If everyone bought locally grown and produced food most of the time, the benefits to the local economy would be great. In fact in the Berkshires, just a 10 percent increase in local food consumption would bring 60 million dollars annually into the local economy, according to Berkshire Grown, a regional farm advocacy organization based in Gt. Barrington. Without even mentioning the effect on local landscapes, the personal satisfaction derived from supporting local people, and the better taste of fresher food, the economic benefits alone make a compelling case for buying food that’s produced nearby.
Berkshire Grown is leading the way toward this reality. Now 140 members belong to their Business to Business network. These members are farmers and producers as well as the buyers — restaurants, stores, inns and institutions such as Kripalu and Williams College. Amy Cotler, director, has been the main broker in the business arrangements, and recently grower Susan Minnich of Coles Brook Farm in Washington, has joined her staff as assistant director.
In their second floor Railroad Street office they recently produced a Business to Business directory. In it are described the producers and their wildly varied products. From maple syrup to organic beef, to chevre, to Berkshire Blue cheese, to shiitake mushrooms, to wine and cider, emu eggs, honey, turkey, goose, Christmas trees, squash and raspberries, the list is long.
On the buyer side are restaurants of every type, B & Bs and inns and markets.
Over the winter Cotler and Minnich hosted gatherings of buyers and producers, and together they did winter planning for the upcoming growing season, which happens to coincide with high season for buyers too.
Together they talked about specifics. I want these specific crops — can anybody provide this? Is there any need for that? The meetings were small and specific and work was accomplished. That way when the frantic summer pace begins for restaurants and the endless days for growers, they will have worked on the details and know what to expect from each other.
Minnich and Cotler bring a rich and varied background to their jobs, and to mention a few of their experiences is to give the sense of how their strengths might work together at Berkshire Grown. Minnich is a grower who she sells cut flowers at farmers markets, wholesale to florists and to private customers by subscription delivery. She was the herb and flower grower at Naomi’s Herbs (of Naomi’s Herbs in Lenox and South Lee) and among her non farming experiences are work as an editor and in graphic design.
Director Amy Cotler was a chef in the city and moved here in order to be closer to food sources. She recently told a conference gathering that she thought a rural landscape would mean people were more connected to their food, but when she moved here she found the same plastic tomatoes were being eaten here as in the city. Thanks to her and others dedicated to local food production, things are changing. She is also a cookbook writer.
Berkshire Grown evolved from what was called the Berkshire Regional Food and Land Council which had its beginnings in the ‘80s. A group of dedicated people met over the early years to learn about the Berkshire food system and they laid the groundwork for this organization. Berkshire Grown was actually the name of the Business to Business program that sprung from BRFLC, and as the program grew it developed a clear identity. The larger organization’s descriptive but unwieldy name was dropped. So now the larger organization is Berkshire Grown, and the Business to Business Program is within it.
A focus of Berkshire Grown has been this program and they will continue with what they’re doing to connect farmers and buyers, but Minnich says they hope to expand into other arenas as well. Funding is of course an issue. State funding is disappearing, so they rely more on locally generated sources, with their biggest fundraiser their annual Beautiful Bountiful Berkshires event. They’ve applied for a federal grant which would help them to expand across group or organizational borders, into the environmental community, schools and nutrition programs.
The Business to Business Program is working, Minnich says: The farmers are pretty much able to sell what they grow. Of course, there’s also some work in informing buyers about what they can expect from local growers and producers and work in brokering the relationships. Some chefs, for example, are more tuned into the local agricultural scene, what it can produce and when.
As far as the chefs and stores are concerned, they are a dedicated bunch, says Minnich. They generally must work with two sets of suppliers, one for winter and the one for summer. They never stop needing what they can get locally in the spring, summer and fall but can’t get in the winter — lettuces and green beans in summer, for example. So they must work with suppliers more thoughtfully. They work harder to get local products, she said, but the result is a better product.
