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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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"The Artist as Citizen: An improvised address on performance, purpose and the vulnerability of the tomato" with Jessica Cerullo
Thursday, April 5, 7:30 p.m. at Paresky Performance Space
 Actress Jessica Cerullo will speak on her inspirations for original material and reflect on her one-woman show, Miracle Tomato. She writes, "I am interested in theater as an art form that is vulnerable, non-repeatable and dependent on an audience. A few years ago, I began to see the tomato as something more than food. I followed this fruit/vegetable until little by little, it revealed to me its history, its nature and, surprisingly, its theatricality."
This talk is sponsored by the Williams College Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program.
For more information, contact Brent Wasser,
Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program Manager, at brent.wasser@williams.edu or 413.597-4422.
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Greenhorns: film screening + book signing
Thursday April 12, 7:30 pm Paresky Performance Space
39 Chapin Hall Dr, Williamstown, MA
Director and book editor Severine von Tscharner Fleming will present her documentary film The Greenhorns and read from her new book from Storey Publishing, which features 50 essays from new American farmers.
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JAZZ Brunch Sunday April 22 at 1 pm - Railroad Street Youth Project
At The Red Lion Inn - Tickets $50 per person and $25 for children under 12
Tickets can be purchased by calling Railroad Street Youth Project at (413) 528-2475
Red Lion Inn Brunch Menu for Sunday, April 22nd:
Potato, Leek and Sweet Pea Soup Lemon zest and thyme Chilled Asparagus Salad Blue Crab Cake Lemon Vinaigrette Poached Local Farm Egg Zehr Farm Mushroon Hash Wilted Organic Spinach Roasted Tomato Hollandaise Vanilla & Cinnamon Pain Perdu Warm Maple Butter
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Wild Oats Market Hosts Earth Day Celebration April 28th, 12-4 pm
 Local food suppliers will offer samples of their delicious products, and some friendly goats will keep children happy and busy. Weather permitting the co-op's first BBQ of the season will take place, featuring local meats on the grill.
Wild Oats Market, 320 Main Street in Williamstown 413-458-8060
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Farm in the Garden for Children at Berkshire Botanical Garden with The Farm Education Collaborative.
 A new, full-day summer camp for children ages 5 to 10 held on the beautiful grounds of Berkshire Botanical Garden in partnership with The Farm Education Collaborative.
- Children's Food Production Garden
- Hands-on animal care
- Growing, preparing, cooking, and eating the food that we grow
- Weekly child run farm stand for families
- Sharing and celebrating together at the Friday Farm Feast
Click for more information or call the Garden at 413-298-3926.
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Thank you!  Thanks to all who came to the March Maple Dinner to support Berkshire Grown and Share the Bounty, thanks to the participating chefs, Gould Farm, HR Zeppelin, Old Inn on the Green, Storey Publishing and Sweet Brook Farm for the drawing prizes.
We had a sold-out event, celebrating the first harvest of the season--maple syrup--with a maple-inspired seven-course meal. Special thanks to our host The Red Lion Inn and its Executive Chef Brian Alberg. Photo: Jonathan Hankin .
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What We Are Reading
Still a Fast-Food Nation: Eric Schlosser Reflects 10 Years Later
Ten years after his seminal book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser reflects on how little has changed in the production, safety, and consumption in America-but why he's still hopeful.
 "Despite all the needless harm that continues to be done, much has changed for the better since 2001, when appeared in bookstores. Issues that were rarely discussed in the mainstream media-food safety, animal welfare, the obesity epidemic, the ethics of marketing junk food to children, the need for a new and sustainable agricultural system-have become inescapable. "A food movement has arisen across the country, promoted by authors, activists, and filmmakers. Marion Nestle's Food Politics (2002), Frances and Anna Lappé's Hope's Edge (2003), Matthew Scully's Dominion(2003), Carlo Petrini's Slow Food (2004), Deborah Koons Garcia's The Future of Food (2004), Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me (2004), Franny Armstrong's McLibel (2005), Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), Aaron Woolf's King Corn (2008), Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved (2008), Robby Kenner's Food, Inc. (2008), Barry Estabrook's Tomatoland (2011), the reporting of Tom Philpott, the essays of Corby Kummer and Mark Bittman, the many books of Wendell Berry and Alice Waters, Jamie Oliver's televised Food Revolution-all of these works have combined to create a new food culture in the United States. "That culture rejects highly processed foods, genetically modified foods, and the whole industrial approach to food production. It champions farmers' markets, school gardens, healthy school lunches, and local and organic production. And it has caused a sea change in American attitudes toward food. A decade ago, the idea of an organic garden at the White House would have seemed inconceivable...
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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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What We're Reading
2012 Winter Green-Up Grass-fed Conference is Graze-a-licious
By Troy Bishopp
 Latham, NY- Farmers from nine states were treated to a menu of gourmet grazing topics with entrees that included teaching cows to eat weeds, no-risk ranching, microbe farming, building a brand for your farm and profitably raising sheep garnished with a visual bonanza of the Wye Angus herd.
Self-proclaimed animal behaviorist and champion trainer of weed (forage) eating cows, Kathy Voth, got the audience tapping their toes and mouths cringing with a funny ditty introducing everyone to the idea of cows eating thistles, knapweed and making peace with weeds. The training focuses on 4 strategies: Know your plants, choose the right animals to train (preferably younger ones), reduce the fear of new foods and practice in the pasture.
"I got inspired to teach farmers, ranchers and their animals after the death of several firefighters in a blaze that swept through invasive un-managed understory. I just felt I had to do something so I developed a natural weed management training program. And low and behold, weeds are highly nutritious and provide diversity in the diet, said the Department of the Interior's National Conservation Service Award winner. My goal is to help farmers and ranchers become more profitable by helping them use their livestock's natural behavior as an inexpensive alternative for managing weeds and other vegetation." To learn more about the training regime go to www.livestockforlandscapes.com
Read more here in Lancaster Farming
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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.
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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
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 Stay In touch!
Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter will come out once a month. Please send information to barbara@berkshiregrown.org, thanks!
Join Berkshire Grown here .
Barbara Zheutlin, Director
Sheryl Lechner, Outreach Coordinator
413-528-0041 |
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