Apple Country Living

Maynard Christmas Parade

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:38:09 -0500

Maynard just seems to do it differently from everyone else! Who else has October fireworks? And a Christmas parade?

Verrill Farm Corn & Tomato Festival

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:34:39 -0500

It's been a tough year for Verrill Farm, but the fun was back this year as they celebrated their annual Corn and Tomato Festival. Last year this event was unfortunately cancelled due to rain and then shortly thereafter they had a devastating fire. But, alas, according to Mr. Verrill, they are five weeks from opening their rebuilt farm stand.

The fun was the same as we remembered, with music under the big tent by Monadnock Bluegrass, pony rides, and hayrides. But the corn and tomatos are what makes this festival so special and they did not disappoint. There were more tomato dishes than we remembered with a tomato risotto and tomato and mozzarella being the tastiest (to me). I could have stayed all day for the corn, which was cooked in large iron kettles fired by wood.

Their next event will be September 13, 2009 for their Pig Roast and BBQ. For more information visit their website at: Verrill Farm.

Verrill Farm Destroyed but to be Rebuilt (September 21, 2008)

Sudbury July 4th Parade

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:31:25 -0500

Sudbury held its annual July 4th celebration in typical all-American style. The parade was led by fire and police from near and faraway towns. There were bands, including the always entertaining Liberty Jazz Band, minutemen, political activists, and antique cars. As always, there was lots of candy to be had, thrown from floats. This year, my children were smart enough to bring little bags with them.

Independence Day (July 4, 2008)
Sudbury July 4th Parade (July 4, 2008)

Nashoba Regional High Graduation

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:54:04 -0500

The towns of Bolton, Lancaster and Stow celebrated the graduation of their high school seniors at Nashoba Regional High School today on June 7, 2009. This "best of" slideshow chronicles the entire event. If you are searching for more images, please visit the full NRHS 2009 Graduation Gallery. All images are available for purchase with proceeds going to Stow's Community Chest.

Stow School Picnic

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:45:00 -0500

Every year at this time, just a few short weeks before summer break, our elementary school's PTO hosts the Pompo/Center School Picnic. It's always a wonderful event and, for the kids, it's pretty much the social event of the year. Practically everyone shows up. There's plenty to eat, lots of field games, and fire and police activities. The most popular event, of course, is the dunking booth, where the kids get back at their favorite, or not so favorite, teachers. The parents sit around and commiserate about all the time they'll have with their kids in a short while, wondering how they will fill the long summer days.

Memorial Day

Mon, 25 May 2009 18:35:07 -0500

Stow has the wonderful tradition of celebrating Memorial Day with a parade and ceremony. The parade begins at Center School and winds its way down to Brookside Cemetery. Every year, the names of all of Stow's fallen veterans are read as well as a reading of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, laying of the wreaths, playing of Taps, and volley by the Stow Minutemen. But perhaps most moving is when the first graders lay marigolds they have grown at the graves of veterans. After the ceremony at the cemetery, we all march to the Randall Library for the National Moment of Silence at 3PM and an address by our State Representative, Kate Hogan. It's gratifying to see so many come out to honor our veterans; brave men and women who fought to defend our liberty.

Spring at Acton Arboretum

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:22:11 -0500

If you live around here and have yet to take a trip over to Acton Arboretum, you really owe it to yourself to do so. My wife and I were there last weekend and it was quite a sight to behold. There are blossoms everywhere, including from the new lilacs planted last year. But also there were many flowering trees, from Eastern Redbuds to the familiar apple trees, tulips and daffodils. The arboretum is completely free, with picnic tables and open lawns for you and your family to spread out and enjoy nature.

Acton Arboretum (5/31/2008)

Stow Gymnastics Abuse Scandal Update

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:39:30 -0500

The abuse scandal which rocked our community nearly 1.5 years ago may have died down almost completely here in Stow, but the case goes on in court. The trial has kept getting pushed back for various reasons, but on Monday Middlesex Superior Court Judge Maureen Hogan made it clear that this could not happen indefinitely. It was revealed that there are 15 boxes of evidence being held by Acton Police. The defense was claiming they thought there would be only 4 boxes of evidence and therefore requested more time for review. The motion to suppress (where the defense asks for certain evidence to not be considered) is May 19, 2009 and the trial date is now set for September 21, 2009. As of today, Infante and DiTullio are being tried together even though there are separate charges against each of them. It appears that defense attorney Kevin Reddington, representing DiTullio, may ask to decouple the cases.