***Berkshire Grown members*** center
a mano and The Richmond Store; A Window on Thyme; Abijah Willard’s Restaurant; Apple Tree Inn and Restaurant; Applegate Inn; Appletree Organic; Aubergine; Baba Louie’s; Baldwin Grange Bed & Breakfast Inn; Barrington Brewery and Restaurant; Barrington Coffee Roasting Co.; Bartlett’s Orchard; Berkshire Area Farmers Market; Berkshire Beef; Berkshire Blue Cheese; Berkshire Coop Market; Berkshire Harvest; Berkshire Mountain Bakery; Berkshire Mountain Spring Water; Berkshire Village Inc.; Berle Farm; Berry Patch at Stone Wall Hill; Bertha Howard Farm; Bizen; Blantyre; Blue Moon Shrooms@Indigo Farm; Blueberries Restaurant; Blueberry Hill Farm; Boardman Stand; Bradley Farm; brewhaha!; Buxton School; Cafe Lucia; Caffe Pomo D’oro; Cake Walk; Canyon Ranch; Castle Street Cafe; Charles H. Baldwin & Sons; Chester Hill Winery, Inc.; Church Street Cafe; Clarksburg Bakery; Clearwater Natural foods; Clover Hill Farm; Colonel Bullock’s Tavern; Cork N’ Hearth; Corn Crib; Coles Brook Farm, Cranwell Resort; Crescent Creamery; D&R Beefalo; David’s Melons; Delftree Shiitake Mushrom Farm; Eastern Native Seed Conservancy; Eastover Resort; Equinox Farm; Farm at Millers Crossing; Farm Country Soup; foggy River Farm; Furnace Brook Winery at Hilltop Orchards; Gateways Inn; gould Farm & Roadside Store; Great Barrington Farmers Market; Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, both locations; Hancock shaker Farms; Hemlock Farm; High Lawn Farm; Hinsdale Farmers Market; Howden Farm LLC; Inn at Richmond, Inn at Stockbridge; Ioka Valley Farm, John Andrew’s Restaurant; Kripalu Center; Lakeview Orchard; Lee Farmers Market; Left Field Farm, Lickety Split; Lowell’s Tomatoes; Lowland Farm; The Market; Marketplace Kithen; Markristo Farm; Martin’s Restaurant; Mezze Bistro and Bar; Mill on the Floss; Moderski Farms; Moon in the Pond Organic Farm; Moore Fine Food, Inc.; Mt. view Carrington Farms; Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.; Old Inn on the Green & Gedney Farm; The Old Mill; Once Upon a Table; Orchards Hotel; Otis Poultry Farm; Partridge Road Farm; Peace Valley Farm; Race Brook Lodge; Rawson Brook Farm; Red Bird Orchard; Red Lion Inn; Restaurant Eleven; River valley Farm; Rock Ridge Farm; Rouge; Seven Hills Inn; Sheffield Farmers Market; snow Farm; south Face Farm; Spigalina; Stellar Pasta; Sullivan Station; Swiss Hutte; Taconic Restaurant; Taft Farms; Theresa’s Stockbridge Cafe; Tom Curtin Farm; Trattoria Il Vesuvio; Turner Farms; Twenty Railroad Street; Uncommon Grounds; Verdura; West Branch Flower Farm, West County Cider & Winery, Wheatleigh; Wild Oats Community Market; Williams College C.E.S.; Williams College Dining Services; Williamstown Farmers Market; the Williamsville Inn; Woodside Orchards; Woven Roots Farm.
The Business to Business Committee is Scott Cole of Caffe Pomo D’oro; Glenn Collins of High Lawn Farm; Amy Cotler of Berkshire Grown; Michael Faber of the Berkshire Co-op Market; Judy and Don Leab of Ioka Valley Farm; Douglas Luf of the Red Lion Inn; Susan Minnich of Coles Brook Farm; Peter Platt of Old Inn on the Green; Martin Stosiek of Markristo Farms; Jennifer Tessler of Woven Roots Farm and Aura Whitman of Seven Hills Resort.
The Board: Amy Cotler; Ruth Dinerman; Laury Epstein; David Fowle; Richard Gregg; Elizabeth Keen; Susan Minnich; Megan Moore; Kathy Orlando; Jennifer Sahn, Christa Stosiek and Sam Westcott.
The Berkshire Grown website is www.berkshiregrown.com. At their site is a Green Dining and Shopping Guide. Their address is 22 Railroad Street, P.O. Box 983, Gt. Barrington, Mass. 01230 and their telephone number is 528-0041.
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Berkshire County Homes Celebrating Holiday Cheer
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
There's holiday cheer throughout the Berkshires this winter.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
We asked the homeowners questions on their decorations and why they like to light up their houses.
In Great Barrington, Matt Pevzner has decorated his house with many lights and even has a Facebook page dedicated to making sure others can see the holiday joy.
Located at 93 Brush Hill Road, there's more than 61,000 lights strewn across the yard decorating trees and reindeer and even a polar bear.
The Pevzner family started decorating in September by testing their hundreds of boxes of lights. He builds all of his own decorations like the star 10-foot star that shines done from 80-feet up, 10 10-foot trees, nine 5-foot trees, and even the sleigh, and more that he also uses a lift to make sure are perfect each year.
"I always decorated but I went big during COVID. I felt that people needed something positive and to bring joy and happiness to everyone," he wrote. "I strive to bring as much joy and happiness as I can during the holidays. I love it when I get a message about how much people enjoy it. I've received cards thanking me how much they enjoyed it and made them smile. That means a lot."
Pevzner starts thinking about next year's display immediately after they take it down after New Year's. He gets his ideas by asking on his Facebook page for people's favorite decorations. The Pevzner family encourages you to take a drive and see their decorations, which are lighted every night from 5 to 10.
In North Adams, the Wilson family decorates their house with fun inflatables and even a big Santa waving to those who pass by.
The Wilsons start decorating before Thanksgiving and started decorating once their daughter was born and have grown their decorations each year as she has grown. They love to decorate as they used to drive around to look at decorations when they were younger and hope to spread the same joy.
"I have always loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. It's incredible what people can achieve these days with their displays," they wrote.
The Wilsons' invite you to come and look at their display at 432 Church St. that's lit from 4:30 to 10:30 every night, though if it's really windy, the inflatables might not be up as the weather will be too harsh.
In Pittsfield, Travis and Shannon Dozier decorated their house for the first time this Christmas as they recently purchased their home on Faucett Lane. The two started decorating in November, and hope to bring joy to the community.
"If we put a smile on one child's face driving by, then our mission was accomplished," they said.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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