Reservations: 413-528-0041

Reservations: 413-528-0041
Tickets $80
Berkshire Grown Members $70
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Berkshire Grown Newsletter --August 2013--
Support your local farmers,
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 Support your local farmers:
Visit a farmers' market!!!
Downtown Pittsfield
Farmers' Market - NEW in 2013!
May 11 - October 26 Saturdays 9am - 1pm
First Street between Fenn St and Eagle St WEBSITE
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August in the Berkshires!
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Berkshire Food Guild presents
Whole Hog Breakdown and Curing Workshop
Saturday, August 24, 2013
10:30am - 8:00pm
$350 per person (10% of proceeds go to Berkshire Grown)
Ticket includes farm tour, full day of demos and educational materials to take home, lunch, dinner, beverages, beer and wine.
Buy tickets on eventbrite
 The Whole Hog Workshop will be a full day event with the
Berkshire Food Guild's butcher, Jake Levin, charcutier, Jazu Stine, and chef, Jamie Paxton. The day will begin with a tour of our host farm, Cricket Creek Farm, and a discussion of pasture-based farming and sustainable animal husbandry. The morning will be spent learning how to breakdown a pig sourced from Climbing Tree Farm, which feeds its pigs whey from Cricket Creek Farm's cheese-making facility. The hands-on butchery workshop will include information on where the various cuts come from, their characteristics, and the best approaches for cooking and curing each cut.
After a pork-filled lunch, the workshop will focus on curing lessons and demonstrations. The participants will take the pig they broke down in the morning and put each cut under cure to create popular cured products, including bacon, sausage, proscuitto, coppa and more. We will go over the various curing techniques including dry curing, smoking, and making sausages, salamis, and terrines.
After a charcuterie tasting, the workshop will conclude with everyone settling down around a table overlooking the farm to feast on a pork-centric meal and absorb the day's learning over some local craft beers. At the end of the night everyone will leave with goody bag including educational materials and product samples to take home.
Dinner Menu to include:
Charcuterie Tasting
Porchetta Heirloom Tomato Salad Grilled Fennel, Eggplant and Radicchio Charred Fingerling Potatoes Arugula with Summer Peaches and Cricket Creek Farm Cheese Berkshire Mountain Bakery Ciabatta
Lard-fried Doughnuts Seasonal Fruit with Hawthorne Valley Farm whipped Quark Big Elm Beer & Violette Imports Biodynamic Wines
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The Farm Bill: a staged reading of a short, comic play
Sunday August 25th, 4 pmBecket Arts Center
Staged reading + discussion with author Susan Dworkin and cast members, and a "Meet and Greet" reception with local farming neighbors
Free Admission, RSVP required, 413-623-6635

