Arts & Life
‘Make those movies’: Ashfield Film Fest returns Sept. 20-21, hilltown residents can submit until Aug. 25
By SAM FERLAND
The Ashfield Film Fest Committee invites hilltown residents to break out their cameras, create locally inspired films and submit them to the 2024 Ashfield Film Fest short films competition.“Make those movies,” Harry Keramidas, the fest’s co-founder,...
That’s one gigantic gourd: Bernardston man’s pumpkin growing at a rate of 30 pounds a day
By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI
In a roughly 15-square-foot patch outside Hayden Rouse’s home on Brattleboro Road in Bernardston, a massive gourd can be seen poking its orange head from a plot of land otherwise occupied by pumpkin leaves.In the coming months, Rouse, who has been...
Lake Pleasant celebrates 150 years: Music, vendors, history tours and more planned for Aug. 24 event
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
Lake Pleasant will be celebrating its 150th anniversary this year with a celebration on Aug. 24 that organizer and member of The National Spiritual Alliance (TNSA) Kara Kharmah hopes emphasizes the community spirit of the village after a century and a...
Faith Matters: A call to enjoy this life: Sometimes we all need to be nudged out of our comfort zones
By THE REV. JULIE G. OLMSTED
Recently, I saw a video featuring a performer named Rhiannon Giddens. The video was called “Another Wasted Life,” and featured a group of exonerated prisoners through an organization you may have heard of: The Innocence Project. I looked it up...
Is love blind?: Popular Netflix series ‘Love Is Blind’ holds first open casting for New England singles
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
The premise behind the Netflix series “Love Is Blind” is simple: fall in love and commit to marrying someone before you ever see them.The casting agency for “Love Is Blind,” Kinetic Content Casting, is looking for New England singles who are looking...
Let’s Talk Relationships: Break free of defensiveness: How to recognize and stop unhealthy communication habits
By AMY NEWSHORE
If you have ever found yourself responding to someone in a conversation by being defensive, join the club. Whether in romantic, platonic, family or professional relationships, when someone lets us know we have done or said something we might not like...
Sounds Local: ‘A beautiful festival in a beautiful place’: 26th Charlemont Reggae Festival expands to two-day camping event, Aug. 16-17
By SHERYL HUNTER
“Rooted in love and positivity” are the guiding words behind the Charlemont Reggae Festival. Now in its 26th year, the festival will take place on Friday, Aug. 16, and Saturday, Aug. 17. For the first time, the reggae festival will run for two days...
An inventive recipe for all your cukes: This jumble of potstickers, cucumbers and corn requires very little cooking
By TINKY WEISBLAT
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jennifer Rich told me that she was overwhelmed with cucumbers. The recent rain had inspired her cucumber vines to produce enormous amounts of fruit. I mentioned that if she got desperate, I could always be counted on...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: You say tomato: A brief history of the fruit (or vegetable)
By MICKEY RATHBUN
It’s August and in my household that means one thing: local tomatoes. For much of the year, our grocery stores offer tomatoes tough enough to endure machine picking followed by days or weeks in cold storage. Even the more expensive, so-called...
Speaking of Nature: I wasn’t expecting to see you here: How did this mink make it to my meadow?
By BILL DANIELSON
It was the middle of July and I was spending yet another morning in my beloved Thinking Chair. I had just returned from my trip to Cape Cod, where I had secured enough photos to give me columns until the end of the month and I had already committed to...
Kris Kringle is done clowning around: Wendell family business makes shoes for Santas, clowns, performers
By DOMENIC POLI
What are Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and his helpers supposed to do when they can’t find a cobbler shop at the North Pole?Apparently, they contact a clown shoe maker in rural Massachusetts.Gary Amiro has been hand-crafting footwear for professional...
Calling all souls: Christian music festival SoulFest coming to Franklin County Fairgrounds Aug. 15-17
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
The Christian music festival SoulFest is coming to the Franklin County Fairgrounds for a weekend of music, community and advocacy from Aug. 15-17. The festival has been operating since 1998, combining music from popular Christian music acts across...
Valley Bounty: Fresh figs? In Massachusetts?: Leyden Farm unlocks new flavors and farming possibilities
By JACOB NELSON
It’s rare to try an entirely new food as an adult. Rarer still to realize it was growing under your nose the whole time.Before he started farming them in Leyden, Tom Ashley had never eaten a fig outside of a Fig Newton. Even the idea of fig trees...
Little Feat, big revamp: Dynamic, genre-blending band leans into blues with latest release, performs at Tree House Aug. 20
By JAMES PENTLAND
Well into its second half-century as a touring and recording outfit, the “freight train comin’ atcha,” — in late guitarist Paul Barrere’s phrase — that is Little Feat will roll into Deerfield for an Aug. 20 show at Tree House Brewing Co.The band’s...
Book Review: 95 years worth of wisdom: Ashfield author Preston M. Browning Jr. publishes his “Collected Essays”
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I have never met Preston Browning, although I imagine many of this paper’s readers have. A resident of Ashfield, he is a retired professor of English with a wide variety of interests and a resonant social conscience. He has written poetry, a memoir, a...
Sounds Local: ‘The birds and trees are listening too’: Synth-pop duo Home Body returns to Turners Falls on Saturday
By SHERYL HUNTER
When synth-pop duo Home Body returns to Peskeompskut Park in Turners Falls on Saturday, it will be their fifth time playing at the park’s bandshell. Home Body (Haley Morgan and Eric Hnatow) are not only the headliners but also the curators of the Home...
The village baker writes a book: Jonathan Stevens pens ‘Hungry Ghost Bread Book’ to mark Northampton bakery’s 20th anniversary
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Jonathan Stevens of Hungry Ghost Bread in Northampton has much to celebrate. The bakery he owns and runs with his domestic and business partner, Cheryl Maffei, marked its 20th birthday this spring. His “Hungry Ghost Bread Book” (Chelsea Green, 208...
The family that farms together: Six generations later, Wheel-View Farm still going strong
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
(This is the second story in a two-part series about Wheel-View Farm. Last week’s column focused on hundreds of years of history; this week, we look at more recent history and what’s currently happening.)Carolyn and John Wheeler live on a stunningly...
Speaking of Nature: A new face in a familiar setting: Happening upon the Allegheny monkeyflower
By BILL DANIELSON
Those of you who are familiar with my writing will know of my great admiration for a 19th-century naturalist named John Burroughs. Born in 1837, Burroughs lived in a time when the steam locomotive was still a new and wondrous thing in America. The...
Something for everyone: UMass Fine Arts Center announces robust 2024-2025 season lineup
By PAIGE HANSON
Earlier this week, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center announced its lineup of performances for its 2024-2025 season, which includes quite a few notable offerings, including “a one-time Grateful Dead keyboardist, two of the...
Your Daily Puzzles
An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."
A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.
Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.
Word search but as a strategy game. Clearing the board feels really good.
Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.
