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Parties

Culture Mix! NW Connecticut Arts Council Welcomes Spring

The stunning glass-box Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts—one of the country's premiere ballet schools—was the setting for the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council’s spring Culture Mix, which brought together artists, actors, teachers, politicians and culture aficionados in downtown Torrington, CT. Local caterer Jill Nicolson outdid

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Food

Berkshire Preserves Launches with a Tasting at Guido's

It all began, as so much food sleuthing does, with a memory.  "In 1969, I traveled to England for the first time," says Barbara Fields, sole proprietor of a new company Berkshire Preserves™, which officially launches this Thursday with a tasting at Guido's. "My then-

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Food

AgriCulture: Animal Behavior 101 Styles of Mothering

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: Since most of the "how to farm" animal care books we have consulted seem to treat animals as objects, or mere commodities, and thus ignore much of their behavior, we

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Food

BOLA Granola: The Best in the Berkshires - And Beyond?

Everybody in our region knows someone who makes really great granola. Michele Miller’s husband, furniture maker Peter Murkett, was convinced that her granola was truly exceptional. Two years ago, he encouraged her to try packaging her very crunchy, not-too-sweet, savory blend of oats, almonds, brown sugar and

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Style

He Was a Very Good Boy: Pancho 1994 - 2010

Our blogger, interior designer Carey Maloney, and his partner Hermes Mallea, an architect, are principals in the M (Group). My Pancho died this afternoon.  I can’t stop crying. I know, I know he was sixteen, and he lived the life of a prince.  I’m crying for me, not

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Food

AgriCulture: The Making of a Farmer, Part 2

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: A couple of weeks ago, I described arriving at young adulthood in a state of profound alienation from the natural world.  How did I find my way to the realization (or is

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Parties

Home of the Brave: A Photographer Honors Berkshire Veterans

Cultural correspondent Bess J. M. Hochstein reports from Pittsfield:  The stars aligned for photographer Bill Wright about six weeks ago, when he approached Megan Whilden, Director of Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development, about mounting an exhibition of portraits of local military veterans in the city’s Lichtenstein Center for

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Food

Let the Locavores Eat Cake!

Moist, sweet and laced with tart cranberries, this healthy cake staved off my winter blues by perfuming the house with its spices. It's a relative of pumpkin bread, but with the locavore edge —local butternut squash, eggs, butter, apple and regional cranberries—all widely available during the cold

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Food

AgriCulture: Sheepish Grins and Other Barnyard Metaphors

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: Having a farm does revive one’s sense of metaphorical language.  While slopping the pigs I have sometimes, as I watched the disgusting activity at the trough, caught myself thinking, “You eat

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Parties

Parties: BIFF Goes to the Oscars

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Pittsfield: No one gushed about who they were wearing, and no one volunteered that they had to return their jewels to Harry Winston, but guests at the Berkshire International Film Festival’s Oscar night party at the Beacon Cinema had been asked

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Parties

Radioactive Bodega: IS 183's Post-Apocolytpic Dance Party

Ever wonder what fashion look would rise from the ashes of a nuclear catastrophe? No?  Actually, neither have we, but enthusiastic supporters of IS 183 clearly gave the matter a lot of serious thought when they assembled their costumes for the art school's Radioactive Bodega fundraiser in Pittsfield

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Style

A Chatham Architect Designs a Prize-Winning Poolhouse

By day, it appears to be a cluster of nicely maintained farm buildings, just as the Chatham architect James Dixon intended.  This is but one of the aspects of this poolhouse project that impressed the jury at the Eastern New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which, on

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