This past weekend the Derry Fire Department and J&F Farms in Derry hosted a training session on agricultural emergencies for two dozen first responders. UNH Cooperative Extension agricultural educators George Hamilton and Nada Haddad brought leaders from the Pennsylvania State University’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program as instructors for the three-day event. Classroom instruction and training with scale-built models prepared the teams for training exercises at the farm. Donated tractor and implements were used with sophisticated training mannequins to simulate the all-too real situations that can occur when operating farm equipment.

Derry Fire Chief George Klauber and Training Battalion Chief Jack Webb were on site with the department’s emergency rescue equipment, much of which was purchased with a federal Homeland Security grant. Planning for this training opportunity grew out of a conversation at the roll-out event for the NH ROPS ( Rollover Protective Structure) Retrofit Rebate  Program  a year ago  at  the Rosencrantz John Deere dealership in Kensington. Derry firefighter and Weare beef farmer Steve Roberts and Rockingham County Farm Bureau  president Phil Ferdinando talked about holding a training exercise at Ferdinando’s J&F Farms, and Hamilton and Haddad suggested bringing in the Penn State team.

By the final day of the training, everyone agreed there was a lot of learning going on—and that much on that learning would also be helpful in other industries and situations. Team work was very much in evidence as firefighters from different communities worked together to rescue a mannequin trapped under a heavy piece of equipment—after discovering their usual tools, such as the jaws-of-life, could not get the job done. In addition to 19 members of the Derry Fire Department, individuals from the Laconia, Hanover, New Boston, Fremont and Londonderry fire departments also participated.

Davis Hill, director for Managing Agricultural Emergencies for the  Penn State Ag Safety and Health program, says their team offers emergency training for two audiences—farm families and workers, and first-responders. Check out the program’s website, which offers numerous fact sheets, videos, DVDs and other resources, including some in Spanish, and resources geared to youth, at www.agsafety.psu.edu/ .

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            Gourmet dinners put on by the hospitality management program of the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics are highly anticipated by fans of fine food. This December the public gets a unique opportunity to indulge in a multi-course selection of dishes—all made with New Hampshire’s finest maple products.

Hospitality management students will present ‘Maple Movements’ on two evenings, Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3 at Stillings Hall, 20 Ballard St. Each evening begins with cocktail reception and passed hors d’oeuvres at 5:00 p.m., followed by dinner and live entertainment by UNH and Seacoast-area dancers.

“Guests will experience a range of maple in every dish and be introduced to multiple styles of dances. Dishes will feature a variety of fresh, local ingredients supplied from farms within the New Hampshire and Maine region, as one of our goals is to use the most sustainably produced food from local farms,” said Lauren MacDonald, marketing director for ‘Maple Movements.’

Guest chefs from Seacoast-area restaurants work with students to prepare one-of-a-kind dinner menus. Dan Dumont, corporate chef at Ocean Properties, will be in the kitchen with the students as guest chef for the maple-themed dinner. Dumont is one of only 66 certified master chefs with American Culinary Federation. He oversees the restaurants and all food service for Ocean Properties Hotels and Resorts, including The Wentworth by the Sea hotel and spa in New Castle, The Sagamore Resort in New York and the Samoset Resorts in Maine.

Dinner attire is formal. Tickets cost $60 per person and can be purchased on the gourmet dinner website www.wsbe.unh.edu/gourmetdinner. For more information contact Donna Stickney or call 603-862-3303.

Lorraine Merrill, Commissioner                                                                        

(reprinted from Weekly Market Bulletin, Nov.9,2011)

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