News & Events Mid - July 2012
Make a difference -- support local farms! Join Berkshire Grown online
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Celebrate Share the Bounty! THIS SATURDAY JULY 21stMeet farmers & learn about "Climate Change and Local Agriculture" 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! Thank you to the Food Bank of Western MA for helping Share the Bounty expand into Pittsfield, see details below. Watercolors by Stephanie Anderson
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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.
Every dollar you donate to Share the Bounty works two ways.
- It helps purchase fresh food from local farms
- 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!
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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.
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Summer Open House and Ice Cream Social at Sheep Hill
Friday July 27th from 2 - 4 pm
Williamstown Rural Land Foundation
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
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Pick Your Own Berries
PLEASE CALL AHEAD FOR AVAILABILITY!
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 Farm: PYO 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
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Farmers Markets are open!
Hurray!!!!!!!!!! Support your local farmer
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
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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
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What We're Reading
Has 'Organic' Been Oversized?
By STEPHANIE STROM
"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
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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
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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.
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Quick Bites
Saturday August 18, Corn and Tomato Extravaganza
Locavore Way Farm-Fresh Cooking Classes with Amy Cotler
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.
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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!
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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Stay 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 |
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