The Hippo: March 23, 2017

FEATURED FOOD   -  * COVER STORY *

Farm Fresh

Your Guide to Local Farms, Markets & Farmstands

Written By Hippo Staff (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photos

 

 

Community Supported Agriculture programs provide a weekly allotment of a variety of foods — typically in-season produce, but also meats, eggs and dairy products — that come directly from a local farm. “[CSAs] give … members the freshest, healthiest food they could possibly eat, short of growing it themselves,” said Anthony Graham of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm, which has the longest continuously operating CSA program in the United States.

“You know who your farmer is, and as a member you’re welcome to come and see the animals, to walk around the farm and to know that this farm is doing what it says it’s doing.” Graham said CSA members are supporting local farmers by giving them a steady financial base — and using a CSA is cost-effective for members, too.

“If you’re really using your farm [for its CSA], you’re getting a deal,” he said.

“You go down to [the supermarket] and buy only organic, and walk out with two bags, just see what your bill looks like. It’s going to be over $100.” For most farms that have spring season CSAs, sessions have already started, but many will take new members and prorate the cost for the remaining weeks. Sign-ups for summer sessions are currently underway at most farms.

“[CSAs] have definitely grown as a phenomenon over the last 20 years,” said Gail McWilliam Jellie, director of agricultural development for the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food. Part of that growth has meant offering more products. While a majority of CSAs started with produce only, she said, “many farms that have had the resources to do so have [started to offer] more diverse products.”

 

How CSAs Work

In most cases, a CSA customer pays a farm a certain amount up front to receive products during that farm’s growing season. Farms typically sell shares of their product in durations that can last anywhere from six to 20 or more weeks, according to

Jill Hall, director of programs at Seacoast Eat Local. Most farms have CSA growing seasons in the spring and summer; some have additional seasons in the winter, and some have them year-round.

“Generally speaking, the pickup options for CSAs have to do with the farm’s infrastructure,” Hall said.

“They might have boxed or pickup shares, but they may also have farm credit programs or pickup options at farm stands. … Every farm is an individual business with its own business plan, so they’ll model their program around what’s going to work for their business.”

What you get for each CSA varies by farm and which program you choose, Hall said. With some you’ll get a pre-packed box with the same foods each week. With others, you’ll get different items in a pre-packed box that is dependent on the growing season. Charmingfare Farm in Candia, for example, currently has a variety of summer shares available for sign-ups that begin the week of May 24 and continue through early October. As part of its vegetable share ($625 for 20 weeks) you’ll get a several different fruits and vegetables depending on the time of the growing season, from kale, lettuce and other herbs in the early summer months to beets, broccoli, potatoes and more in the late summer to early fall.

“We try to be in tune with our shareholders,” said Linda Ellis of Charmingfare Farm. “At the end of the year, we might ask them if there is anything specific they would like us to grow more of. People are looking for value in CSAs and they are also looking for the value of eating local, so we want to make sure they are getting their money’s worth.”

Other programs allow you to physically visit the farm and pick up whatever you want that they are offering, or to go to a designated pick-up location to fill your own box. And then there’s the farm credit program, which is essentially like a gift card you get for the farm that has a balance on it, and you use it to buy whatever you want at the farm, at a small discount (say, 5 percent), until the balance runs out. Non-veggie CSAs programs vary as well. Meat CSAs often offer shares by the pound either per week or per month. For eggs, a dozen at a time is common, either per week or per month. And for milk, it can be by the pint, quart or gallon

 

How to Choose a CSA

Different product options for CSA shares — including those that include vegetables only, meat only or a variety of food groups — allow customers to address their specific dietary needs, according to Amy Haller of Brookford Farm in Canterbury. Brookford has several different signup options, including a “whole-diet base share” with vegetables, dairy, beef, pork and eggs. But shares of just beef or pork, or just vegetables, are also available.

“Most people, when they are choosing a CSA, they try to steer things toward different lifestyles, because there is a wide variety of eaters out there,” Haller said. “It depends on what their diet is. … You’re getting a good amount of meat [with the meat share], so meat certainly has to be a large part of your diet.”

Charmingfare Farm has CSA shares for livestock, pasture eggs and vegetables. Ellis said vegetable shares are typically the most common for first-time customers, but after experiencing how that works, they might move on to buying a specific kind of meat per pound.

