Author

Stephanie White Ferland

Stephanie White Ferland

Stephanie White Ferland was born and raised in Cheshire County, and though as an adult she has also lived in Vermont and Maine, she still considers New Hampshire home. She is a public educator who has taught at every level from kindergarten to eighth grade, and has also served as an elementary principal. She likes to write about the natural world, the Granite State, and the memories she continues to make in both.

COMMENTARY

Frost, friendship, and a longing for poetic simplicity

By: - September 13, 2023

The Granite State claims the beloved poet Robert Frost as its own, and with one of his collections actually titled “New Hampshire,” it seems perfectly appropriate to do so. For those of us raised here, Frost became part of the fabric of our education, and many of us probably still carry visions of stone walls, […]

COMMENTARY

Summer is far from New England’s best season – but at least there are farmers markets

By: - September 6, 2023

If pressed to list the seasons in order of preference, summer would land at the bottom of my list. Fall and winter are nearly tied for first place, and spring isn’t far behind. Maybe if summer was a steady 76 degrees with a breeze, I might reconsider. But those sweltering days really get me down. […]

COMMENTARY

Adventures in aging – and innkeeping

By: - August 30, 2023

Aging has a solid way of directing our behavior. It gradually takes over our lives. It adjusts our bedtime, and clarifies what’s truly important in the grand scheme of life. It forgives the transgressions of our younger selves, and even sometimes those of others. It extends gratitude more often, and hopefully it embraces the unfamiliar […]

COMMENTARY

An open letter of thanks to the teachers who built me

By: - August 21, 2023

Earlier this summer, I packed up my school belongings that found a home in my office as a school principal. Before that, many of these prized possessions lived in various classrooms. As one would expect, among these treasures are crayon drawings, mugs, unintentional abstract sculptures, exquisite paintings on canvas, and more than one apple-themed knickknack. […]

COMMENTARY

The scents that bring us home

By: - August 9, 2023

Scent is powerful – and full of magic. The smell of wood shavings or bar and chain oil places me in my dad’s workshop, where he sharpened chainsaws and did a bit of carpentry. The fragrance of freshly mown hay conjures the maze of bales in the hayloft at a childhood friend’s farm. When I […]

COMMENTARY

Updating my subscriptions

By: - July 28, 2023

Not too long ago I was a donor in the NH Gives campaign, a 24-hour online fundraiser for nonprofits in the Granite State. To be honest, I thought to do it only because a reminder about the campaign popped up in a newsletter from Distant Hill Gardens and Nature Trail. Distant Hill, in Walpole, is […]

COMMENTARY

Holding on to my dad

By: - July 19, 2023

My dad always carried a handkerchief in his back left pocket. He was a southpaw, so that makes sense, I guess. He preferred the traditional red bandanna, but I remember plain white handkerchiefs, and blue bandannas, too. They were laundered, dried on the clothesline, and ironed into a perfect square by my mother, and he […]