Our Community - Commonweeder

Sunday Afternoon with Mozz, Feta, Chevre, Cajeta and more

Post published:01/12/2012
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Actually my neighbor Sheila of Dell Farmstead started her cheesemaking workshop at 9 am! Fortunately, she included a beautiful lunch in the day's schedule. By the end of the day we had made: chevre, a goat cheese; 30 minute mozzarella; feta; cheddar; creme fraiche, soft goat cheese, and a Tomme unique to Dell Farmstead. We learned that all cheese begins with separating the curds from the whey - with the help of additives like citric acid, and starter…

Our Food, Economy and Community

Post published:11/19/2011
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When I drove down the Greenfield Community College driveway last Saturday I passed ‘my tree,’ a weeping cherry that I donated when I left the College in 1989. I reveled in its good health, parked my car and walked towards the steps. A head popped out of the Sloan Theater door, calling to tell me I could take the elevator up. I called back, “No, no. Step to health. Step to health,” ever my motto as I was…

Jane and Eudora

Post published:11/12/2011
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Readers often have favorite authors and are not content with reading the author’s books. They want to know where and how the author lived, what made them the writer, the person they were, what influenced them and what supported them. In recent years, after a tough beginning, I have come to enjoy Eudora Welty’s books. I confess it took listening to an audio book of her stories including “Why I Live at the P.O.” and heard those southern…

Scaling Up Local Food

Post published:11/09/2011
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The Solar Dancer greeted all those who gathered at Greenfield Community College last Saturday to hear about and discuss our current local food production and food security and the ways that it might be stepped up. It was an exciting day because we live in a fortunate area that has lots of good farmland, with old (in the sense of established) and new farmers. These farmers operate farmstands and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and participate in area Farmers…

Lyman Plant House and Smith College

Post published:10/24/2011
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Last week I visited the Lyman Plant House at Smith College in preparation for a column and post about the Annual Chrysanthemum Show which begins Friday, November 5 with a talk by Smith alum and author Paula Dietz about the gardens she has visited and written about in her book, On Gardens. The Smith Botanical Garden and the Lyman Plant House are treasures for the whole community to use. The Lyman Plant House is open every day (except Thanksgiving and…

One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Homeplace

Post published:10/20/2011
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Eudora Welty has been much on my mind these last months. First there was a performance of the one act opera composed by Alice Parker based on Welty's The Ponder Heart, and then I read a biography of Elizabeth Lawrence who was a friend of Welty's, and then my book club read One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty. All of that is topped off with the publication of One Writer's Garden written by Susan Haltom who researched and…

Henhouse #7 – A Work of Art

Post published:10/18/2011
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When I was about halfway through my Henhouse Series, a friend said I had to visit Cosima. Her henhouse was a Taj Mahal of henhouses she said. Look here and you can see the center posts that is key in holding up the green roof. When I finally visited Cosima I had to agree. Her henhouse is a work of art. She said they built this cordwood masonry henhouse using Robert L. Roy's books and that this is actually…

We Love to Eat – Blog Action Day 2011

Post published:10/16/2011
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I live in a ruraltown of 750 souls in the western corner of Massachusetts that sits on the Vermont border. On the Fourth of July in 1981 I happened to meet two other friends at the spinning wheel in the town museum. We were celebrating the holiday, but got to complaining that we never went out to dinner, we couldn't afford to, and besides there were no good restaurants closer than 40 miles. Actually there were no restaurants…

CISA Launches Emergency Fund for Farmers

Post published:10/14/2011
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CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) has established a revolving loan fund designed to help farmers recover from Hurricane Irene. The Fund will offer quick, zero-interest loans to assist farmers and farm businesses in the aftermath of the storm and flooding. They didn't do it alone; Whole Foods, Equity Trust and an anonymous donor who gave a $50,000 challenge are all a part of this effort to help the farmers who are so important to all of us. You…

Henhouse #6

Post published:10/10/2011
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There was nothing photogenic about our chores this glorious autumn weekend - mowing, weeding, cutting back - so I'll concentrate on an exploration of another Heath henhouse. Joey built, overbuilt he said, this 10x12 foot henhouse for his ten hens. You can see he has a lot of help! He read a lot and looked at a lot of henhouses, and talked to a lot of people before he built his. The forethought shows. His luck shows too.…