new with mission
News & Events December 2011
Berkshire Grown  online 

Make a difference -- support local farms,
join Berkshire Grown here 


 

 

 ALICE WATERS & ROBERT REICH

"What is an edible education?"  

on tape Wednesday - December 7  

at 7 pm  Join us! 

The Lecture Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock 

 

 

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, and currently a professor of public policy at UC Berkshire said he had heard that Alice Waters might be the only 1960s radical who actually succeeded.

 

Alice Waters Robert ReichAlice Waters describes how she began her "delicious revolution" and her vision for the future. Reich at times plays devil's advocate, and gets Waters to tell her story.

 
Alice Waters, chef, author, and the proprietor of Chez Panisse, is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. She is a passionate advocate for a food economy that is "good, clean, and fair."  

 

Over the course of forty years, Chez Panisse has helped create a community of local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh ingredients. In 1996, Waters' commitment to education led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard at Berkeley's Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School: a one-acre garden, and adjacent kitchen-classroom at a public middle school.  

 

Alice established the Chez Panisse Foundation in 1996 to support the Edible Schoolyard and encourage similar programs that use food traditions to teach, nurture, and empower youth. Waters is Vice President of Slow Food International and the author of nine books, including The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.

 

 Edible Education series here  

 A taped lecture at the Lecture Center at Simon's Rock College.  

 

Thanks to our generous sponsor:  Iredale Mineral Cosmetics!  

 

JOIN US SAT. Dec. 17!
Great Barrington  and Williamstown  10 am to 2 pm 
Holiday Farmers Markets 2011
 

 


CHECK OUT A VIDEO OF THE NOVEMBER MARKET IN WILLIAMSTOWN HERE


Saturday at the Great Barrington farmers' market  

 cheesesThe Great Barrington December market will present 35 vendors including Asia Luna, Bean Yarn, Berkshire Co-op Market, Berkshire Grown, Berkshire Mountain Bakery, Berkshire Orchids, Berkshire Wildflower Honey, BlueQ, BOLA Granola, Bug Hill Farm, Castle Street CafeCommunity Cooperative Farms, Consider Bardwell Farm, Cricket Creek FarmFarm Country Soup, Foggy River Farm, Indian Line Farm, Klara's Gourmet Cookies, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Leahey FarmLorna's Naturals, Mayflower Farm, Maynard Farms, Metroland, Moho Designs, Mystical Rose Herbals, North Plain Farm, North Plain Farm Weaving, Ooma Tesoro'sPamela Read Hardcastle Garden & Floral Design, Project Sprout, Shaker Mountain Canning Co., The Meat MarketThe Old Inn & MooreYour Spice of Life and Zehr & Sons Mushroom Farm.

  

In addition to farm and artisan food products, the Great Barrington market will feature items including wool, pottery, candles, soap, lotions, herbals, flowers and jewelry with new vendors Asia Luna, Bean Yarn, Berkshire Orchids, Lorna's Naturals, Moho Designs, North Plain Farm Weaving and Pamela Read Hardcastle Garden & Floral Design plus a Metroland table and wares from market sponsor Kripalu's gift shop.   

 

 Delicious details here 

Saturday at the Williamstown market will host close Holiday market Williamstown 09to 40 vendors in December including 3-Corner Field Farm, Babycakes, Bar None Ranch, BART Charter Public School, Berkshire Grown, Berle Farm, Black Queen Angus Farm, BlueQ, Bug Hill Farm, Cricket Creek Farm, Dancing Bare, East Mountain Farm, Erin Kaukas Designs, Farm Country Soup, Gammelgarden Creamery, Holiday Brook FarmHosta Hill, Ioka Valley Farm, Jaeschke's Orchard, Klara's Gourmet Cookies, Longview Farm, Memphremagog Studio, Mezze Catering + Events, Mighty Food Farm, Moho DesignsNaga Bakehouse, Norman Jolin, Olive Designs, Ooma Tesoro's, Peace Valley Farm, Peterman's Boards & Bowls, The Red Lion InnShaker Mountain Canning Co., Sidehill Farm, Sweet Brook Farm, The Berry Patch, Tortured Orchard, West River Creamery, Wild Oats Market and Williams College Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program and The Zilkha Center and Zehr & Sons Mushroom Farm. 

 

The Williamstown market will highlight new products/vendors at the December 17 market including handmade herbal soaps, glass beaded jewelry, handmade bags, silk-screened organic clothing, woodcraft and artisan breads from vendors including Dancing Bare, Memphremagog Studios, Erin Kaukus Design, Moho Designs, Naga Bakehouse, Norm Jolin and Peterman's Boards & Bowls. Plus local burgers from the prize steer at this year's Big E will be grilled outside for lunch by The Red Lion Inn, one of the market's major sponsors.  

 




Support Berkshire Grown farmers!