“It really is about what the families’ structure is in their own homes on how they purchase the foods they consume,” Ellis said.

Why you want to sign up for a CSA in the first place might also help you determine which one to go with, according to Hall.

“That could be anything from a motivated philosophical ideology about how their food is grown, or it could be more about trying to help small businesses, or there could be a convenience factor,” she said. “I think for a lot of people, the location of a farm with a CSA [relative] to their home is the most primary, but most people do have the sense that they want to know and understand where their food is grown, and especially if they have young children, they might use a CSA to help educate them on where their food comes from.”

Farms that offer different pickup locations can be good options for people who don’t live close by. Brookford Farm, for example, has more than a dozen locations across the state where you can register to pick up its CSA products, from Nashua to as far north as Plymouth. The farm also offers several share options for each of its three CSA seasons, and different payment options.

“The unique thing about these CSA programs is that while you’ll find that most of them have pay-up-front structures, ours have different types of payment plans available,” Haller said. “So you can choose to either pay in full up front or make monthly payments. … Some people might make a down payment if the start of the season is a few months out and then pay another portion halfway through, so you can split it up.”

If you’re looking for variety, some farms belong to cooperative CSA programs. For example, six Concord-area farms participate in Local Harvest CSA through a variety of vegetable shares and some livestock shares during the spring, summer and fall. A membership with Local Harvest, then, would yield food from any of these farms: Kearsarge Gore Farm in Warner, Blue Ox Farm in Enfield, Good Earth Farm in Weare, Vegetable Ranch in Warner, Middle Branch Farm in New Boston and Stoneridge Farm in Bradford.

 

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CSA Guide

Here are some of southern New Hampshire’s farms that are offering CSA programs for the spring and summer. If you know of any other local CSAs, email us at food@hippopress.com and we may feature it in an upcoming issue.

Barrett Hill Farm (450 Fitchburg Road, Mason, 878-4022, barretthillfarm.com) offers a 15-week CSA program with four different package options that include a variety of fruits and vegetables. Prices start at $250 for the season, which runs from mid-June through the fall.

Benedikt Dairy (97 Shirley Hill Road, Goffstown, 801-6839, benediktdairy.com) has a rolling 20-week CSA membership with sign-ups available at any time of the year. Products include raw milk, whipped cream, aged cheese, yogurt and soy-free eggs. Prices range from $100 to $200 for 20 weeks, depending on the product and amounts. Two pickup locations are at Normanton Farm (226 Charles Bancroft Highway, Litchfield) and Tuckaway Farm (59 Randall Road, Lee).

Brasen Hill Farm (71 Warren Road, Barrington, 868-2001, brasenhillfarm.com) has both boxed and market CSA shares for vegetables that run from early June through late October. Three different shares are available, and the cost ranges from $225 to $650 for the season, depending on the size. Pickups are available at the farm, at Umami (Route 4, Northwood), and at Calef’s Country Store (606 Route 9, Barrington) at varying dates and times.

Brookford Farm (250 West Road, Canterbury, 742-4084, brookfordfarm.com) has several seasonal CSAs throughout the year. Spring CSA programs run for 12 weeks, from March 13 through June 4. The summer CSA program runs for 20 weeks, from June 5 through Oct. 22. Several different shares are available for the spring program, including a vegetable share for $300, a meat-based share for $437 and a whole-diet base share for $987. Prices are prorated to reflect the number of remaining weeks in the session. Pickup locations are in Amherst, Canterbury, Concord, Deerfield, Dover, Epsom, Exeter, Hampstead, Hollis, Manchester, Nashua and Salem.

