Rural Intelligence (Page 723)

Style

The Fungus Among Us, and other Landscaping Salvos

Breaking the soil is the biggest challenge a gardener has. And once it's broken, keeping it that way—light, loamy and nutritious—is an on-going struggle. In fact, the verbs "to struggle" and "to garden" often (specifically, from May through September) appear to

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Arts

Toulouse-Lautrec and His Paris at the Clark

Robert Sterling Clark, who always went by his middle name, was the grandson of Edward Clark, business partner of I.M. Singer, the inventor of the lockstitch sewing machine. The elder Clark, a lawyer, handled the business side of the Singer Manufacturing Company, but he was inventive too—after settling

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Community

Dan' Diary: Hollywood on the Hudson

We're going to be more interested than usual in the Academy Awards this year, because two friends of Rural Intelligence, whom we featured last year, have a big stake in the outcome: Courtney Hunt, the director of Frozen River (which closed last year's Berkshire International Film

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Food

Local 111 Among Top 25 Farm-to-Table Restaurants in U.S.

There it is in the pages of the February 2009 issue (and on the website, naturally) of Best Life, a men's magazine from Rodale Press, our own Local 111 in Philmont, cited by a blue-ribbon jury as one of the top 25 farm-to-table restaurants in

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Food

Adventures in Slow Cooking: Moroccan Chicken Stew

Since starting my adventures in food here at Rural Intelligence, I've received a few requests from readers. Some I've tried to address, some I'm still working on, and one, until now, had me stumped: recipes designed for a slow cooker. I am, theoretically, the

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Food

Cooking With Chef Jeff

Fresh from a working vacation in Nice, caterer Jeff Loshinsky [that's him, in the white jacket, in the market there] is bursting with new techniques and recipes he wants to share. "Nice has one of the best markets, Cours Saleya, in the world," he says. "

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Food

Peace, Love & Chocolate in Stockbridge

Peace, Love & Chocolate sounds like the name of a shop run by an old hippie, but Ali Aronoff is more of a hipster. A personal trainer and chef who's lived in Stockbridge for fifteen years, she opened a chocolate boutique six weeks ago in The Mews next

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Parties

Celebrating the Inauguration Together at the Mahaiwe

Happy voters from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York came together as one community to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama at the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington. The free event (sponsored by public television station WMHT and the law firm of Cain Hibbard & Myers) was standing room only. There

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Style

The Upside of the Downturn

Of course, we're all scared silly, deer frozen in the headlights, and all that. But the Millbrook-based architect James Crisp, a longtime observer of the ups and downs of the region's fortunes, asks us to consider a few facts: "Prices are cooling for both

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Parties

A Costume Lark at the Clark

The ice outside was rock solid but inside the Clark Museum in Williamstown on Friday, January 17, the Renaissance-style merriment flowed like mead. Men in doublets and women in farthingales feasted on suckling pig and trifle between outbreaks of boogieing to the strains of Abba and The Isley Brothers

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Food

Fit for A Dinner Party: Kasha with Preserved Lemons

I know some people who are perfectly confident in most areas of their lives—and perfectly capable in the kitchen—who become paralyzed at the idea of throwing a dinner party. The thing I've learned is that dinner parties aren't necessarily any more work than a

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Community

Is There A Humane Way to Kill Mice?

I wasn't feeling particularly pleased with myself the other day when I found dead mice in both my garage and in the cupboard over my refrigerator. I was feeling guilty. I have heard people talk about humanely getting rid of mice, but I wondered if that is just

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