  

Buy Locally Grown + Cut-Your-Own Trees

  

Frederick Christmas Tree Farm

Mike Frederick

360 Washington Road (Route 8)

Hinsdale, MA 

413-655-8551 or [email protected]

Choose-your-own trees

  

Justamere tree

Justamere Tree Farm

 

J.P. and Marian Welch

248 Patterson Rd.

Worthington, MA 

413-238-5902

  

Choose-and-cut trees or pre-cut trees available in a range of prices, open 12-8pm weekdays and 9 to 8 pm weekends. Also fresh wreaths and swags made on the farm. 

 

Photo from Justamere Tree Farm

  

 

 

 

 

Ioka Valley Farm

The Leab Family

3475 Route 43

Hancock, MA

413-738-5915

  

Cut-your-own of pre-cut trees. Five varieties of Christmas trees and a hayride in "Santa's Cap" to the Christmas Tree Plantation. Open weekends from Thanksgiving to Dec. 19, 2010,

9:30 am-4:30 pm. Caf� open for breakfast.

  

Seekonk Tree Farm

Peter and Carol Sweet

32 Seekonk Cross Rd.

Great Barrington, MA

413-528-0050

Cut-your-own or pre-cut trees in six varieties. Open through Dec. 24th, Monday-Friday 12:30-5 pm and 9am-5pm on weekends, or by appointment.

 

MEET BERKSHIRE GROWN MEMBERS

  

Justamere Tree Farm

by Nichole Calero 

          What does tree farming entail? For the Welches it involves more than 50 Justamere cutting treeacres of land, maintenance of a healthy forest, and a drive to be as independent as possible. "We saw a window where we could possibly live off the land," says Marian. The work that the Welches do is varied, but each aspect uses trees sustainably; this means no chemical fertilizers, planting new trees each year, and keeping the forest intact to preserve the health of the land. So if you imagined tree farming to mean Christmas trees you'd be right; if you pictured tapping maples and sugaring you'd also be correct. These are two of the three types of production that make up the Welches' livelihood. The third aspect is handmade brooms, for which they wild-harvest sassafras for the handles. With such a varied yet sustainable lifestyle, it's easy to see that the Welches put a lot of thought into their farm. MORE HERE

 

Justamere Tree Farm on the web 


 

What We're Reading

 

 MAKING LOCAL FOOD REAL 

by Mark Bittman in the NYTIMES

 

 

Intervale CSA"You might think it would be difficult to find a cheerful and optimistic farmer the year a hurricane wiped out most of the crop, but I did so in Burlington, Vt., the day after Thanksgiving. I was visiting the Intervale Center, a nonprofit that manages a 350-plus-acre flood plain not far from downtown."

 READ here

 

In the Garden

Totally Green Apples



Holistic Orchard Book"MICHAEL PHILLIPS has spent more than 20 years growing apples up here in the north country, 30 miles south of Quebec, and debunking the commonly held belief that his favorite fruit can't survive without pesticides.

 

Not that he hasn't taken some hits.

 

"I lost 50 apple trees getting my degree in borers," said Mr. Phillips, 54, on a recent afternoon, standing by a Northern Spy tree, one of 240 apple trees on this hilly 58-acre farmstead called Heartsong Farm. He was speaking of the round-headed apple-tree borer, in particular, which can kill a tree if undetected.

Holistic Orchard Network here  

 

Read more here

 


WHAT WE ARE READING

Sheep Lawn Mowers, and Other Go-Getters  

 

By KEVIN ROOSE  in the New York Times here

 

Sheep mowers by Randy Harris for NYT"As an uncertain economy and a stagnant hiring climate continue to freeze people out of the traditional job market, a number of entrepreneurs like Mr. Miller, many of them in their 20s and 30s, are heading back to the land, starting small agricultural businesses. And in the process, they are discovering that modern homesteading offers more rewarding work, and possibly more security, than entering the white-collar fray."  Read here 

 Photo by Randy Harris for the New York Times

Quick Bites

 

DISCOVER THE:  

Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Market

a 24 hour Farmers' Market! 


  

 

Squash HVFarm by NicholeBerkshire 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 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!

 


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


State highlights tree sales at Ioka

By Phil Demers, North Adams Transcript

 


Ioka Gilian Jones N.Adams TranscriptHANCOCK -- "State and local officials were on hand at Ioka Valley Farm on Friday for the state's annual tree-cutting ceremony, an event aimed at highlighting the 200 Christmas tree farms in Massachusetts where sustainable agriculture is practiced.

Scott Soares, Commissioner of the State Department of Agriculture, was joined by state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, and just under 20 community members.

"We want to bring to the community's attention the importance of buying local, and identify where and how to do it," Soares said. Photo by Gillian Jones for the North Adams Transcript    Read here

 

 


More information here
Edible Education



 

 

 

Iredale logo as jpeg

FINAL LECTURE IN THE SERIES

 

 

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7th  

 

 

ALICE WATERS & ROBERT REICH

 

 

WHAT IS AN EDIBLE EDUCATION? 

  

  

Many thanks to our generous sponsor Iredale Mineral Cosmetics!  

  

 

    


BG logoStay In touch!

Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter comes out monthly.  Please send information to [email protected], thanks!  Join Berkshire Grown here.


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