Charmingfare Farm (774 High St., Candia, 483-5623, visitthefarm.com) offers a variety of CSA share programs, including for vegetables, beef, pork, lamb, goat, turkey, chicken and eggs. Programs run from late May through early October, depending on the type of share. Vegetable shares are $650 and last for 20 weeks. Livestock shares are by the pound and vary in cost. Egg shares are $110 for 20 weeks, with a dozen eggs per week. Pickups are at the farm on Wednesdays, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Country Dreams Farm (855 Brookline Road, Mason, 966-7427, countrydreamsfarmnh.com) is offering a 14-week CSA program that will run from late June through mid-October this season. Three shares of fresh vegetables are available, including a half share for $250, a small share for $450 and a large share for $650. Pickup locations start in June at the Nashua Farmer’s Market (65 Main St.) on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m.; at the Manchester Community Market (48 Concord St.) on Thursdays from 3 to 6:30p.m.; and at the Milford Farmer’s Market (19 Elm St.) on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Dirty Girl CSA (22 Buxton School Road, Weare, 326-8729, dirtygirlcsa.com) offers 10- and 15-week shares, both beginning in June. Products include eggs and 35 types of vegetables. Prices range from $200 to $600, depending on the size of the share. Pickups are at the Nashua Farmer’s Market (65 Main St.) on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 7 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Dog Rose Farm (41 Birch Hill Road, Lee, 207-751-1302, dogrosefarm.com) has an 18-week CSA share program for heirloom and common variety organic vegetables, which runs from June through October. Three payment options are available for the season; prices range from $275 to $550, depending on the size and type of share. Pickups are available at the farm on Tuesdays from 2 to 6:30 p.m. beginning June 20.

Fresh Start Farms (New American Farmers Cooperative, 434 Lake Ave., second floor, Manchester, 296-0443, freshstartfarmsnh.org) offers a 12-week summer CSA membership that begins in June. Eighteen-week full-season shares and six-week fall shares are also available. Products include a variety of vegetables grown by members of the New American Farmers Cooperative. The cost ranges from $130 to $650, depending on the size and type of share. Pickup locations are in Bedford, Derry, Londonderry, Manchester, Merrimack, Newmarket and Salem.

Holland Farm (269 Osgood Road, Milford, 673-0667, hollandfarmcsa.com) offers three different CSA memberships, ranging in cost from $225 to $540, depending on the size of the share. A variety of vegetables, eggs, raw goat milk, goat cheese and more are available. Members can come once a week to the farm to pick up their shares, June 20 through mid-September. Pickup hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lewis Farm, Greenhouse & Compost (192 Silk Farm Road, Concord, 228- 6230, lewisfarmconcord.com) has a 10-week spring CSA share program for vegetables that runs from mid-April through June, and a summer program from late June through September. Spring shares are $250 for the whole session ($25/week) and pickups are available at the farm on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Information for the summer CSA programs TBA.

Local Harvest CSA (274 Pleasant St., Concord, 731-5955, localharvestnh.com) is a CSA cooperative program with products made from Kearsarge Gore Farm (173 Gore Road, Warner), Stoneridge Farm (330 Cressy Road, Bradford), Middle Branch Farm (280 W. Colburn Road, New Boston), Vegetable Ranch (443 Kearsarge Mountain Road, Warner), Blue Ox Farm (842 Shaker Hill Road, Enfield) and Good Earth Farm (52 Poor Farm Road, Weare). Spring vegetable shares run from May 24 through June 7, and summer shares from June 14 through Oct. 12. The cost ranges from $85 to $270, depending on the size of the share. Pickups are at Unitarian Universalist Church (274 Pleasant St., Concord), Zin-Zen Yoga (126 S. River Road, Bedford), Cole Gardens (430 Loudon Road, Concord), Bert’s Better Beers (1100 Hooksett Road, Hooksett) and The Clean Take (55 N. Main St., Concord).

McLeod Bros. Orchards (749 N. River Road, Milford, 673-3544, mcleodorchards.com) offers a 16-week CSA share program for vegetables that begins in June. An eight-week program for apples only is also available. The cost is $400 for the full season and $200 for the apple season shares. Pickups are available at the farm stand on Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m.

Mildred’s Drumlin Farm (314 Lee Hook Road, Lee, 292-5949, mildredsdrumlinfarm.com) has an 18-week CSA share season that runs from early June through early October. Members receive eight to 10 items in a boxed share each week, including a variety of vegetables, strawberries, blueberries, herbs and more. Single shares are $360 and double shares are $670. Pickups are available on Wednesdays after 3 p.m.

Miles Smith Farm (56 Whitehouse Road, Loudon, 783-5159, milessmithfarm.com) offers a variety of shares, including grassfed beef, eggs, dairy, lamb, pasteurized pork and more. Most sessions run for 13 weeks but a few of them can be at custom lengths. The cost ranges from $84 to $215, depending on the type and length of each share. Pickups are available at the farm either weekly or monthly depending on the share.

