Editor

Parties

Shopping and Grazing — and Fundraising — at Hammertown

Lisa Green reports from Pine Plains.A tent nearly rivaling the size of Hammertown Barn in Pine Plains was just spacious enough to accommodate the tables and displays of auction items at the venerable shop’s 7th annual Shop for a Cause Event on Saturday, September 22. The fundraiser was

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Food

Let Them Eat Crepes: Starving Artist Café Feeds the Masses

Emmy Davis, part owner and crepe-maker extraordinaire When she was a teenager, Emmy Davis, a Lee native, went to Paris with her father. She loved the city, loved the cafés, but wasn't altogether sold on one of the country's staples: crepes. The 33-year-old

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Food

In Millerton: Spain Comes to Main Street, Tapas Style

Owner Eleanor Nurzia and her family. Photos: Laurie Spens. Much like the little black dress, Spanish paella is a classic with endless variations. In Valencia, where the saffron-yellow rice dish originated, chefs insist that a proper paella must include chicken, rabbit, and beans. Caracoles terrestres—land snails—are optional.

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Parties

Laughter Is the Best Medicine at Fairview Hospital Gala

Sarah Todd reports from Great Barrington. Though comedian Paula Poundstone ribbed the crowd at the 2012 Fairview Hospital Gala about indulging in luxuries like “eating gold on heated sidewalks,” no edible metals were on offer at Saturday’s hospital fundraiser. There was, however, plenty of first-rate fare at the

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Food

Recipe: Warm Lentil Salad With Corn and a Twist of Green

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers’ Market. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural

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Community

Omega's Women & Power Conference Explores What’s Possible

“When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” So goes the Chinese proverb. The influential women gathering at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY this weekend, September 21 – 23, for the biennial Women & Power Conference can’t be accused of sleeping, but they sure are moving mountains with their work, words, and

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Style

Vegetable Garden: The Pesto Variations—Beyond Basil

A recent trek to the compost pile forced me to reckon with the state of affairs in my vegetable garden, particularly the state of green affairs. The basil is bushy and much of it is flowering; the kale is as high as my waist and deep green. It is time

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Food

AgriCulture: Tempus Fugit, But Don’t Rush It

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark  writes. Under siege.  Or so it seems. There are enough things that have to get accomplished on the farm this season, all simultaneously, that sometimes it seems your head could explode.

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Parties

Berkshire History Two Ways: From Farm to Gilded-Age Table

Silka Glanzman reports from Great Barrington and Lenox.The heritage of the Berkshires was served up two ways on Saturday, September 15, with an elegant plein air farm-to-table dinner in Great Barrington followed by a Gilded Age Gala in Lenox. The evening kicked off at Indian Line Farm

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Community

High Art Meets Hootenanny at MASS MoCA's FreshGrass Fest

Infamous Stringdusters perform on 9/21 “People might think of museums as being places where you have to be quiet and careful,” says Katherine Myers, director of public relations and marketing at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. "But MASS MoCA -- we like to try new things." The dynamic

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Parties

The Writerly Whirl of WordFest Weekend at The Mount

Sarah Todd reports from Lenox.When writers come together, stories get passed around like dinner rolls. The authors’ dinner on opening night of The Mount’s second Berkshire WordFest writers' festival, held at the historic estate of literary lion Edith Wharton, was no exception. On a terrace overlooking Laurel

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Food

Recipe: Welcome Autumn with Pear, Kale, and Sorrel Salad

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers’ Market. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural

By Editor