News & Events February 2012 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.
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Berkshire Grown online
Make a difference -- support local farms! Join Berkshire Grown here! Photo of turnips from Indian Line Farm at the Berkshire Grown Holiday Farmers' Market 2011 by Peter Cherneff
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NOFA/MASS Winter 2012: Growing Greens for the Winter Market Workshop Series February and March, 2012
Series Overview: Systems for growing greens and storing roots during winter are great tools for maintaining year-round local food security, and enabling farmers to sell local and organic produce outside of the main growing season. Read more
here on NOFA/MASS website. The cost of all workshops is $30, with discounts for NOFA membership and early registration (14 days before the workshop). More Details Here
- Pre-registration is required unless arranged by phone with the organizer, Ben Grosscup, cell: 413-658-5374.
The fourth workshop will be in the Berkshires at Indian Line Farm, 57 Jug End Road, South Egremont, MA (Commercial Workshop) Saturday, February 25, 9am-12pm
- Instructor: Elizabeth Keen farms at Indian Line Farm and has been growing certified naturally grown vegetables for 15 years. Recently, she has grown winter greens, to increase the bottom line and better employ spaces used to grow heat-loving summer crops. - Instructor: Pete Salinetti farms at Woven Roots Farm in Lee, MA, doing wholesale, retail, & CSA.
Farm's systems include two 30'x96' greenhouses. We'll discuss movable greenhouses, seeding and harvesting methods, packing greens for sale, record keeping & economics. Marketing discussion will cover sales to farmers markets, stores, restaurants.
Contact: Ben Grosscup, 413-658-5374. By email, ben.grosscup(at)nofamass(dot)org; put "Winter Growing" in subject.
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Sweet Brook Farm Hosts 2nd Yarn Tasting Thursday February 23rd 2 - 4 pm. Please RSVP to 413-884-4246
Huh?? This is your chance to get your hands (not your mouth) on all the amazing alpaca yarn available at Sweet Brook Farm -- Plymouth, Alpaca Yarn Co, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, and more. Bring a few sizes of needles or hooks and spend the evening trying out yarn, enjoying some wine and cheese, and perhaps planning your next project with a newly discovered alpaca yarn favorite. Registration is free, but please let them know you're coming by calling 413-884-4246. Sweet Brook Farm, 580 Oblong Road, Williamstown, MA
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"Vermont Foodways: Listening to History for a Sustainable Future" with Gregory Sharrow
Wednesday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. at Williams College
Griffin Hall, Room 5
Folklorist Gregory Sharrow brings years of research on rural life in Vermont to bear on the future of food production in his state and beyond. Using audio field recordings, Sharrow will ask whether the agricultural practices and foodways of past generations present solutions for a sustainable food future. For more information, contact Brent Wasser, Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program Manager, at [email protected] or x4422.
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BERKSHIRE CHEFS BRING
"PRESERVING THE BERKSHIRE HARVEST"
TO NYC's JAMES BEARD HOUSE
Dinner Highlights Culinary Culture of the Berkshires
On Friday, March 2, the James Beard Foundation will present "Preserving the Berkshire Harvest," an evening showcasing the culinary talents and farm-to-table efforts of several of the innovative chefs of the Berkshires. The foods prepared will have been preserved using time-honored preserving and curing methods with foods raised and harvested in the Berkshire region.
The Berkshire region boasts a culinary movement characterized by a group of sophisticated chefs whose culinary styles are informed by the ever-changing bounty of New England's seasons and the spirit of collaboration that pervades this group of farmers, producers and chefs.
There is a distinctive body of work being produced by Berkshire chefs through the crafts of charcuterie and butchery in addition to the preservation of fruits and vegetables.
Berkshire Grown chefs participating include: Brian Alberg of The Red Lion Inn; Joji Sumi and Nicholas Moulton of Mezze Bistro + Bar/Mezze Restaurant Group ; Lester Blumenthal of Route 7 Grill; Daniel Hardy of Allium Restaurant + Bar/Mezze Restaurant Group; Jeremy Stanton of The Meat Market; and Dan Smith of John Andrews: A Farmhouse Restaurant.