Oasis Springs Farm (79 W. Groton Road, Nashua, 930- 1294, oasisspringsfarm.com) has a 12-week CSA spring share that began March 13 and continues through May 19; it includes lettuce, greens, herbs and more. The cost is $180 for the 12 weeks, or $15 per weekly share, and pickups are available on Mondays from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Great Harvest Bread (4 Sunapee St., Nashua) and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. at the YMCA of Greater Nashua (24 Stadium Drive, Nashua)

Red Manse Farm (5 Pittsfield Road, Loudon, 435-9943, redmansefarm.com) offers a 17-week CSA share program of fresh produce that runs from June 6 through Sept. 28. The cost is $490 and pickups are available on Tuesdays, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Log Cabin Tack (270 Londonderry Turnpike, Hooksett) Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. at Sunflower Natural Foods (390 S. Main St., No. 1, Laconia).

Stout Oak Farm (83 Middle Road, Brentwood, stoutoakfarm@gmail.com, stoutoakfarm.com) is offering a variety of CSA share options for 2017, including a vegetable share, a fresh greens box, and a farm store credit program. The cost of the weekly vegetable share is $550 for 18 weeks, beginning in early June; pickup days are Tuesday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost of the fresh greens box is $72 for four weeks or $270 for 16 weeks, beginning June 2; pickup days are Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The costs of the farm store credit programs range from $100 to $500 per season, depending on the type.

Temple-Wilton Community Farm (195 Isaac Frye Highway, Wilton, 654-6082, twcfarm.com) has the longest continuously operated CSA program in the country and was one of the first to implement direct-to-consumer options for products. The cost varies each season, which runs from June 1 to May 31 of the following year, and is determined by the farm’s budget and operating expenses. The average is about $125 per month, which covers all of the produce plus up to four gallons of
milk. There is currently a waiting list to sign up for the next CSA season.

Terra Organics (198 Tyler Road, Contoocook, 491-4039, squareup.com/market/terraorganicsnh) offers a six-week spring greens CSA share program that runs from early May through June. The boxed share includes lettuce, spinach, turnips, mustards and more and costs $150. Pickups are available on varying days in Henniker, Concord and Contoocook. See website for more details.

Vernon Family Farm (301 Piscassic Road, Newfields, 340-4321, vernonfamilyfarm.com) has a unique CSA share program that allows you to choose the amount you want to invest, what you want to buy and when you want to buy it. Each share lasts for six months after the date you sign up and there is no carryover of funds. Products available as part of the shares include chicken, vegetables, dried flowers, and oyster and white cap mushrooms.

Willoughby Farm of Kensington (16 Shaws Hill Road, Kensington, 772-5538, willoughbyfarm.com) offers an 18-week CSA share of fresh produce for $400, which runs from June through October. Delivery information TBA.

Wilson Farm (144 Charles Bancroft Highway, Litchfield, 882-5551, wilsonfarm.com) has vegetable, fish and cut-flower CSA shares available for signups now, which begin in either June or July depending on the type. A small produce share runs 18 weeks from June 6 to Oct. 5 and is $450. A large produce share runs the same amount of time and is $675. A fish share runs from June 13 to Sept. 21 and is $260. A flower share runs from July 11 to Sept. 14 and is $100. Pickups are available at either the farm stand in Litchfield or the farm store in Lexington, Mass.

Work Song Farm (124 Beech Hill Road, Hopkinton, 219-0297, worksongfarm.com) offers a 20-week CSA share program that runs from June 8 through Oct. 22. Full shares of $600 and half shares of $360 of fresh produce are available. Customers get lettuce, cucumbers and other staples, and have opportunities to pick their own product for their share, such as a bag of spinach versus a bag of kale. Pickups are Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at the farm, or Saturdays at the farm or at the Contoocook Farmer’s Market (896 Main St.).

FEATURED NEWS

Pioneering Heart Procedure

CMC 1st in the World to Implant Heart Device in New Population of Patients

Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

 

 

In February, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester became the first hospital in the world to implant a stroke-preventing heart implant in a new population of patients.

