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The Return of the Farmers Markets 2013
It seems as if a little sunshine was all that was needed to restore our landscape to the familiar lush green of springtime. The much-needed warmth has also benefited our farms; evidence will be on display throughout the region as the seasonal farmers’ markets return. Herewith is our annual update; some markets have passed from the scene, and some new ones have cropped up last season. Also, Pittsfield’s market has new digs next to the Common. What might you find at any number of the thirty-plus farmer’ markets across our towns? Early vegetables including radishes, asparagus, baby turnips, rhubarb, and arugula; staples such as milk, meat, fish, and bread; plus honey, maple syrup, wine, jams, pickles, cheese, and pies. There will also be cut flowers and bedding plants for the house and garden.
Amenia Farmers’ Market
Outdoor Market: Amenia Town Hall
May 17 - the beginning of October
Fridays 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Winter Market: Amenia Town Hall
Saturdays, October - April
Chatham Farmers Market
15 Church Street (Route 203)
June 7 - October 18
Fridays 4 - 7 p.m.
Copake Farmers Market
Church Street Town Center Parking Lot
June 1 - October 26
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Cornwall Farm Market
The Wish House, 413 Sharon-Goshen Tnpk
May 11 - late October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Great Barrington Farmers’ Market at the Historic Train Station
Behind City Hall
May 11- October 27
Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Great Barrington Farm Stands at Rubiner’s
264 Main Street
May 18 - end of growing season
Wednesdays 2 - 6 p.m., Saturdays 11 - 4 p.m.
Great Barrington Farmers’ Market at the CHP
442 Stockbridge Road
June 6 - September 26
Thursdays 4 - 7 p.m.
Hillsdale Farmers Market
Roe Jan Park (between Routes 22 & 23)
June 1 - October 12
Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Hudson Farmers’ Market
6th and Columbia Streets
May 4 - November 23
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Hudson Valley Farmers Market
23 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook
Year-round
Saturdays 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Hyde Park Farmers Market
Town Hall Parking Lot, Route 9
June 1 - October 23
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Kent Farmers’ Market
Kent Green
May - October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - noon
Kinderhook Farmers’ Market
7 Hudson Street (Village Green at Route 9)
May 4 - October 12
Saturdays 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Lebanon Valley Farmers’ Market
Midtown Mall Green, Rtes 20 & 22
May 19 - October
Sundays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lenox Farmers’ Market
Shakespeare & Co., 70 Kemble Road
May 24 - October 12
Fridays: 1 - 5 p.m.
Millbrook Farmers’ Market
Front Street & Franklin Ave
May 25 - October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Millerton Farmers Market
Railroad Plaza (off Main Street)
May 25 - Last Week of October
Saturdays: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
New Milford Farmers Market
May 12th - November 17th
Town Green on Main Street
Saturdays: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Norfolk Farmers Market
Town Hall, 19 Maple Avenue
May 18 - October 12
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
North Adams Farmers’ Market
Municipal Parking Lot, St. Anthony Drive, between Marshall and Holden
June 29 - October 26
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Otis Farmers Market
Parking lot Papa’s Healthy Food & Fuel
May 11 - October 6
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Pawling Farmers’ Market
Charles Coleman Boulevard
June 22 - September 21
Saturdays, 9 a.m.- noon
Philmont Farmers’ Market
116 Main Street
June 16 - October 16
Sundays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market
First Street, across from Common
May 11 - October 24
Saturdays 9 - 1 p.m.
Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market
61 East Market Street
May 12 - Thanksgiving
Sundays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Winter Market: Rhinebeck Town Hall
Sundays, December - April
Sheffield Farmers Market
Old Parish Church parking lot (route 7)
May 13 - September
Fridays 2:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Thomaston Farmers’ Market
Seth Thomas Park, 100 South Main Street (Route 6)
July 11 to October
Thursdays 2:30 p.m. 6 p.m.
Torrington Farmers’ Market
Staples Plaza, 100 South Main Street
June 1 - October
Tuesdays 3 - 6 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Watertown Farmers Market
Watertown Public Library, 470 Main Street
July 13 - October 5
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
West Stockbridge Farmers Market
Harris Street/Merrit Way in the village center
May 23 - late October
Thursdays 3 p.m - 7 p.m.
Williamstown Farmers’ Market
Base of Spring Street
May 25 - October 12
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Posted by Fiona Breslin on 04/30/13 at 06:04 PM • Permalink
Global Gourmet: Four Markets Bring International Flair to North Street
When you need a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, you pack the reusable totes and head to the local supermarket. But where do you go for a bit of gooseberry conserve, cassava couscous, stuffed cabbage rolls, or broad-bean noodles?
Until recently, the answer was Albany, Springfield, or even farther afield. But these days, North Street in Pittsfield is a hot spot for international foods, with four ethnic groceries catering to very different palates.
