spring onion with logo
News & Events Mid - July 2012

Make a difference -- support local farms!   

Join Berkshire Grown online


Celebrate Share the Bounty!
THIS SATURDAY JULY 21st


Meet farmers  & learn about 
 
 "Climate Change and Local Agriculture"   
Frank Lowenstein, Climate Adaptation Strategy Leader for The Nature Conservancy     

Share the Bounty logo
 SATURDAY JULY 21st, 2 PM  
Stonover Farm  169 Undermountain Road, Lenox, MA
suggested donation $10  
 
 
Berkshire Grown is celebrating our project Share the Bounty's 10th year. In 2002, Jonathan Hankin had a brainstorm: let's raise money to buy shares in local CSA farms and give the fresh vegetables to local food pantries. Since 2002 Share the Bounty, a project of Berkshire Grown, has bought over $104,000 worth of fresh vegetables from CSA farms and provided the food to food pantries, kitchens and WIC participants.

Join us and taste local treats: Thanks to SoCo for ice cream and Windy Hill Farm for blueberries.  


Support Share the Bounty, a project of Berkshire Grown,  here!  tomatoes by Stephanie Anderson

Thank you to the Food Bank of Western MA for helping Share the Bounty expand into Pittsfield, see details below.


Watercolors by Stephanie Anderson
 
 
Share the Bounty 2012 

If you missed the story on WAMC radio today, click here.

 

See story in iBerkshires 

 

Helping farmers + helping hungry families = the goal of Share the Bounty.

beet by Stephanie AndersonEvery dollar you donate to Share the Bounty works two ways.

  1. It helps purchase fresh food from local farms
  2. The fresh food goes to a local food pantry or kitchen which distributes the food to some of our hungry neighbors.

Watch the story of  Share the Bounty a project of Berkshire Grown, on Berkshire Food Journal!

 

2012 Share the Bounty Farm-to-Pantry partnerships:

 

Caretaker Farm and the Berkshire Food Project in North Adams

Community Cooperative Farm and participants in WIC in Southern Berkshires

Cricket Creek Farm* and the Berkshire Food Project

Farm Girl Farm and participants in WIC

Farm at Miller's Crossing and the Valatie Food Pantry

Gould Farm* and participants in WIC

Hancock Shaker Village* and the Christian Center*, Pittsfield

Holiday Brook Farm: and the First United Methodist Church* Pittsfield

Indian Line Farm and the People's Pantry in Great Barrington

Ridgway Farm and OWL's Kitchen in Salisbury, CT

Square Roots Farm and Hoosac Harvest

Three Maples Market Garden* and participants in WIC

Wolfe Spring Farm and the Sheffield Food Pantry

Woven Roots Farm* and participants in WIC

*New participant 2012

 

Support Share the Bounty, a project of Berkshire Grown, now!     

 

Fixing the future pbs film poster  July 18th at 7 pm,
The Triplex Cinema,
Great Barrington, MA

"Fixing the Future: Building Local Jobs, Income & Sustainability"

Cosponsors: New Economics Institute, Berkshire Grown, The Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires, BerkShares, Project Native, Railroad Street Youth Project, Greenagers, and the Great Barrington Land Conservancy will join dozens of other organizations across the country in a one-night-only event to celebrate local, sustainable economies.

Tickets are $9 for adults and $6.50 for children and seniors and are available at the door or online at the Triplex's website. 

The documentary will be followed by an exclusive onscreen discussion panel.

In Fixing the Future, host David Brancaccio (of public radio's Marketplace and NOW on PBS) visits locations across America where people are attempting a revolution: the reinvention of the American economy. By featuring communities using sustainable and innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity, Fixing the Future inspires hope and renewal across a country overwhelmed by an economic collapse. Fixing the Future was produced by JumpStart Productions.
   

 

Summer Open House and Ice Cream Social at Sheep Hill

Friday July 27th from 2 - 4 pm

Williamstown Rural Land Foundation 

 

Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation sheep hill Who doesn't love ice cream! 

 

 

Join the WRLF on Friday July 27th from 2-4 PM  for the annual summer Open House and Ice Cream Social, featuring local ice cream with tasty toppings and seasonal fruits, nature activities for kids, and all of Sheep Hill to explore. Details 

 


Pick Your Own Berries 
PLEASE CALL AHEAD FOR AVAILABILITY! 

  

child with blueberry

Blueberry Hill Farm (in Mount Washington)PYO Blueberries in late July/early August. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Thursdays through Monday, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Call ahead 413-528-1479 

 

Photo by Jason Houston 

 

Blueberry Hill Farm: (in Washington): PYO Blueberries: Fridays - Mondays 9 - 4 pm. CALL AHEAD 413-623-5859

 

Lakeview Orchard: Open Tuesday - Sunday at 9:00 a.m - 5pm. Closed Mondays. PYO tart cherries and red and black raspberries! CALL AHEAD 413-448-6009

 

Thompson-Finch FarmPYO blueberries, Wed + Sat 8 am - 12 noon. Call for availability:  518-329-7578

 

Windy Hill Farm: PYO Blueberries, open daily 9-4 (weather permitting) Call for availability

413-298-3217  

 

 

 





Farmers Markets are open!  