CMC spokesperson Lauren Collins-Cline said the device, called a Watchman, was launched in 2015 and invented to serve people diagnosed with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AFib) who can’t tolerate blood thinners like coumadin. Essentially, it blocks off a pocket in the heart called the left atrial appendage.

“It looks a little bit like a mesh balloon,” Collins-Cline said.

Non-valvular AFib is a neurological disorder that causes the valve to that pocket to open and close irregularly. That leads to blood pooling in the atrial appendage, which leads to clotting, which leads to a stroke if a blood clot comes loose.

“Traditionally [with] these patients, in order to help prevent stroke, we … still recommend anticoagulants,” said Dr. Jamie Kim at CMC.

The initial clinical study of this device, developed by Boston Scientific, required blood thinners be temporarily prescribed after the surgery, so the first population of patients who could use the device were those who could tolerate using those drugs for a short period of time.

But that left out the group that could potentially benefit the most from the Watchman: people who, due to various physiological issues, can’t risk using blood thinners at all.

The reason for that, Kim said, was an abundance of caution. When a foreign body is implanted into an organ, blood has a tendency to clot on the device, at least for the first 45 days, before a layer of human tissue grows around it. So, without blood thinners, the Watchman runs the risk, in the early days, of causing or accelerating the very problem it’s meant to prevent: strokes.

In the current study, patients are given a less powerful regimen of drugs that are meant to help prevent clotting.

“We know with stents, that risk is mitigated by aspirin and Plavix,” Kim said.

Patients in the new study will use those drugs instead of coumadin for the first three months after surgery, and neurologists will be added to an already diverse team of specialists involved in the procedure to monitor for strokes or minor strokes.

Kim said there was a small study in Europe looking at how the device works without blood thinners and researchers saw positive results. This study involves 100 centers in several countries. CMC is a leader in the project, helping to train other centers in the procedure. Kim performed the first procedure on a female patient in February.
Since then, CMC has stayed ahead of the pack in procedures performed to date.

Kim says one of the reasons CMC was able to do this is the diverse team required, which includes an implanting physician, imaging specialist, anesthesiologist and back-up cardiac surgeon.

“Not every center is equipped with all those different disciplines to provide this service,” Kim said.

The CMC team has come up with best practices to streamline the process and can perform up to four or five of these procedures in a single day. Most centers can only do two or three in a day.

Ultimately, researchers hope to have at least 888 patients enrolled in the clinical study, which includes a control group of people who will not receive the device. As part of a push to get more female patients involved, since they’re traditionally underrepresented in cardiac device trials, the study stipulated 35 percent of the subjects be female.

FEATURED ARTS

Bringing Musicals Back

Central Students Go Big with Fame

Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)

Images: Stock Photo

 

 

This weekend, Manchester High School Central presents Fame — its biggest show in years.

The musical, produced by the Maskers Drama Club and Central Community Players, hits the stage Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25. It’s based on the 1980 film of the same name and centers on students from New York City’s High School of Performing Arts, who all dream of making it big someday.

Director Dan Pelletier said they chose Fame because of its accessibility (it didn’t require intensive props or sets), its ability to accommodate a large cast and, of course, its relatability to high school students. Who can speak better on the issues and pressures teenagers face than people living it?

“We thought the play offered a variety of different types of roles and that it would allow us to give students the best chance to succeed,” Pelletier said via phone, just over a week before showtime.

Even so, the production has required a great deal of work for everyone involved. Many cast members, even the eldest, have very little musical theater experience. Some have performed in small middle school shows or with local youth companies, but for most, it’s all new.

Central used to have two student drama clubs. Maskers traditionally produced student-run plays, while the Central Community Players tackled musicals with the help of adult advisors. But about a decade ago, the latter group disbanded, and musicals disappeared at Central until 2015, when the school hired Pelletier to direct Is There Life After High School? followed by Godspell in 2016.

For dance- and music-heavy Fame, rehearsals began in December — a bit early for a late March production, but Pelletier wanted to give kids time to learn the lines, music and choreography, and the medium itself.

“We’re basically re-introducing musical theater to the school, and I wanted to move at a pace that allowed us to give them a foundation for acting and dance and musical theater,” Pelletier said.

The kids aren’t complaining; they’re happy to have the extra time.

