Monday, March 19, 2018
Spring Supper
a benefit for Berkshire Grown and Share the Bounty

Enjoy a very special dinner featuring international flavors created by talented chefs from around the world who have made the Berkshires their home.

Host Chef
Gustavo Perez
The Southfield Store

Coordinating Chef
Peter Platt
The Old Inn on the Green

Click  here  to buy tickets. 

By: Patricia LeBoeuf for The Berkshire Eagle

Thanks to the Berkshire Eagle for covering our Annual Networking Event. Connecting producers, growers, and buyers to one another is an important part of the work that we do at Berkshire Grown .
It is also an opportunity to hear from our professional members and find out what kind of challenges they face.

Read the whole article here. 

Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images
"The Trump administration is proposing a major shake-up in one of the country's most important 'safety net' programs, SNAP." 

"Under the proposal, which was announced Monday (2/12/18), ... just over 80 percent of all SNAP recipients - would get about half of their benefits in the form of a 'USDA Foods package.' The package was described in the budget as consisting of 'shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit and vegetables.' The boxes would not include fresh fruits or vegetables."

Listen to or read the whole article here.  

Issues of food security and access to healthy food are at the forefront of what we do at Berkshire Grown. HIP increased local farmers' sales of fruits and vegetables by nearly $3 million last year and funding needs to be renewed. The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) provides a dollar-for-dollar match for SNAP money spent on fruits and vegetables purchased at participating farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets, and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs statewide.

Call or email the governor's office (617-725-4005 and ask to speak to constituent services, or use this form). Urge them to consider funding in a supplemental budget to fill the gap between the suspension and the new fiscal year.

Read more about HIP here and use this form to share your thoughts about the importance of HIP funding. 

Check out Find Food and Farms  for the list of CSAs in the region. Some farms fill up early, so sign up now! 

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture 

If you join a CSA Farm now, you provide the farmer with funds to buy seeds and supplies, and in the season you receive a share of the crops.  Some CSAs continue into the winter, check it on Find Food and Farms. 


Is your favorite farmers market indoors for the colder months?

The following markets are happening:

Amenia, NY - November-April, Saturday, 10am-2pm
Millerton, NY - Jan-April, 2nd and 4th Saturday, 10am-2pm
Norfolk, CT - November - April, every other Saturday, 10am-1pm
North Adams, MA -  November-April, 1st Saturday of each month
Pittsfield, MA - November-April, 2nd Saturday of each month

Check out pages 4 & 5 of 2017's Guide to Local Food and Farms to find your market.

Giving Thanks to this year's Markets Sponsors
Support Berkshire Grown, local food, and our farmers.

Thank You, Farmers Market Managers!
As another record-breaking season of farmers markets comes to a close for us, we cannot thank our remarkable market managers enough for the work that they do to make these markets happen. 

Farmers Shannon Barsotti (Williamstown) and Martha Suquet (Great Barrington) are an invaluable part of the Berkshire Grown team and we are so grateful for their hard work, kind manner, and creative problem solving. Thank you!

Stay in Touch
Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter comes out monthly. 
Please send information to alicia@berkshiregrown.org . 

Barbara Zheutlin, Director
Jess Camp, Program Manager
Jamie Paxton, Outreach Program Manager
Alicia Rossie, Communications Director
Join Berkshire Grown here .