image description — Owner Patrick Elliot said the cafe now offers pastries and coffees, but he hopes to expand to a full breakfast and lunch.

Second Drop Farm Opens Cafe After Years of Work

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
02:29PM / Saturday, October 11, 2025Print Story | Email Story

The farm store has locally made products, including those from Second Drop Farm.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Second Drop Farm has finally opened a cafe that it put on the backburner five years ago.

Second Drop Farm is a you-pick farm and also has a store where it sells local items.

"We are a farm, first and foremost. We do you-pick berries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. We also do you-pick flowers, lavender," said owner Patrick Elliot. "We are a farm store. We sell a lot of our own products, and then we source from a ton of other local farms in the area. We also carry a ton of different local makers, soap makers, all that sort of stuff.

"And we have rentals here as well, vacation rentals, so we really consider ourselves like an agro tourism destination."

The family-owned farm was purchased in 2020, and the Elliots had planned to open a cafe soon after but pandemic made it harder to do so they decided to focus on the farm.

"We really didn't know what we should do, if we should open with the COVID regulation or the COVID policies, or if we should just use that time to kind of prepare the farm," Elliot said. "And we decided to do the latter, and that was tough financially. We used a lot of our capital that we had to start the business essentially, just to make sure we could get by."

On Oct. 1, they were finally able to welcome the public to their cafe. Elliot said this is just the first phase and they plan to grow their menu offerings.

"The cafe right now is its first iteration. We are planning to expand it. Right now, we have pastries, coffee, tea, all that stuff, but we are hoping to expand to offering more food, and hopefully at some point in the future, we'll have full breakfast and full lunch, but we aren't sure when that'll happen," he said. "We are still growing the farm out. So in the coming months and years, things will be changing here, things will be growing, but right now, having the cafe doors just open is, we're, just very grateful to be at that moment."

Elliot said it would have been harder to get this open without the strong support of their customers and community.

"There were moments where it was a little discouraged, it was a little frustrating and discouraging, but, because of the customers and because of our regulars and the people that just you know stumbled across us, their kind words and their support, it really made it easier to continue persevering," he said. "We've already had a ton of customers that have just been very excited, it's almost like it's their project as well."

The cafe serves pastries from Nostalgia Scratch, coffee from Barrington Coffee Roasters, and tea from Harney's in Connecticut.

"We have been just walking around the cafe the last two days, kind of just in shock that it has finally materialized. We're so excited. It's one of those things where we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of things that we want to accomplish in here, but for the first time in quite a while, it's we're just breathing a sigh of relief, and we're, you know, allowing ourselves just to enjoy this moment," Elliot said.

But their work isn't done. They next plan to expand more of their farm and start selling eggs from their chickens. They plan to add outside seating behind the farm store as well as host events and live music.

"We also opened up the behind the the farm store, and that's all going to be outside seating, and we're hoping to do weekend events out there next spring to summer," Elliot said. "We're also planning on doing an outdoor kitchen out behind the cafe and farm store, which will be open seasonally, and we have an earth stage, I guess you call it. So we'll have bands and stuff like that playing out there."

The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and is located at 551 North Main St. For more information, contact 413-822-0355 or info@seconddropfarms.com.

Tags: cafe, farm stand, farming,

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Companion Corner: Princess at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
02:17PM / Wednesday, August 05, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There is an energetic girl waiting to find her new home at the Berkshire Humane Society.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

Princess is a six year old shepherd mix that has been at the shelter for just over a month.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Princess.

"She's very social, very friendly. When you're out walking her, she just wants to go say hi to every single new person. Loves to make new friends. She's a lot of fun. She's very active. She's very spunky. She's very playful, and she's going to need a very very active family who's going to do a lot with her."

But Princess is no stranger to the shelter. She was a puppy five years ago and got adopted quickly, but now she needs a new family to take care of her.

"She was adopted out fairly quickly as a young puppy. She's been in the same home for the past five years. Unfortunately, they were moving out of state somewhere," Olivieri said. "They could not take her with them, so she ended up coming as a return to shelter, and she came back to stay with us."

Princess needs to go to a home as the only animal or with other male dogs that are her size or bigger.

"Her perfect home would be kids eight and up. No cats. No small animals. She has quite a prey drive. She could go to a home with another dog around her size or larger, preferably a male dog. She does a little bit better with male dogs, and she's looking for a home where people are home quite a bit, so that she's not left alone for too long. She has some separation anxiety," Olivieri said.

She also needs a very active home that can let her use her energy every day, as she is very rambunctious. Especially with playing with her favorite toy, the flirt pole.

"She could use a home where people are going to give her a lot of attention and more than just a few walks a day; she's going to need lots of exercise, lots of playtime, lots of mental stimulation," Olivieri said. "She likes to learn, so someone who would be willing to take her to training classes or work on some training with her, as well as hikes, getting out and about, doing new things, different things. She is very athletic. She'd excel at things like agility, some dog sports. Just someone who is really going to want to engage and do a lot of different kinds of activities with her."

Once you let her get her energy out, she is a cuddler who wouldn't mind being held like a baby from time to time.

"She's very sweet. She's very cuddly. She's very affectionate, but she is not a couch potato. She will stay on that couch with you for a little bit, and then she's ready to go off and do something else. So she's very busy. She's very active," Olivieri said. "Once all of her exercise needs are met during the day, she will settle down nicely, and she will want to be right by your side, cuddle with you at night on the couch, sleep with you."

Princess is very healthy but does experience some anxiety and is not fully potty trained and might have the occasional accident.

"She does have a little bit of anxiety, so she is on some medication for it right now," Olivieri said. "So a lot of structure, a lot of outlets, and familiarity, getting used to a new routine and everything is gonna be really good for her. I mean, she's just lovely. Like I said, she's very social. She likes to play with other dogs. She likes to meet new people."

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