Tucked between narrow storefronts on the north end of the street, Berkshire International Market has been offering African, Caribbean, and Latin foods since 2009. Owner Goundo Behanzin, a former accounting teacher who hails from the Ivory Coast and Benin, settled in Pittsfield with his wife in 2004. “I had been teaching students how to set up a business,” Behanzin says. “So I thought, why not open my own? And North Street had good foot traffic.”
Latinos typically drop in for comfort foods like frozen tamales, dried fish, and plantain chips. Meanwhile, African locals are thrilled to pick up traditional foods such as goat meat; African chicken (tougher but more flavorful than U.S. varieties); and products derived from cassava root, such as dough and attiéké, which is similar to couscous.
These, along with Latin American culinary and medicinal herbs—from epazote to cancerina bark—are the store’s treasures. Behanzin also plans to import African crafts like masks, baskets, and drums. “It will be a little piece of Africa on North Street,” he comments.
Diagonally across the street sits the Asian International Market, owned by Phillipines-born Virgin Galliher. She met her husband, a native of Dalton, while studying in Hong Kong, and moved to the Berkshires in 2006. Galliher was quickly discouraged by the need to drive to Albany or Hadley to find authentic Asian foods. “I met a lot of Asian women who complained about the same thing. So I decided I should bring it here,” she says.
Like Behanzin, Galliher chose her location for the visibility, but says that most customers now find her through Facebook or word of mouth. Among her best-sellers are several varieties of rice, ramen and other noodles, and common Asian cooking ingredients—palm sugar, fish sauce, sriracha, ponzu, fresh seaweed—that are almost nonexistent in mainstream markets.
The energetic, multilingual Galliher is happy to lead a tour of the store and point out the more unusual items, like dried star aniseed, cassava balls, dried mushrooms, and Indian sauces. Galliher says, “I tell people, ‘If you can’t find something but you have the box or label it came in, bring it in and I’ll try to find it for you.’”
Maria’s European Delights is the newest of the North Street groceries, but it’s the oldest business. Owners Krzysztof and Maria Sekowski emigrated from Poland more than thirty years ago, and worked at Rising Paper in Housatonic. But when the company folded in 2007, they decided to parlay their love of food into a unique grocery and deli catering to Central European—primarily Czech, German, Polish, and Hungarian—tastes.
After five years of hidden-gem status in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it plaza on Route 7 in Great Barrington, in January the Sekowskis moved into a generous store/café space almost smack-dab in the middle of North Street. Fans have discovered prepared foods such as golompki (stuffed cabbage rolls), bigos (hunter’s stew with kielbasa), and salatka jarzynowa (vegetable and egg salad), as well as twenty varieties of pierogies. Some make daily pilgrimages to the deli counter, which boasts a dozen sausages, even more cheeses, and meat lover’s delicacies like pâté-stuffed bacon and head cheese.
If there was any concern that Maria’s might falter without proximity to the large Polish population of Housatonic, Krzys puts that to rest. “We’ve done twice the business in this location than we did in Great Barrington,” he affirms.
At the southern end of North Street is the quirkiest of the four markets. Sheffield, England native and IT professional Alan Greaves, who relocated to the Berkshires after meeting his wife while on vacation here in 1999, relates a food-shock experience similar to Galliher’s. “There was nothing familiar in a 150-mile radius,” he recalls. “I sometimes drove to Boston, New York City, or Canada just to find products.”
In 2011, Brits ’R’ Us opened its doors, to the delight of local Anglos—Greaves notes that there’s an “island” of Brit expats in Great Barrington, as well as a Scottish contingent in Lee—and Anglophiles. Most come in search of frozen meat pies, Yorkshire pudding mix, Irish scones, and Marmite (a yeast-based, love-it-or-hate-it spread; Greaves, for the record, hates the stuff). Customers can also load up on Indian sauces and chutneys (hugely popular in England); conserves like gooseberry and tawny orange; blackcurrant soda; McVitie’s digestive biscuits; and biltong, a spiced South African jerky; plus kitschy Dr. Who and Brit collectibles.
Greaves, whose business has grown almost entirely by word of mouth, is hoping to open a second location in Albany in the fall. It’s part of his mission to spread the word about authentic British foods. “When I first came to the U.S., I kept hearing about Thomas’ English Muffins,” he says with a chuckle. “There is no such thing in the U.K. The only place you’ll see them is in a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich. I want to give people the real thing.” —Robin Catalano
Berkshire International Market
340 North Street
413-499-2750
Asian International Market
375 North St.
413-464-7380
Maria’s European Delights
146 North St.
413-442-5100
Brits ’R’ Us
80 North St.
413-770-1608
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Posted by Scott Baldinger on 04/14/13 at 01:08 PM • Permalink
The Land of Oil and Honey
Who knew one could achieve a higher education in those basic yet exalted substances, honey and olive oil, in the spiffy heart of Rhinebeck? Housed in the old hardware store building, Bumble and Hive on East Market Street is a two-year-old general store of sorts, filled with more than 50 varietals of honey, accessories, children’s clothing, antiques, jewelry, and hard-to-find cosmetics. Around the corner, the equally new Pure Mountain Olive Oil offers dozens of varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegars. Each hyper-focused shop has highly trained staff dispensing an academic knowledge of their product.
