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News & Events August 2010
 
Berkshire Grown envisions a community where healthy farms define the open landscape, where a wide diversity of fresh, seasonal food and flowers continue to be readily available to everyone, and where we celebrate our agricultural bounty by buying from our neighboring family farms and savoring their distinctive Berkshire harvest.

Jasper Hill Farm VT











Reserve early, this event sells out!








Tickets $65

Berkshire Grown members $55

Farmers (only) $30.

 



413-528-0041







Meet A Few of Our New Members

Meet a few of our new professional members--the farmers and food producers (e.g. bakers, soup makers) who create local foods, and the restaurants, inns, caterers and local institutions that buy local foods and help create the market for them. 

Professional Members are listed on Map-o-licious They are the heart of Berkshire Grown. We hope you will visit them and their Web sites!

Berkshire Preserves RuralIntell picBerkshire Preserves is the brainchild of Barbara Fields of South Egremont, Mass. Barbara blogs about her business  She makes delectable jams and preserves, with such varieties as Peach Preserves with Cardamom and Intense Apricot Jam (full product list at the blog Web site). Information: 413-528-2824.
 


Shady Acres Farm is run by Dan and Jamie Dunton in Canaan, NY. The Duntons grow vegetables - including sweet corn - and strawberries and also raise cows, chickens and goats. At their self-service farm stand (13217 State Route 22) you can find beef products, chicken, free-range eggs, goat cheese, yogurt, breads, fruit pies, cookies and cinnamon buns! Information: 518-929-0763.

Kale Square roots farmSquare Roots Farmis owned and operated by Michael Gallagher in Clarksburg, Mass. You can read about Square Roots at Michael's Web site and blog . Square Roots - which is a CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture) -- also serves an important role as the host farm for Hoosac Harvest, one of the partners in Berkshire Grown's Share The Bounty project, which raises money to buy CSA farm shares for our hungry neighbors. Please visit the group's Web site to learn more
Information on Square Roots: 413-446-1446.

 What We're Reading at Berkshire Grown
 
Meet Katharine Millonzi,  Manager, Sustainable Food and Agriculture Initiative, Williams College on the blog gastrognomes

Katharine Millonzi"gas�tro�gnome a jovial individual whose main purpose on earth is to connect people who derive pleasure from good food.

"the gastrognomes is a blog for food lovers who want to put their passions to work. We profile the most interesting, engaging, and unlikely food professionals that we find, and we publish them here to inspire you.

"...At Williams College, the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives promotes sustainability beyond the classroom, and Katharine leads the crusade from the food front. ... See how she puts her skills in social anthropology, international development, and ethno-botany to good use with her good food job. Read more here

WHAT WE'RE READING

Farming surges in state [of MA] with new crop of devotees
By D.C. Denison
Globe Staff / August 2, 2010  Boston Globe


  Laura Meister    "After decades of decline, farming is resurging across the state. New farmers are graduates fresh out of college, immigrants with farming backgrounds, or former professionals starting second careers. Many begin as part-timers while hanging on to day jobs to supplement their incomes.
     "Those looking to make a new living from tilling the soil begin at training programs run by the state, universities, or nonprofit organizations - and the skills they learn have as much to do with running a business as with harvesting a crop.
In Massachusetts, where farmland is scarce, most lease their acreage from the state, private owners, nonprofits, or farmers with more space than they can cultivate.
     "From 2002 to 2007, the number of farms in Massachusetts jumped by about 27 percent to 7,691, according to the US Department of Agriculture census. That's a reversal from the previous five years, when there was a 20 percent drop in the number of farms and, presumably, farmers, many of whom sold land to developers.

Read more here

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING:

Ronnybrook farmers ruralintel"The Menschy Milkmen of Ronnybrook Farm Dairy"
by Dan Shaw at RuralIntelligence.com

Meet the Osofsky's, Berkshire Grown members, and dairy farmers, video and story here on RuralIntelligence.com


Berkshire Food Journal features farmers, food artisans and local food advocates in the Berkshires.

P Platt March Maple 09Meet Peter Platt

Owner and Executive Chef
 The Old Inn on the Green

audio slide show
on the Berkshire Food Journal here

[Photo taken at Berkshire Grown March Maple Dinner.
]

Quick Bites


Visit The Sheffield Farmers Market:

Sheffield Farmers MarketFriday, August 13, 5:00 pm

Chef Sarah Dibben of Stagecoach Tavern, Sheffield

One of the most creative chefs in the Berkshires with an abundance of farm-sourced food on her menu throughout the year, Sarah makes vegetables sing and dance, pickled, fried, poached, or braised. An active member of Slow Food Western Mass, she is known for preparing sumptuous multi-course themed dinners that celebrate the seasons, the food producers, and the land. Sarah will be improvising a seasonal dish and taking your questions.
 
Jasper Hill Farm VTFriday, August 20, 5:00 pm
Amy Cotler, Caterer-Author-Locavore 

Amy Cotler has been a culinary professional and farm-to-table advocate for nearly 30 years. She was the founding director of Berkshire Grown and taught cooking, writing, and culinary history at the Culinary Institute of America and the Institute of Culinary Education. Her new book, The Locavore Way, is a comprehensive guide to seeking out and savoring local food wherever you live.  Amy will be sharing one of her favorite recipes and signing copies of her book, The Locavore Way (Storey Publishing, $12.95). 

The Sheffield Farmers Market on the web here.



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August 22 from 1 - 5 pm   A "COMMUNITY SPIRIT" afternoon of potluck picnic, community conversations about "what you love about your community and how you would make it even better", old fashioned games, a farmer's market and some homemade pie and  home grown tomato contests!!! At the VFW grounds down on route 7 south just north of Sheffield. Come at noon to set up. Please rsvp to [email protected].
Questions? Call Shelley at 413-528-1919x14


Preserving the Bounty

Preserve the BountyComing in September:
learn to can, pickle
and/or make jam.

In celebration of the
fall harvest season
Berkshire restaurants
and food purveyors will be
offering a variety of
fun and educational
canning workshops.

Each is unique!


Visit the Berkshire Grown Website for more information, and the phone numbers for participating restaurants and caterers so that you can register.  

Visit Berkshire Grown to learn more


BG logoStay In touch!

Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter will come out twice a month, around the 1st & 15th, during the growing season.  Please send information to [email protected], thanks!

Barbara Zheutlin, Director;
Sheryl Lechner, Outreach Coordinator
413-528-0041