Rural Intelligence
Food

Eat, Plant, and Learn to Love Good Food at Katchkie Farm

By Betsy Miller Liz Neumark, CEO of Great Performances, a catering company based in New York City, had been catering for more than two decades when she took to joining CSAs, and gradually fell in love with locally-grown produce.  “For the first time in my life,” she says, “I
By Editor
Parties

Curtains Rise at Jacob's Pillow: Everybody Dance Now!

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Becket In a region rife with galas, there is perhaps none as widely anticipated as Jacob Pillow’s, which took place on Saturday, June 18. One might assume this is because the Pillow gala hews 100% true to the organization’s mission.
By Editor
Style

Gardens: A Gertrude Jekyll Legacy

by Betsy Miller Glebe House is an historic landmark in Woodbury, CT, “birthplace” of the Episcopal Church in the United States.  Meticulously restored to its 1750 heyday, it is also one of the first historic houses ever opened to the public as a museum. But, for gardeners, all that pales
By Editor
Parties

Reflections on Melville Opens at Arrowhead

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Pittsfield:  It may seem jarring to exhibit strikingly contemporary artwork in the rustic 1780s barn that houses the Berkshire Historical Society. It begins to make sense when you learn that the barn is part of Arrowhead, the Pittsfield farm where Herman Melville
By Editor
Arts

Impressions of a Revolutionary: Pissarro's People

by Robyn Perry A kind-looking man with a long flowing beard and piercing eyes, Camille Pissarro, father of French Impressionism, was not French at all.  He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family on the then-Danish colony of St. Thomas in the Caribbean, and remained a Danish citizen
By Editor
Arts

Review: A Dazzling and Delightful "Guys & Dolls" at Barrington Stage Company

The television series Glee has proven that a passion for Broadway show tunes and 1980s pop songs can be invigorating, sexy and relevant. Week after week, Glee has shown that old-fashioned song-and-dance numbers can be infused with a contemporary sensibility to bridge the generation gaps, appealing to
By Editor
Food

AgriCulture: A Tail of Two Cultures

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week,  Peter writes: That’s right, “tail” not “tale.” Our sheeps’ tails have gotten caught in a collision of cultures. As some of you may know, we breed karakul, a desert sheep originating
By Editor
Parties

Farm-to-Table Dinner at Hancock Shaker Village

Hancock Shaker Village is always lovely, but on a perfect summer evening, after the crowds have dispersed, it is a beyond idyllic.  Thursday, June 16 was just such an evening, when friends of the HSV's agriculture programs gathered for a special farm-to-table dinner produced by a
By Editor
Community

Dan's Diary: The Berkshire/Cape Cod Connection

If you ever wondered why Ellen Spear left her plum job as president and CEO of Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, you'll understand after visiting her at the magnificent Heritage Gardens and Museums in Sandwich, MA, which is a couple of miles from the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges.
By Editor
Community

A Free Introduction to Fly Casting

by Betsy Miller “What I try to teach is this,” says Fred Moran, fly caster extraordinaire. “You have to set up a motion of the line that pulls the rod back over your shoulder.  Then, when you feel the line tug on the rod, you start the forward motion.  The
By Editor
Parties

Chesterwood Opens Its Annual Contemporary Scultpure Show

For the past 32 years, Chesterwood, the home and gardens of the American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850 -1931) in Stockbridge has hosted a contemporary sculptures show on its lush grounds. A property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Chesterwood's centerpiece is the intact studio of French
By Editor
Food

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
By Editor

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