The Rural We

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The Rural We: Derek Grout

In 2005, when Harvest Spirits owner Derek Grout began working on an idea to use the surplus apples at his family’s Golden Harvest Farm (in Valatie, NY) to make vodka and brandy, the plan was ingenious and illegal. Over the next few years he lobbied Albany with the Farm

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The Rural We: Steele Andrews

The Silvanus Lodge in Hillsdale is a popular destination for skiers and summer visitors thanks to its affordability and convenient location. Its charismatic owner, Steele Andrews, is another reason guests keep coming back. Approaching his 14th year as owner of the Lodge, he takes great pains to make sure his

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The Rural We: Gabriel Squailia

From conception to publication, Gabriel Squailia's debut novel, Dead Boys, has been in the works for nearly 15 years. Well-known for spinning parties at Jacob's Pillow and Berkshire Museum as DJ BFG, he spent years perfecting his writing before making the jump into the literary world.

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The Rural We: Amy Wynn

Photo: Nancy DePecol Amy Wynn is the Executive Director of the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council, based in Torrington. It's a job she relishes because it allows her to combine her experience in arts administration with working in the community she loves. She acknowledges many people have questions about

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The Rural We: Tracy Huling

Tracy Huling began using her background in public policy, filmmaking, research and analysis three years ago to found and direct the Prison Public Memory Project in Hudson. Its aim is to use storytelling, new media and research to tell the story of the Hudson Correctional Facility, which was known as

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The Rural We: Richard and Abby Tovell

After a decade of living and working in London, Abby and Richard Tovell — along with their two children and their freelance graphic design business, T Square Design Studio — picked up stakes and relocated to Housatonic in 2010. T Square has since become the secret weapon of some of the area’

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The Rural We: Liana Toscanini

Liana Toscanini is the Development and Marketing Director at Community Access to the Arts (CATA), the organization she has been involved with for 13 years out of its 22-year history, five as a board member and seven on staff. CATA's long-term success, Liana believes, is due to the

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The Rural We: Erik Hoffner

Erik Hoffner is a freelance photojournalist and writer. He is also the outreach coordinator for the non-profit environmental/nature magazine, Orion. Hoffner has lived all over the country and has traveled extensively across the world. He is a regular blogger/contributor for Grist and his photography now appears in an

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The Rural We: Peter Filkins

Peter Filkins, a published poet and literature professor at both Bard and Simon’s Rock colleges, has recently translated the third in a trilogy of novels by German author H.G. Adler. The novels — The Journey, Panorama and, released this past December, The Wall — have garnered critical acclaim from the

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The Rural We: Eugenia Zukerman

Eugenia Zukerman is a world-renowned flutist, a writer, an  arts administrator and video blogger (she is co-founder of NotedEndeavors.com), and a part-time resident of Ancramdale. On top of all that, she’s the new music director of Clarion Concerts in Columbia County’s Leaf Peeper Concert Series. Her first

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The Rural We: Arlo Guthrie

Arlo Guthrie’s "Alice’s Restaurant" is as much a part of our local history as the Red Lion Inn or the Hudson River School. The fact that Arlo and many of his expansive brood still live in the Berkshires — and the Guthrie Center at the Old Trinity

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The Rural We: Dan McManmon

Dan McManmon enjoyed growing up in the Berkshires but has a newfound appreciation for the area now that he is raising a family of his own. He has been involved with the College Internship Program (which his father, Michael McManmon, founded in 1984) for a good portion of his life,

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