Bumble and Hive’s owner, Holly Haal, was drawn to the Rhinebeck location. “It seemed like a really good choice. It’s a very pedestrian-friendly culture here. There’s so much foot traffic and the merchants work really well together.” Rhinebeck resident and Pure Mountain Olive Oil co-owner, Zak Cassady-Dorion felt the same.
Haal is a vat of knowledge about honey, bees, and their plight, but she wasn’t always on the honey wagon: she endured the corporate grind for many years, and knew she wasn’t being true to herself. “I’ve always been an artist. I went to Rhode Island School of Design. I took a smart, grown-up, semi soul-crushing nine to five job because that’s what you do,” but she always wanted to do something more creative. “I decided life was too short to be locked into something that wasn’t fulfilling for me.”
She first opened shop with children’s cloths and tchotchkes, including honey, but saw that the latter was selling faster than anything else. “I really stumbled into the honey thing. I listened when it started flying off the shelves. So the shop morphed into this,” she says referring to her 1,000 square foot retail space.
Bumble and Hive source their honey from far and wide, like Catskill Provisions ($12 per bottle) from Long Eddy, NY, made by a former fashion magazine editor turned beekeeper, to Manuka Honey from New Zealand ($39.95 per bottle), which is said to have medicinal purposes. Haal’s right hand and secret weapon is Christopher Richards, a Bard student and a rock star on all things sweet and golden. “It doesn’t spoil; archaeologists have found edible honey in ancient Egyptians’ tombs,” he says. “It has an antiseptic quality and was recommended on the battlefield to heal wounds and burns. It also has antioxidant properties.” The store also boasts a honey bar, where almost every brand can be sampled.
Tucked across the way is another small specialty-foods gem, Pure Mountain Olive Oil, started by cousins Zak Cassady-Dorion and Charlie Ruehr (left), who are infomercial-crazy about their oleaginous wares. They love everything about it: how it’s produced, the traditions behind it, the delicate process of pressing the olives, even the fact that an olive is actually a fruit. Rhinebeck employee Holly Condina says of the men, “They are like fine-wine zealots, but with olive oil. They just know everything there is to know about it. It’s remarkable.” At Pure Mountain, the oil is tasted in a similar fashion to wine. Cassady-Dorion and Ruehr instruct clients to “swirl it in a cup, warm it a bit with your hands to open up the flavor, and smell it. Seventy percent of taste is really based on smell. Let it roll around in your mouth and cover all of the areas of your tongue.”
The oils are housed in Italian-made “fustis,” large metal containers — specifically made for the substance — that line the Tuscan orange colored walls. Pure Mountain staff are there, sommelier-style, to guide and educate customers on the product’s health benefits. (In Ancient Greece, it was applied to the skin and hair after bathing to protect from the elements. Athletes slathered their bodies in it and dusted them with sand to protect their skin from the sun and regulate body temperature. Also, its polyphenols are natural anti-oxidants that may prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and slow the effects of aging.)
Pure Mountain Olive Oil sources their product and soon hopes to have a more direct hand in the process. Currently, there are more than 30 varieties, some extra virgin, some infused, like their very popular garlic and mushroom, blood orange, and rosemary olive oil ($17.95 & up). They import from the usual places: Italy, Spain, Greece, and California but also from places one wouldn’t expect like Chile, Turkey, and Morocco.
The shop’s team works on different blends, but there are recipes and olive oil facts all over the walls. Cult flavors disappear off their shelves, like “butter olive oil” and seasonal “pumpkin,” but there will always be a new infusion on hand to try. —Dale Stewart
Bumble and Hive
47 East Market Street
Rhinebeck, NY
(845) 876-2625
Pure Mountain Olive Oil
23 E Market Street
Rhinebeck, NY
(845) 876-4645
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Posted by Dale Stewart on 04/02/13 at 10:28 AM • Permalink
Seders and Beyond: Klara’s Cookies
Each year at Passover, seder tables around the world ask, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” This week, New Englanders lucky enough to have Klara Sotonova’s handcrafted macaroons on hand will be asking themselves another question: Why are Klara’s Gourmet Cookies different from all other cookies?
The pillowy, coconut-stuffed macaroons from the Berkshires-based bakery are a far cry from the sugary canned variety that show up in grocery stores each spring. (Made with rice flour, Klara’s macaroons are safe for Sephardic seders, but may not be kosher for Ashkenazic ones.) Just one bite of the gumdrop-shaped treats has the power to summon long-buried memories of Passovers past—the warm, spicy scent of the corner store bakery, or the busy clatter of your mother’s kitchen, crowded with relatives rosy-cheeked on Manischewitz.