“For the majority of the people here, this is their first show and their first time dancing. This is a new thing for a lot of us,” said Lydon Philbrook, who plays Schlomo Metzenbaum, a violinist.

Every day from 3 to 5 p.m., cast and crew members can be found practicing in the auditorium or hanging posters around the school. Between rehearsals, they’re making costumes with the help of parents who lived in the ’80s and a Pinterest board loaded with ideas. (Emma Sarette, who plays dancer and singer Mabel Washington, said she was altering her mom’s maroon leotard from the ’80s.)

Students, parents and grandparents built the set the weekend before the musical’s premiere, and local companies like the Nashua Actorsingers and Seacoast Repertory Theatre lent costumes and equipment.

The messages and themes in Fame hit home for many of the actors involved.

“I think the things I connect with most are the relationships and the pressure. The pressure is unbelievable for these students. And all of us have experienced pressure, whether it’s school or family or something else,” said Dustin Blake, who plays Joe Vegas, during a recent rehearsal.

And then there’s the uncertainty of what comes next, which hits harder for the upperclassmen, who are applying to colleges and deciding what they want to do and how they’re going to get there.

Pelletier thinks Fame presents the most difficult acting challenge for Central students thus far. The stories may be relatable, but the musical spans years, and so actors need to show growth in their characters.

“We get to see some of these characters over the course of four years,” Pelletier said. “The biggest difficulty with the show is figuring out how we can show they’re not the same at the beginning of the play as they are at the end of the play. For some of the younger members of the cast who might be freshmen or sophomores, they might not have had the opportunity yet to experience that growth.”

FEATURED MUSIC

A Musical Journey

Irish Experience Explored in Songs of Migration

Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)

Images: Courtesy Photo

 

 

Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki has become New Hampshire’s go-to fiddle player, from his early days with rootsy Jamantics to session work with a diverse array of acts like pop rockers Pat & the Hats, ethereal chanteuse Anna Madsen and protest collective Extremists for Peace.

His musical comfort zone, though, has long been Celtic music. He made his first album of traditional music at age 14, and his most recent collection of Irish songs is 2015’s Return to the Castle. The fiddler hosts a weekly Irish Night at Stone Church with Jim Prendergast and is a frequent guest member of Seacoast Celtic stalwarts Great Bay Sailor. Over the recent St. Patrick’s Day, Tirrell-Wysocki traveled the length of the state playing sets.

Though he wasn’t born into it, the music of Ireland has long called to him.

“There is a power and an emotion to it, both on the sad and joyful pieces,” Tirrell-Wysocki said in a recent phone interview. “From a really early age, that’s the music that was calling to me.”

In February, Tirrell-Wysocki joined the New Hampshire Humanities Council to present Songs of Emigration, an hour long program that explores the role of music in the Irish immigrant experience. The recurring presentation stops March 26 at Manchester’s Millyard Museum. On both fiddle and guitar, he plays songs and puts them in historical context, describing the emotions behind them — why the new settlers left, and what greeted them upon arrival.
Tirrell-Wysocki feels the time is right for such an endeavor.

“The dialog we’re having now in our country is about immigration,” he said. “A look back at history can tell us about the experience of different ethnic groups coming here. In this case, we’re exploring the Irish story and all the struggles they faced. What better way to do that than through music, which is the way the Irish have told their stories and preserved their culture for generations?”

It’s not just American emigration; one song, for example, deals with a native of County Clare now working in a London factory and missing his home. Another describes a man drafted to fight in the Civil War (on the Union side) immediately upon arriving in the United States.

Though it does span a century of migration from Ireland, the program whets the appetite for more.

“I selected a handful of my favorite immigration songs — a very small slice,” Tirrell-Wysocki said. “I can’t possibly hope to give a comprehensive history or examples of all the songs out there, because it makes up such a huge part of the irish music repertoire.”

The idea is to spark a dialogue that lasts beyond the presentation,

“It’s not a concert,” he said. “This is a chance to think and talk a little bit more about the music and maybe learn a little bit more about where these songs are coming from and what they might have meant to the people that were singing them originally.”

Songs of Emigration is part of the New Hampshire Humanities catalog, and Tirrell-Wysocki hopes to travel all over the state in the coming months with it. So far, he’s done it twice, in New Boston and Atkinson; one day after his Manchester talk, he’ll take the presentation to Bath.

