The folks at Gnarly Pippins in Williamsburg, Massachusetts are gearing up for the 7th Annual Wild and Seedling Pomological Exhibition, and it is going to be a real rager, because they have quite an impressive crop of wild apples across the majority of North America. The Pomological Exhibition is truly a grassroots tradition where scores of likeminded folks who explore for wild apples come together around this glorious mast crop, sharing samples of the most intriguing specimens that they’ve found. Each year since the founding in 2019, they have had an increasingly diverse and interesting cohort of submissions from geographies and bioregions scattered across the continent. The recent volumes of the print publication related to the Exhibition, POMOLOGICAL SERIES, reflects that trend. For complete information on how to submit fruit, email Matt@gnarlypippins.com The event takes place at the Williamsburg Grange Hall, 10 Main Street in Williamsburg.
Join Alex Klein for a Fall Plant Walk in the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to noon. Plants might be potent medicine, delicious food, fine craft, or building material (or all of those things at once), but they also hold stories, memories and connections our human ancestors have formed with the landscape. Join herbalist Alex Klein for a nature walk through the Garden, getting to know some of the plants, both cultivated and weedy, and the way humans and other species have and continue to engage with our green friends. We’ll talk botany, ecology, and natural history, as well as medicinal, edible, and other uses of common plants in the garden and the “wild.” BBG members $30, nonmembers $45. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/fall-plant-walk-alex-klein
Join Master Gardener Chris Ferrero at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, September 26 from 1 to 3 p.m., to explore how to maintain perennial borders, foundation plots and vegetable gardens that have been created and tended over the years. This course will teach participants how to reshape their garden design and how to choose appropriate types of plants that can improve the gardening process.
Chris Ferrero is a gardening speaker, writer and consultant. Chris is a Cornell Master Gardener from Dutchess County, N.Y., where in addition to speaking and teaching classes, she has led demonstration garden renovations, organized regional events and served on teams as a perennials specialist known for particular expertise in shade gardening, flowering shrubs, pollinator-approved planting designs, and native plants as alternatives to invasives. $30 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/gardening-baby-boomers-10-ways-garden-smarter-we-get-older
Lenox’s signature fall festival featuring more than 100 artisan and food vendors, live music, family activities, and a full downtown street fair experience., takes place Saturday, September 26 from 10 – 5.
Free to attend, it’s a day of family fun with music, food & kid’s carnival. Musical performances throughout downtown. If you have questions, please email info@lenox.org
Join Berkshire artist and writer Suzi Banks Baum in Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Mother Earth Lodge for a hands-on workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday September 19 and Sunday Sept ember 20. We’ll harvest peak-season color from BBG’s gardens, create natural dyes and use them to dye thread and paper. With simple embroidery stitches, you’ll embellish book pages to create a small handmade book that carries the garden’s beauty into winter. You’ll be introduced to natural dyeing, receive resources for further study and take part in poetic journal prompts and conversation about daily creative practice. A materials fee of $15 is payable at the workshop. Please bring an apron and lunch. BBG members $200, nonmembers $230. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/stitched-gardens-plant-dyes-and-book-art
Join Krissy Romano, Visitor Center Manager at Berkshire Botanical Garden, for a two-part leaf casting workshop on Fridays, September 18 and 25 from 2 to 4 p.m. In the first session, you’ll select a leaf, prepare a sand form, and apply and shape concrete to create your cast. In the second, you’ll reveal your piece, refine its form, and learn techniques for painting and sealing. You’ll leave with a handcrafted garden sculpture to take home. BBG members $110, nonmembers $140. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/leaf-stone-concrete-leaf-casting-workshop
Join farmer, chef and educator Tracy Hayhurst for this farm-to-table class on Preserving on Sunday, September 20, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The participants will harvest from the BBG vegetable garden, then head into the kitchen with Hayhurst to make a multiple-course meal or in this case, preserved produce.
September is peak harvest time, and with fall around the corner, we want to save all the season’s goodness. We’ll cover several different preserving techniques, including fermentation and water-bath canning.
