Sunday, December 14, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

HomeLife In the Berkshires

Life In the Berkshires

GARY LEVEILLE: 10th Annual and FINAL Satirical Holiday House Tour

All good things must come to an end. This will be our final tour. We hope the fictitious visits presented below bring you smiles and a few laughs.

Bits & Bytes: Octoberfeast; ‘Forgotten Farms’ at GlobeDocs; Paul Green at Music & More; dementia caregivers workshop; CAS High Holy Days services; VCCA fellowship...

“Forgotten Farms” profiles New England dairy farmers and examines the class divides in New England’s farm and food communities.

WHAT’S COOKIN’: In the kitchen with Barbara Bonner

Recently, Bonner made a batch of putanesca, an Italian tomato sauce, while I watched. She likes it partly because it is easy to make and hearty to eat.

Bits & Bytes: First Saturday Documentaries; new chief medical officer for CHP; ‘Trends in Philanthropy’ talk; the Quartet at Spencertown Academy; Royal Hemlock Trail...

Chief Medical Officer for Community Health Programs, Dr. Everett Lamm is a board certified pediatrician who practiced in New Hampshire for 14 years before to relocating to the Berkshires. He served the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services as a legislative advocate, educator and speaker.

CONNECTIONS: The murder on Maplewood Avenue — in 1929

The prosecution offered Pulero a deal if he would plead guilty and save the Commonwealth the cost of a trial: They would accept second-degree murder. He refused. He had a plan.

Bits & Bytes: Brooke Skinner Ricketts at Simon’s Rock; Banned Books Week; CATA exhibit; High Holy Days at Knesset Israel; Hopkins Forest fall festival;...

Typically held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week is an annual event highlighting the value of free and open access to information.

Mount Washington: Experiencing a Berkshire Gem

'Town Among the Clouds,' which was produced in 2003, about the past and present lives of the uniquely bonded community of Mount Washington still resonates in 2016.

Bits & Bytes: ‘Beehive of Activity’; Lit Net gala; Van Jones at Williams; Simon’s Rock faculty forum lecture; GB road work; Zonta Club awards...

Drs. Tony Makdisi and Sukhpal Mann will receive LitNet’s Founders of America Award, which recognizes individuals whose strength of character and commitment to service have improved lives in the Berkshires and beyond.

Bits & Bytes: Hevreh Ensemble at Simon’s Rock; Ace Frehley at the Colonial; GBFD open house; Julia Ain-Krupa at the Bookstore; geology hike at...

The Great Barrington Fire Department's open house will include a rope rescue demonstration and a fully simulated extrication of a patient from a motor vehicle using the Jaws of Life.

Bits & Bytes: Spencertown Academy painting, photo exhibit; the Sebastians at Music & More; BCC welcomes former ITT Tech students; Berkshire Walk to End...

ITT Tech’s locations included two in Massachusetts and three in New York and the closure has impacted 35,000 students nationwide. BCC urges all displaced ITT Tech students to contact its admissions office.

EDGECAST: Hip hop artist Jackson Whalan – a podcast

Berkshire-born hip hop artist Jackson Whalan talks about his career, his work with musician and producer Robbie Baier, and how Railroad Street Youth Project played a crucial role in supporting his music.

Bits & Bytes: Construct ‘Walk This Way;’ Berkshire Pottery Tour; Sharon Bates at Chesterwood; Stardust Jazz Group; animal tracking; Community ReStart fundraiser

The Berkshire Pottery Tour will include the studios of of Ben Evans In Richmond, Paula Shalan in Stockbridge, Lorimer Burns in Housatonic, Daniel Bellow in Great Barrington, Ellen Grenadier in Monterey, and Linda Skipper in New Marlborough.

CONNECTIONS: Berkshires once enjoyed cutting-edge communications network

So why could we get the telegraph and telephone service to rural Berkshire County in the nineteenth century but cannot get broadband today? What is the problem and what is the solution?

Bits & Bytes: ‘Love Letters’ at Barrington Stage; Concert Across America; ‘What’s in Our Water?’; fall festival & 5K; Victor Borge talk; Stockbridge Planning...

The 'What’s in Our Water?' forum will explore current challenges to the environment, the effects and potential risks to human health, and ways in which information is disseminated.

EATING ON THE EDGE: Cantina 229, ‘world fare made local’

Last summer, the Cantina opened its doors one night a week for Taco Tuesday and it was hit! This year they re-opened and expanded the menu to “world fare made local.”

EDGECAST: News in Review with Heather Bellow — a podcast

Interviewed by Jim Frangione, Berkshire Edge Managing Editor Heather Bellow discusses the issues she's been covering: proposed PCB dump in Housatonic; the new Jane Iredale/Louisa Ellis store in Great Barrington; the redevelopment of the top of Railroad Street; access to broadband Internet in the rural Berkshires; and the Democratic primary election.

SUSTAINABLE BERKSHIRES: On a roll at East Mountain Farm

After he finished his English degree at Williams College, Kim Wells fulfilled his dream with the purchase in 1982 of what is now East Mountain Farm in Williamstown. Today, his pasture-raised beef, chicken and pork have many fans in the region.