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Keyword search: CULTURE

By DOMENIC POLI

The 2023 season isn’t looking too peachy for New England farmers waiting to see if any of their buds survived mid-February’s sub-zero temperatures.It appears that month’s cold snap crippled the growth of the beloved stone fruit typically harvested...

By JULIAN MENDOZA

MONTAGUE — Red Fire Farm’s Ryan and Sarah Voiland joined hundreds of farmers from across the U.S. for a recent climate rally in Washington, D.C., marching to the Capitol before meeting with legislators to ask for climate change policy to be a priority...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

One of the many casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic was the series of annual spring gardening symposiums hosted by the Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association (WMMGA). These popular events helped gardeners of all abilities expand their...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — After more than 45 years in service, one of the vestiges of Northampton’s countercultural heyday is hanging up its wrenches.ARC Garage, which began in 1977 as a social experiment for a new kind of automotive repair garage, had its last...

By JACOB NELSON

‘We call it liquid gold,” Erik Lively says of maple syrup. This is his favorite time of year at Sunrise Farms in the hills of Colrain, when they reap the sweet amber rewards of a year’s hard work.Lively and his brother Jordan, who both work full time...

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — With a background in showing cattle at fairs and working on the family farm in South Deerfield, the state’s new agriculture commissioner has a regional flair to her.South Deerfield native Ashley Randle has been tapped by the Healey-Driscoll...

By DOMENIC POLI

The United States is experiencing the deadliest bird flu outbreak in its history, labor costs continue to increase and the national average price of gas hovers around $3.40 per gallon.But what’s that got to do with the price of eggs? It turns out,...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — The Cottage Street Cultural District was awarded a $15,000 investment grant through the Massachusetts Cultural Council, one of 50 state-designated cultural districts statewide to receive a total of $750,000 in grants. “A decade ago, our...

By STEVE PFARRER

As Christa Whitney sees it, chance has played a big part in her life. But so has her love of history and literature. Whitney is the director of the Wexler Oral History Project at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, a program that has recorded...

By JACOB NELSON

WORTHINGTON — “Agriculture is going to have to look different,” says Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington, given the climate crisis. “And I’m just not interested in farming the old way.”Well-read and well-spoken, Fishman has a keen ability to...

By CHRIS LARABEE

WHATELY — After the death of James Pasiecnik in January, his three daughters banded together to ensure the family business, 5J Creamee and Pasiecnik Farmstand, is operating in full force this summer.Justine Pasiecnik, the oldest of the three sisters,...

By EMILY THURLOW

HATFIELD — By most familial accounts, Frank J. Skawski, Jr. and Linda Skawski were always together. The couple founded and co-ran their Hatfield business, Skawski Farms, that has thrived for more than four decades. Season after season, Linda could be...

By MICHAEL CONNORS

PLAINFIELD — A defunct dairy farm owned by the family of the late fire chief Dennis Thatcher is about to get a jolt of new life after a Plainfield couple and business owners bought the well-known property earlier this month.The property’s new owners,...

By STEVE PFARRER

For a long time, he was unsure of his singing voice, wondering if it was really good enough to front a band. And for a good part of the time he was making albums, he also shunned most live performances, not feeling he could sing in front of an...

ERIN O’NEILL

Rock legends Aerosmith were reunited with their original tour van from the 1970s, which was plucked out of the Chesterfield woods last summer on the TV show “American Pickers.”Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, hosts of the show on the History Channel,...

By STEVE PFARRER

In a childhood that had its fair share of pain and confusion, Jarrett J. Krosoczka can recall a couple of incidents that really stood out.When he was three, his grandparents, Joe and Shirley Krosoczka, told him a few days before Christmas that he’d be...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Customers of a community supported agriculture farm share program have enjoyed the fruits of Simple Gifts Farm owner Jeremy Barker-Plotkin’s labor for more than a decade. Soon even more people will have the opportunity.Barker-Plotkin, who...

Massachusetts has long been on the cutting edge of enterprises ranging from education and biotech to changes in our health care system. But there’s another home-grown enterprise that the state is cultivating that is more down to earth –...