VOLUME 37, NUMBER 8 JULY 26, 2012 FREE THE WEEKLY NEWS & LIFESTYLE JOURNAL OF MT. WASHINGTON VALLEY Now offering guided photo tours Biking Kayaking Hiking Outfitters Shop Glen View Café Summer Family As the Wheel Turns Rt. 16, Pinkham Notch Outing www.greatglentrails.com East Denmark Loop Mountain Playground www.mtwashingtonautoroad.com PAGE 2 PAGE 31 (603) 466-2333 A SALMON PRESS PUBLICATION • (603) 447-6336 • PUBLISHED IN CONWAY, NH Summer Family Outing Darron Laughland Darron Laughland Kids play on natural materials, like these balance logs on the trail to the Playscape, in back- The rope bridge is a great challenge for children crossing over the span between the ground. Playscape rock wall and the tree. AMC Highland Center's New Playscape: Outdoor Family Fun By Darron Laughland door playground created from rocks, or to use the stairs on soil, rocks, wood, and ingen- the backside to descend. The Appalachian Mountain ious creativity. Located in For families riding the Club has a new recipe for fun Crawford Notch, it sits in a Conway Scenic Railroads with kids that they cooked up meadow behind the Highland famed Notch Train, the play- this summer. Start with a sce- Center building. The path ground and trails give the kids nic vista with views of moun- leading to the main structure an opportunity to stretch their tains and meadows. Take a few has log balance beams and log legs and burn off the energy dump truck loads of boulders posts set in the ground and accumulated by sitting on the and soil and build a huge stable boulders to hop on. The train as it travelled up the rock pile. Carefully make a few Playscape includes a sandpit notch. There is a letterbox on caves and tunnels at the base. with its own lower wall and one of the adjacent trails, and Sprinkle some steps on the logs adjacent to the larger geocaches in the area for fami- back and place a ledge midway structure, for young adventur- lies looking for a fun and inex- up the main rock face. Place a ers. The big element is a tree pensive kid friendly outdoor few logs and anchor them in a log tower and framework in destination with a few activi- way that they perch in several the center, with a boulder and ties. Go to angles, in a manner that invites earthen wall partially sur- www.geocaching.org and someone to walk or crawl up rounding it. A pile of logs www.letterboxing.org for spe- Darron Laughland them. Put a huge upright pine leans against a ledge halfway up cific information on these Caves and tunnels provide an opportunity to crawl around and pretend to log in the middle and surround the wall, and a tunnel leads activities. Several short hikes be bears. it with stairs leading to a rope through the wall and into a begin at the Highland Center, bridge spanning over to the small room. The room has one including some short walks checked out the gift shop and titles. There are several free wall. Plant native vegetation in end of a pipe that travels out- right across the street and in books, and then hit the and/or fee based programs tak- the nooks and crannies, top it side and to the backside of the the woods nearby. The knowl- Playscape. The kids played ing place daily, and visitors can with a thick coating of mulch, wall that functions as a phone edgeable AMC staff at the hard, and along with around a inquire inside about what and carefully water throughout of sorts for kids to talk to front desk can recommend an dozen other children, ranging activities are available. the season. Accompany the someone at the other end. A appropriate trail for anyone in age from three to ten, they Information on the AMC and main fare with a few side “dish- smaller side tunnel has tree uncertain of the options avail- enjoyed the physical challenges Highland Center can be found es” like a sand pit and smaller limbs placed at the doorway able to them. of the Playscape, climbing, at www.outdoors.org or by rock wall, short wooden posts, that require some flexibility During a recent visit, we running, and jumping without calling the main desk at 603- log balance beams, and sur- and planning, to crawl through joined the bustle of train pas- injury or incident. According 278-HIKE. Many of the pro- round it with trails meandering the narrow spaces. The tree sengers taking it all in before to their post-play report, their grams are for members and/or through the adjacent forests tower has wooden steps and the Conway Scenic train whis- favorite parts were the caves guests staying at the Center, and flowering mountain fields. balconies that offer great views tle signaled them back on the and the rope bridge. please confirm with the front Finally, add kids, hungry for of the notch as they wind train, AMC education program The Highland Center has desk. adventure with an appetite for around the tree