Franklin County Fair – Int’l Year of Family Farm

  • Post published:09/08/2014
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The Franklin County Fair is always a celebration of family farms and gardeners. This view from the balcony gives only a hint of the perfect produce, creativity and business acumen of local farmers and gardeners. Red Fire Farm is just one of the area's most successful small farm, a testament to farmer Ryan Voilland's farming skills, but also his people management and business skills. The dairy farm is not yet dead in Western Massachusetts and these young people…

Greenfield Winter Fare 2014

  • Post published:01/30/2014
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If I am counting correctly this is the 7th Greenfield Annual Winter Fare which will bring truckloads of fresh local vegetables to Greenfield High School on Saturday, February 1.  Enter from Kent Street off Silver Street. Beyond  vegetables there will be preserved products like pickles and syrup, honey and jams. Frozen meat!  And to keep you shopping from 10 am til 1 pm music will be provided by Last Night's Fun, and soup provided by The Brass Buckle,…

My First Book Signing

  • Post published:08/25/2011
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The Heath Fair gave me a unique experience this year. In addition to enjoying all the other delights and events, I got to meet and talk to other gardeners who asked me to sign my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, when they bought it.  This was a  thrill for me. The book my family and I had been working on all summer was finally in our hands - and on sale. Of course, The…

Another Heath Fair is Past

  • Post published:08/22/2011
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I spent a lot of time working, one way and another, in the Friends of the Heath Free Public Library Book tent. This book sale and raffle is our big fund raiser of the year. The Book Tent is a good place to read, and eat homemade pie a la mode, and to visit. But there is a lot to see at the Fair. Food preservation is a hot topic in the general culture these days, but canning…

Cindy’s Mosaics

  • Post published:11/11/2010
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Saturday was a big day in Shelburne Falls, home of the Bridge of Flowers. There had been events at the Buckland Shelburne Community Hall for Cider Day but there was also a dedication of the 12 vitreous glass mosaics created by Cynthia Fisher of Big Bang Mosaics in cooperation with students from the elementary and high schools, as well as members of the community. Ten of the 3 x 3 foot mosaics depict iconographic aspects of the ten…

There Be Giants

  • Post published:09/29/2010
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Did you know that growing and exhibiting giant vegetables is a popular competitive sport?  I don't have photos of Art Kaczenski's 2010 Second Place Winner at the Big E's Giant Pumpkin competition, but once again he took second place with a giant pumpkin weighing 993 pounds. His wife Amanda Kaczenski took third place this year with a giant pumpkin weighing 927 pounds.  The First Prize winner was Daniel Boyce of Vermont with a giant pumpkin weighing 1,254 pounds,…