk were very friendly and engaged Olivia in the various activities offered.  We held a horseshoe crab and a snail from the touch tank, served lunch to an array of salt marsh wildlife in the Great Bay Cafe (the cafe was complete with stuffed animals and menus matching each animal’s diet), dressed up like a lobsterman, and used binoculars to look out over the water.

Overall, this was a fabulous late-morning trip.  I would recommend for families with children of all ages.  Also, the cost is free!  A rare find!  Olivia and I are planning to visit again and again.

To find out more about the Great Bay Discovery Center, go to: http://www.greatbay.org/ 

Mother Daughter Adventures

Who am I?  Why am I writing a blog about things to do with children?  Why do I think I have something meaningful to say?  To be honest, writing about my experiences on the internet is a bit scary…but I have been thinking on writing a book on this topic for two years, since I moved home to the NH Seacoast to raise my daughter.  Realizing that blogging has become the new “first draft,” I decided to give it a try. 

I grew up in NH and loved going camping as a kid.  As a teenager, my dad took me hut hopping in the White Mountains, and I worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club when I was in college.  As a young professional, I took teaching jobs in South Dakota and Colorado so that I could hikehikehike in my time outside the classroom.  I thought, when I became a mom, that I would be able to easily pass on my love of nature and outdoor adventure activities to my little girl.  However, I quickly learned that my days of packing the car for weekend camping trips on a whim were over and that these experiences had to be tailored to her short stride and attention span.  I thought back to my experiences with my mom.  She used to take my sister and I on “Mother Daughter Adventures,” experiences that ranged from a day exploring museums in Boston to working outside in her garden.  These adventures were truly explorations of the world.  They made us closer and helped me to develop my curiosity.  I wanted to continue this legacy of adventure with Olivia.  In my search for resources and ideas, I could find information for day long hikes beginning with an hour or two in the car…but was at a loss for a range of activities that would fill a few hours before or after nap time.  So Olivia and I have become explorers in the truest sense.  With two years of great adventures behind us, we can provide the skinny on everything from great walks with a stroller, to local places to view wildlife, to the best spots for tidepooling.  I hope this is helpful to other like-minded moms in the Seacoast area who believe that natural play and experience in the outdoors is one of the most important gifts we can give our kids.

As a teacher and childcare coordinator, I will also use my professional experience to give information about activities for older children.

I hope you enjoy!  I appreciate comments/feedback.

Jenn