Steve DiTullio, former owner of Five Star Gymnastics in Stow now named 10.0 Academy, is formally accused of perjury. His associate, Steve Infante, is charged with far greater crimes including child rape. The details of the case have been widely reported here and elsewhere (see related posts below). Among the allegations are that both DiTullio and Infante gave alcohol to minors, that DiTullio allowed Infante to participate in programs despite his lifetime ban by USA Gymnastics, and that that both men participated in inappropriate sexual activity with minors.

Five Star Gymnastics Renamed to 10.0 Academy (2/8/2008)
Explanation for Pictures Emerges (11/30/2007)
The Role of the Media in Abuse Scandals (11/29/2007)
Gymnastics Abuse Scandal Unfolds (11/28/2007)
Sad News Comes to Stow (11/26/2007)

Spring Soccer

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:26:20 -0500

Spring soccer has arrived, along with seasonable weather, and parents all over are rejoicing. Stow's program starts with munchkins (as young as 4.5 year olds) and goes up to U16 and U18 and the highly competitive Nashoba United teams. Soccer was never my favorite personal sport to play or to watch. But I do think soccer is a great sport to get involved for an initial foray into sports. There's a lot less to learn than, say, baseball. Stow has made great strides in its younger leagues over the past few years by involving the Play Soccer program. The program is quite popular in New England and they send us real UK coaches to help the kids learn skills. I'm still not quite sure if they are authentically British, they could just have really good accent training. Maybe I'll place a pint of Samuel Smith's near a goal and see if they go for it. Image: Players get ready for a kick-in during the today's first U7 game at the Pompositticut School fields.

Stow's Arts Buffet Festival

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:02:16 -0500

For elementary school children, one of the major social events of the year is the Stow Arts Buffet Festival. Held at Center School and sponsored by the Stow PTO, upwards of 200 kids engaged in numerous arts and crafts projects in the school's gymnasium. T-shirt decorating and clay modeling were probably the favorites. The time capsule will be the most enduring. Kids answered some questions about themselves and put the paper inside a plastic tennis ball can which is only to be opened upon graduation from high school! The recycled art section challenged kids to be creative and many unique pieces of art were made. In addition to the art, music teacher Judy Dyer coordinated a musical talent show with acts student acts including guitar, flute, trumpet, saxophone, piano and violin performances. On stage was the Art Show, displaying kids' framed art.

To view a larger set of images, visit: Arts Buffet Slideshow.

Center School Art Show

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:08:23 -0500

Art teacher Marion Rayner loves art and her enthusiasm is a gift to the children she teaches. Tomorrow there will be hundreds of framed art pieces at Center School in Stow for the annual Arts Buffet. This year, the school is trying to raise funds to replace the broken kiln. Framed art can be purchased for $29.95 plus tax, with 20% of the sales going directly to the "Kiln Fund." If you would prefer to donate directly to the fund, you can make out a check to "Stow PTO" and write "Kiln Fund" in the memo line.

Erikson's Dairy Opens

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:57:20 -0500

Even though a snowstorm is theoretically possible, twelve years ago we were socked with 25.4 inches from the famous April Fools' Day Blizzard, the fact that Erikson's Dairy opens today at noon bodes well for those of us who are tired of Winter. Erikson's is by no means the only spot around for the traditional warm weather treat. Dairy Joy in nearby Hudson and Weston as well as Kimball Farm in Westford and Carlisle are also worth exploring.

My Fair Lady

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:18:07 -0500

I've been following Jackie Murtha (pictured) for over a year now. She's an extremely talented senior at Nashoba Regional High School, full of expression and super easy to photograph. Jackie reprises the role of Eliza Doolittle in Nashoba Drama Society's production of "My Fair Lady" which will run from March 20-22, 2009 at the high school in Bolton, MA. The set is wonderfully done and the production is fantastic as always.

A Familiar Squash with Surprising Origins

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:53:10 -0500

Contributed by Phoebe Haberkorn and reprinted with permission of The Stow Independent.

