The Yankee Miniature Horse Club, will hold an Open Barn on April 21,
2012 from 10 am to 4 pm at 158 Garland Rd., Barnstead, NH; telephone
435-7351.
Come visit the horses, their owners, and the baby foals. There will be
cart rides, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, soda, and much more.
We are looking forward to a fun day.
The Pine Grove Cemetery, located in Gilmanton Iron Works, will hold its
Annual Meeting on Tuesday, April 24th at 7 pm at the church (729 Stage
Rd) across from the cemetery. Light refreshments will be served.
Letter To The Editor
Dear Editor:
On a good day, New Hampshire farmers produce approximately 6% of the
food consumed here. That means that approximately 94% of the food we eat
comes from outside the state or country.
Adding to this glaring problem is the excessive regulations encountered
by our farmers and food producers. Products you can run to the local
store to purchase, cannot be manufactured in state because of these
regulations. No one would argue with common sense rules to insure food
safety and good business practices, but what we have now is just plain
nuts.
Our farmers and food producers need to be freed from these nonsensical
and excessive regulations. Only then will we have the food security we
so desperately need in New Hampshire.
Don Walker
Barnstead
Fiber, Pig Fairs and Interesting Phrases from New Zealand
Submitted By Jess Emory
The first week in March, Mom headed back east and I went south. You can
imagine that it was a pretty tearful goodbye, but at least this time it
would only be saying goodbye for four months rather than eight! I flew
from Auckland to Christchurch, and then headed south to Ashburton.
I stayed with Margaret, a fiber wizard, knitter, spinner, and black and
colored sheep breeder. She knows everyone, does everything, and has her
finger on the heartbeat of Canterbury, the province or state where
Ashburton is located.
Hearing that I was a fiber enthusiast, she has pulled out all the stops
on their wee farm (250 acres being ‘wee’ in comparison to the family
farm next door of 1,000 acres) and every day is a new fiber adventure,
though I’ll tell you about some of the non-wool adventures I’ve had so
far.
March is the beginning of fall and the Agricultural and Pastoral Fairs.
These are your traditional Kiwi country fairs. One of the more famous
ones is the Mayfield Fair, known country-wide for its pig races. Ten
eight week old piglets are trained up by one of the farms and every
hour, on the hour, they are pulled from their pen, squealing to high
heaven, and put in their racing colors.
They race around an obstacle course going through tires and up ramps,
sliding down the other side with their capes flying in the wind. Their
little legs carry them through curtains and around blocks of wood and
they are tempted to the finish line with a line of pig feed.
You can bet on these little guys with all profits going to the local
cancer fund. Though when you buy your ticket, it is for a certain pig
number and there is no way of knowing which pig it will actually be. The
pigs are dressed willy nilly by two men who lift them up and put them in
whatever racing color they can get on at the moment. The two races I
watched the winner was Gutsy for the first and Smokin’ Bacon the second.
When I arrived at Margaret and Lindsay’s, there was much talk about when
they were going to shift (move) out. The whole house had to be emptied
and repaired from earthquake damage. Yes, the big one that happened in
February of last year and killed nearly two hundred people in
Christchurch. They are still cleaning up the damage from that.
Driving through Christchurch, there are deserted lots that used to be
buildings, there are buildings that have been closed since the quake and
people have had to walk away from their entire lives; not allowed back
in to retrieve family albums or keepsakes. There are people who still
sleep in their clothes because they don’t trust the next quake to not be
a big one and there are still multiple little quakes every day.
In these trying times, Kiwis stand together. In many ways, this is the
land that we’ve heard about from our grandparents when they get
misty-eyed and nostalgic. People are honest, neighbors look out for
neighbors, the youth respect their elders and a helping hand is always
around when you need it.
Some Odds And Ends About New Zealand:
Mettle roads are dirt roads, so peering around for the corrugated metal
or other shiny bits won’t yield much!
In America, it is the story of the itsy bitsy spider and the trip up the
water spout. In New Zealand, it is the incy wincy spider and that got
Mom saying how in Canada it was inky dinky spider.
