I recently attended a party in Northampton given by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation in honor of local farmers. As I was chatting with Meryl LaTronica, operations manager at Just Roots, a communal farm in Greenfield, one of her colleagues broke into our conversation. “I have a potato farmer I want you to meet!” she exclaimed, steering Meryl across the room. I heard this sort of exchange over and over again during the event, which was a celebration of the foundation’s Local Farmers Awards grant program.
The Grinspoon Foundation launched the Local Farmers Awards program in 2015. It gives grants to farmers for purchasing equipment and making other improvements to their operations. Longmeadow philanthropist Harold Grinspoon said he was inspired to start the program by a conversation he had with a woman who ran a farm stand in the Berkshires. She mentioned to him that she and her husband were having trouble with a stream nearby that was interfering with their water supply. “I thought it was time to show appreciation for these solid citizens who work their behinds off for us,” explained Grinspoon. “They work with their hands, they face the elements. We have teacher awards and entrepreneur awards, so why not farmer awards?”
For Grinspoon, who earned a fortune in the national real estate market, the program has personal significance. He grew up in the Boston area in the 1930s. During the Depression, his family had a big garden and he sold vegetables from a wagon that he pulled with his bicycle.
Smith College hosts the gala event each year at its Campus Center. Delicious food and beverages are provided by local farmers and producers, including roasted root vegetables from Red Fire Farm in Granby, cheese from Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown, and salami from Jacuterie in Ancramdale, NY.
The highpoint of the evening is when ten farmers are chosen at random to pitch their businesses, addressing topics such as their funniest farm experience, what person has taught them the most about farming, or where they hope to see their business 10 or 20 years from now. Each pitch earned a cash prize of $250.
Ben Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield, a fourth-generation, family-run operation for 103 years, said he wants one or both of his sons, now ages 3 and 6, to be running the farm 20 years from now. “I want the farm to be involved in the community; I want it to be sustainable and profitable for future generations,” he said.
Julia Coffey, founder of Mycoterra organic mushroom farm in South Deerfield, commented that “everything is humorous about farming. It’s a rollercoaster ride. When you think you finally have it all planned out, you don’t.” She said that she learned most of what she knows by figuring things out for herself. “There aren’t a lot of role models out there for mushroom growers,” she said.
Anna Maclay of Natural Roots, a horse-powered farm in Conway, said she realized farming was meant for her after spending a summer working at the Hampshire College Farm in 1999. “It was a very hot summer and I did everything,” she said, “from making hay to trimming sheep’s feet and hoeing, hoeing, hoeing. I ended each busy day feeling totally worn out, and that felt just right.”
A major supporter of the Farmers Awards Program is the Big Y Supermarket, which has partnered with the Grinspoon Foundation from the start of the program. Claire d’Amour-Daly, Big Y’s vice-president of corporate communications, explained that Harold Grinspoon came to talk to the company about the program because he knew that the Big Y had supported local farmers since its inception 82 years ago. “As the local supermarket chain, we feel we have an obligation to support local farmers,” said d’Amour-Daly. “We give them marketing advice and practical guidance with things like barcodes and permitting, whatever they need to get their products into our stores. We call them our partners.” The Big Y sells the products of over 175 local producers.
The Grinspoon Foundation has enlisted the support of other sponsors, including HP Hood, Friendly’s, PeoplesBank, Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place, Ann and Steve Davis, Baystate Health, Farm Credit East, and Florence Bank. The foundation also works with Community Involved in Sustainable Agriculture (CISA) and Berkshire Grown, two organizations that sustain and support local farmers. The directors of these organizations serve as advisors for the awards program.
The program has grown substantially since its beginning. In 2015, $75,000 was awarded to 33 farms. In 2018 $135,000 was awarded to 59 farms. Awards range from $600 to $2,500.
State senator Eric Lesser, who represents the First Hampden and Hampshire District, has attended the event the past two years. Addressing the group of farmers this year, he said “Each of you is a really important part of the cultural fabric and economy of western Massachusetts. The state’s economy doesn’t end at Route 495 and it’s not limited to high tech and healthcare.”
The Foundation invites farmers from the four western counties of Massachusetts — Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden — or members of CISA or Berkshire Grown to submit applications between January 1 and 31, 2019. Operations must have gross income of $10,000 or more .
The awards are announced to farmers in Mid-March and to the public in April. This way, the farmers get the checks during planting season.
Our farmers work hard 365 days a year, rain or shine. I know I sound like a broken record, but please support them by buying local.
Mickey Rathbun, an Amherst-based lawyer turned journalist, has written the Get Growing column since 2016.
The winter session of the Hitchcock Center’s popular program Girls into the Wild begins Jan. 3, 2019 and runs through Mar. 21. The program for girls ages 8-11 is designed to get girls outside, playing and engaging with nature in their own way. Instructor Katie Koerten offers games and activities that each girl can participate in at her own comfort level, from climbing trees, to playing camouflage in the forest, to running and whooping wildly through fields. Thurs. 3:30 to 5:30 pm. Members: $300/Non-members: $330. For more information and to register, go to: hitchcockcenter.org
There’s a lovely exhibition at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Center House Leonhardt Galleries featuring the work of printmaker Joan Dix Blair. She uses the process of cyanotype — making prints by arranging objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to UV light or sunshine to produce images. She uses this plein-air process to capture the silhouettes of plants, weeds and shrubs from her garden in the Berkshires.
Blair’s art was influenced by the botanical work done in the 1840s by Anna Atkins, who recorded seaweed plants using cyanotype. This exhibition at the Garden brings together a current body of Blair’s work created over the past two years in her Williamstown, MA studio. The exhibit is on view through Mar. 1, 2019. The Gallery is open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and weekends, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free admission. Note: The Galleries will be closed from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2.