Where do we find family farms in the Berkshires? Usually they’re just up the road. We can stop for a CSA share of greens and new peas. We can walk into a farm store and watch the cows come in at milking time. In late afternoon on a summer day, they line up to walk into the dairy. We can walk through the barnyard with the scent of mown grass and meet the calves and pick up cheese for a picnic.
Anyone who has ever felt a calf rasp her elbow with a rough tongue, or an ounce of week-old chick scuffle and settle to sleep against her collarbone, may understand why some of her neighbors get up early to milk the cows and let them out to pasture.
This morning, around the county, farmers are collecting warm eggs from nesting boxes — and pitching out the coop, and lining it with fresh straw. Some of them come to local markets, and some of them welcome you to stop by the farm for a fresh dozen eggs. Some of them have ways to watch, to look quietly at the animals, and occasionally to help.
Not all farms are set up for visitors. Farmers work long days, and farms are working places, so the ones that do welcome visitors have to make sure people are safe around the tractors and hay wagons, and the cattle and geese are safe around people, and that takes time.
Here are some farms that welcome casual visitors, though it always helps to check or call ahead. And some farm stands and orchards, pick-your-own and farmers markets and co-ops are open to all comers.
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The Great Barrington Farmers Market runs outdoors, just off Main Street, on Saturday mornings from May to October, with fruits and greens, baked goods, herbs and oils, coffee and cider and more.
READ MOREThe year-round Pittsfield Farmers Market has now become the only teen-led market in the region through Roots Rising, bringing together growers and artisans.
READ MOREDuck egg tacos with hot sausage and greens? Baklava and fresh moussaka? The Williamstown Farmers Market brings Farmers, food producers, artists and artisans to Spring Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday from May to October.
READ MOREWoven Roots Farm is a traditional, hand-scale vegetable farm, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and education center.
READ MOREBerkshire Grown supports farms and local food across the county and offers resources for finding local farmers, orchards, farm stands and farm-to-table restaurants.
READ MOREIn the hilltowns, Cummington has held an annual agricultural fair since 1869 — late in August you can come up for antique tractors and live music, ox shows, draft horses and more.
READ MOREThe West Stockbridge Farmers Market gathers on Thursday afternoons on The Foundry Green from May through early October, as Amy Brentano, owner of The Foundry, offers her land to serve the community.
READ MOREThe farm market carries blueberries and garden plants in the summer, apples and pumpkins in the fall, winterberry and wreathes and evergreens in the winter.
READ MOREAt Hilltop Orchards, the Vittori family grow apples and make cider and wine on 200 acres. A brother and sister, John and Wendy, bought the orchard more than 30 years ago and preserved the land. They have a farm store and trails open year-round.
READ MOREThe 2020 Lenox Farmer’s Market returns on Friday afternoons from June to early October in downtown Lenox, with farm cheeses, meats and eggs, locally grown vegetables and cut flowersand more, layer cakes and fresh breads.
READ MOREFrom 1783 to 1960, a Shaker community lived and farmed here. Today the village is a living history museum known for its Round Stone Barn, with farm animals and CSA gardens, art and craft, and dinners and music.
READ MOREYou can stop in for ice cream or farmstead cheese and sit at a picnic table, looking across the field where the young calves are out to pasture — High Lawn Farm in Lee now has its own creamery store.
READ MOREPick-your-own cherries, black raspberries, plums — David and Judy and Daniel Jurczak grow a wide variety fruit — blueberries, raspberries and blackberries too, and 15 kinds of apples in the fall …
READ MOREDominic Palumbo raises Highland cattle, Jersey geese, Dorset sheep and other heritage breeds, as he grows vegetables and forages for local flavors and aromatics.
READ MOREMusic and dance, fiction and nonfiction, patterns made of flower petals and colored sand … new work takes shape at the Marble House artist residencies.
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