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So far this spring, the locally-grown and seasonal bits and bobs entering my kitchen have come from the hydroponic garden tended by the fourth graders at Leeds Elementary School. We’ve enjoyed salads full of fresh sprouts, used the cilantro in creamy dips, and enjoyed the Swiss chard in these chard and quinoa patties.  I actually […]

Spring is here and backyard chickens all around the Valley are responding to the longer days by laying more eggs — but at Letendre Farm in Ware, egg production is a steady, year-round affair. Letendre Farm was established by Mike Jacques’ great-grandparents. Today, Jacques runs the business alongside his parents, Ralph and Jeanette Jacques. After […]

Longtime friends and business partners, Michael Docter and Jorge Sosa first met in Hadley, when Sosa was operating the Mi Tierra Restaurant in Hadley. Docter frequented the restaurant while he worked as a farmer for 16 years on the Food Bank Farm, which he helped establish to supply fresh produce to The Food Bank of […]

While food is fuel for the human body, community sustains the human psyche. For senior citizens living on their own, social interaction and nutrition become equally important.  The Senior Farm Share program from Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) supports low-income seniors with 10 weeks of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables purchased directly from local farms. […]

Over dinner tonight my husband and I were discussing and dissecting recent meals and what should make it into the April column. Should it be the smashed cucumber salad, with all that dill and tinned mackerel? What about the sourdough pizza that tastes like we crossed the border into Williamsburg?  Then, from across the dinner […]