Canterbury Country Store

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 1

The Feed Loft opens tomorrow!

At long last, the upper seating area in the store will be open to take your soup and sandwiches or coffee and pastry to sit and eat…and sit and visit. The auxiliary room just beyond this space, where an extra seating counter will be, is not quite cute yet. But it will be open to see and imagine…more windows to see our beautiful town out of.

The art show by our own Canterbury Artists lines the walls of the Feed Loft. Tomorrow opens their show “What Lurks in the Woods” Come to see all their work and see the calendar below for a Meet the Artist event.

This is what the room looked like before. It was a garage used to hose off snow blowers. Later on as shown here, it was used for storage and animal feed was sold from it. Now that we are feeding people in the spot that once fed animals, we thought an appropriate name for this room would be The Feed Loft. If you haven’t already come see it now.

The LLC building owners did such an amazing transformation.

Once the far back garage is completed we will once again be selling animal feed and grain in that far back space.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

This Sunday October 15 Rachael Cress will be here at noon playing bagpipes
Our Grand Opening week-end is November 3-5 with something happening every part of each day!.
Friday November 3, 5-7PM meet the artists who are currently showing in The Feed Loft. Refreshments and wine tasting
Saturday November 4 Mulled cider and garlic dip tastings with Two Sisters Garlic. Fiddling music by Jacqueline Laughman and friends noon to 2PM
Sunday November 5 Garlic and hummus taste offs. Mini cooking lessons with Jane.
Store hours: Mon – Sat 7-6, Sunday 9-4

This post marks the first of our new Friday tradition, of posting our menus for the upcoming week. Our kitchen is almost completely operational so let us today talk about food in broad sweeps and next week we will be specific.

Menu ideas for Monday October 16 thru Sunday October 22.

Dave says he wants to make more hot sandwiches this coming week. People have loved his grilled cheese and bar-b-que roast beef. Today he fired up the oven and did some test batches of pizza and calzone. He is using natural dough from Ann at Sunnyfield Brick Oven Bakery in Tamworth. YUM. This might be a Friday regular thing. Stay tuned.

Jane is still finding her rhythm with all the baking then moving into prepared meals. We are pleased you love it all so much! For take-out meal she is thinking that she might do certain themes each day like a Pot pies one day, pasta dishes another day, grain bowls etc. Stay tuned for that too.

We promise to post to FB each day this week what we are making then by next Friday we will be on it.

Thanks for reading,

Dave and Jane

Routine; getting the swing of it

We all like routine. What is familiar is comforting. Doing the same ‘ol thing feels good like a pair of worn in jeans. So now that the store has been open for 10 days we are starting to develop our own routine and we are feelin’ good about it. Dave is learning how many of you like breakfast & lunch sandwiches and how early he needs to start making them, Jane is learning what your favorite baked goods are [scones!] and how many of you are into really great groceries and our take-out meals.

It’s a good start to a fun daily routine.

And it looks like you too are falling back into the ‘ol Country Store routine.

The bench gang; Stephanie, Dudley, Frank and Dave.

And we are still learning our new equipment. We had fun with some new visitors to town being patient while we figured out the hot water for a custom cup of tea. It was the Dave and Jane comedy show! And that tea was definitely on the house.

The store is nearly full now. By next Tuesday it should be done and maintained…so many fun and yummy things are coming. And thank you to everyone who has responded enthusiastically to encourage our buying!

We are loving our days spent visiting with each of you and hearing about your lives & your requests/suggestions for the store. We are chomping at the bit to get the Feed Loft open this week…once construction is completed…soon, very soon.

Our very first customers. What a lovely family!

Meanwhile, we celebrate. Jacqueline. Martha and friends played on the front porch last Sunday and this coming Sunday the 15th Rachael will be playing the bag pipes.

We still need one more fun person to join us behind the counter part time. The key is flexibility so everyone who works here can take time off when needed. Please send us someone to hire. Its a great job!

Till next post,

Jane and Dave

We are open; THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the store over the week-end and in this early week to help us celebrate getting our doors open! You know we are not completely set up and you are patient with us. You have told us you liked it here even though not all our merchandise is in. And best of all, we all can now envision this new space for you and for us and for new friends to come. Yay Canterbury!

This week is another big week as we obtain our wine and beer license and receive our first orders, AND that the Feed Loft should be finished and open near the end of this week. Since those items finish our opening check-off list, we are planning a week of Grand Opening celebrations. Details will follow in Friday’s blog post. BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR IN BOX FRIDAY MORNING!

Things are starting to come out of our kitchen as it gets more set up.

