Berkshire Grown envisions a community where healthy farms define the open landscape,
where a diversity of fresh, seasonal food and flowers is available to everyone,
and where we celebrate our agricultural bounty by supporting our neighboring family farms.
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What we're thinking about. What's happening. What we are reading.
Berkshire Grown News & Events March 2010
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MARCH MAPLE DINNER -- Monday March 22, make your reservations now!
Celebrate the first harvest of the growing season at The Red Lion Inn with tantalizing hors d'oeuvres and an extraordinary 5 course dinner created by celebrated Berkshire Grown chefs:
Kate Baldwin, Kate Baldwin Catering
Chris Bonnivier, Gala Restaurant and Bar
John Dudek, Bascom Lodge
Daire Rooney, Brix
Dan Smith, John Andrews Restaurant
Peter Platt, Old Inn on the Green
Host Chef, Brian Alberg, Exec. Chef at The Red Lion Inn
Beverages: Berkshire Mountain Distillers and Barrington Brewery
6 pm Cocktails and Hors d'oeuvres ~ 7 pm Dinner Benefit for Berkshire Grown
$95 for Berkshire Grown Members, $120 for non-members
$65 for Berkshire Grown Farmers
Tickets to benefit for Berkshire Grown are by reservation only: 413-528-0041
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 A dozen documentary films about our food: who produces it, how it
reaches us, and how it affects our health, our environment, and our
local and global communities.
March 10 -14th, click for the full
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS & FILMS
Saturday 6:30 pm March 13 - Dinner to Honor Our Local Farmers at Williams College Faculty House
Dine on delicious locally produced food prepared by Berkshire Grown member chefs at Williams College.
Separate admission $35 a person: Please make reservations by March 5 at 413-597-3089 or farmfilmfeast@storey.com; request vegetarian or meat entrée.
Saturday 8:30 pm March 13- FREE: "The Future of Farming" a panel discussion with farmers and a screening with the director of Greenhorns a film in process.
Storey
Publishing in conjunction with Images Cinema, Williams College,
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Mezze Restaurant is proud to present
Farm Film Feast: Five Days of Film, Food, and Discussion in Williamstown,
MA from March 10 to 14.
This program is
supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, a
local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state
agency; and by Williams College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and
Storey Publishing.
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FARM FILM FEAST FILMS
King Corn and Big River Wednesday March 10 at 8 pm at Williams
March 11 12:30 at MCLA: Aaron Woolf, director of King Corn and Big River, speaks to Environmental Studies class, 218 Murdock Hall, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Free; public invited.
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March 11 6 pm "Community Night" at the Farm Film Feast
Reception, artist talk with photographer Jason Houston, plus films Food Matters: From the Ground Up, a screening with filmmaker Sharon Wyrick, and Coming Home: E.F. Schumacher and the Reinvention of the Local Economy. Free with suggested $5 donation to Target Hunger.
Friday March 12th 7 pm at Images Cinema
With Do you miss the cows?
and Sweet Soil
More about Fresh here
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FARM FILM FEAST
Saturday March 13
Click on the title for more information about the films.
10 am "Whats On Your Plate?"
11:30 am "Mad City Chickens"
1:30 pm "The Garden" in LA, CA
3:30 pm "A Farm for the Future" (UK) (pictured)
4:30 pm "DIRT!the movie"
Tickets for films:
Films are shown at Images Cinema in Williamstown unless otherwise indicated on the schedule. Single ticket: $5
All-movie festival pass: $35
Tickets will be available at the Images Cinema box office.
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FARM FILM FEAST FINALE:
CARHARTTS & COCKTAILS SUNDAY MARCH 14th AT MEZZE AT 4PM
Meet your farmers! Mezze Restaurant Group hosts a celebration of farmers and community members who enjoy local seasonal food.
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WHAT WE'RE READING
"Because anywhere there's dirt, a community can grow."
By CHRISTINE MUHLKE
Photo credit: David La Spina for The New York Times
The Crop Mob gathers mulch and finishes the greenhouse - just two of the day's tasks at Okfuskee Farm in Silk Hope, N.C.
"...The Crop Mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which
landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an
afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable
farms. Together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000
person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and
pulling rocks out of fields.
"The more tedious the work we have,
the better," Jones said, smiling. "Because part of Crop Mob is about
community and camaraderie, you find there's nothing like picking rocks
out of fields to bring people together."
Do we need a Crop Mob in the Berkshires???
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Do you want to support your local farmers?
Sign up for a CSA!
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Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.Now is the time to choose your CSA and here is a list of farms that offer shares: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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WELCOME NEW BERKSHIRE GROWN MEMBERS!
Barbara Fields of Berkshire Preserves
Taste Berkshire Preserves at Guido's in Great Barrington on Thursday March 25
Read her blog here
Shady Acres of Canaan, NY: Eggs, pork, beef, goat, berries
Zehr & Sons of Ghent, NY: Mushrooms
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 Come to Farm Chic this Sunday February 28th at allium in Great Barrington from 11 am to 3 pm
to say goodbye to Ashley Nelson on her last day as Berkshire Grown's Outreach Coordinator;
and welcome the new Coordinator: writer and editor Sheryl Lechner.
Rural Intelligence on FARM CHIC here
Pictured: Ashley is wearing some of the jewelry and a scarf that you will be able to purchase at Farm Chic.
photo by Peter Cherneff
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 Stay In touch!
Berkshire Grown e-newsletter will come out
twice a month, around the 1st & 15th, during the growing season and once a month during the winter. Please send
information to barbara@berkshiregrown.org, thanks!
Barbara Zheutlin,
Director;
Ashley Nelson, Outreach Coordinator
413-528-0041 |
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