Boston Flora

Tag: garlic and arts festival

  • Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – 27th Annual North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival

    The 27th Annual Garlic and Arts Festival will be held on September 27 and 89,  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

     

  • Saturday and Sunday,October 5 & 6, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – 15th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

    Follow your nose to the 15th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival on October 5 and 6. This scent-sational and much anticipated event fondly known as “The Festival that Stinks” emanates non-stop entertainment and education for everyone in the family.

    Festival enthusiasts wander among 100 exhibitors featuring the region’s finest artists and craftspeople, farmers, specialty food creators and innovative organizations. All ages gain creative inspiration from more than 25 art and agriculture demonstrations, from leather work to weaving, cider pressing to growing garlic, composting with worms, raising bees, and turning wooden bowls. Purchasing locally grown and handcrafted products strengthens local economies! Vibrant with creative culture, sense of community, family fun and skills for local living, the festival has been likened to ‘a giant family picnic where everyone gets along.’

    The fall foliage and beautiful rolling fields of the historic Forster family farm at 60 Chestnut Hill Road in Orange create a relaxing setting for fabulous performances on two stages. The 2013 main stage line-up includes:  Inside / Out Dance Company, Celtic Heels Irish Dance, The Pangeans, The Equalites, Crow’s Rebellion, Gaia Roots, and The Impulse Ensemble. In the cooking demo tent, chefs from The Gill Tavern, Stockbridge Farm, The Kitchen Garden, Fireside Bar and Grill, The Farm Table and the Rendezvous will arouse your own garlic and farm-fresh creations. After you eat, enjoy a ‘Gardens not Garbage’ installation created by Seeds of Solidarity to learn how the festival- known for producing only 3 bags of trash for 10,000 people- instead generates compost sufficient to make 20 local community gardens! Orange is the New Green. There’s an incredible line-up of renewable energy and local living workshops that will energize and transform your lifestyle. Add to all this garlic games galore on the main field, a chance to try your hand at disc golf, or for those who dare, the famous raw garlic eating contest. Add to all this ample kids art and nature activities and garlic games galore including the famous raw garlic-eating contest that make this event a draw for families across New England.

    Help us write the Book of Garlic! Bring your favorite garlic recipes, reminiscences about the festival (past and present), photos or drawings to be included in this exciting, if stinky, community project. Submissions will be accepted at several festival locations or email thebookofgarlic@gmail.com through February 2014.

    All this for an inflation busting, family friendly admission of $5.00 per day for adults, $8.00 for a weekend pass, and kids 12 and under are always free.

    To Get to the Festival: Take Route 2 to Exit 16, or Route 202 from the south, and follow the signs to the main parking area and shuttle lot on the corner of Holtshire and Fairman Roads to catch a free, five- minute ride right to the festival entrance gate. Parking at the festival site is reserved for carpools of three or more or those with handicap tags. New! Exercise enthusiasts can hike 45 minutes from the shuttle lot through the forest and over the hills to the festival via the Chestnut Hill trails.

    No pets are allowed on the festival site or left in cars. Visit the website at www.garlicandarts.org for the complete schedules of exhibitors, music, entertainment, kids activities and games, chef demos, renewable energy, local living and healing arts workshops.

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nn2fCN-Seqs/T-vQNfHpuvI/AAAAAAAACO8/uEugkboYpOc/s400/IMG_5692.JPG

  • Saturday, October 1 – Sunday, October 2, 10 am – 5 pm – North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival

    The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival at Forster’s Farm,  60 Chestnut Hill Road in Orange, Massachusetts 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 and high quality, as well as what helps preserve and support the environment. The festival is an engaging, fun and educational celebration for all ages. Everyone involved-organizers, vendors, volunteers, performers, attendees, a supportive community-makes the festival what it is and we are grateful and look forward to celebrating the richness of our communities for many years to come.

    The Agricultural Vendors at the Festival offer amazing, locally grown and produced products that celebrate the bounty of the North Quabbin and surrounding regions. Through on-going demonstrations and workshops you’ll learn to grow your own garlic, experience live honeybees, make an herbal tincture, or delight in a flower garland or wheat weaving. Celebrate this feast of the land, honor the good work of farmers, and rejoice in the harvest season. Don’t forget your shopping bag!

    The food vendors at the festival celebrate the bounty of the harvest through their delicious garlic infused creations. Individuals and restaurants that sell food at the festival are committed to culinary creativity and local agriculture. Some vendors are community organizations that raise funds through this event. Many vendors use organic and local ingredients. There is a ‘no polystyrene’ policy, and highlight biodegradable utensils and plates which are composted after the festival. Compostables from past festivals are now fertile soil rather than filling landfills!  The trash is transformed into compost – last year 10,000 people generated only three bags of garbage.

    The wood fired oven at the Garlic and Arts Festival was built 4 years ago for use at the festival and for the local community. It is used for baking loaf and flat breads like foccacia and pizza and for preparation of many other types of dishes. It can roast and even grill using the coals from the fire in the oven.

    The oven is built to an ancient Italian design fundamentally the same as larger ovens that still exist in the Pompei archeological site. There are many thousands of similar ovens in Italy today where backyard cooking and roasting is very popular. There have been similar ovens in many parts of the world for millenia along with other forms such as the pit and open topped ovens in Central and South Asia.  Garlic painting below by Julian Merrow-Smith.

    A complete list of demonstrations, games, activities, chef demonstrations, family stage productions, and workshops, along with directions, can be found at www.garlicandarts.org.

  • Saturday, October 2 – Sunday, October 3, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival

    The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival at Forsters Farm,  60 Chestnut Hill Road in Orange, Massachusetts, to be held this year on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 – 3,  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 and high quality, as well as what helps preserve and support the environment. The festival is an engaging, fun and educational celebration for all ages. Everyone involved-organizers, vendors, volunteers, performers, attendees, a supportive community-makes the festival what it is and we are grateful and look forward to celebrating the richness of our communities for many years to come.

    The Agricultural Vendors at the Festival offer amazing, locally grown and produced products that celebrate the bounty of the North Quabbin and surrounding regions. Through on-going demonstrations and workshops you’ll learn to grow your own garlic, experience live honeybees, make an herbal tincture, or delight in a flower garland or wheat weaving. Celebrate this feast of the land, honor the good work of farmers, and rejoice in the harvest season. Don’t forget your shopping bag!

    The food vendors at the festival celebrate the bounty of the harvest through their delicious garlic infused creations. Individuals and restaurants that sell food at the festival are committed to culinary creativity and local agriculture. Some vendors are community organizations that raise funds through this event. Many vendors use organic and local ingredients. There is a ‘no polystyrene’ policy, and highlight biodegradable utensils and plates which are composted after the festival. Compostables from past festivals are now fertile soil rather than filling landfills!

    The wood fired oven at the Garlic and Arts Festival was built 3 years ago for use at the festival and for the local community. It is used for baking loaf and flat breads like foccacia and pizza and for preparation of many other types of dishes. It can roast and even grill using the coals from the fire in the oven.

    The oven is built to an ancient Italian design fundamentally the same as larger ovens that still exist in the Pompei archeological site. There are many thousands of similar ovens in Italy today where backyard cooking and roasting is very popular. There have been similar ovens in many parts of the world for millenia along with other forms such as the pit and open topped ovens in Central and South Asia.  There will be music on two solar powered stages.

    A complete list of demonstrations, games, activities, chef demonstrations, family stage productions, and workshops, along with directions, can be found at www.garlicandarts.org. You may also email deb@seedsofsolidarity.org.

    http://garlicbob.com/art/wreath.jpg