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Community

Share The Bounty: Ten Years of Farm to Pantry Philanthropy

Some people get their best ideas in the shower or on long walks. For Jonathan Hankin and Barbara Zheutlin, left, inspiration came from a humble box of vegetables. The couple joined a CSA—Community-Supported Agriculture group—shortly after relocating to Great Barrington from Los Angeles in 1995. One share bought

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Food

The Scoop In Hillsdale? Tattoo Parlor Turns Ice Cream Parlor

Many of you know Margaret Roach from her wildly popular blog, A Way to Garden, or her book about dropping out of the corporate world, And I Shall Have Some Peace There, or way back to her days as garden editor of Newsday or Martha Stewart Living. What you may

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Food

Jewish Farmers Find A Field of Dreams in Falls Village

You might call Alex Mulens and Leo McLaughlin the goyish gentleman farmers. The couple (left), who both work as flight attendants for American Airlines and own the Mix on Main antiques shop in Sheffield, MA, have been living in the center of Falls Village, CT, for nearly a decade, turning

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Community

In Chatham, Judy Grunberg is a Force of Culture

Growing up in Manhattan, Judy Grunberg and her friends used to wait outside the big Broadway theaters at dawn to make sure they got the one-dollar standing-room-only tickets when the box office opened. “As a young girl, I saw so many of the famous Broadway musicals with their original casts,

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Community

In Memoriam: Robert Willis, Owner of Lakeville's Cafe Giulia

Restaurants occupy a very special place in the life of our rural towns because they bring us together, providing  a convivial alternative to quiet nights at home. Restaurateur Robert Willis created just such a place (twice) in Lakeville, CT called Cafe Giulia, which happened to serve very delicious and unfussy

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Community

Artist Tom Patti's Berkshire Museum Commission Is a Glass Act

Portrait by Paul Rocheleau; photos of the installation courtesy of Tom Patti Design At age eight, Tom Patti lost the sight in his right eye when a spinning contraption he was building came apart and a sharp piece flew into his face. Perhaps because of that accident and how it

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Community

Community: 20 Questions for Ella Baff of Jacob's Pillow

Ever since Ella Baff moved to the Berkshires in 1998 to head Jacob’s Pillow, one of the world’s leading proponents of dance and the oldest dance festival in America, the Becket-based cultural organization has surged forward by leaps and bounds. During her tenure, the Pillow was designated a

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Community

Spencertown Academy Enters the Fifth Decade of its Third Life

There’s a large, warm spot in Clare Verenazi’s heart for the Spencertown Academy Arts Center. “Spencertown Academy was where my husband went to school in the 1940s, and he walked there and home everyday,” says the 78-year-old Chatham resident. “We’d enjoy Christmas pageants and year-end picnics, which

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Food

The Matchbox Café Strikes the Right Chord in Rhinebeck

If you find yourself heading north on Route 9 just below Rhinebeck and you’re feeling hungry, do yourself a favor and stop at The Matchbox Café. But be warned: don't blink or you will miss the diminutive Café, housed in a little stone cottage, less than a

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Community

A Whale of a Celebration for Melville and Moby-Dick

In organizing Call Me Melville, a summer-long festival celebrating Herman Melville and the work he’s best known for, Moby-Dick, Megan Whilden has discovered that “a novel about obsession breeds obsession.” For example, there’s the Brooklyn-based band Call Me Ishmael, which has composed 135 songs about Moby-Dick, one for

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Community

New Documentary Focuses on Photographer Gregory Crewdson

When Gregory Crewdson was 16, he had his first fifteen minutes of fame in the form of a three-minute pop song. Crewdson played guitar in a new wave band called The Speedies, and in 1979 they had a minor hit with the song "Let Me Take Your Photo,"

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Food

Cross Roads Food Shop is Hillsdale's New Hot Spot

Chef David Wurth has been living and cooking long enough in the Berkshires and Hudson Valley to know that a successful business must have crossover appeal. With the Cross Roads Food Shop, he has created the quintessential rural restaurant--a neighborhood hangout by day, destination dining by night--that attracts locals and

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