Winter makers and winter harvests are coming to us this week — as the Norman Rockwell Museum opens a retrospective on internationally known illustrator Leo Leonni, the nights are warming up with music.
Read articleWe follow food in the Berkshires into all kinds of stories. Around here we can be laid back and experienced at the same time. We have third-generation family farms, and we have Brooklyn chefs looking for a closer tie to the land. Sometimes they work together. Sometimes the chefs are farmers, and the farmers are chefs.
Some are born here, and some have come from around the world, from Malaysia to Australia. They blend a sense of flavor and a sense of humor. Looking purple potato chips? Grass-fed burger with blue cheese? Dumplings and shumai? Strawberries warm from the sun? We’ll find them. Come with us.
Apple pie and roasted chestnuts — #berkshireweekend
Where would I explore this weekend, if I could be anywhere at the blink of an eye? I might head east over the ridge on Saturday for hot roast chestnuts at Big River Farm and the re-opening of the Yiddish Book Center …
Read articleMapping wonder in West Stockbridge — #berkshireexperience
I’m looking at the bin of old maps at Shaker Mill Books in West Stockbridge and thinking, how would I draw a map of these hills, and what would I put in? When you have an afternoon in West Stockbridge to explore, how do you find unexpected places?
Read articleInside scoops with chocolate and cherry ripple — #berkshireweekend
Chocolate cherry ice cream — this is new. The cream comes from here, from High Lawn Farm. The ice cream stand opened four years ago, but according to a flier as I pick up my cone, the dairy farm has just celebrated their 100th summer.
Read articleTasting those East Taconic blues — #berkshireweekend
Second Drop Farm has opened their pick-your-own blueberries, and Caretaker Farm’s CSA offers herbs and flowers and summer vegetables.
Read articleFresh cheese and sourdough: Farmers markets and plant sales — #Berkshireweekend
And suddenly it’s May. We feel the change coming for weeks, fizzing in catkins and lapping up the lower slopes — and then the sun comes out and the maples open their leaves, and the world turns green again.
Read articleEarly spring explorations near Stockbridge
Mill Brook Sugarhouse is boiling sap in a spring day around the corner from the Roaring Brook Trail, and Irish musicians are tuning up as I explore the Southern Berkshires.
Read articleSap and music rise on the edge of spring — #Berkshireweekend
By the scuffed ground around the bowl, I’m not the only small person who has found this magic circle. I’m out in the golden hour, walking on the lower loop through Hopkins Forest.
Read articleCuring cabin fever with bright color — #Berkshireweekend
I’ve walked into the Plant Connector on a winter night, whenNorth Adams is quiet, and Meg Bantle and Laura Tupper-Palches from Full Well Farm are teaching a workshop on how to make flower crowns.
Read articleCinnamon rolls and soul music — #Berkshireweekend
What does comfort look like this week? We may have some real cold coming, and some fires need fuel. Even a small thing can add tinder …
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