Rural Intelligence (Page 629)

Arts

His Brother's Keeper: Van Gogh Takes Center Stage

He was a zealous Evangelical preacher, a surrogate father to the children of a whore, a lover of wheat fields, an artist...but above all else, Vincent van Gogh was a misunderstood man with an unbridled passion for love of all kinds. So says his disabused brother Theo in Starry

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Food

Savoring the Season: The Daily Pâté

Months ago I was sitting with my friend Audrey Sussman on her porch. We were drinking iced tea and enjoying the sun, probably having a meeting of some sort on recipes. But then she changed the subject, as if inspired, and she asked, “Do you want to make pâté?” She

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Food

A Nuns' Story: Sacred Hearts and Heady Cheeses at Sprout Creek Farm

As the year enters its final days, many of us are frantically gearing up for our holiday rituals. But the staff of Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, two of whom are nuns from the Society of the Sacred Heart, a socially conscious international order, are slowing down as the days

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Arts

A Rhinebeck Rocker’s Christmas

Grammy and Golden Globe-nominated singer-songwriter-guitarist Marshall Crenshaw, whose songs have been covered by Bette Midler, Ronnie Spector, and Top 40 hitmakers the Gin Blossoms, is digging through the “Christmas Section” of his massive LP collection. The record aficionado, who shares his wide-ranging assortment of music on

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Style

Three's Company at Nest

In between planning carpools and sleepovers, Ellen Hubbard, Lisa Foster, and Mary Harvey planned the first incarnation of what is now Nest, a modern interiors and design house in Lakeville, Connecticut. The trio met while their children attended Indian Mountain School, and the first seeds for Nest were sewn. Tucked

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Arts

Speaking Through Clay

For nearly two decades, Dan Bellow was a wordsmith. You might say it’s the family business. The son of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, he worked the circuit of Northeast newspapers, covering crime in Albany, city government in Pittsfield, and state politics in Burlington, Vermont. But

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Food

The Handy (and High Minded) Hoarder

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes. It’s the eve of the departure of our geese and ducks to be transformed into festive holiday dinners. For us, who don’t make it to the malls very

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Parties

Sing Out, Sing Loud! Lenox Caroling Festival Gala Reception

Rachel Louchen reports from Lenox. The second annual Lenox Caroling Festival began with a very appropriate event: performances by some of the eight groups attending the festival within the coming days. Held at Ventfort Hall on Friday, December 7, the night before the start of the festival, The Cape Chorale

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Parties

Berkshire Creative Sparkles with Annual Holiday Fête

Fiona Breslin reports from Pittsfield. Cocktails, a silent auction, live local music, beautiful flower arrangements, and night-long dancing under a disco ball, made Berkshire Creative's annual SPARKLE! on Thursday, December 6, at the Masonic Temple, a downright party as much as a fundraiser. Not to mention, this

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Food

Indian Pudding: A Secular Staple

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 to readers and friends. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural Intelligence to

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Food

Fire Cider: The Hot New Mixer for Warming Winter Drinks

Cold season is here; the wildly vacillating weather, with its regular dips into frigidity, drives the annual search for ways to ward off the inevitable onslaught of coughs, sneezes, and sore throats. There’s a relatively new addition – albeit steeped in tradition – to the all-natural anti-cold arsenal: Fire

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Community

At The Not So General Mills Mansion: A Gilded Age Holiday

Once upon a holiday, the Mills Mansion — now the Staatsburgh State Historic Site, near Rhinebeck, NY — was home to some of the most exclusive Christmas parties in the country. This Downton Abbey-styled household, flush with Gilded Age cash and helmed by ambitious socialite Ruth Livingston Mills (portrait below by

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