Free Wild Edible Plant Hike in Great Barrington

03:05PM / Wednesday, June 04, 2025Print Story | Email Story

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Join Russ Cohen, author of the book "Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten," and Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) for a 3-hour hike in the BNRC's Alford Springs Reserve on Sunday, June 8, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.

Participants will learn about at least two dozen species of edible wild plants. Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with info on edible portion(s), season(s) of availability and preparation methods, as well as general guidelines for safe, ethical, and environmentally-responsible foraging.

This walk has a participant limit. Registration is required. Learn more and register at this link: https://BEAT-wild-edible-plant-hike.eventbrite.com

Be Advised: The planned loop for the hike is somewhat strenuous, with substantial elevation gain and loss, so this walk is recommended only for fit participants with the proper hiking gear.

Tags: BEAT,

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Karen Allen on Harrison Ford, John Belushi, Steven Spielberg and Williamstown

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
12:42PM / Saturday, August 08, 2026

Karen Allen operates her fiber arts and clothing store in Great Barrington when she's not making movies or performing in plays. Below, Allen with Harrison Ford during the shooting of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' She's appeared in three of the five Raiders movies.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Karen Allen wants to talk about the time she went blind.

It was 1979, a year after the release of her first major film, "National Lampoon's Animal House." She and a group of the movie's alum got together on a Sunday afternoon and threw a party, "to play music, hang out and sing." A day later, "the painful symptoms" began. Allen learned that she had contracted keratoconjunctivitis, a dangerous and rare eye disease that created "terrible, terrible, terrible pain. It caused me to go blind for a while ... my eye muscles started to deteriorate. I had to stay in my apartment to make sure — God forbid! — I didn't give it to anyone. It took about two months for me to recover."

That was then. Today, 47 years after the sightless saga, Allen can see clearly. And the choices she had made in her 50-plus year career remain sharply in focus: "The Wanderers," "Cruising," Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Shoot the Moon," "Starman," "Scrooged" — the list is longer than her bit role in Woody Allen's "Manhattan".

And that is just her film work. (Ironically, Allen played a 20-year-old Helen Keller in "Monday After the Miracle," the sequel to "The Miracle Worker." The 1982 drama flopped and played only 16 performances, marking Allen's only Broadway performance.)

This season, Allen returned to the Berkshire Theatre Group's Unicorn Theatre in Abi Morgan's "LoveSong," a play about how love changes people over time. Allen fell in love with the work when she saw it on closing night in Ireland last summer. She sent the script to BTG's Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire who "loved it" and green-lighted the project.

"LoveSong" runs through Aug. 29. For tickets or more information, call 413-997-4444 or visit BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

Next up for Allen: The October release of the film "Other Mommy," "a psychological horror film."

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