News & Events January 2013
Berkshire Grown online
Make a difference -- support local farms,
join Berkshire Grown here
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 New Face at Berkshire Grown
Meet intern Rachel Moriarty:
Rachel Moriarty, a native of Great Barrington, is studying Sustainable Food and Farming at UMass Amherst and is especially interested in Food Justice and Security. She hopes to help figure out how to provide access to healthy food for everyone, no matter what their income, and will be working on Berkshire Grown's Share the Bounty project, as well as doing outreach to BG members. At school, Rachel is part of the Poultry Management Group and a founder of the Student Food Advocates, a group working to create the connection between administration, farmers and students in the Pioneer Valley. Rachel strongly believes that young folk will be the catalyst for change in the agricultural world, both rural and urban, and will use her influence as a student to work with Berkshire Grown to create a better community food system in the Berkshires. |
What we are reading
The Farm Bill Extension: good, bad & ugly
First, "the good:"
 " Ironically-and in a pleasant surprise-the farm bill's priciest program of all, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, barely got cut at all. SNAP, which costs around $80 billion per year and provides food aid for 43 million Americans, half of them children, was the very program that sank the farm bill process on the House floor last summer. Read more by Tom Philpott in Mother Jones Congress extends farm bill, still manages to screw sustainable farmers By Twilight Greenaway in Grist.org " Is something always better than nothing? In the case of the farm bill extension that was buried in [Jan. 1st] last minute fiscal cliff deal, maybe not.  "The Environmental Working Group (EWG) calls the deal - which will provide $5 billion in subsidies to industrial-scale corn, soy, and wheat farmers while short-changing local food, organics, and beginning farmers, and decimating on-farm conservation efforts - "deeply flawed." The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), meanwhile, has referred to it as "blatantly anti-reform," while the Union of Concerned Scientists calls it "a giant step backward" and "a blow to farmers who want to grow healthy foods and the consumers who want to buy them." The National Young Farmers Coalition was also "incredibly disappointed with the results."
"Even Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who led the Senate Agriculture Committee to pass its own farm bill last summer, but wasn't involved in Tuesday's final negotiations, has characterized the bill as a "partial extension that reforms nothing, provides no deficit reduction, and hurts many areas of our agriculture economy." More on GRIST
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WHAT WE ARE READING
"Satisfying the Need For Dirty Fingernails"
by Kathryn Shattuck for The New York Times
Calling would be farmers:
 "...with agriculture in my past and a ranch in my future, I was searching for a way to merge tradition with progress. My quest had led me to the Young Farmers Conference at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in this Westchester County hamlet, where for two days I immersed myself in the tenets of sustainability and the journey from the field to the plate. The center is one of several places in the region where New Yorkers can indulge their weekend or would-be farmer impulses, or just learn something about what they eat, even if they don't want to grow it themselves." Read more here
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What We Will Be Watching
BERKSHIRE CHEFS BRING "THE BERKSHIRE CURE-ALL"
TO NYC's JAMES BEARD HOUSE
 On Friday, March 1, a group of innovative Berkshire chefs will travel to the James Beard Foundation in New York City to present a farm-to-table dinner featuring foods harvested in the Berkshire region. Organized by Brian J. Alberg, Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Director at The Red Lion Inn, this year's event entitled "The Berkshire Cure-All" will be prepared with foods using time-honored curing and preserving methods. "The Berkshire Cure-All" reception and dinner will include Stephen Browning, chef at Bell & Anchor (Great Barrington); Terry Moore, chef-owner of The Old Mill (South Egremont); Jamie Paxton, chef at The Meat Market (Great Barrington); Daire Rooney, chef at Allium Restaurant + Bar (Great Barrington); Dan Smith, chef-owner of John Andrews: A Farmhouse Restaurant (South Egremont); and Zee Vassos, chef at Firefly (Lenox). Red Lion Inn Sommelier Dan Thomas will craft elixir-themed cocktail recipes and select cure-all wines to accompany the dinner's reception and six courses. Berkshire Grown chefs will create, read here
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Thank you for supporting Berkshire Grown's Holiday Farmers' Markets!
 We generated more than $133,000 for local farmers and food vendors -- strengthening the local economy!
Read more here on Cricket Creek Farm's blog.
THANK YOU FARMERS' MARKET SPONSORS!
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Adventure in Food Trading Aegean Breeze Restaurant Bell & Anchor  Berkshire Hills Regional School District Climbing Tree Farm Hillhome Country Products Kemble Inn Many Forks Farm Mead's Maple Syrup Mycolodge Bed & Breakfast Night Owl Bakery Pemble Farm Queensboro Wine & Spirits Raven & Boar Sacred Circle Herbals Second Hand Farm SoMa Catering Store at Five Corners Sudha Skin Care Three Maples Market Garden Wilcox Farm Windy Ridge Farm Please visit Map-o-licious, Berkshire Grown's online Directory of our professional members, for more information - and support our members! Watercolor by Stephanie Anderson. |
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Join a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture - Farm:  Become a member of a farm, provide funds now for a farmer, and begin picking up your share in June.
What a delicious way to support a local farmer!
See the list of CSA's on Berkshire Grown's Map-o-licious. Photo by Peter Cherneff at the Holiday Farmers' Market.
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Quick Bites
DISCOVER THE:
Berkshire Grown Online Farmers' Market
a 24 hour Farmers' Market!
 Berkshire 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 Peter Cherneff.
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 comes out monthly. 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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