Sotonova, a Czech Republic native who moved to the Berkshires at age 19, says she’s been told that her vanilla-walnut crescents, which fly off the shelves at Easter along with her lemon-poppyseed shortbread, have similarly transportive properties. “We call them our time machines,” Sotonova says. “A lot of people take a bite and say, ‘Wow, my grandma used to make something just like this.’”
But unlike matzoh and Cadbury cream eggs, Klara’s cookies aren’t just a holiday specialty. They’re available year-round at 165 stores across New England—from Berkshire Organics to Guido’s to Nejaime’s. Triplex Cinema sells them at its concession stand; The Red Lion Inn rewards returning guests with a variety pack. Since founding the company with her husband in 2006, Sotonova has built a veritable cookie empire, churning out 4,000 macaroons, 7,000 crescents, 2,000 shortbreads, and 1,500 linzer cookies every week in the professional kitchen on the first floor of her home in Lee. The secret to her sweet success? Family.
Growing up in Chrast, a small town two hours southeast of Prague, Sotonova spent weekends in her grandmother’s kitchen, covered in flour from head to toe. “She’d let us play with the dough and help—pretty much anything we wanted,” Sotonova says. “Grandma’s house was like heaven.”
Baking was a ritual that brought the women in her family together. “Sunday was the day my grandmother would make this yeast dough with poppy seed filling or farmer’s cheese filling with raisins, or she would make kolache—yeast dough with apple butter and streusel,” Sotonova says. Each year around Christmas and Easter (Klara is not Jewish herself), her female relatives would crowd into a kitchen for four days at a time, baking twenty kinds of cookies to pass out while making the rounds to the homes of friends and family.
When Sotonova left the Czech Republic to take a position at Great Barrington’s Camp Eisner dining hall, she took her grandmother’s collection of yellowed, dough-splattered recipe cards with her. She soon put down roots in the area, studying hospitality management at Berkshire Community College and working at Swiss Hutte in Hillsdale, where she met her husband Jefferson Diller. The pair dreamed of starting their own restaurant, but worried about balancing work and family life. Then, one fateful day in November 2005, Sotonova baked her husband a batch of vanilla-walnut crescents.
“That was kind of it,” Sotonova recalls. “He’d eaten the whole container by the time I got home from work. He was like, ‘I have never had anything better than this. What else do you make?’” The next year, Klara’s Cookies was born.
“I felt I had this passed-on tradition that seemed pretty cool to share with people,” Sotonova says. “We get so busy with our lives, with our computers and iPhones. Traditions are, in a way, disappearing.”
Through Klara’s Gourmet Cookies, Sotonova has kept her family’s tradition alive. And she’s kept the cookie business in the family. Each morning, she and Diller wake at 4 a.m. to start baking while their three-year-old daughter Mika sleeps upstairs.
One day, Sotonova hopes to pass Klara’s Cookies on to her daughter. So far, Mika—who’s partial to the chocolate-coconut macaroons—certainly seems interested.
“She always wants to help,” Sotonova says, “and we’ll be like, ‘No, not yet.” What’s the problem with getting a junior entrepreneur on board the cookie team? “Well, there are health codes,” Sotonova says. “And you’re not allowed to lick your fingers.” —Sarah Todd
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Posted by Sarah Todd on 03/24/13 at 08:34 PM • Permalink
My Own True Love
Our love affair began years ago. It was never one of those civilized, time-consuming “Harry Meets Sally” things, with platonic friendship origins, the inevitable glance, date, and eventually, relationship. No, ours has been a white-hot smolder that has yet to simmer down. To this day, from the moment we are together, which is pretty often in the winter, until our parting hour, there is no limit to the passion we share.
I’m speaking, of course, of chocolate. (What’d you think, I was talking about a man?) Or chocolat as the French satinly refer to it. That exquisite by-product of cacao seeds that has wended its way through three millennia as an aphrodisiac, a warming drink, and what we have today: A melange of flavors and artistry assigned to just about all holidays (Easter being no exception).
But chocolate’s most common ally in our culture is love, and what better time to pay homage to the global drug of choice than in the month of lovers? As Valentine’s Day draws near, the RI region is virtually dripping with chocolate-themed events, and rich with cacao-inspired treats to heat up the palate and boil the blood in the coldest point of the season. Here is our lovingly selected guide to all things chocolate, no lover required (because then you’d have to share).
Events in the Region
Leave it to the Berkshires to devote an entire month to chocolate. Chocolate Berkshires has fast become a staple for warding off the winter blues and features events from Vermont to Great Barrington, all devoted to playing up the cocoa strengths of the county. The month finds its epicenter at Chocolate Springs in Lenox. Bring your sweet tooth and feel free to drool (delicately, of course) over specialty chocolates from master chocolatier Joshua Needleman. Not that you need any prompting, but there are some heaven-sent desserts to choose from as always. (I highly recommend the Chocolate Raspberry Brandy Mousse Cake.)
