image description — Kurt Barbieri and Anne-Marie Lasher have been selling baked goods at farmers' markets under Barbieri's Odd Bird Farm for two years. Last, week they opened a bakery on Main Street.

Odd Bird Farm Opens Great Barrington Bakery

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:27PM / Saturday, September 27, 2025Print Story | Email Story

Fresh-baked bread at Odd Bird Farm Bakery.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Odd Bird Farm is taking its pastries off the road and into a more permanent home on Main Street.

Kurt Barbieri and Anne-Marie Lasher's pastries and breads have been flying out of farmers markets these past two years. Now patrons won't have to wait for a Saturday to pick up their favorite baked goods.

Barbieri has 30 years of experience as a pastry chef. He started Odd Bird Farm selling eggs on the side of the road in Housatonic about 10 years ago, and later at Taft Farms.

"I started keeping chickens, and I would take some in if somebody had some random birds or chickens they needed to get rid of for whatever reason. I would take them in and let them live out their lives," he said. "I worked at Daily Bread in Great Barrington before it closed. I was there for 18 years, and I was at the Marketplace for 10 years, and that is where I met Anne-Marie."

Lasher also has a background in the food industry, having worked as a chef and run a catering business while living in Philadelphia. She and her husband semi-retired to the Berkshires after wanting to do something different.

The two met in Marketplace Kitchen Table's pastry department and talked about what they would like to bake.

They'd joked about being a little frustrated in their ability to innovate. Wanting to be more creative with their recipes, they decided to try out their ideas at the local farmers' markets.

"It was such a large production kitchen, they had cafes in the store and catering," he said. "There wasn't a lot of creativity that you could do. And we got talking and then we decided to start doing the farmers markets last year, last spring, and we got such a great response from them that we decided to open a brick and mortar."

Their bakery at 490 Main St. used to be an office and a flower shop. They transformed the whole space into a commercial kitchen to be able to bake dozens more than what they could at Lasher's house.

"We were doing it in my house kitchen, which meant that our office was on my dining room table. My husband can't wait to be on the dining room table. Today was the first day that all of Odd Bird Farm is out of my house," she laughed last week.

The bakery is open for take-out only and will serve a variety of pastries, cookies, breads, breakfast sandwiches, soups, and more. The partners were excited and a little nervous about opening up.

"Very confident, like there's definitely that little bit of, I'm terrified because it's a new business, and you just don't know what to expect, right? But we also feel very positive. We've gotten we have a following already from the farmers markets," Lasher said.

The bakery is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tags: new business, bakery,

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Reps. Leigh Davis, Bud Williams Filing Legislation Honoring Freeman

05:20AM / Friday, June 12, 2026

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — State Reps. Leigh Davis of the 3rd Berkshire District and Bud L. Williams, of the 11th Hampden District, are filing legislation establishing Aug. 22 as Elizabeth Freeman Day of Equality, Healing, and Remembrance in the commonwealth.

The legislation would direct the governor to annually issue a proclamation recognizing the courageous contributions of Elizabeth Freeman, an enslaved Black woman known as Mum Bett, whose landmark freedom suit helped spark the legal end of slavery in Massachusetts.

In 1781, Freeman, of Sheffield at the time, challenged the institution of slavery by filing suit against her enslaver, Col. John Ashley. In the landmark case Brom and Bett v. Ashley, a Berkshire County jury ruled in favor of Freeman and her fellow plaintiff, Brom, granting them their freedom. The case demonstrated the power of the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration that all people are born free and equal and helped pave the way for the Quock Walker decisions that ultimately ended slavery in the commonwealth.

"Freeman's courage changed the course of history in Massachusetts," said Williams. "At a time when the odds were stacked against her, she stood up and demanded that the promises of liberty and equality contained in our Constitution apply to her as well. She risked everything to challenge an unjust system, and her victory helped lay the foundation for the end of slavery in our commonwealth. Her legacy deserves to be recognized and remembered by every resident of Massachusetts."

Although unable to read or write, Freeman understood the meaning of freedom and equality and took extraordinary action to secure those rights for herself and others. Her story remains one of the most powerful examples of individual courage in the face of injustice.

Elizabeth Freeman Day will provide an opportunity for reflection, education, healing, and remembrance, said Williams.

"Her story reminds us that progress is often made because ordinary people perform extraordinary acts of courage. By honoring Elizabeth Freeman, we honor not only her struggle for freedom, but also the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice for all. Her example teaches us that courage is contagious," he said.

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