“I have one in May and several more coming up in the fall,” he said. “I’m excited to see where it goes from here. … It’s a huge honor to be in the company of the great speakers and performers who are also on the roster.”

Work with his trio continues, with more outdoor concerts scheduled as the weather warms up. In the summer, a residency at an Irish pub in Bar Harbor, Maine, will enter its fifth year.

“Somehow all the little pieces come together in just the right way,” he said. “I’ve been very lucky, and it’s keeping the schedule pretty full.”
On the family front, Tirrell-Wysocki suspects he might be passing down the musical gene as he watches his 18-month-old daughter.

“My plan is not to push it or force it but I will definitely encourage her if she shows an inclination, and she seems to,” he said. “She comes to a lot of my concerts and loves to dance and sing and make up songs. So I’m excited to see where that goes.”

FEATURED FILM

Film Review

Beauty & The Beast (PG)

Written By Amy Diaz (adiaz@hippopress.com)

Images: Movie Screenshot

 

 

Emma Watson’s Belle and Dan Stevens’ Beast have their “tale as old as time” romance in Beauty and the Beast, another in the continuing live-action-ication of the Disney cartoons.

Belle is a bookworm with a desire to see the world but the small town she lives in with her father, Maurice (Kevin Kline), doesn’t appreciate her nerdiness. Nor does local jock-bro Gaston (Luke Evans) seem to understand that her lack of interest in becoming his wife is not going to change.

But Maurice understands his daughter’s urges for a life with a wider scope. When he is imprisoned for stealing a rose from a terrible Beast in a hidden castle, Maurice urges Belle to leave him and live her life. Instead, she promises her father she will escape and switches places with him.

She quickly learns that this castle, long hidden from and forgotten by the world, isn’t just the ruin it appears. It is enchanted and populated by a host of servants turned animate inanimate objects.

A talking teacup, Chip (voice of Nathan Mack), is the young son of the talking teapot, Mrs. Potts (voice of Emma Thompson). A mechanical clock, Cogsworth (voice of Ian McKellan), runs the house, that is when Lumière (voice of Ewan McGregor), the candlestick, isn’t putting in place his own schemes, such as the one to get Belle out of the dungeon and into a fancy guest bedroom. There, he and his lady love, the feather duster Plumette (voice of Gugu Mbatha-Raw); an opera singer turned wardrobe, Lady Garderobe (Audra McDonald), and a host of other household goods give Belle the royal treatment. The horned and hairy Beast, after all, was once a human prince who was turned into a not-always-convincing I’m guessing partially CGI beast because he was, essentially, a jerk and an enchantress (Hattie Morahan) cursed him and his castle to teach him about the evils of superficiality.

Now the Beast and his staff of home goods hope that Belle will be the one to break the spell (the Beast must learn to love and be loved in return) and everybody can go back to their human lives.

Naturally, Belle and the Beast start out at odds, with the Beast unwilling to be kind to the woman his staff-objects believe is his last chance to break the curse and Belle attempting to escape. But after a moment of mutual aid, Belle and the Beast start to form a friendship and, with the urging of Lumière and company, possibly something more. Will reciprocal love bloom before the last petal falls off the enchanted rose that serves as the Beast’s True Love countdown clock?

“Be Our Guest” and “Something There” were, I thought, the best of the movie’s musical moments, both songs that heavily feature the household staff. Generally speaking, the lives and loves of the candlestick, feather duster, teapot, etc., were far more interesting to me than the central love story. They have friendships, romances, obligations and a common goal of beating a curse. Whenever Lumière opines about his desire to be with Plumette or Mrs. Potts worries about her very breakable child who isn’t getting the chance to grow up, the movie feels full of genuine emotion. The special effects here didn’t wow me — this isn’t The Jungle Book — but the object-people have a liveliness to them and a warmth that makes them enjoyable to watch.

The liveliness of these CGI characters is greater than the humans (and the human-digital-something hybrid that is the Beast). Which isn’t to say that Watson and Stevens aren’t fine, they are. Fine. Acceptable. But their characters are oddly underdrawn. We learn almost nothing about the Beast’s hopes and dreams other than his hope to not always be a beast. After early scenes that show us Belle inventing a washing machine and teaching a child to read, we don’t really get to see her doing things — say, inventing ways for the clock to butler better or researching loopholes for curse-breaking.

