Workshop dates, fees, session leaders and topics vary throughout the region and will include a selection of foods to take home and enjoy.  Workshops begin THIS WEEK, Dates, Places, contact info here!

Berkshire Grown member-hosted workshops will present hands-on demonstrations on canning and preserving using techniques including freezing, canning, pickling and drying, as well as making salsas, sauces and ketchup.   Huge variety of workshops, times, teachers, more here!  

Sponsor Storey Publishing Sherri Brooks Vinton, nationally recognized author of Put 'Em Up, will host two workshops in late August as part of the event series.

Meet Berkshire Grown's Farmers  

Interns report from the farms:

 Nichole Calero:  Moon on the Pond Farm

"Moon in the Pond Farm raises cattle, pits, goats, chickens, geese, turkeys, and ducks. A visit to the farm brings one up close and personal with the livestock, many of whom roam freely throughout the property; you can see the calves kicking up their heels as they chase each other, follow piglets as they roam in a pack, or watch the tom turkeys fan out their feathers for the hens."

  Read more here

 Gina Iannitelli:  East Mountain Farm  

"Kim Wells adores his livestock. For a farmer who spends much of his time raising pigs, cattle, and chickens for slaughter, he is remarkably in tune with the animals themselves. In mid-July he gave a pair of visitors to his domain, East Mountain Farm, a thorough tour of not only the chickens and cattle, which were on the central portion of the farm, but also of the pig breeds up in the woods. The pigs saw that they had human visitors and sprinted down the hill..."read more

Anthony Raduazo:  

Hawk Dance Farm 

"'Listen,' Damon Clift says as he holds a hand to the back of his ear, 'You can't hear a thing out here.' He pauses for a moment, basking in the silence. 'That's why we decided to leave the city.' Less than five years ago, Damon Clift and Diane Creed were living in Queens, New York, before they gave it all up - the sirens, the horns, the roar of traffic - to begin an entirely new life. Hawk Dance Farm is, in almost every aspect, the polar opposite of New York City . . . "  read more here

Farm Tours + "Grow Your Mind, Grow Your Food" Days  

Berkshire Co-op Market Farm Tours:

  August 6:  Sol Flower Farm  in Ancramdale  

August 20: Project Native Gardens in Housatonic   

September 17: Community Cooperative Farm in Sheffield  

September 23: Blue Hill Farm in Great Barrington  

 The Grow Your Mind, Grow Your Food program will provide volunteer agricultural work experience for co-op owners and customers. The program kicks off at Woven Roots Farm in Lee on August 15th. Woven Roots has recently become a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm and is one of the few farms in our area that has developed four-season growing practices. Farmers Jen and Pete Salinetti will guide the group.  

August 22nd the group will visit Laura Meister's Farm Girl Farm in Egremont where chef Brain Alberg from the Red Lion Inn will be giving a presentation with youth workers from the Railroad Street Youth Project, a nonprofit that works with southern Berkshire youth.  

August 24th at Community Cooperative Farm in Sheffield, a cooperatively owned CSA that is in its second full year of operation.  

Sign up for the co-op farm programs at 42 Bridge Street in Great Barrington.  For more info contact Outreach and Education Coordinator Jenny Schwartz at education(at)berkshire(dot)coop or 413.528.9697.

NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION  

NOFA SUMMER CONFERENCE   

AUGUST 12-14, 2011   

UMASS AMHERST   

REGISTER NOW!  

Keynote Speakers: Eric Toensmeier, Perennial Edibles Expert, and Dr. Ignacio Chapela of UC Berkeley, GMO Activist.

Over 200 Workshops on Organic Gardening, Farming, Food Politics, Permaculture, Homesteading, Landscaping, Draft-Animal Power, Alternative Energy, Livestock, Cooking, and more! Hundreds of Vendors and Exhibitors. Live Entertainment. Children's and Teen Conference. Country Fair and Farmer's Market. Silent Auction.  This year NOFA is proud to partner with the Draft-Animal Power Network. Spend the weekend or come for the day.  Activities for all ages.

To register: www.nofasummerconference.org 

Email: info@nofasummerconference.org 

Call: 978-355-2853

Farmers Markets are open!  

                                               Support your local farmer!

 VISIT A FARMERS' MARKET THIS WEEK! 

MORE FARMERS' MARKETS  click on MAP-O-LICIOUS 

What We're Reading

In March, Sedgwick, Maine declared "food sovereignty."  

 "The town of Sedgwick, Maine, currently leads the pack as far as food sovereignty is concerned. Local residents recently voted [March 2011]unanimously at a town hall meeting to pass an ordinance that reinforces its citizens' God-given rights to "produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing," which includes even state- and federally-restricted foods like raw milk.

Learn more in Natural News  

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Same subject also in Grist:  Sustainable Farming:  "Maine towns reject one-size-fits-all regulation, declare 'food sovereignty'"

by David Gumpert, writing online for Grist.

 Small towns are trying to make it easier to farm, read more here   

Photo: Chewonki Semester School from GRIST 

Quick Bites

DISCOVER THE:  

Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Market

a 24 hour Farmers' Market! 

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 Hawthorne Valley Farm   

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

MASSACHUSETTS GROWN...and FRESHER!  

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