The fresh produce is a hit for all of us…things to cook with here and things for you to take home. Sanborn Meadow Farm’s greens, Turning Mill Farm’s lettuces and root veggies, Apple Hill Farm’s winter squash and late season corn, and Russel’s Grateful Garlic

We had a discussion yesterday about how to more easily cook our hard shelled squash including the sugar pumpkins for making pie. This is our easy way; maybe you already know this but some folks did not:

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds,
Turn the halves upside down into a roasting pan and stab them with a sharp knife several times. (This lets the steam escape when cooking)
Roast at 375 degrees until it falls in on itself and is very squishy when squeezed wearing a pot holder or oven mitt,
Scoop out the insides to make a pie OR simply eat with butter and brown sugar or drizzled with olive oil and minced garlic. YUM.

See you soon we hope,

Jane and Dave, your storekeepers

Count down, we open tomorrow!

We are still not completely renovated but we are keeping our promise to you to get the store open by the end of September! We open Saturday, September 30 at 7am.

Start. Stop. Change courses. Re-think. Re-design. Make exceptions. Be grumpy. Hug. Sleep with your mouth open. Breathe in, breath out. Whew; what a picture we all were. We have all worked 7 days a week 10-12 hour days since July 15 to make this deadline happen. COVID got a few of us along the way, supply chain shortages mucked things up and the old building asked for a lot of TLC. Despite our blurry eyes, we kept a smile on our faces and can’t wait to see you back in!

This is a “soft opening” meaning that not everything will have arrived because orders & deliveries can only happen on certain days and we were just licensed. It will take a week of days to get it all here. Our Grand Opening is next week with everything in place.

Here is what you can expect tomorrow Saturday:

8 dozen Brothers Donuts waiting for you when the doors open!
Hot and iced coffee with free-of-charge flavor pumps. Hot tea too.
Lots from our own bakery; fresh cookies, scones, muffins
From our new kitchen; hot breakfast sandwiches, mid-day lunch faire with sandwiches, salads and soup, hummus, paté
Also from our new kitchen, a take home prepared dinner meal put out in the afternoon
Milk, eggs, meat, most every grocery item
Fresh produce from our local farms
Fresh flowers from Lorrie
Newspapers
Multitudes of beautiful art and craft from NH artisans
A sneak peak of the community art show that will be mounted week
Public restroom open – YAY Town Center!!
A couple tables for sitting

What will come next week:

Beer and wine (Step one is store license-got it- then alcohol license comes followed by delivery from the distributors on their particular day)
More groceries and dairy
The Feed Loft seating area will open with full art show

Dave with Food Safety inspector Angelar;
“Great, beautiful, perfect”

You might find some of this during our grand opening week October 7- 13…

cheese tastings garlic tastings hummus taste-off

special guest appearances music demonstrations

sandwich sampling cookie sampling popcorn

Stay tuned for another post on Monday with a menu for the week and the announcement of the grand opening details!

Cheers, Jane and Dave

STORE HOURS: Mon-Sat 7am-6pm, Sunday 9am-4pm

Count down, week 2.

Its looking like a store!

This last week is the week that it really got exciting. Merchandise started arriving, our Point of Sales and Inventory system was being loaded up, we had our first meeting with staff, many decorative touches were being put into place AND the kitchen construction is completed! Our preliminary inspection for the store and kitchen has been scheduled for this coming Tuesday and once we get past that, then we wait for our licenses.

Dare we say we are shooting for a soft opening next week-end, the 29th – 1st?! If the stars align it could happen!

Meanwhile the dedicated CCM LLC management team and their volunteers continue to paint around the Feed Loft rooms outside of the kitchen, to be finished this week=end.

This last week we also had continued to taste, and make tastes, perfecting recipes and sourcing yummy stuff to stock the shelves. We were still meeting with artisans and soap providers to stock the shelves. And who knew that Canterbury had so many talented soap makers?! We hope to showcase everyone eventually in one way or another…

The vegetarian sandwich taste-off with Casey. We got a thumbs up!

Jesse from Provisions International & Rob from Upper Valley Produce

The surprise installation of the timber we showed you last week is complete. Ta Da! This is a privacy/weather wall put in place at the front door so that if you are sitting at the window table you will not be blasted with air as the front door opens and closes. This was the brain storm of Kevin Bragg [he is really brilliant] and Dave, executed by Chance, Jared, Steve and Sue.

Peak a boo Kevin. Will he ever let me take his picture?