I had the pleasure of interviewing late Stow resident Mrs. Dorothy Leggett some years ago. She shared the story of how her husband, Charles, came to develop the now ubiquitous squash we know as the butternut. Some of us love it, others can't stand it. It's a requisite side dish at many of our holiday meals, and appears on the table all winter long, but most of us don't know that the butternut squash was first grown right here in Stow.

The man who reportedly first developed the butternut squash, Charles A. Leggett, was neither a farmer nor a scientist, according to his widow, Dorothy. Leggett bought a house in Stow in the late 1930's because his father wasn't well, she said, and the doctor recommended that he spend more time outdoors. It wasn't the easiest move for Leggett, who had lived most of his life in Milton, because as an officer of the John Hancock Life Insurance Company, he had to commute into Boston every day. He hadn't planned on having as much as 94 acres of land with the house he bought, but "that was what he could find at the time. It was hard to find a house in the country," Mrs. Leggett commented.

Leggett hadn't planned on growing crops, either, but he "hated to see land lying idle," and wanted to make a little money from the property he had. Mrs. Leggett said he rented out the fields for a time, "but you don't make any money that way," and then tried growing corn. The corn didn't do too well, however, and many other growers in the area were already supplying corn to the market. Leggett cast about for a different crop, and somehow got started with squash.

According to Mrs. Leggett, it was during the mid 1940's that Leggett developed the butternut squash, after crossing the gooseneck squash with other varieties. Gooseneck squash were long and gangly, and difficult to transport because of their irregular shape. Another common squash at the time, the Hubbard squash, was very large, with a hard skin and flesh that was also hard to cut. Leggett wanted something smaller than a Hubbard squash, with a compact, regular form and flesh that was easier to prepare.

"He tried out crops in the field between the houses," a ¼-acre plot between the Leggett house on Gleasondale Road and the next house down. He first grew the butternut strain of squash there "in the little garden bed," according to Mrs. Leggett. After the trials, when he had collected enough seed, Leggett planted "the fields" – some 35 acres, which were located across Gleasondale Road from the house – all in butternut squash.

During the years of World War II, from 1942 to 1945, Leggett faced some challenges, as many farmers did. Mrs. Leggett said he had been able to get a new tractor, but had trouble getting gas, as everyone did, due to rationing. "You could get farm gas, to raise food," she added, "but one guy on the rations board came down and said, 'You're wasting too much gas, you're driving your tractor too slowly.' Charlie told him he couldn't drive it any faster, because the field was full of rocks. He said, 'This is the last tractor I could get in New England. If I wreck it, I'll be done for.'" The official let him have the gas he needed.

Eventually, Leggett took his squash to the Waltham Field Station to show them what he'd developed and ask advice. "That's how the Waltham people got into it," Mrs. Leggett said with a chuckle. "They were enchanted" with the new variety of squash, she said, though they were skeptical that the strain would hold for repeated production.

They also told Leggett he needed a name for the new squash. Saying the squash was "smooth as butter and sweet as a nut," Leggett decided to call it the butternut squash. Since then, it has sometimes been identified as the Waltham Butternut Squash, "and it really wasn't," asserted Mrs. Leggett. However, "back in those days, you didn't get any credit and there was no way to register or license something like that."

Though Leggett didn't receive credit or remuneration for the squash he originated, Mrs. Leggett said he was always proud of having developed it. He regarded it as "just a gift of the gods" since it resulted haphazardly from his experiments. Leggett enjoyed collecting and sharing butternut squash recipes, and often brought butternut squashes as gifts for people he visited. Mrs. Leggett said he also went to hotels in Boston and gave squash to the chefs to try out. "He would bring in bushels of squash" to places like the Parker House Hotel "and say, 'just save me the seeds'," she noted.

Mr. Leggett died in the late 1980's at the age of 88, while his widow, Dorothy, continued to live for many years afterward in the family farmhouse which still stands on Gleasondale Road. The view, however, has changed. When the Page family purchased a parcel of Leggett's land in the early 1990's, they developed a golf course, naming it in honor of the squash first produced there years ago. Butternut Farm Golf Club now exists on the fields that once supported a rogue new vegetable, the butternut squash.

