Hoosac Harvest will host 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' at All Saints Church on March 7.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Hoosac Harvest will host the third Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food event at the All Saints Church, located on Summer Street, on March 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. Farmers and small food producers of the northern Berkshires will be on hand for this free event.
"It's the end of February and most of us are looking forward to spring and this event is a little pick-me-up to get us through the remaining winter," said Sandra Thomas, a core member of Hoosac Harvest. "Farmers are planning their crops and this is a great opportunity to meet those in our community who are growing food, making cheese, harvesting honey and using local items in the food they produce."
At the event, participants can learn about community-supported agriculture, enjoy free samples and swap seeds for the upcoming season.
Participating farm include Wildstone Farm, Cricket Creek Farm, Country Dream Farm, Many Forks Farm. Wild Oats Market, North Adams Farmers Market and other businesses and organizations will also be on hand.
Hoosac Harvest, a citizen-based organization and a staunch supporter of local farms and food, embraces easy access to locally grown food.
"There are many ways that people can access local food — from double SNAP Benefits at the North Adams Farmers Market, to participating in community-supported agriculture, to building relationships with the people who work hard to provide our community with fresh vegetables, meat, dairy, eggs, honey, fruit and more."
The Red Lion Inn's Executive Chef Brian J. Alberg will make his 10th trip to the James Beard House in New York City.
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A group of Berkshire chefs will team up to present a farm-to-table dinner of locally grown food and livestock to New York City on March 1.
The event titled The Berkshire Cure-All, which was spearheaded by The Red Lion Inn's Executive Chef Brian J. Alberg, will take place at the famed James Beard House, the location of the former townhouse of chef, food author and television personality James Beard. Every month over 20 events are held at the house that showcase international culinary diversity.
This year, Alberg will be joined by:
► Stephen Browning, chef at Bell and Anchor (Great Barrington)
► Terry Moore, chef-owner of The Old Mill (South Egremont)
► Jamie Paxton, chef at The Meat Market (Great Barrington)
► Daire Rooney, chef at Allium Restaurant + Bar (Great Barrington)
► Dan Smith, chef-owner of John Andrews: A Farmhouse Restaurant (South Egremont)
► Zee Vassos, chef at Firefly (Lenox)
► Dan Thomas, sommelier (wine expert) at Red Lion Inn (Stockbridge)
This is the 10th trip to the James Beard House for Alberg and the fourth time he'll be bringing a group of Berkshire chefs with him.
Each chef will be in charge of a course, while Thomas will spearhead the drink selection. Rooney will prepare the hor's d'oeuvres, which includes knackwurst with rutabaga sauerkraut and pickled mustard seeds, and pork belly rillettes with winter squash mostarda. For a listing of the entire menu, click here.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. with a reception and hor d'oeuvres at the house's greenhouse gallery. Tickets for the general public are $170.
Even if you're not there you can still watch and follow the preparation through live streaming, blog posts, Twitter updates and Facebook.
The James Beard House is located at 167 West 12th Street. For reservations, call 212-627-2308.
WilliNet Airs Documentary on Local Food and Farming
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — "Place of Stones: Food in Motion," a film about local food and farming, is being featured on WilliNet. The film will air on WilliNet's channel 17 and will be available online through Feb. 9.
The film will be aired:
► Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. Saturdays at noon, excluding Jan. 29, which will air at 7 p.m.
► Fridays at 7 p.m., except on Jan. 28 (no show)
► Wednesdays every other week at 9 p.m. and 1 p.m. (check schedule)
To access online viewing or to check the daily schedule go to www.willinet.org.
Sharon Wyrrick filmed Places of Stones between 2008 and 2010, which features farms, community gardens, school gardens, food assistance programs, restaurants, retail venues and other local initiatives through interviews and on-site footage. She considers Place of Stones a documentary about developing efforts in the Northern Berkshires to strengthen local food and agriculture.
"I wanted the film to cast a broad swath and give opportunity for farmers, local leaders and participants in the local food movement to have a chance to tell their story," Wyrrick said. "In this way, the film has many stories to tell with the larger story being a chronicle of the truly remarkable community-wide focus on increasing access to locally produced food."
The film chronicles the effort of a group of local citizens to catalyze a new community-supported agriculture farm that would be accessible to people of all income levels. This effort began as a part of "Target Hunger: North Berkshire," a program of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. It resulted in the founding of a community organization, Hoosac Harvest, and an ongoing subsidized community supported agricultare share program in collaboration with Square Roots Farm in the summer of 2010.