The Farm Bill, a one-act play from award-winning playwright Susan Dworkin illuminates the politics of farming through the story of one woman's political awakening at the U.S. Dept.of Agriculture (USDA) in the 1970s. It was a watershed time in American agriculture. Food stamps and farm policy were linked for the first time. The Russian wheat deals were transforming exports. Many small family farms were being lost. Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz told farmers to "get big or get out."
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Susan Dworkin's newly-published play, The Farm Bill, makes the politics of farming clear and relevant for all audiences.
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"Susan Dworkin's plays have the ability to draw us into dreams of justice and to make them irresistibly practical, humorous and human."
-- Gloria Steinem, writer and activist
"The Farm Bill is a timeless play -- both humorous and scathing....Susan Dworkin gives voice to the rebellion many of us wish we could join."
-- Ahvi Spindell, director
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Family Cow Seminar September 1 from 9 - 4 pm
Joshua's Farm, Sandisfield MA
Ever wonder what it would be like to have your own cow and milk too, and return the quintessential view of grazing cows to Berkshire pastures once cleared for them?Or what it would be like to put the lawn mower away and turn the valuable clover and grasses over to an intelligent animal that rewards with gallons of nutrient dense fresh creamy milk?
Family cows are legal without having to meet any regulation and are increasingly popular as the demand for unprocessed local food grows. Grandpa knew how to care for cows, but he was wrong about needing to milk twice a day, be up at dawn, and never take a vacation.
Held at Joshua's Farm in a stunningly beautiful Berkshire setting overlooking the farm pond in the new barn hayloft and classroom. Light lunch provided.
$35 for the day. Reservations and information: 860-671-0327
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Pick Your Own! Taste the difference of farm fresh and local.
Call or check web sites for what fruit is available!
Photo by Jason Houston.
(518) 733-1234 or 733-6772
Blueberry Hill Farm, Mount Washington, MA 413-528-1479 NOTE SAME NAME, DIFFERENT FARMS
Blueberry Hill Farm, Town of Washington, MA 413-623-5859 Bug Hill Farm, Ashfield, MA 413- 628-3980
Lakeview Orchards, 94 Old Cheshire Road Lanesborough, MA 01237 413-448-6009Riiska Brook Orchard, Sandisfield 413-258-4761Windy Hill Farm, Great Barrington 413-298-3217
Harvest is weather dependent, so always call ahead for picking details.
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Brian Alberg, The Red Lion Inn
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Berkshire Grown member farms and restaurants
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Daire Rooney, Allium Restaurant + Bar
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participated this year in the Taste of Hudson Valley Bounty on August 5th, enjoy the feast vicariously, stories here: Info at Hudson Valley Bounty |
Old Inn on the Green and The Southfield Store:
Shannon Meyers, Lonne Cunningham and Elise Landry
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The Meat Market: Jim Gop, Jeremy Stanton
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Route 7 Grill,
Lester Blumenthal and Christophe Jalbert
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Berkshire Grown's 2013 Buyer's Guide to Locally Grown Food, Flowers and Plants is out!
Woven Roots Farm, Lee, MA photo by Jonathan Hankin
Find your way to farmers' markets, local farms and farm stands. Look for a copy wherever you find brochures and flyers around the county. You can also browse listings of Berkshire Grown members on Map-o-licious..
The Buyer's Guide is distributed free throughout the Berkshires at more than three dozen locations. Many thanks for support from our members and the
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Striking Fast Food Workers: "We Can't Survive on $7.25"
A movement to improve pay and work conditions in America's fast food restaurants appears to be gathering steam.
 "The average yearly salary of fast food workers in New York City is $11,000, according to protest organizers Fast Food Forward. The group Wider Opportunities for Women estimates that a single mother with two children needs a minimum of $6,376 per month to survive in the Big Apple.
"As a result of this discrepancy, many fast food workers rely on government services like Medicaid and food stamps.
"'The fact is, we are subsidizing their business model,'says Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus and attended the rally in Manhattan to show support for the workers. Ellison says the minimum wage is kept down by lobbyists who spend industry money to buy favorable legislation. He points out that the minimum wage, in real dollars, is lower now than it was in 1968.
Read more in Yes! Magazine
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What We're Watching
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The (Stephen) Colbert Report:
Fast-Food Workers Strike - with Mary Kay Henry
SEIU President Mary Kay Henry explains the economic benefits of turning fast-food jobs into good, middle-class jobs. (04:36)
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What we are reading
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"Our Coming Food Crisis"by Gary Paul Nabhan in the NYTIMES "It's now up to our political and business leaders to get their heads out of the hot sand and do something tangible to implement climate change policy and practices before farmers, ranchers and consumers are further affected. Climate adaptation is the game every food producer and eater must now play..." READ MORE
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The Great Barrington Farmers' Market is seeking a new Farmers' Market Manager.
The GBFM is seeking a community minded, outgoing and highly organized person who lives in the Great Barrington area. Some of the duties included are: market set up and take down, acting as vendor liaison, interfacing with community, scheduling guest chefs and musicians, writing reports, and working with steering committee to organize the market. Some activities are performed on a year-round basis.
Knowledge and/or interest in farming, farmers markets, local/regional food & local food producers is highly valued. Individual must be able to do moderate lifting, have excellent interpersonal skills, and be computer literate. Any experience managing a successful, progressive, community based Farmers Market is also plus. This is a paid position with wage based on experience. Please contact Debbie Barber at 518-672-4817 for a complete job description and application.
The Carrot Project / the Greater Berkshire Agriculture Fund is hiring a Program Manager.

As GBAF is new and growing, the person in this position will help us establish a strong presence for the Greater Berkshire Agriculture Fund, build relationships within the community and facilitate program development. We seek a person with a strong entrepreneurial drive, experience with charitable fundraising,  familiarity with the Berkshire region, a strong team player, and excellent interpersonal and communication skills. The ideal candidate will understand sustainable agriculture and be familiar with agricultural-based businesses. The GBAF Program Manager will be based in the Greater Berkshires - Berkshire County, MA, Dutchess and Columbia Counties NY and Litchfield County, CT.
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 In the area?
Check out Berkshire Grown's
Massachusetts grown... and
fresher!
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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 Suzie Fowle, Program Associate
413-528-0041
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