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By TINKY WEISBLAT

Sometimes the introductory essays I write for this column seem at first to have nothing to do with food. I promise that if you read patiently, you’ll get a recipe at the end of this one.A couple of months ago, as I was giving a talk to a library about...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Frankly, I hoped for a different outcome to our recent presidential election. I woke up on Nov. 6 feeling disappointed, sleepy, and grumpy.To make life more challenging, I needed to prepare a talk to give to the Ashfield Council on Aging the next day...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

A few years ago I wrote in this column about my friend Pam Gerry of Charlemont. It was January, National Soup Month, and she made her Sausage, Kale, and Cabbage Soup. I always associate Pam with soup, although she can make many other delicious...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

“The Bridge of Flowers” by Phil Billitz (CreateSpace, 91 pages, $24.95).Phil Billitz of Shelburne Falls published his picture book “The Bridge of Flowers: A Garden of Inspiration” in 2020. At that point, COVID-19 had shut down most local businesses...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

I have always loved the Native American tradition of giving each month’s full moon a special name that celebrates the season of the year. November’s full moon, which falls this coming Friday night, is the beaver moon.It marks the time in autumn when...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

The town of Leverett is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. The festivities have included a cake-filled birthday party in March, a plant walk, an antique vehicle and equipment show, a quilt show, a July 4 parade and barbecue, and much...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Until recently, there were some products locavores in the Pioneer Valley just couldn’t buy. We had no trouble finding fresh local vegetables, at least during the harvest season. We could purchase some local meat and poultry. Grains were a different...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

When I was 20-ish and my grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s, few Americans talked about this fogging of the brain. Today, thank goodness, many people share their Alzheimer’s stories ... and although there is still no cure for the disease, we can...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Apples are on my mind. They’re everywhere at this time of year. This coming weekend marks the 30th anniversary of Franklin County Cider Days.A few years ago, I was flummoxed to learn that it says nowhere in the Hebrew Bible that the forbidden fruit...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Corrie Locke-Hardy of Plainfield has a varied work history. She has been a pastry chef, a teacher, and a social-justice education consultant. Most recently, she became a cookbook author with the publication of “The Revolution Will Be Well Fed”...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

We live in an area with abundant local sources of food. Greenfield’s Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew is getting ready to celebrate this year’s harvest with a “100 Mile Dinner.”The dinner will take place next Saturday, Oct. 26, at 5:30 p.m....

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Every once in a while, readers just want to be entertained by a novel. “The Accidental Animal Copy” by Stevie Lynne offers that kind of fun. The book is full of humorous characters and events.Part of a series about the small town of Brownville,...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

A couple weeks ago, I attended a quick-pickling workshop at the Tyler Memorial Library in Charlemont. The library serves both Hawley and Charlemont. Librarian Kim Gabert arranges about one workshop a month.Somehow, I hadn’t managed to get to any of...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

The town of Leverett is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. The festivities have included a cake-filled birthday party in March, a plant walk, an antique vehicle and equipment show, a quilt show, a July 4 parade and barbecue, and much...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Food helps us communicate with others. I have known Daphne Bye of Montague casually for a decade, yet I never really knew very much about her until last week. Asking her about her fabulous layered-hummus dish helped me learn about her career and her...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Lucy Damkoehler of Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston is very much a hometown gal. Although she claims not to know the names of all her customers, she certainly seemed to know everyone in the shop the day photographer Paul Franz and I stopped in to...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

I first met Laura Rodley of Buckland as a writing facilitator for seniors, whom she led to create a series of books titled “As You Write It.” Not surprisingly, Rodley herself is a writer and a poet.Her newest book, “Ribbons and Moths” (Kelsay Books,...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

I recently participated in Apex Orchards’ annual Peach Fest. Owner Tim Smith couldn’t quite remember whether it was the third or fourth such occasion. I couldn’t remember either, although I go every time it happens and always enjoy visiting the...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

I’m currently reading a wonderful new book by local food writer Claire Hopley, “Eating in Leverett, 1774-2024.” It will be the topic of this column in a couple of weeks.In it, Hopley outlines what people in Leverett (and in greater New England as...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Growing up spending summers down the road from composer, conductor, and teacher Alice Parker in Hawley, I didn’t know how lucky I was. I assumed everyone attended festive pot-luck parties at which grownups and children alike dressed in costume, ate...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

Sometimes it’s impossible not to follow trends. Lately, I have seen recipes popping up all over the place for Atlantic Beach Pie. I met this pie first in the New York Times. It has also graced Southern Living magazine, NPR, and Forbes magazine, not to...