A Bean By Any Other Name: A Gluttonous Gift Guide
Of course, there is the whole business of gift-giving that comes with the Valentine’s Day territory. Even for the most skeptical and jaded at heart, a little chocolate goes a long way (maybe all the way to the boudoir), and if you happen to be living with the object of your affection, well, it’s a free-for-all…in the name of love. Put down the four piece Whitman’s sampler, get the hell out of Rite-Aid, and do chocolate (and your love) some justice with, for starters, a blood red tin of Harney & Sons Valentine’s Blend chocolate tea infused with roses. You can order online or visit their Millerton store for an olfactory epiphany (and some gorgeous gift ideas).
Tea whets the palate nicely, in preparation for the glory ahead. That glory could arrive in the form of a juicy classic — chocolate covered strawberries from Catherine’s Chocolates in Great Barrington — or a wild, worldly adventure — Chocolate Bark in Ginger Thai, Peppery Cashew, and other mouth-watering flavors courtesy of Your Spice of Life in Hillsdale (order online, and soon!). Either way, the chase is on for chocolate, and as Hemingway pointed out on several occasions, there is nothing quite like the chase. Sometimes a quickie is worth a thousand elaborate courtships, and it’s, well, quicker. Pop in to Rubi’s in Great Barrington for a rich, black-as-night bouchon, and chase that down with a latte if you like to linger.
Speaking of linger, most of us would like the culinary libations of the love season to last, ultimately, forever. Or at least through the year. There’s beer-of-the-month, jelly-of-the-month, even bacon-of-the-month, so let there be chocolate. Verdigris Tea and Chocolate Bar in Hudson offers a sumptuous (it may even be deemed as indulgent and gluttonous) Chocolate of the Month Club that includes mouth-watering confections like latte cups, chocolate-dipped caramels, artisan chocolate mini-pears, and gorgeous chocolate pyramids. Cleopatra and Eve would’ve fainted on the spot…
And while you are licking your teeth clean from all of this decadence, make sure you look good. Jane Iredale Mineral Cosmetics says you can have your cacao and wear it, too. The Chocoholicks compact contains four shades and flavors — Blood Orange, Espresso, Very Berry, and Chili Pepper — of super juicy lip gloss for a lip-smacking good time. You may want to be a little selective about when and where you wear the chili pepper. Some like it hot, but not too hot! —Nichole Dupont
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Posted by Nichole on 01/28/13 at 07:15 AM • Permalink
Reaping the Winter Harvest
It used to be that this was a nation of farmers: From our Puritan forebears eking out a life on the unforgiving land to patriotic families planting victory gardens to aid in the war effort. Everywhere you looked, even in the urban nooks and crannies, the land yielded its riches to those who cultivated it. But that all changed in the post-nuclear 1950s, when bomb drills reigned in schools and suddenly the land was forgotten.
“The post WWII generation thought that food came from the supermarkets,” says Berkshire Grown executive director Barbara Zheutlin. “They lost that connection to the land that their grandparents had. Thankfully, in the last 10 to 15 years, people have started to wonder ‘where does my food come from.’ It’s happening in the whole region, the whole country. We are rediscovering farmers and the roots of our food.”
In a nutshell (or should I say corn husk?) farming is sexy again, and good food even sexier. With this newfound interest in working the soil — thanks largely to young farmers and their dogged determination to re-cultivate the nation — also comes a demand for fresh food, regardless of the season. With this in mind, Berkshire Grown began hosting Holiday Farmers’ Markets, both in Williamstown and Great Barrington, in the hopes of giving area growers and food artisans an extra boost before the sluggish winter. But what began three years ago as an experiment in the parking lot of an old firehouse has grown into a much-anticipated harbinger of the winter holidays, as well as an off-season nod to the hard-working hands of the men and women who literally feed the people.
“When we started the winter markets it was purely experimental,” Zheutlin says. “It was a way to get people here, even though there was snow on the ground. Now the farmers actually start growing for it, in anticipation of being to sell at the market. What we found is that the vendors are responding very quickly and are eager to be a part of it. This is the most delicious way to strengthen the local economy.”
With some 70 vendors signed up for this year’s markets (that take place December 15 and 16) food lovers and gift seekers can all get their piece of the holiday pie. From Brussels sprouts to homegrown soups and healing honeys to hand-spun yarn, the winter markets offer a dizzying array of treats and trinkets (and, yes, sampling is encouraged!), all generated from the bountiful earth and its fluffy inhabitants. The festive mood is in part generated by the farmers themselves, who fill the room with chatter and advice for the best recipes. In fact, Suzy Konecky, who is the creamery manager for Cricket Creek Farm (of Maggie’s Round cheese fame) in Williamstown, looks forward to the markets, as much for their social appeal as for their financial potential.