Here is the story about the timber itself. As you may know, Canterbury resident Steve Fifield is a heritage building restoration expert – we have all been grateful for his part in the preservation of so many New Hampshire historical buildings. He has a personal collection of antique timber from which our wall came. The large side posts are beams that Steve rescued from a 1830’s barn in New Hampton, NH that had fallen into disrepair. The top beam is from the 1796 Amherst, NH Congregational church. It was the connecting girt between the posts that supported the octagonal belfry. Note that huge mortise/tenon end. Our own Sue Hardt, who formerly worked here at the Canterbury Country Store, now works with Steve along with Betty his wife.

The rest of the wall story… Most of you will remember the old barn across the road from the store to the right of the cemetery. It belonged with the “Ames House” across the road from it, once the same piece of property. It was constructed c. 1748 and had been used by the Fellows family since before the civil war. During the Great Depression it was sold to Sabin Guertin and family so we have always referred to it as the Guertin barn. It too fell into disrepair and several years ago Steve determined it could not be saved so it came down, BUT most of the timber was saved into Chance Anderson’s personal collection. The boards at the bottom of the wall are from this barn. We love that we have a bit of this barn still here in town center.

Much will be happening this week-end to push us over the finish line. We are accepting craft from all of our artisans to display on the shelves next week, Jane is finishing the mural in the public bathroom, the history graphics will be applied to middle room wall and the Feed Loft will be finished painting. Like always, there are a myriad of other construction details that will fall into line over the week-end and into next week. STAY TUNED FOR NEW POSTS next week!

We are thinking pumpkins…

Support all our local farmers. Pay a lot to buy their pumpkins. With all the rain it was a really tough year for growing pumpkins; all farmers lost at least 1/2 of their crops.

Enjoy this turning of the seasons and we will see you very soon!

Your storekeepers, Jane and Dave

Count down, week 3.

Finishing the big parts

The store itself, the middle room and the public restroom are essentially completed – whew – and the kitchen + seating area are screaming towards the finish line! The kitchen will be painted this week-end AND THEN we can apply for an inspection; a 7-10 day wait, then another few days for the store license then another few days for the beer and wine license. It’s a process. But it all adds up to say that it looks like we might hit our target opening before September ends! CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE THEM LARGER.

We’ve written this before and we’ll say it again, we as store owners cannot thank the building owners, the Canterbury Community Market LLC, enough for embracing our vision and actually doing it, both in concept and by rolling up their sleeves. Yes, pros have been hired for big parts of this build but everyone needs to know that the management team themselves have rolled up their sleeves to build and scrub and paint and haul and move junk…along with a myriad of volunteers that supported them. Everyone is tired but it is the Canterbury way to pitch in and get the job done. Thank you!

On our end, this week we finished most all of our personal construction and painting sans a few details that will come at the last. We are spending our time now meeting with food and beverage suppliers, ordering, receiving inventory, bookkeeping, practicing food recipes, making product for the shelves and calculating placement for all merchandise. We also have continued to meet with artisans to stock the gift section and are working with new staff members to get ready. We are practicing bakers and farmers hours of rising at 3-4am to get it all in. CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE THEM LARGER.

It has always been our vision that the store acts like a hub in Canterbury, and we know that historically it has been that, so part of our fun during this summer has been to envision how this will all connect. Some early examples: the library and the store have ordered the same picture hanging system so we can share parts, the store is mounting its first community art show upon opening connecting all ages and skill levels, it is connected to the town Halloween celebration to act as a month long beacon, it is providing a showcase for our Canterbury food makers, artisans and the historical society, it has connected with outside groups to come to Canterbury… this is just beginning of a whole lot of fun for us all. We are REALLY excited.

Our first community art show, “What Lurks in the Woods” will be on the walls when we open.

The community gathering space and seating/eating area – The Feed Loft – will have art hung through out the year to showcase NH artisans. The concept is to have a space where folks can strut their stuff and, in turn, the walls will constantly surround us with engaging color while we sip our coffee or eat our sandwich. The part we love best is that we will show all ages and skill levels together tied together by a tight theme that makes them visually coherent. Here is a sneak peak at some of the work that will be on the walls when we open..

We could still take your entry too. Read about it by clicking here and download the entry form.

A little bit about food…

What we eat can be a controversial subject akin to religion and politics. But health and the joy of flavor should be important to all of us. Tradition plays a big part of eating as well; the comfort of mom’s canned cream of mushroom casserole or the Sunday gathering over a garden harvest. Personally, we embrace it all.

The one thing we are trying to think about when we stock the grocery shelves for opening is to encompass all of our tastes but do it in the most healthy way possible. Quality matters. We hope you will find the comfort of familiar branded tastes and the joy of flavors yet to be discovered.