         Hurray!!!!!!!!!!               Support your local farmer

 

Hawak Dance Farm at Sheffield F M 2010   

Tuesdays (except Third Thursdays): * Pittsfield Farmers' Market on North Street 

 

Wednesdays: * Berkshire Area Farmers' Market at Lanesborough

  

Thursdays:   

* West Stockbridge Farmers' Market
* Farmers' Market at CHP in Great Barrington 

* Third Thursday Pittsfield Farmers Market

 

Fridays:  

* Lenox Farmers' Market

* The Sheffield Farmers' Market  

 

Saturdays:

* Berkshire Area Farmers Market at Lanesborough  

* Berkshire Community Market opens June 16 at Berkshire South   

* Great Barrington Farmers' Market

* Otis Farmers Market 

* Pittsfield Farmers' Market, Park Square

* Norfolk Farmers' Market

* Williamstown Farmers' Market   

    

Thanks to Nichole Calero for the photo. 

 FIND FARMERS' MARKETS  on MAP-O-LICIOUS 




  

NOFA Summer Conference August 10 -12

UMASS campus, Amherst, MA

 

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference. 

 

Keynote Speakers: Chellie Pingree, Congresswoman from Maine

Jeffrey Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology

 

Over 200 Workshops on Organic Gardening, Farming, Food Politics, Permaculture, Homesteading, Landscaping, Alternative Energy, Livestock, Cooking, and more! Hundreds of Vendors and Exhibitors

Children's and Teen Conference, Country Fair

Featuring a pre-conference seminar on GMOs with Jeffrey Smith, and a pre-conference seminar on Natural Fruit with Lee Reich. 

 

 

Organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and much, much more.  Details here   Email: [email protected]    Call: 413-362-2143

 
 What We're Reading  

 

Has 'Organic' Been Oversized?

By  STEPHANIE STROM

Michael J. Potter by Stephen McGee NYTIMES "Michael J. Potter is one of the last little big men left in organic food.

 

"More than 40 years ago, Mr. Potter bought into a hippie cafe and "whole earth" grocery here that has since morphed into a major organic foods producer and wholesaler, Eden Foods.

 

"But one morning last May, he hopped on his motorcycle and took off across the Plains to challenge what organic food - or as he might have it, so-called organic food - has become since his tie-dye days in the Haight district of San Francisco...  

 

"...Over the last decade, since federal organic standards have come to the fore, giant agri-food corporations ...- have gobbled up most of the nation's organic food industry. Pure, locally produced ingredients from small family farms? Not so much anymore.

"All of which riles Mr. Potter, 62. ... Keep reading here 

 

Photo by Stephen McGee/The New York Times 

Photo of Michael J. Potter, Eden Foods  



What We're Reading

 

Drought In U.S. Now Worst Since 1956; Food Prices To Spike, Economy To Suffer

 By MARK MEMMOTT

"With about 55 percent of the continental U.S. suffering from "moderate to extreme drought" conditions the nation is withering under conditions that haven't been this bad since 1956, according to a new report from National Climatic Data Center.

 

"And this "worst-in-a-generation drought from Indiana to Arkansas to California is damaging crops and rural economies and threatening to drive food prices to record levels," Bloomberg News warns.  Read more here

  

  

  

The Big Heat

by Elizabeth Kolbert 

"Just a few months ago, the United States Department of Agriculture was projecting a record corn crop of 14.79 billion bushels. But then, in June and July, came broilingly high temperatures, combined with a persistent drought across much of the midsection of the country.

 

"'You couldn't choreograph worse weather conditions for pollination,' Fred Below, a crop biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told Bloomberg News recently. "It's like farming in Hell." Last week, the U.S.D.A. officially cut its yield forecast by twelve per cent, citing a "rapid decline in crop conditions since early June and the latest weather data." Also last week, because of the dryness, the U.S.D.A. declared more than a thousand counties in twenty-six states to be natural disaster areas. This was by far the largest such designation the agency has ever made...."   Read more in the New Yorker

  

 THANK YOU
FOOD BANK OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS!

We are grateful each day for the Food Bank, because the Food Bank provides the food our hungry neighbors depend upon.

And this year, the Food Bank has given Berkshire Grown's Share the Bounty project $1,525 to purchase two shares in Hancock Shaker Village's CSA farm to partner with the Christian Center in Pittsfield and one share in Holiday Brook Farm CSA in Dalton, partnering with theFirst United Methodist Church in Pittsfield. 

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is the umbrella organization for the emergency food network in our region, bringing nutritious food to hundreds of local front-line food assistance providers that serve people in need. They distribute nearly 7 million pounds of food each year - enough for about 5 million meals that help nourish families, children, elders, and adults who are experiencing severe hunger or chronic food insecurity.

 

Quick Bites  

 

 

 

Saturday August 18, Corn and Tomato Extravaganza 
Locavore Way Farm-Fresh Cooking Classes with Amy Cotler
    

Locavore Way Book Cover Taste and compare the best of the heirloom tomatoes.

 

Prepare and Savor:
Fresh tomato Brochetta

Celebration Corn Soup with Tomato Salsa
The Best Local Field Greens Salad

 

Saturday, Noon-3, $55 including a light lunch.
Location: Amy Cotler's home in West Stockbridge. 

 

Find out more about Amy Cotler's classes here 
[email protected]
or 413 232 7174.

 

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Berkshire Botanical Garden Grow Show

Details Here       August 4 - 5th

 

The Grow Show embodies a rich 43-year Berkshires tradition with fun and fanciful opportunities for gardeners of all ages and abilities to show what they grow in a juried exhibition. This is truly a community event when local gardeners come together under one roof to spotlight their own backyard harvest, swap horticultural tips and celebrate the height of the season.

  

 

 

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DISCOVER THE:  

Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Market

a 24 hour Farmers' Market! 


  

 

Broccoli Chris Blair

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. 



 
Thanks for the photo to Christopher Blair 

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.   

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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BG logoStay In touch!

Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter will come out twice a month, around the 1st & 15th, during the growing season.  Please send information to [email protected], thanks!  Join Berkshire Grown here.


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