“These markets serve a very important function,” she says. “Being in the public eye and having that community space is a great way to remind people that we’re here. Through every season, we’re here. Most people associate local food with the summertime. They don’t think about what’s available in the wintertime. Our CSA (for meat and dairy) runs year round. The table, so to speak, is overflowing.”
Cricket Creek is one of many local farms – including Farm Girl Farm, Sweet Brook Farm, Raven and Boar, Tortured Orchard, The Berry Patch, and many others — which will occupy a space at the holiday markets. And while growers, weavers, honey makers, and bread extraordinaires sell their wares inside at both Muddy Brook Elementary School and Williams College, outside the giant festive stall, The Meat Market will be slinging bratwurst on the grill and local musicians will light the air with folksy cheer.
“It’s just as much about the food as it is about the farmer,” says Zheutlin, who is expecting at least a thousand visitors or more to each market. “It’s about connecting with them on an individual basis and the process. The story behind the food is not something you have the privilege of hearing that often.” —Nichole Dupont
Berkshire Grown’s Holiday Farmers’ Markets
Saturday, December 15 at the Muddy Brook Elementary School Gymnasium, 318 Monument Valley Road, Great Barrington
Sunday, December 16 at the Williams College Towne Field House, 82 Latham Street, Williamstown.
Each market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information on winter markets in the RI region visit our Dining Intelligence guide.
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Posted by Nichole on 11/13/12 at 04:19 AM • Permalink
The Meat Market: A Butcher Shop Goes Back to the Future
When Rural Intelligence first reported two years ago about Jeremy Stanton’s dream of opening a butcher shop in Great Barrington devoted to locally raised meats, he had yet to meet Ruth Reichl, the editor of the late lamented Gourmet magazine, who spends her weekends in Columbia County. In July 2010, Reichl hired Stanton’s Fire Roasted Catering to produce a pig roast for her husband Michael Singer’s birthday, and she was blown away by Stanton’s artistry and passion for real food. She pledged to invest in his next venture. With her moral and financial support, Stanton was able to finally assemble a group of investors to back The Meat Market, which officially opens on Monday, August 29.
As someone who’s made his living by grilling over open flames no matter what the weather, Stanton is a bit of a daredevil—the Evel Knievel of cooking. So it comes as no surprise that he may or may not have steaks for sale on opening day. “We have some beef in the walk-in, but it may not be ready to sell—it takes 14 to 21 days for an animal to relax,” he explains. “We’ll open with the best we can offer, including a lot of sausages, pork chops, liver sausages and chickens.”
The Meat Market wiil be more than a butcher shop. “We will have an assortment of prepared foods that you can eat here or take home,” says Stanton, who vows to serve the best egg-and-sausage sandwich in the Berkshires all day long. “We’ll serve it with coffee made in a Chemex server. It’s what I like to drink, and I like that Chemex comes from Pittsfield. But we are not going to have an espresso machine and we are not going to be a coffee shop. Everything we do will be about meat with a focus on local and artisanal products. I’ll sell mustard and capers, but not granola.” He will have a lunch counter where he’ll offer customers a chance to eat exactly what he and his staff are having for lunch that day such as a Philly cheesesteak, a North Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich, or a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese. “There will be three ways to experience the shop. Buy the ingredients to cook at home. Buy prepared food to eat at home. Or eat it here.”
As any locavore knows, eating responsibly and seasonally means not necessarily being able to have what you want when you want it. “I probably won’t offer baby back ribs except by special order because I would rather sell bone-in pork chops and you can’t get both from the same animal,” he explains. “But I will have spare ribs.” Like an old-fashioned neighborhood butcher, he and his staff will be teachers, explaining the difference among various cuts and offering cooking advice as well as recipes.
Located in the old Gypsy Joynt space (near Cafe Adam and across Route 7 from Price Chopper), The Meat Market is surprisingly stylish. “Ritch Holben, who’s an architect and our neighbor in Southfield, helped us source the chairs and subway tiles and gave us lots of advice about colors,” says Stanton. “We both like that chic industrial look of soft woods mixed with hard metals.” The snappy logo was designed by Greg Klee, another friend. While Stanton hopes to be open seven days a week, he will adjust his schedule based on how much meat he’s selling and how much he has on hand. “We are not going to be afraid to run out,” he says dare-devilishly.
The Meat Market opening August 29
389 Stockbridge Road (aka Route 7), Great Barrington
413.528.2022
Daily 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 08/24/11 at 06:45 AM • Permalink
In Great Barrington, a Store That’s Worth Its Weight in Salt
by Talk about your niche markets. In May, the HimalaSalt shop, devoted primarily to pink salt from the Himalayan mountains, cropped up next to The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington. While more geographically focused than the ballyhooed global salt shop, The Meadow, that opened this January in Manhattan, HimalaSalt offers much more than you can shake a grinder at.