Cheers from Jane and Dave

Count down, week 4.

Tidying up

It’s getting close now and the store is really looking like a store. We are down to the wrapping up and tidying up phase of that space while construction screams toward its finish line in the kitchen area and the middle room with the public restroom is being finished this week-end. Click on any image to enlarge it and scroll through.

It’s the final minutia of any project that seems to take the most time. That little spot of ceiling paint dripped on the wall that needs touching up, the exposed pipe that needs brush work, the sanding and refinishing of the front of the cabinets, the deep scrubbing of every rack and shelving unit [thank you Mindy and Debbie]! The complete refinishing of the inside of the big beer and milk cooler [thank you Constance, Janet, Claire, Mindy and Kevin], the sanding and painting of every inch of trim work [thank you Claire and thank you me], leveling floors, washing windows, repairing of walls, painting and repainting. And meeting with farmers, vendors and artisans, testing food & drinks…you get the idea. Click on any image to see them larger.

Jon Soto, hand forged knives; Canterbury

And Bob continues with his electrical work wiring the whole building while keeping me happy by installing light fixtures; are these the right height? Can Jim stand under them? Are the lights adjusted to the right temperature to make the room seem inviting? Do the cases have a shadow? We have started from scratch installing energy efficient LED lighting removing the old costly florescent that was previously there.

Dave has built the huge riser for the front of the store that was my vision. While it was in progress we heard the jokes; it’s a hot tub, it’s a stage for Jane’s dance routine…humor is what keeps us all going! And the little gifts brought our way keep us going too; the flowers, the fresh squash from the garden, a loaf of bread…thank you to everyone. We love you back. Click on any image to see them larger.

A bit of history

Part of the fun of this store project is to dig into Canterbury History. The colors in a building tell a story. When we were sanding the big ‘ol door to the beer and milk cooler to repaint it, we revealed several layers of color going back to other store owners. We haven’t yet figured out what colors went with who but it went gray, then red, then medium green then forest green most recently. We loved the red so much that we decided to keep some of it exposed and use it for a jumping off point to finish off that middle room where the coke machine sits and where the public restroom is. Click on any image to see them larger.

And other history, stayed tuned: Steve, Sue and Chance are working on two accents for the store using wood salvaged from the Guertin barn and some 1700’s timber!!

Keeping things crisp in the kitchen

Conversations in the store recently about bread made me think to pass on these tips. Food that you want to stay crisp should be stored in paper and food that you want to stay soft stores ok in plastic.

Artisan breads with a crisp oven-kissed crust should always be stored in paper. They sweat in plastic and the crust gets destroyed. If it gets too hard after a few days in your paper bag, spritz the crust with water and put in a 300 degree oven for 5 or 10 minutes to freshen it up; it tastes fresh baked.
Soft, squishy sandwich breads last longer in plastic bags.
Vegetable greens should be stored in paper, never long term in plastic bags. The plastic gases off a chemical that deteriorates the composition of the produce and the lack of air coupled with moisture makes it sweat encouraging decomposition. When I get my greens home I take them out of the plastic bag and roll them up in paper towels to then store in the vegetable drawer of the frig. They literally last for weeks.

Thanks for reading, Jane (and Dave)

We’re looking up!

The vision of “to get there from here” has been a journey in trust because these first 6 weeks of remodeling to make a new store hasn’t looked like much.

But we’re looking up!

This being the second blog post to our brand new website, most of the activity in remodeling the store has been posted to Facebook, first on our personal pages then on the store page. We posted pictures of indiscernible holes in walls, of dark previously unused places and a myriad of paid and volunteer workers. The Canterbury Community Market LLC that owns the building that the store is in has been amazing, paying reverent attention to this old building, correcting past errors and making sustainable building decisions for the future. They took our vision and ran with it, cleaning up and shoring up as they went along.

Have you looked up lately?

If you’ve stopped by the store or the post office in the last few days and looked up you will notice that a new smooth-non-sagging-attractively-painted ceiling is in place with holes popped out to receive the updated lighting this week-end. This was a huge feat to secure and uplift the old one then install sheet rock to match the curve and downward slope of the tail end of this old building. We found a funny bit of history up there; the previous ceiling had been patched with a piece of cardboard from a case of beer then painted over!

If you’ve looked up outside you will also notice a brand new roof facing the church. Remember that big gusher we had a few weeks ago? While the old ceiling was torn out it hit; surprise! Perfect timing to notice a new roof could not be put off any longer. You can click on any of these pictures to open them up larger.