For more information, contact 413-298-5545 View the full menu, chef bios and more, here
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WHAT WE'RE READING
Finally, Good News About School Lunches
By MARK BITTMAN in the New York Times
"Thirty-two million kids - 10 percent of the American population, and the future of the country - are about to start eating better. That's the bottom line of the new Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) guidelines for government-subsidized school meals, announced last week [in January]. The new rules are the first changes to the program in 15 years, and come as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
"The guidelines are imperfect (what isn't?) but worth celebrating: this is the single most significant improvement the Obama administration has made in the realm of food. The rules will double the amount of fruits and vegetables served in schools, set limits on damaging trans fats and salt, increase the amount of whole grains served, make low-fat milk the norm and establish suitable ranges for daily caloric intake.
Read Marion Nestle on the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act here
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What We're Reading
Isn't it about time GM foods got labels? by Marion Nestle
Campaigns to require labeling of GM foods are heating up. * Washington state is considering legislation * California may have a ballot initiative * 14 states, among them Oregon, New York, Maryland and Vermont, considered bills last year * Alaska passed a law requiring GMO labeling of fish and shellfish in 2005 * 50 countries require disclosure of GM ingredients Read more on Marion Nestles' site: ...most corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the US are GM. |
What We're Reading & Watching
Family Farmers Take on Monsanto -- will they get justice?
From EcoWatch:
"It was standing room only as family farmers from around North America filled Federal Court Judge Naomi Buchwald's courtroom in Manhattan on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The topic was the landmark organic community lawsuit Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) et al v. Monsanto and the oral argument from Monsanto's pre-trial motion to dismiss, which it filed last July.
Plaintiffs from at least 21 States and provinces were in the courtroom including Oregon, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Saskatchewan, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine." More here on EcoWatch
Read New York Times "Modified Crops Tap a Wellspring of Protest"
Dan Ravicher Video re: OSGATA v Monsanto
Learn more about some of the details of the case by watching video of Dan Ravicher speaking at the National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, California. Dan is the Executive Director of the Public Patent Foundation and a lecturer in law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Monsanto's motion to dismiss the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) et al v. Monsanto was heard in federal district court on Tuesday January 31, 2012 in Manhattan. Judge Naomi Buchwald's decision will establish if organic farmers are to see their day in court.
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Join a local CSA FARM now!
Buy a share in a local farm so that you can provide a farmer with the money they need now, while they are buying seeds and supplies, and then share in their harvest throughout the growing season. Click here for a list of farms, then click on the category 'CSA' to find a local Community Supported Agriculture -- CSA -- farm. Each farm is unique, so call to find out the price of a share and when their season begins.
VISIT MAP-O-LICIOUS and click on the category 'CSA' to find a farm near you!
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Quick Bites
Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Marketplace
Berkshire Grown 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 benefits 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.
Photo of Cricket Creek Farm's Maggie's Round Cheese taken at the Holiday Farmers' Market 2011.
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
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Thanks for supporting the Holiday Farmers' Markets!
Vendors at the Holiday Farmers' Markets reported more than $100,000 in local sales at the four markets. You helped create a stronger local economy and extend the season for our local farmers. Thank you!
Thanks to Brent Wasser for this video from the November market in Williamstown. Many Thanks to our sponsors:
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Office space available in GB at The Nutrition Center:
Sunny rooms with hardwood floors in renovated 1850's Italian Ornate building.
140-210 sq ft rooms available on the first floor (wheelchair accessible)
and second floor. Rent $250-$650 monthly: includes heat, utilities, internet access and parking. Located near Fairview Hospital, 94 West Ave, Great Barrington, MA 01230 cell 413.329.0422 [email protected]
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Stay In touch! Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter will come out once a month. Please send information to [email protected], thanks! Join Berkshire Grown here . Barbara Zheutlin, Director Sheryl Lechner, Outreach Coordinator 413-528-0041 |
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