A ‘weather bomb’ is a weather system with gale-force winds and driving
rains that pass in 24 hours.
They do not have pennies so when you spend $10.28 it is rounded up to
$10.30 (if you are paying cash).
‘Bach’ is the term for a bachelor’s hut that is usually on a river or
lake and is a small sleep out (read: rooms added in a sort of
lean-to-like way) that is added on to in a sort of ramshackle way.
In the north of the south Island it is a ‘bach,’ in the south it is a
‘crib.’ So crib is where the baby sleeps, the holiday hut/house, and
also the place where miners eat their lunch underground, their lunch
pail and its contents.
Gum boots are muck boots.
2012 Iron Sharpens Iron
Attention Men! The men from the Center Barnstead Christian Church will
be attending the Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Conference in Portsmouth, NH,
on Saturday, April 28th. This one day conference is for men ages 13
years of age and older. The cost for this conference is $55.00 which
includes transportation and lunch. Besides the general sessions there
will be sixteen different seminars to chose from, so there will be
something for every man who attends.
For more information on the conference go to
http://ironsharpensiron.net or
contact the church at 269-8831. The Center Barnstead Christian Church is
located at Route 126, next to the Town Hall.
Lego Construction At Barnstead Library!
Our first Lego Construction Party on Saturday, March 31, 2012 was a huge
success! We had 19 children, of various ages, participate in building
many fantastic structures. The children really enjoyed being creative
and building something unique. Several of them worked together,
cooperating in building and combining to create more elaborate
structures. It was a joy to watch the children work together and help
each other, especially when the older children helped the younger ones.
Please visit the library to view all of the children’s wonderful
creations, they will be on display until the end of April.
The OFML staff would like to thank all those who donated blocks for this
event. We also would like to thank Emily Chase for being our volunteer
helper on Saturday. Your continued community support is greatly
appreciated.
Letter
Barnstead Senior Fun Spot
A group of Barnstead senior citizens with the assistance of Elaine
Swinford, have formed the Senior Fun Spot. This is a drop in center for
seniors located on Route 28 between the Food Pantry/Thrift Shop and
Bosco Bell.
It’s a place where seniors 50 years of age and up can drop in and have a
cup of tea or coffee, meet friends, play cards, read from our library,
watch TV or a movie or just hang around. It’s just plain socializing,
getting out and meeting new friends and having a great time.
We will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Our Grand Opening will be Friday, April 27th, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Please drop in and see what we’re all about. We look forward to seeing
you and having a great time.
Peggy Gingras
Center Barnstead
Obituaries
Barbara L. Rogers
Barbara L. Rogers, 68, of Province Road, died at home April 14th
following a long illness.
She was born in Barnstead, the daughter of Earle and Phyllis Yeaton and
has lived in the area all her life. She was a graduate of Pittsfield
High School. She worked for the Telephone Company as an operator
following school. She later worked for the Cambion Company and the
Pittsfield Weaving Company. She was a member of the Circle of Home and
Family and was a 4H Club volunteer. She enjoyed the outdoors and was
devoted to her family and her best friend "Bud", her dog.
She was the widow of Harvey L. Rogers who died in 2001and she is
survived by her sister Edith St. George of Pittsfield , a sister in law
Gloria Yeaton, nieces, Debra Currier, Suzanne Bosiak, and Diane Bishop,
nephews, Mark, Michael and Matthew St. George , James Yeaton and several
great and great great nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her
brother Douglas W. Yeaton.
A Memorial Service will be held Wednesday at 2:00 PM in the Parade
Congregational Church. The Rev Sandy Pierson, Pastor, will officiate.
Urn burial will follow in the Riverview Cemetery.
Donations in her memory may be made to the CRVNA Hospice Program, 30
Pillsbury St. Concord, NH 03301 or to The Ruth Kimball 4H Endowment
Fund, Moiles House, 180 Main St. Durham, NH 03824.
To sign an online guest book, log on to
perkinsandpollard.com. Perkins &
Pollard Memorial Home, is assisting with arrangements.