She and the Beast fall in love because the story needs them to fall in love, but we don’t really see what inspires that other than the staff desperately pushing them together.
As not-quite-there as Belle, the Beast and their coupledom felt, Gaston felt all wrong. I get why this faithful remake of a beloved musical couldn’t dump a character with his own song, but he is unnecessary and adds an unneeded layer of darkness to the movie. Gaston is not the fun, glam or snarky villain that Disney often employs to balance the earnestness of its leads.

Whatever he was like as a cartoon, in flesh and blood Gaston just comes off as menacing. I feel like Josh Gad’s LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick, is the movie’s acknowledgment of this; he gets the funny lines and the knowing looks and is the only thing keeping the Gaston scenes from Lifetime stalker movie territory. If you need a whole character to dampen the creep-factor of another guy, maybe just don’t have that guy. A better “villain” would have been prejudice itself. The Beast is being punished for basing people’s worth on their physical appearance and now he’s treated like a Beast because of his appearance. Setting up prejudice as a villain would also have the benefit of tying in with Belle’s desire to break free from a socially rigid environment.

In short, humans, live-action humans, are what I didn’t so much like about this live-action Beauty and the Beast. The live action looks good enough, but I feel like it stripped some of the fairy-tale-ness out of this story. Everything with the objects feels earned in a way the human emotions do not and the charm of their characters might be enough to save the film for you, particularly if nostalgia makes you predisposed to love it. If not, the lack of a really winning love story at the movie’s center might be too much for even the world’s most charming candlestick to overcome.

Grade: B-

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Granite State of Mind

Made in NH Expo Returns for 22nd Year

Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)

Images: Courtesy Photo

 

 

Anything you can think of can be found at the annual Made in NH Try it & Buy it Expo if it comes from somewhere in the Granite State, from food and drinks to paintings by local artists and books by local authors.

The 22nd annual event is happening at the Expo Center of the Radisson Hotel in Manchester over three days, on Friday, March 24, from 1 to 8 p.m., on Saturday, March 25, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Sunday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Our mission when we started the expo was to celebrate all New Hampshire businesses, from the tiniest micro-businesses in the state to the much larger,” said Heidi Copeland, publisher of Business NH Magazine, which organizes the event each year. “So we look at this as an opportunity to showcase all of the things that are manufactured here in New Hampshire in one place.”

About 140 local exhibitors are expected to attend all three days of the expo, and visitors can expect a wide variety, Copeland said. All exhibitors must either make a product or provide a service in New Hampshire.

“What’s unique about the expo is the ‘Try it and Buy it’ aspect of it,” she said. “People can bring their appetite and pick up food along the way.”

But you’ll find more than just food and drinks over the course of the three days of the expo. WMUR News 9 will be bringing a green screen, for example, for kids and adults to learn about how television news is produced. Local painters and authors will also be there to showcase their paintings and books, like K.M. Doherty of Dover and Richard L. Hatin of Hooksett.

Copeland said other exhibitors appearing at this year’s expo include the Mill Fudge Factory in Bristol, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England in Londonderry, Canobie Lake Park in Salem, and dozens of others that include restaurants, breweries, bakeries, private medical practices, pet stores, jewelry stores and much more.

New to this year’s expo will be a Libation Station featuring several local wineries, including Fulchino Vineyard in Hollis, Hobbs Tavern & Brewing Co. in West Ossipee, Hermit Woods Winery in Meredith, Summit Winery in Westmoreland, Appolo Vineyards in Derry and Moonlight Meadery in Londonderry.

Live entertainment is also planned during all three days of the expo.

“We’ll have Irish step dancers, we’ll have a jazz singer and we’ll have a magician come in and do some magic shows for the kids,” Copeland said.
She added that the list of vendors changes every year with new exhibitors.

“We usually have a turnover rate [for vendors] of about 35 percent,” she said. “We do a lot of promotion and reaching out to different organizations. … Sometimes people will come to the expo and just check it out for the first year and then sign up as an exhibitor for the second year. … It’s kind of a two-pronged thing in that we want to provide great entertainment to the public while also introducing them to a business in the state they may not know about.”