Open for the Season at Springledge Farm, New London, NH

We’re fully stocked with beautiful Easter lilies, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, pansies, Easter grass and more Spring items to celebrate the season.  The farmstand is now open for the season.  Monday-Friday 10-6, Saturdays 10-5:30 and Sundays 10-4 (closed this Easter Sunday).  Our Easter Lilies are grown from top-size bulbs, meaning they have more flower buds per stem and larger flowers.  We make sure they are at just the right stage for the Easter weekend. This Friday, we’ll be taking delivery of The Good Loaf artisan bread including some special Easter Breads.  We are harvesting more fresh Springledge spinach, carrots, micro greens, pea shoots and some mustard and pac choi greens from the cold frame. Of course we’ll have Beef from Star Lake Farm, Rocky Cannoli’s Pies, McNamara Dairy in Glass Bottles from Plainfield, NH, Honeycrisp Apples from Carter Hill Orchards in Concord, 2010 Maple Syrup from Springledge Orchard (Bill & Ki Clough), Pansies and spring bulbs & Walpole Creamery Ice Cream is back!

Farm News Beautiful weather today with more forecast for the weekend.  We’ve begun the process of uncovering the straw from our strawberries, garlic and perennials.  The warm air and breezes should start drying the ground. Our greenhouses are filling up with snapdragons, supertunias, alyssum, tomatoes, herbs, perennials and much more. Some of the many new annuals for 2010 include Petunia ‘Debonair Lime Green’, Begonia ‘Big Red’ and Dahlia ‘Dahlinova New York’. Eco-Responsible Gardening Workshop: The Kearsarge/Sunapee League of Women Voters is sponsoring a workshop on Eco-Responsible Gardening featuring Joan Cobb and Joan O’Connor (the worm lady).  Topics will include natural landscaping, organic farming and vermiculture. Thursday, April 8th from 2-4 pm at the Newbury Town Hall Community Room. All are welcome, the event is free and refreshments will be served. Click here for the full description of the event.

Little Lake Sunapee Home Price Reduction

530 ft. of waterfront on Little Lake Sunapee with two special homes and broad lake views.  Price just reduced from $1,198,000 to $1,075,000.  For more photos and details, visit www.719LittleSunapeeRd.com. 

LAND CONSERVATION IN THE DARTMOUTH LAKE SUNAPEE REGION

The Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust(ASLPT), located in New London, is a private, 501(c)(3)  non-profit organization supported by 1,000+ members, which was founded in 1987 to preserve and protect the rural character of the Mt. Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region for the public benefit.  To date, ASLPT has protected 6,491 acres, consisting of 106 properties, and including 4,000 feet of shore front on Lake Sunapee. Because the organization plays a vital role in helping to preserve the special places, the views we all enjoy, and rural character of our area for the public benefit, Coldwell Banker Milestone is pleased to contribute a portion of every commission earned to ASLPT.

The majority of these properties are preserved through conservation easements, but there are other ways to accomplish this as well.  Methods of Land Conservation When the Trust accepts an easement, they also accept stewardship responsibilities, now and forever.  In addition to helping families preserve their properties and safe-guarding them for future generations, ASLPT also devotes itself to educating the people of our communities about the importance to them of protecting our environment and its ecosystems through land conservation.  Many of the open spaces in our communities which we all appreciate so much have been conserved through the efforts of their owners and ASLPT.  For more information, visit their web site at:  http://www.ausbonsargent.org/

New London, NH – New Listing

A convenient location, large, level lot and 3 bedroom cape with dormers – visit www.38CountyRd.com for details and photos.

Marilyn Kidder, Listing Agent

marilyn@cbmilestone.com

New Listing in Wilmot, NH

Take a look at this attractive, 3 bedroom, 2 bath cape.  Visit www.14EvansRd.com for details and photos!

Sara Ellis, Listing Agent

sara@cbmilestone.com

Springledge Farm – Opening for the Season March 31st

Open Fridays 3-6. – March 12th, March 19th, March 26th.

This week at the Friday market:
Corned Beef from Star Lake Farm
Fresh Springledge Spinach
Warm Artisan Bread from The Good Loaf
Rocky Cannoli’s Pies
Fresh Springledge Micro Mix & Pea Shoots
McNamara Dairy in Glass Bottles from Plainfield, NH
Honeycrisp Apples from Carter Hill Orchards in Concord
2010 Maple Syrup from Springledge Orchard (Bill & Ki Clough)

Farm News
Sowing, planting, fixing, watering, melting, writing, planning, cleaning, filling, eating, moving, phoning, e-mailing, ordering, unpacking, interviewing and growing.

Clockwise from top left…Springledge Impatiens ‘Butterfly strawberry’, Springledge cutting garden Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’, SLF Strawberries, SLF Cherry Tomato ‘Sun Gold’  (last 3 photos by Michaelseamans.com)

Plant Trivia Quiz:
Take our 4 question quiz to test your plant trivia knowledge.  Click here…Useless Plant Trivia We are making up another quick survey for next week’s newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who has purchased CSA farm shares.
We still offer farm shares in March and April, with 3% added purchasing power.
Click here to learn about our Community Supported Agriculture Farm Shares.

We appreciate your patronage.  As always, please let us know of any questions.

Don’t Let Undisclosed Facts Bite You in the ….!

You’re putting your house on the market and the Realtor hands you a Sellers’ Property Disclosure to fill out.  You’re thinking, “What a nuisance!  Maybe I can skip over some of the questions.”  Beware – this will come back to bite you!  Withholding pertinent information about the property has serious consequences.  A thorough Disclosure will protect you as well as the buyer.  Most buyers appreciate knowing as much as possible about a property before buying it.  They can live with it not being perfect, as long as they know the issues up front and have had a chance to investigate and digest them.

Properties can fail to close and lawsuits can happen when information is withheld.  Not only should you disclose current issues with your house, but it also may be a good idea to disclose any past problems that have been repaired, or areas that require routine maintenance.  A word of caution on past repairs – don’t guarantee that the problems are fixed.  This implies that they will never come back.  Rather, be specific on how they were taken care of.  Also, don’t guess when filling out the disclosure; if you don’t know, then indicate that it is unknown.  On the other hand, don’t just fill in “unknown” because it is easy and avoids problems.  A thorough and properly filled out seller’s Disclosure may make buyers feel good about your house and also help keep you out of court!

Donna Forest, ABR

Contact Donna at donna@donnaforest.com or visit her web site at www.donnaforest.com