It goes without saying that the shop offers pink Himalayan table salt in various forms: fine and course, in shakers, jars, boxes, and grinders; and as cubes and chunks that can be grated onto your food. To complement the salt, shoppers will find an array of peppercorns, all organic and sustainably sourced, from across the globe, including heirloom, shade-grown Culeb and Long pepper from Indonesia, Brazilian pink peppercorns, and Indian white, green, and Tellicherry peppers, sales of which help support a school for children of farmworkers.
The beauty of the shop is that it goes far beyond table salt and into tableware made of solid pink salt, which resembles rose-colored quartz, thanks to the presence of iron, calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Thick pink salt slabs—round, rectangular, or square—conduct heat and can be used for cooking on the stovetop or the grill, and even in the oven. They’re perfect for preparing and serving food that benefits from a touch of salt, such as grilled seafood, vegetable kebobs, or even thinly sliced meats.
Large pink salt serving bowls (6-inch diameter for $44; 8-inch for $47) are the ideal vessels for guacamole or gazpacho. Chill one in the freezer and it adds a new dimension to fruit soup or sorbet.
Uses for the petite square tapas plates, which come in sets of five for $24.95, are limited only by your culinary repertoire: chill for serving sushi, paté, or smoked salmon, or use them at room temperature for cheese, fruit, and crudité. Presenting warm chocolate cake on these dishes is sure to impart that addictive sweet/salty flavor combination.
Charming cups seem tailor made for tequila, margaritas, and other frosty drinks, and also for cocktails of the shrimp or fruit variety, especially after they’ve spent some time in the freezer. Available in sets two for $21 or four for $37, they’re just the thing for finger foods like olives, edamame, or slender tempura fronds, such as green beans or sweet potato sticks. A cup of chocolate mousse? Divine.
Pink salt tableware is easy to care for – simply wipe items clean with a damp cloth and thoroughly dry them. And they’re durable, if gently tended. Cautions Kushi, “If they are cared for rather roughly, they could crack, similar to glass, or if they’re soaked in water instead of rinsed quickly and dried, that will certainly shorten their life span.”
Eventually salt serving ware will wear thin, but that doesn’t render it useless. Kushi says that when her pink salt cups have thinned at the bottom, “I fill mine with candles that line the bathtub. When that’s done, they get plopped in the bath, until at last, they finally dissolve.”
You won’t have to wait until you wear out your dishes to enjoy a relaxing soak in the tub. HimalaSalt also sells organic lemongrass bath salts and salt scrubs, as well as artisan-carved salt “stones” that can be heated or chilled for a deep, therapeutic massage.
These items and more are available on HimalaSalt’s website, and many can be purchased at stores across the country such as Whole Foods markets, Wegman’s, Kings, and Big Y, or locally at the Berkshire Co-op, Guido’s, Hawthorn Valley Farm, and other independent stores. The Great Barrington shop is HimalaSalt’s first retail outlet, and it’s likely to be the only one. “We are manufacturers and not necessarily retailers,” says Kushi. “It’s more for a branding presence and for educating people on the benefits of using HimalaSalt versus processed table salt or sea salt from today’s polluted oceans.”
And though the salt is mined from a mountaintop across the globe, the HimalaSalt line is locally made; Kushi manufactures HimalaSalt products in Great Barrington, in a 7,000-square-foot wind-powered facility. If that’s not enough of a feel-good story, Kushi claims the salt is sustainably sourced, and five per cent of profits are donated toward environmental causes.
It seems to be a formula for success. Kushi says that in-store sales have been solid; the grilling plates are the top sellers, followed by gourmet gift sets. Despite the government’s repeated warnings about sodium intake, there seems to be a growing appetite for salt, at least of the pink variety. Kushi reports that overall, wholesale business is up about 25% from where it was last year at this time, the same growth rate she has experienced since founding her company four-and-a-half years ago. It would seem that the Himalayan sky is the limit.
HimalaSalt
70 Railroad Street
(Adjacent to The Triplex Cinema)
Great Barrington, MA
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
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Posted by Bess Hochstein on 08/09/11 at 04:21 PM • Permalink
In Rhinebeck, A Pop-Up Market That’s Here (Please) to Stay
by Kathryn Matthews
Aha moments often occur under duress. Last December Elizabeth Ryan was desperately trying to figure out how to keep her staff from Breezy Hill Orchard intact through the winter. It had been a challenging year. In fact, for several years all Hudson Valley growers had been having a tough time, with the problems of the ongoing recession compounded by unpredictable crop yields, a consequence of volatile weather conditions.
As Ryan stepped onto East Market Street in Rhinebeck, she spotted a sign, “Room for Rent,” on a former barber shop directly across from the municipal parking lot where the farmers’ market is held from spring through fall. Never slow to add 2 plus 2, she suddenly also recalled something a friend had recently said: “Honey, I just want to be able to buy an orange in this town!”