Santa Comes to Bolton

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:32:58 -0500

The real Santa Claus came to Bolton, Massachusetts today!

We all know that Santa hires "Mall Santas" to go around and represent him during this busy season. But that didn't happen today in Bolton. Yes, I was granted an early wish as the real Santa decided to make a surprise visit to Bruce Slater's Great Brook Farms. And there were none of those pesky photographers to get in the way of my own camera and Santa. Bruce's wonderful store was filled with happy children and adults. There were cookies and candy canes and hot cider and a fireplace. What a wonderful treat!

If you have never been to Bruce's store, you should pay a visit. We had met Maria, the new chef, last year and tasted her wonderful german cooking. So we had to try her pulled pork BBQ. We got a pound to go and it was fantastic. Many of you who live around here are probably familiar with Firefly's BBQ in Marlborough. I almost always get their pulled pork platter and had thought it was great. But the pulled pork from Bruce's was quite a bit better. I could taste the smokey flavor of the pork and the sauce was less sweeter and more spicier than Firefly's. It also wasn't swimming in sauce. It looks like we are about to have a new weekly takeout habit.

So back to Santa. Was he really the genuine article? I am well aware that many decry the Santa tradition as detracting from the religious aspects of the season. Perhaps they feel that Santa is part of the "commercialization" problem of Christmas. Still others feel that Santa is a great big lie and that we harm our children by letting them believe in the lie.

There's a word that describes these people: humbugs! What's wonderful about being a child is that you still have your imagination! As we grow older, this is one of the first things we lose, right along with our childhood innocence. But is what we imagine not real? Do children end up traumatized because their parents perpetuated a grand lie for so many years? Silly! Dr. John Condry of Cornell University interviewed more than 500 children who learned "the truth" and there was not one child who was angry at his or her parents. The most common response was that children felt more mature. My own experiences attest to this finding. We have a Christmas Eve tradition of over half a century of dressing up as Santa for the family and handing out and opening presents. Two years ago my oldest daughter knew it was me and helped me dress that evening. She felt so completely special. She had "grown up". If anyone should be traumatized it should have been me the parent. But even that I cannot complain about because it makes me proud to see my children reach new stages in life.

I haven't yet reached the point where my children don't believe in "The Real Santa". And, truthfully, I hope I never do. What's special about Christmas and Santa is that they are within us. In our adult hearts, I believe we mourn that we lost our gift of imagination and our ability to believe in things beyond ourselves. This is the lie. For it is a fact that there is much that exists beyond us. Yes, it kills me to not be able to tell my daughter that the new microscope came from me. But it also makes me happy at the same time. What keeps this tradition going is that as adults we desperately want to believe!

Christmas doesn't have to be about over-commercialization. Years ago I would have a tradition of frantically shopping one or two days before Christmas and would wrack my brain trying to figure out what to buy for everyone on my list. As I got older, things changed. The spirit of giving is with me quite a bit. And now I regularly see or think of things that would make my loved ones smile. They don't need to be expensive gifts or require trips to a crowded Walmart on Black Friday. This is one of the wonderful advantages of the Internet. You can shop from the comfort of your own home. You can save money and repurpose items from Ebay. Or you can even make your own gifts. The spirit of giving is really what Christmas is about for me. It's a spirit that should be with us all year long. Christmas gives us an opportunity to renew that spirit.

So, Christmas morning I will come downstairs with the kids and my wife (and my mother-in-law) at 6am. They will open presents. I will show them the half-eaten cookies on the kitchen table and the carrots on the back deck.

And I will smile.

While I am a Dad now, I still believe. For what I didn't tell you was that Santa today pulled me aside and told me to take the letters my children brought for him and put them in their stockings on Christmas morning. I know this Santa cannot go to every house in the world. He needs parents like me to help him do his work. So, why do I believe? I kept looking over at Santa today. He was so kind. He had such a mellow voice. He had a real and old beard! He smiled! He seemed so genuinely happy to be around all the children. He greeted each child in such a special way.

And I kept looking and sneaking a peek.

As we were preparing to leave, I looked once more and Santa gave me a wink!

He knew I believed.

Santa Makes a Surprise Visit to Stow! (12/07)

External Link: Great Brook Farms