Around the towns:

Wilton, Lyndeborough subdivision discussed

A plan for a 13-lot subdivision off Cram Hill Road in Lyndeborough and Wilton neared completion Sept. 3 and could be approved at a joint meeting of the two planning boards in Lyndeborough on Oct. 2.

The property is owned by the Pierre and Lura Provost Trust.

The plan has been before the two boards since early spring of 2007, highlighting the problems that arise when a property is divided by a town line. About nine acres of the 70-acre parcel are in Lyndeborough. Most of the Lyndeborough portion is a large field that planners want to preserve. A road originally through the field was moved to the side.

The original plan for 19 houses and three interior roads has been gradually reduced to 13 lots with two interior roads, to be named Provost and Chenery. All of the houses will be built in Wilton, but the access road is in Lyndeborough.

Down on the farm

Would your child like to ride a pony, get up close to a pig, or watch goats being milked?

These experiences, and more, will be offered to area residents today during an open house at the Souhegan Soccer Farm in Amherst, a community supported agriculture venture at 12 Stearns Road.

Pony rides will be available from 2-4 p.m., followed by a demonstration of outdoor survival skills from 5-6 p.m., a pot luck dinner at 6 p.m. and a community bonfire at 7 p.m.

There will be storytelling, hayrides, pickup soccer games and produce to sample and to purchase from the organic farm, said farmer Ben Brewster, who runs the operation.

About 70 area families and individuals are members of the farm. Members pay an annual fee to the farmer and also help with planting, weeding and other aspects of farming.

In return, they receive fruit, vegetables and flowers between May and the end of October.

A visit to the farm is an opportunity for children to see where their food comes from and for their parents to learn about organic farming, Brewster added.

Brewster has operated the CSA for several years, attracting new members every year.

He plants dozens of varieties of tomatoes and greens, as well as onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, herbs and more.

Those who attend the open house will arrive at the height of tomato season.

“There’s something about the tomatoes,” Brewster said. “It’s such a short season, from the end of July into October, and there’s all that anticipation as the vines thicken and spread, the clusters form.”

Ready, set, sanitize

Tours and open houses of many local wastewater facilities will be available this month as part of a United Nations project.

“The International Year of Sanitation” aims to recognize the capabilities of wastewater facilities and bio-solids management across the country. In New Hampshire, more than a dozen communities are participating.

Locally, here is what’s available:

Merrimack: The town’s wastewater treatment facility will be open for tours and discussion, including its ability to compost sludge. The event will be held at 36 Mast Road on Sept. 25 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., about a mile south of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Coffee and doughnuts will be served; free “water recycles” posters will be available. For more information, contact Jim Taylor at 420-1620 or e-mail jtaylor@merrimacknh.gov.

Milford: Free tours, refreshments and posters will be available at the wastewater facility at 564 Nashua St. on Sept. 27 from 8-11 a.m. For more information, contact Larry Anderson at 249-0661.

Nashua: Tours and information about the wastewater facility will be available, including a trip to the top of the million-gallon “egg” digester and details on how Nashua makes electricity from sludge. The event will be held at the facility on Sawmill Road on Sept. 25 from 9-11 a.m. For more information, contact John Adie at 589-3560.

Haunting plans

The Merrimack Parks and Recreation Department is planning its 16th annual Halloween Haunted Walk at Wasserman Park, scheduled for Oct. 25 from 6:30-9 p.m.

Local groups, committees and organizations are being encouraged to set up concession tables, children’s games, face painting, demonstrations and raffles. All ideas will be considered.

Also, the department is seeking a group to make and sponsor the haunted house project as part of the walk.

For more information, contact the parks department at 882-1046 or e-mail Parksdept@merrimacknh.gov.

Meet the Dems

The Merrimack Democratic Party will host a “meet the candidates” event at its campaign headquarters this month.

State senate candidate Mike Kaelin and state representative hopefuls Jim O’Neil, Andrew Sylvia and Kim Kojak will be among Democrats attending. Representatives from the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama, U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter may also be available.

The event will be held at 594 Daniel Webster Highway, across from Tortilla Flat, on Sept. 21 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, visit www.merrimackdemocrats.blogspot.com.

Voter turnout turns out poor

Everybody knew Tuesday’s party primary would have low turnout, but this is ridiculous.

Throughout the Nashua area, Amherst had bragging rights with 18 percent of registered voters casting ballots – but that’s pretty feeble bragging, since it means more than 4 out of every 5 voters stayed home.

State turnout is still being tallied but appears likely to flirt with the all-time low, somewhere around 15 percent.

The most common excuse for this apathy is a lack of contested races, plus the fact that unaffiliated people, the largest voting block in the state, often sit out primaries.

Amherst, for example, may have done pretty well Tuesday because it is part of the only state representative seat in the region with contested races in both parties.

But the “lack of contests” excuse doesn’t really hold up. Milford, for example, has the other half of Amherst’s Statehouse district and its turnout was only 11 percent.

And Hudson, Litchfield and Pelham had a really big race: a whopping 21 people running for 13 Republican seats in their shared district. Yet their turnout ranged from Pelham’s incredibly low 8 percent to barely 10 percent for the other two towns.

Nashua is a special case because it had both the state ballot and a separate municipal ballot for the special Board of Education race. Turnout for the state election was 15 percent – 7,033 votes from 46,604 voters. But 600 fewer people took municipal ballots, so turnout for that race was only 13 percent.