It had been years since Rhinebeck Village had had a food market. Like nearly all the villages in the region, high rents and competition from the supermarkets in the strip malls outside of town had made the ma-and-pa grocery a relic. But times and priorities had recently changed. There was a new customer, bent on buying local, sustainable, and organic, and willing to pay the price. Three days after working out a favorable agreement with the landlord (who, as luck would have it, is a staunch Breezy Hill Orchard customer), Ryan opened the Breezy Hill Market.
Today, Ryan and her passionate and knowledgeable staff sell local broccoli, Swiss chard, just-picked purple asparagus, and not-local Valencia oranges seven days a week to what she describes as “a core group of wildly supportive customers,” who have also come to rely on Breezy Hill for their grass-fed organic meats (frozen), local milk, cream, and eggs, cheeses, prepared foods, such as pasta and potato salads, as well as pies and pastries. In Ryan’s view, the farmers who help keep the bins and refrigerated cases filled are joined by these loyal customers as partners in the business: “It’s one of the best ways that people can invest—for very little money—in a green, local and sustainable economy.”
Ryan comes from a long line of farmers, and the bug bit her early—and hard. In 1984, as a 24-year-old fresh out of Cornell, she single-handedly bought Breezy Hill in Staatsburg, a 35-acre dairy farm that she has since transformed into a diversified orchard. Then—as now—she was a passionate advocate for local and sustainable agriculture. Breezy Hill is now in its second year of transitioning to certified organic—one of the few orchards in the Hudson Valley doing so. (Under the Breezy Hill imprimatur, Ryan also operates Knoll Krest Farm, best known for its eggs, and Stone Ridge Orchard in Ulster County.)
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A founding member of the New York City Greenmarket farmers’ markets, Ryan also helped found the Rhinebeck Farmers Market, where, in season, Breezy Hill’s stand is a mainstay, selling apples, pears, peaches, plums and raspberries, as well as apple cider, donuts and fruit pies.
Though Ryan isn’t making any rash promises, her customers naturally hope that Breezy Hill Market is here to stay. “It’s a challenge to be open seven days a week,” she hedges. Nonetheless, she appears to have settled in, fitting the cozy, light-filled space with a 19th-century countertop she salvaged from an old store in Newburgh. The place exudes a quaint, old-timey charm that suggests it has always has been—and always should be—part of the Rhinebeck village scene.
Breezy Hill Orchard Farm Market
54 E. Market Street, Rhinebeck
856.876.7606
Open daily, Saturday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 07/01/11 at 09:16 AM • Permalink
Alternative to Shopping: The 21st Century Root Cellar
by Betsy Miller
Before there were refrigerators, even before there were ice boxes, there were root cellars. Homemakers knew how to preserve their summer harvests for safe consumption in the dark of winter. And they didn’t pay a cent for energy.
Root cellars were a common part of every home. Whether free-standing, like the picturesque one above, or incorporated into the basement (below), it was once customary, in fact, necessary, to have a place to store all the produce that was harvested during the summer. It was quaintly called, “putting food by.”
These days, home owners are interested in root cellars for other reasons—to save the expense of electricity, to preserve an over-abundance of seasonal local produce, and to get back to basics. On Saturday, June 25th, there will be a Root Cellar Workshop at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA. Instructor Jack Kittredge will discuss the types of root cellars used in this region during past centuries, as well as those that can be easily created today. “He’ll talk about ways to make sure there is proper light, heat, cool air, and moisture,” says Danielle Steinmann, Associate Director of Interpretation and Public Programs at the Village. “Jack has taught a number of these workshops and knows how to adapt early storage techniques for contemporary homes.”
Included in the course will be ways to retro-fit a storage space for food into existing conditions. A root cellar can be created in a basement for little expense. And outdoor storage takes surprisingly little (if any) pick and shovel work—a mound of earth can keep a number of root vegetables fresh for months. By encasing these vegetables in straw or newspaper or just in loosened dirt, the root crops will be preserved all winter long. And the need for a freezer will be substantially reduced.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in energy-free ways to preserve crops. The Shakers were leaders in such innovations. Says Steinmann, “By incorporating Shaker history into this workshop, our goal is to make the connection between their values and contemporary life. They were interested in sustainability, the good use of land and responsibility to the earth. And they didn’t like to use energy unnecessary.”
The workshop includes a discussion of which vegetables lend themselves to root cellar storage, a tour of two or three of the Shaker root cellars on the grounds at Hancock Shaker Village, and a presentation by Kittredge of alternate designs that can adapt to nearly any situation. The lecturer will also discuss his own cellar, in use since 1982. Mother Earth News called it “the Cadillac of root cellars.” (Kittredge swears the magazine meant high quality—not energy guzzling).
With a root cellar, next winter, when the roads are bad, the wonderful tastes of summer will be close at hand. How great is that?
Root Cellar Workshop
Hancock Shaker Village
Pittsfield
Saturday June 25, 1 - 4 p.m.
Members/$55; non-members/$60
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/17/11 at 12:40 PM • Permalink
