"Baking is art and science at the same time. It’s like music -- you have to learn the structure before you can set yourself free to experiment."
-- Shelly Williams, owner of Haven Café and Bakery, in Lenox and Great Barrington
I recently found the recipe for blueberry muffins scribbled – ingredients only – no instructions. Why would I need the instructions? I knew exactly how to make them! I decided to make them. Guess what? I still know how to make them.
Stanton is not just a successful farmer. He credits his interest in serving on town boards to the model set by his parents, who have always taken into their home people who need help in various ways.
I find garlic scapes simply perfect. Their curly, sculptural shape intrigues me. They double as both a food and a flower arrangement. I usually harvest them and place them in a mason jar filled with water.
Like the growing interest in food and wine, coffee has benefited from our desire to have every element of our culinary experience enhanced to its logical — or illogical — conclusion.
The book hails not just a picnicking tradition, but the way in which the world stops for music. All that love and beauty makes for a civilized time, and that makes life an art.
The Leahey family has been farming in Lee since 1889 and it seems something of a miracle that this farm has not only survived but is reinventing itself.
Those delicate heart-shaped berries inspire me to cook up a storm. Is there nothing better than a strawberry rhubarb pie, or how about some strawberry ice cream and better yet, preserving the bounty and canning some strawberry jam?
Their philosophy is to not grow more than they can sell. They scrutinize what sells, and if a crop does not make money, it’s dropped the next year. “With 2 ½ acres of growing land, everything has to work.”
This year there are 140 members who pick up their shares on Tuesday or Friday from June 1 through to the end of October. Indian Line also offers working shares, which is a discount in exchange for 30 hours of work on the farm. Some people will work the barn on pickup days, and others help in weeding or harvesting.
Farming in Columbia County has changed remarkably in the last 25 years. When we got started, there was just Ted Dobson, Hawthorne Valley, and us. Today? Every little town has a farmers market.”
-- Martin Stosiek of Markristo Farm
There are many paths to becoming a farmer but Meister’s struck me as delightfully unusual – she majored in Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, and went on for a Masters degree in the same field at Tufts.
The juxtaposition of the umami rich Maggi Sauce with the unique taste of cilantro and the sweet and sour bite of the pickles in a cocoon of French bread slathered with mayonnaise makes for a wonderful fusion of east and west. This is the yin and the yang of sandwiches. Namaste.
Unlike many farmers, the couple does not have an off season because they produce their products all year long, selling at winter farmers markets and wholesale. As Elling says, “Buying our products is not just for consumption — it’s an investment in local agriculture and business.”