to the rope staff with their students, adult clean family friendly facilities, fresh air and exercise. bridge at the top. The bridge guests, hikers, and other visi- including a kitchen and dining Darron Laughland enjoys writ- The AMC Highland leads across to the wall, and tors; all taking in the beauty of area serving meals and snacks, ing about paddle sports and out- Center’s new Highland once on top of the wall, kids the notch. We enjoyed lunch restrooms, and a gift shop with door family adventure experiences. Mountain Playscape is an out- have the option to climb the at the Highland Center, local guidebooks and regional On the Cover Inside Index Critter Corner .............................................5 Caring Veterans Naples Nature Corner.............................................9 U.S. Marine Corps Veterans, Robert Marois (right), and Lamb’s Mill – By Rachael Brown - Page 4 Freedom Column ......................................10 Gilles Laramee, representing the Marine Corps League, Thoughts While Weeding ........................11 based in Berlin, NH, collected donations for Toys For Charity Chatter On the Rockpile ........................................12 Tots, at Shaws Supermarket, in North Conway, NH, on The ‘happenings’ in August Page 14 July 21st, 2012. Out ‘n About..............................................20 Kids on Bikes: On the Links..............................................30 Photo by Dennis Coughlins Start a family Tradition – Page 21 Classifieds.............................................32-35 Page 2 | The Mountain Ear | Thursday, July 26, 2012 News Selling Home Produced Food in New Hampshire Ann Hamilton, with people who grow and sell home food operations in New Food Protection, for specific training and education. Field Specialist, Food farm products at farm stands Hampshire. The requirements guidelines. Even if a license is Whether you are licensed or and Agriculture and farmer’s markets as well as are clear on what you can and not required, there are set not, it is important to follow Frequently, UNH work with the food service cannot sell from a home guidelines that you must follow good safe food handling prac- Cooperative Extension staff industry on safe food handling kitchen, where you can sell it, in order to sell food in New tices when selling food from gets asked by constituents if practices and production. and when you do or do not Hampshire that is produced in your home kitchen. The main they can produce and sell food Based on new legislation need a license. a home kitchen. For example, areas of concern for food han- from their home kitchen in signed on June 11, 2012, there The first step is to check in some instances raspberry dlers are: using good personal New Hampshire. We get asked have been some changes in the with the NH Department of jam may be sold without a hygiene practices; avoiding this question because we work licensing requirements for Health & Human Services, license but a label is required cross-contamination of food that includes, but not limited though un-sanitized cutting to, this statement: “This prod- boards, kitchen utensils, tow- VA Exceeds 2012 Goal to Improve uct is exempt from New els, equipment or workers’ Hampshire licensing and hand; and, time and tempera- Online Access to Benefits Information inspection.” Pickled products ture principles such as cooking such as dilled beans, bread & foods to proper temperatures, Expanding Functions Draw Millions of Monthly Visitors butter pickles and tomato rel- keeping hot foods hot and cold ish cannot be produced and foods cold. In addition, family The Department of Veterans mum ability to update personal members as they reach career sold to the public without a pets should be restricted from Affairs announced today that information and learn about milestones and a new Career license. NH DHHS, Food the kitchen while producing 1.67 million Veterans and benefits without having to visit Center page with employment Protection, has a good website food to sell. The last thing you Service members have regis- a VA facility. With the premier self-assessment tools, a resume for you to learn more need is dog or cat fur in cook- tered for the secure, joint VA- account, one password—called builder, and a translator that information on Homestead ies that you are selling at your Department of Defense (DoD), a single sign-on—allows relates military expertise to Food Operations: roadside farm stand. self-service web portal, Veterans to access multiple civilian work skills. The Career www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/fp/sani eBenefits, which provides applications on the secure por- Center, which received over tation/homestead.htm. Food Ann Hamilton is a field special- online information and access tion of the website.