News & Events late June / July 2011
Berkshire Grown online

Meet Berkshire Grown's Fascinating Interns:

Nichole Calero is a native of Great Barrington who is currently living in Northampton and attending Smith College as an Ada Comstock Scholar. She is an American Studies major with a minor in Landscape Studies, with a theme of food production. She began her advocacy for local food by becoming a member of a CSA farm, and continues by shopping at farmers markets. This past winter was her first winter of eating primarily from the local foodshed. She sought the internship at Berkshire Grown to strengthen her connection to the farmers in her home area. After graduation she hopes to continue to work in the not-for-profit field to strengthen the local food movement and promote food justice.

Gina Iannitelli is a student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY where she is a double major in Studio Art and Media and Society with a minor in English. Gina is a Williamstown, MA native and a 2008 graduate of Mount Greylock Regional High School. During the Spring 2011 semester she studied Fine Arts, Media, and Photography in Rome, Italy. Gina is super excited about her internship at Berkshire Grown because of her interest in NPOs, supporting local farms and businesses, and sustainable cooking. When she is not working for Berkshire Grown this summer Gina will most likely be playing tennis, taking pictures, playing with her nieces, and cooking!

Jacob Keszey grew up on a small farm in the rolling hills of Underhill, Vermont. He found his love for the outdoors in the Green Mountains where he grew up hiking, backpacking, and skiing. Jacob studied Environmental Studies and Education at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. He spent a semester abroad in East Africa, learning about biodiversity conservation issues and sustainable agriculture. His research project evaluating the sustainability of tea production brought him from the highlands of Kenya to the Darjeeling region of India. Since he graduated, Jacob has been living in Teton Valley, Idaho working as a farm and garden educator, a high school math teacher, and on a raw milk creamery. Jacob most enjoys growing food and climbing trees.

Anthony Raduazo grew up in Bolton, Massachusetts, a small town in central Massachusetts. He is a rising senior at Williams College where he is studying Political Economics and Environmental Studies. Anthony's interest in the local food movement began in the summer of 2010, when he received the Bostert Travel Fellowship to study subsistence economies in Native Alaskan villages. In the fall of 2010, he coauthored A Foodshed Analysis of Berkshire County with two other Williams students for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. As an intern with Berkshire Grown, Anthony hopes to expand upon his work done for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and to further his understanding of the local, state, and national politics involved in food production and consumption. Upon graduating from Williams, Anthony plans to pursue a career in environmental law or policy.

Pick-Your-Own-Strawberries

Call Ahead to confirm availability

The Berry Patch: Stephentown, NY (518)733-1234: Open 9am-3pm Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Ioka Valley Farm: Open Sat & Sun 9am - 3pm, Mon - Fri 9am - 12:30pm, Tue & Thurs afternoons 4 - 5:30pm. 413-738-5915

Lakeview Orchard: Opens July 1^st at 9:00 a.m. PYO tart cherries and summer raspberries coming soon! 413-448-6009

Noble's Tweenbrook Farm: open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day, weather dependent. 413-442-3722

Thompson-Finch Farm: open every day from 8-5, rain or shine, thru about the 4th of July 518-329-7578

Wild Oats Market Hosts Ice Cream Social to Benefit Hoosac Harvest CSA

on Saturday, June 25

What could be better than an ice cream sundae Wild Oats Co op Williamstown on a hot summer afternoon? What if the ice cream was hand-made locally and the extensive selection of extravagant toppings came almost entirely from local farmers and food producers? And what if the money your ice cream cost went to help ensure that everyone in the North Berkshire community had access to fresh, organic and local food, regardless of their income level?

Saturday, June 25, from 1:30-4:30 pm Wild Oats Market's second annual Ice Cream Social. All proceeds from this year's social will benefit Hoosac Harvest CSA, a North Adams-based organization that subsidizes shares in Square Roots Farm in Clarksburg, so local low-income households can have regular access to fresh and local produce and other foods produced on the farm.

Hoosac Harvest CSA is a partner in the Berkshire Grown Share the Bounty project.

What We're Reading

See the chart & photographs on the variety of foods in National Geographic....

We think of ourselves as living in an ever richer environment compared with 100 years ago. Novel inventions crowd our lives today; there are so many "new" things in our world that it can come as a surprise to learn that when it comes to vegetables, we've been losing not gaining varieties.

See the chart and accompanying articles on how important saving seeds can be. Seed saving here with links to seed saving groups.

For fabulous photos of heirloom chickens, click here

Click for seed saving articles and more wonderful photographs -it's National Geographic!

Take a look at the chart in National Geographic.

What We're Reading

Kitchen Gardeners:

A Global Community Cultivating Change

Click here for a fun graphic

First Lady celebrates WH garden Roger Doiron on Kitchen Gardener asks:

Which garden model should we be supporting with our tax dollars:

The White House garden of vegetables that represents what small farmers are growing, OR corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans and the other crops currently subsidized?

photo from Obama Foodorama

Share the Bounty = Berkshire Grown's win - win project:

Helps local farms + food pantries.

See and hear more about Share the Bounty here & here!

Quick Bites

DISCOVER THE:

Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Market

a 24 hour Farmers' Market!

lettuce community coop farm by NC Berkshire Grown has created a Facebook page

called Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Marketplace

- a central place for Berkshire Grown members to congregate and talk supply and demand.

Self-propelled by Berkshire Grown members, the page will benefit those of you who choose to participate in it. Farmers and food producers can post what they have available, and chefs and community members can comment or contact suppliers directly with requests for product or more information.

Thanks for the photo to Nicole Calero, taken at Community Cooperative Farm.

Berkshire Grown offers this as a networking service and bears no responsibility for transactions.

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MASSACHUSETTS GROWN...and FRESHER!

If you are traveling through Massachusetts check out this map, support our local farmers throughout the state!

CHECK OUT MAP-O-LICIOUS FOR FRESH
LOCAL EGGS, CHEESE, MEAT & MORE

Stay In touch!

Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter comes out monthly. Please send information to barbara@berkshiregrown.org, thanks! Join Berkshire Grown here.

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