The film first premiered at the Farm Film Feast Festival at Images Cinema in April 2012.
"I had two big surprises in this film project," Wyrrick said. "The first was that so much could change in such a short period of time between when the filming ended in 2010 and now. The second is that I would start my own small farming effort, Many Forks Farm, in Clarksburg in the summer of 2012."
Berkshire Grown's Harvest Supper To Highlight Local Food
LENOX, Mass. — Berkshire Grown's 14th annual Harvest Supper, celebrating local food and farms, will take place on Monday, Sept. 24, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Eastover Hotel and Resort.
The feast features delicious dishes prepared by local Berkshire Grown member chefs using fresh ingredients from local farms. The evening will feature a video and sound projection by artist Joe Wheaton featuring images of local farms. The evening also includes a silent auction and a drawing for shopping sprees and gift certificates to Berkshire Grown member stores and restaurants.
"The Harvest Supper celebrates our local farms and gives us a chance to show why we support eating locally grown food," said Barbara Zheutlin, executive director of Berkshire Grown. "Locally grown food is delicious and when we buy food directly from local farmers we’re strengthening our local economy."
Participating restaurants include: Allium Restaurant + Bar, Baba Louie's, Café Reva, Canyon Ranch, Castle Street Café, Eastover Hotel and Resort, Gala Steakhouse & Bistro at Orchards Hotel, Gramercy Bistro, Guido's Fresh Marketplace, HR Zeppelin Find Handmade Chocolates, John Andrews: A Farmhouse Restaurant, Marketplace Kitchen, Martin's Restaurant, Mezze Bistro + Bar, The Old Inn on the Green, The Red Lion Inn, Route 7 Grill, Savory Harvest Catering, Spice Dragon, Wild Oats Market and Williams College Dining. Beverages will be provided by Barrington Brewery and Riverbend Café.
New in 2012, sculptor Joe Wheaton, who has just returned from the Burning Man celebration of arts, will be creating a projection installation inspired by Berkshire farms.
The dinner is by reservation only and will take place Monday, Sept. 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $65 for members and $75 for non-members. Tickets are expected to sell out so people are encouraged to call 413-528-0041 for reservations. All proceeds benefit Berkshire Grown, supporting its "Buy Local" campaign as well as its "Share the Bounty" project, which buys shares in local farms and distributes the fresh food to pantries benefiting low-income people throughout the region.
A drawing will be held at the Harvest Supper with tickets priced at $10 (six for $50). Drawing prizes include fabulous dining packages at Berkshire Grown member restaurants, and shopping sprees at Berkshire Co-op Market and Guido's Fresh Marketplace.
A silent auction will offer the chance to bid on and win a variety of items including dinner for two at Blue Hill in New York City, dinner at Blantyre, a Cheese 101 class for two at Rubiner's Cheesemongers, a day pass for two at Canyon Ranch, a one-night stay with dinner at The Old Inn on the Green, compost from Holiday Brook Farm, a guided mushroom foraging walk from MycoLodge B& B, and a class at The Meat Market.
Berkshire Grown will create a Zero Waste Event. Bob Daley of Daley & Sons in Lee will donate his services to take the waste to Holiday Brook Farm in Dalton, where it will be added to their compost along with the compostable plates, spoons and glasses and will become part of Holiday Brook Farm’s famous "black gold" compost.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There are still some shares left for those interested in joining Hancock Shaker Village's community-supported agriculture program.
Shareholders can stop in on Tuesdays and Saturdays to pick up vegetables, herbs and flowers, and share recipes.
Participants like grabbing the pre-packaged shares, said Bill Mangiardi, director of farm and facilities, but anyone with the yen to join in the harvesting as well is welcome to do so.
The working history museum was recently awarded a $1,550 grant from the Green Pastures Fund, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, to improve the cold-storage capacity of the root cellars built by the Shakers in the 1910 barn complex.
"The upgrade to the root cellars gives us more time to pull together the harvest and keep everything in pristine condition on hot days," said Mangiardi.
Harvest distribution will runs about 20 weeks between mid-June and late October. This is the second year that the village has operated a CSA. It's designed to provide for up to 80 housholds; full shares for up to three to four people are $500, half shares for one to two people are $250. Reserve at www.hancockshakervillage.org or by calling 413-443-0188.
Stephanie Farrington of 
