Kristen Tool and her husband, Chris Wheeler, keep six hives near a massive apple tree that has lived here, like his family, for a hundred years. They are building contemporary ways to support their family farm — and food systems and food security in the Berkshires at the same time.
Read articleThe Berkshires are rich in artisanal food — local bakers and beekeepers, cideries and microbreweries, cheesemakers and orchards — even locally made chocolate, blended teas and roasted coffees …
Exploring Cummington and the hilltowns in summer
It’s quiet up here. Sometimes I’ll come up to the ridge to get away for awhile, out the back roads … and find unexpected and creative places.
Read articleFarms offer maple syrup in sap houses — and online
Syrup and sugared nuts and fudge-like cream … the sap is boiling, and maple growers are expanding in the Berkshires with web shops. You can stop in for a quart or order one from home.
Read articleCan you feel the sap running today? (March 3 newsletter)
Sweet — That scent in the air like caramel over wood smoke — it feels almost unreal after all this last year, but it’s here. The sap is boiling.
Read articleMoonCloud seasonal cocktails bring warmth home
How about a drink with a kick for a night with frost in the air — a touch of pumpkin, honey spiced with ginger and cloves? At Moon Cloud in Great Barrington, you can pick up a carefully blended bottle to bring home.
Read articleParisian pastry adapts to the country at the Lost Lamb Bakery
Pumpkin tarts and spicy chocolate mousse … clam chowder and crusty baguette … where does New England meet a French pâtissière? In Stockbridge, Claire Raposo runs the Lost Lamb bakery and cafe.
Read articleThe Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook savors local stories
On a warm and quiet day, Elisa Spungen Bildner was sitting with Kim Wells, the farmer at East Mountain Farm in Williamstown. They had walked up into the woods where his pigs forage in summer …
Read articleA-Ok Barbecue spices up take-out in style
She is an Australian artisanal bread baker trained in New York. He is a former Manhattan chef and a butcher — a Russian Hungarian Jew from Connecticut. Together, at A-Ok, they are inventing Berkshire barbecue.
Read articleOnly in My Dreams gives the Berkshires in a package
Imagine fresh coffee, or tea and honey, coming to you as a gentle surprise. Oskar Hallig and his husband, Michael Zippel, have evolved Only in My Dreams in the pandemic to offer locally sourced gift boxes and care packages.
Read articleThe Prairie Whale adapts in a Covid world
At the Prairie Whale in Great Barrington, strings of lights are gleaming above the tables on the lawn. Most of the chairs are full on a Friday night, and voices carry over the grass. The diners and the waiters are all wearing masks.
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