Progress in other areas of the store have been happening in tandem. The former back storage area now houses an accessible public restroom waiting to receive the final plumbing this week and our artful touches (a surprise)! This cozy and decorative new space will have an accessible table visibly connected to the new Feed Loft seating area above. With its wainscoting and historically correct windows, it is almost ready for paint. Next up is the kitchen and room extending from the Feed Loft. The floor is poured and the framing starts next week!

Catching up

Life doesn’t stop even though we are scrubbing and painting 24/7 at the store. Like many of you, we have a vegetable garden to attend. We always make and freeze what I call Garden Sauce, a chunky tomato based sauce laced with what ever is growing at the moment. Because I couldn’t be home to stir the pot, this year I tried it in a crock pot. WOW, did it turn out great. Cooking things s l o w l y really intensifies the flavors. I thought you might like the recipe. It follows…

ONE: collect some peppers of any kind, onions and garlic plus what ever herbs look best in your garden. Chop them ( used my food process to make quick work of it) then sauté them in some extra virgin olive oil. For a full crock pot I used 4T approximately. The oil helps release the essential flavor compounds in the herbs. This “paste” is the flavor base for the sauce. NOTE: if you don’t have time or don’t want any oil in your sauce, skip the sautéing process. It will still be good but not as good.

TWO: Rough-cut tomatoes and any other vegetables you want to add. I added squash this time but have also added diced green beans or chunked up eggplant. Throw them in the crock pot along with the flavor base and add 1 tsp kosher salt per pot (this helps release the juices). Cook on high during the day 8-10 hours, stirring a couple times if you can, then turn the pot to low and cook overnight. Add salt and pepper to taste. Freeze in 4 cup portions.

We use this sauce over pasta or rice as-is or it is great as a base for soups and stews.

Happy cooking, Jane and Dave

The history of the Canterbury Country Store

Do you know the story of the store that the town bought?

Canterbury for the most part has always had a store…from 1767 onward. First they were in homes and blacksmith shops surrounding town center, given licensing to sell goods or alcohol by the provincial government. And eventually they took roost in town buildings; in 1826 in the Vestry building in town center for several store keepers then in 1861 in the lower level of the Union (or Grange) Hall for several store keepers.

At one point several stores were in operation at town center to include the Union Hall and another in a Sam Lake building that also offered livery goods at the adjacent livery stable. In 1923 fire destroyed that building but the livery stable survived.

When the fire of 1943 ripped through town center destroying most all the houses and buildings, the then current store keeper at the Union Hall that was destroyed, Gerald Giles, temporarily set up in the Vestry building while he remodeled the surviving livery stable into a store. This building remains the current store location.

There has been a succession of store keepers in this livery stable location as the sole store for the town of Canterbury. It has become more of an iconic institution and simple gathering place rather than simply a provider of goods since modern day grocery stores abound. But even still, when in 2000 the store keeper Robert Summers, who also owned the building, was retiring and selling to the highest bidder, the town panicked. They could not be without a store in town center!

So in a herculean effort “over-night,” the Canterbury Community Market LLC was formed to purchase the building with the stated mission to preserve a place for a town center store in perpetuity. Shares were sold to town folks, store workers, elementary school classes and those who embraced the idea of a country store. Under this new ownership the building was updated to keep the postoffice residing there like it had for over 100 years and the existing store keepers apartment was separated from the store so it could provide rental income to offset the upkeep of the building.

With this new model, the Canterbury Country Store is owned and operated by individual store keepers that do not own the building while the LLC acts as the landlord and building maintenance entity. While the story goes that the “town purchased the store” or that it is a “community owned store”, the separation of the building ownership and the ownership of the store business is distinct.

In 2023 new store keepers Dave and Jane Balshaw pitched the Canterbury Community Market LLC with a vision for a completely updated version of a store. Following their idea, the LLC embarked on a huge renovation process to reclaim worn-out spaces for a new gathering room, a kitchen and a public restroom. Along the way, the opportunity was taken to restore exterior spaces including new clapboard siding and roofing, updated drainage, electrical was cleaned up with energy saving installations and septic & plumbing was updated.

2023 will be remembered as the year that this building was restored back to life.

If you love history you might enjoy this video of a presentation by local historian Mark Stevens. It is the history of the center fire of 1943 but also contains many oral histories of the store. CLICK HERE to view it.

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Our first community art show, “What Lurks in the Woods” will be on the walls when we open.

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Tidying up

A bit of history

Keeping things crisp in the kitchen

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Do you know the story of the store that the town bought?