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 articleSourdough rises at Berkshire Mountain Bakery
Loaves of white bread are entering and leaving the oven on a long wooden paddle. Rounded boules cooling, rich with chunks of dark Belgian chocolate — and ciabatta, seven grain bread, potato and onion …
Read articleRare local flavors converge at Moon in the Pond Farm
Dominic Palumbo raises Highland cattle, Jersey geese and Dorset sheep, as he grows vegetables and forages for local flavors.
Read articleThankful for the mountains — #berkshireweekend
Windy Hill Orchard grows rows of winterberry bushes every year. You can walk into a sea of scarlet higher than your head, and they’re bright even on cold, cloudy afternoons.
Read articleCatching the golden hours of summer – #Berkshireweekend
Sweet corn and peaches … the flavors mean late summer. We have a good month more of warm weather, but we feel the year begin to turn when the golden rod shows in the meadows.
Read articleHappy holidays! (December 22 newsletter)
This month has been full of gifts already. I walk into Chocolate Springs one afternoon just as Joshua Needleman is making chocolate peppermint bonbons, and he offers me a taste …
Read articleChestnuts are roasting — over the river and through the woods
I’ve never cracked a hard-boiled egg on my dashboard before … The whole day has been like this, zany and surprising. We’re picnicking in my car in unexpected sun, eating with our fingers, in the middle of an expedition.
Read articleWe have liftoff into the Northern Lights (Nov 17 newsletter)
The berries make a vivid streak along the road, and there’s something buoyant about that wash of color now against a grey sky.
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