Community Gardening at the Common Earth House

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On Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 from 10am to 12pm, Manos Unidas will be holding the first monthly urban community gardening day of the season at the "Mother Garden"/"Madre Jardin", located at the Community Justice Center we are creating at the Common Earth House/Casa Tierra Comun at 335 Fenn St. in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsfield, MA.

The goal of the monthly workshops, entitled "Earth in Our Hands", is to integrate children, youth, and other underheard community citizens in an environment where they can learn about sustainable agriculture, caring for the earth, living arts experiences, and stewardship for one another, while incorporating  bilingual Spanish/English conversation.

Mother Garden/Madre Jardin aims to be a place where all community citizens, but especially those on a low income, can have shared experiences in sustainable agriculture, by sowing and reaping their own organic and local harvest, while crossing class, culture, linguistic and ability differences to find commonalities.

The schedule for the May 3rd "Earth in Our Hands" workshop is as follows:

10:00-10:15am: opening ritual to honor the earth and "Madre Jardin"

10:15-11:15: hands on gardening cleanup and youth-based teach-in about sustainable agriculture

11:15-12:00: living arts experience: this month: "Earth Flags"/'Banderas de la Tierra" (if you wish, you can bring a symbol to share from another culture that honors the earth)

12:00-12:30: light snack and conversation...bring your own if you wish...Stay if you can, go if you must! Please try to attend as many seasonal workshops as possible so as to give the youth, and ourselves, a sense of continuity!

Info and RSVP/Reservas: (413)-243-9121 o manosunidasorg@gmail.com, www.unitedmanos.blogspot.com

Manos Unidas is a multicultural, community based organization that seeks to uplift Latino, immigrant, low income, youth, and other underheard community citizens through popular educaton, living arts, cooperative economy, and bilingual shared resources empowerment. Crossing borders of class, race, culture, language, ideology, ability, and geography, we are building a culture of "beloved community" hand in hand.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building. 

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu. 

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building. 

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.  

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns. 

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot. 

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use. 

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