Tracy Hayhurst began her culinary training in the late 1990s, attending Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. In 2002, she co-founded Chubby Bunny Farm in Falls Village, Conn. In 2015, she returned to the kitchen in her dual role as chef and community outreach director at Plantin’ Seeds, connecting farmers and the community through meals that highlighted the best of the season. Her passion for sharing both farming and cooking has led her to Husky Meadows Farm, first as farm manager and now as culinary director for Husky Meadows’ Seed and Spoon Culinary Farm Stay programming.
The 28th Annual Garlic and Arts Festival will be held on September 26 and 27, from 10 – 5 each day, rain or shine, at Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Road in Orange, Massachusetts.
Here is what you will enjoy at the festival: Buy local, be local: support the bounty of over 100 booths featuring regional artists, farmers, and community organizations; strengthen communities by purchasing locally crafted and grown. Relax and celebrate life with great music, performance, spoken word, and dance on solar powered stages and throughout the rolling fields and forest. Learn and create through exhibitor demos, and new art and adventure activities for kids and families. Get silly with garlic games galore including the famous raw garlic-eating contest. Fill your belly with glorious, farm fresh and savory cuisine as you relax in the food courts overlooking the festivities. Energize your life with informative renewable energy and local living presentations, plus healing arts exhibitors. Orange is the New Green: trash free (well, only three bags for 10,000 people) with everything else recycled or transformed into fertile compost for gardens not garbage. Family friendly admission: $10.00 per day for adults, students $5.00, kids 12 and under free, free shuttle and parking too.
We love them but…remember, absolutely NO DOGs (other than service dogs) are allowed at the festival. Dogs cannot be left in cars for their safety- and it will be a warm weekend. And, Garlic Lovers are Hot but… No Smoking or Vaping in the shuttle bus lines or on the festival site.
Mission Statement: The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is a celebration of the artistic, agricultural and cultural bounty of the region. The purpose of the festival is to unite North Quabbin people whose livelihoods are connected to the land and the arts, and to invite both local residents and those who do not live in the region to experience the richness of an area that is often overlooked.
The festival emphasizes what is homegrown, handmade and high quality, as well as what helps preserve and support the environment and the community. Everyone involved – organizers, exhibitors, volunteers, performers, attendees, a supportive community – makes the festival what it is: an engaging, fun and educational celebration for all ages.
An all-volunteer committee composed of neighbors, artists, farmers, and community members meets year-round to organize The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. The Forster/ Stewart Family graciously hosts the festival at their beautiful, historic farm, and the festival is a non-profit event under the umbrella of Seeds of Solidarity Education Center. Over 200 volunteers the weekend of the event park, welcome, recycle, and support exhibitors; and exhibitors contribute time to raise tents, feed work crews, and more to help bring the festival to fruition. The festival admission is kept affordable to families, and is used to cover the costs of the festival, as well as support local projects that promote a vibrant North Quabbin region. For more information visit www.garlicandarts.org
Join farmer, chef and educator Tracy Hayhurst for this Berkshire Botanical Garden farm-to-table cooking class on Sunday, August 30, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Participants will harvest from the BBG vegetable garden, then head into the kitchen with Hayhurst to make a multiple-course meal.
The Italian Summer Feast will be using the bounty of the garden in traditional Italian recipes, and we’ll create a fantastic multi-course meal.
Tracy Hayhurst began her culinary training in the late 1990s, attending Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. In 2002, she co-founded Chubby Bunny Farm in Falls Village, Conn. In 2015, she returned to the kitchen in her dual role as chef and community outreach director at Plantin’ Seeds, connecting farmers and the community through meals that highlighted the best of the season. Her passion for sharing both farming and cooking has led her to Husky Meadows Farm, first as farm manager and now as culinary director for Husky Meadows’ Seed and Spoon Culinary Farm Stay programming.
Let’s reimagine the centuries-old Japanese art of bonsai, emphasizing individual expression beyond classical tradition. This approach embraces playful, lighthearted and sometimes humorous ways of working with miniature trees as an artistic form. In this Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on Thursday, August 27, from 5 to 7:30 p.m., led by artist and horticultural therapist Brian Mikesell, you’ll have creative freedom to shape your own bonsai. Step beyond your horticultural comfort zone and into a hands-on creative challenge. All materials are included, and you’ll take your finished bonsai home. $100 for BBG members, $130 for nonmembers, Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/pop-bonsai-workshop
