One thing that has been notable during the COVID-19 crisis has been the rush to purchase and hoard anything that might be in short supply.
In the rural Northwest Corner, this hasn’t just applied to grocery store items such as toilet paper, cleaning supplies, white flour and yeast. It has also applied to farming items.
First to disappear quickly were baby chicks. Experienced amateur poultry farmers usually order their chicks ahead of time and receive them by mail. But retail suppliers reportedly sold out very quickly this year.
Some area egg farmers chose to hatch some of their eggs rather than sell them at farm markets.
The next edible area of anxiety was beef and pork (chicken for cooking had already been scarce, since the beginning of fears about the pandemic). Several large U.S. processors of meat have now closed their plants because they weren’t able to protect their workers from COVID-19.
Locally raised meat remains available for now from area purveyors such as Whippoorwill Farm in Salisbury, Wike Brothers in Sharon and McEnroe Organic in Millerton, and at many area farmers markets (as well as at grocery stores, of course).
But even before the announcement was made about the possible future reduction in the supply of beef and pork, many area residents had already made up their minds that they were going to substantially increase the size of their backyard vegetable gardens. An increase in the desire for homegrown vegetables does not, of course, mean everyone in the area is suddenly going vegan; it simply means that people are becoming insecure about the availability of food in general.
Plenty of plants for now
Which leads to the question of whether there will be a shortage of seeds and “starter” plants.
And the answer, apparently, is that there’s no need to worry. Sarah (Paley) Coon and Chris Coon, owners of Paley’s Farm Market in Sharon, said what other garden centers seem to be saying, which is that everyone who plants professionally has hundreds of seed packets in their offices so there is no need to worry that the region will run out of lettuce, tomatoes, corn and other edible summer essentials.
Sarah Coon said that Paley’s, like all professional growers, ordered seeds many months ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic. They are well stocked and will continue to plant seeds if their supply of starter plants for home gardeners begins to sell out.
Fewer seeds for home gardens
Seeds packaged for retail sales are somewhat less abundant this year (but there is no need to panic or to hoard).
Julie Fine, who is sales representative for the Northeast for Johnny’s Selected Seeds, said in an email interview last week that, “There has been a real run on home garden seeds. Many of our packet sizes are sold out, and we just don’t have enough people to re-pack those fast enough to keep up.”
Like many companies, Johnny’s has had to deal with “the challenge of social distancing and labor shortages in the warehouses,” Fine said. “Usually those warehouses are arranged tightly, to efficiently move people and packets through rows.
“Johnny’s had to rearrange the rows, establish one-way traffic to prevent people walking toward each other and getting too close, and add disinfecting protocols.”
The company also had to “suspend home garden orders for a month in order to keep up with farm orders — the people who are feeding our communities.”
Like many of the farmers interviewed this week, Fine said that ultimately she hopes all this concern about the food supply chain will “contribute to a long-term valuing of local food production and the value of sustainably produced food.”
Shop local, join a CSA
One way to support local, sustainable food sources is to buy more produce and meats from the farmers who are struggling to make a living in this area. Their meats, herbs, vegetables, fruit, honey and more are sold at farmers markets, at some stores and, sometimes, right on their farms.
Another way to support local agriculture is to join a CSA farm. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. The idea is that patrons sign up ahead of time and give their money to a farm as it is preparing for its growing season; it’s a little bit like buying options on the commodity market.
Everyone shares in the bounty as vegetables become ripe and ready to eat (“shares” are picked up weekly at the farm), but everyone also shares in the potential risks of farming (some years, the weather doesn’t cooperate and there just aren’t that many tomatoes, or basil, or onions or other popular edibles).
Janna Siller is the farm director for the Adamah CSA at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village.
“We order all the seeds we need for the season in the winter according to a meticulous farm plan,” she said. “So we are all set with enough seeds to grow for our CSA regardless of seed company supply. Most farms that I know do the same.”
As a general rule, most farms order more seeds than they will need, so even if a larger than anticipated number of people sign up for a CSA, most farms can cope, without either reducing the size of each share or limiting the number of members it will accept.
“Most farms that I know in this area are not expanding but rather are swerving toward retail sales to replace the revenue they usually have from wholesale sales to restaurants or institutions,” Siller added.
For your home garden
For anyone who’s new to the world of home farming, here are some handy hints.
First, always buy a lot of lettuce seed; you can continuously plant lettuce from early spring until autumn. By July, even in a normal year, it’s very hard to find lettuce seeds. Don’t plant an entire packet at one time. Four to six packets should be enough for the average family for the whole season.
Read the instructions on your seed packets or ask advice of the experienced gardeners and farmers at your local garden center.
One farm market employee worried that many people will try their hand at planting this spring but will not follow directions and will lose their crops. If this happens, there are always the farm stands. But it’s always better to follow the directions.
Speaking of which, this has been an early spring in the Tri-state area and many people (perhaps suffering from cabin fever) are eagerly going out and putting seeds and starters in the dirt.
Ask for advice on the best dirt for your situation. Again, your local garden center will be able to help you out here. And be mindful that not all plants want to be outside yet.
“It’s still too early for peppers and tomatoes,” warned Sarah Coon, “but not for kale, peas, broccoli, lettuce and spinach.”
“All the foods that kids don’t like,” her husband, Chris, quipped.
Where to buy plants
Starter plants of all kinds are available now at Paley’s and many other area farm stands and garden centers, including Freund’s Farm in East Canaan.
The Weatogue farm stand will have vegetable, flower and herb plants beginning Friday, May 15, at 9 a.m. The sale is expected to continue for three weeks. Bring a check or exact change for payment. The stand is at 78 Weatogue Road in Salisbury; for more information call Elvia Gignoux at 860-435-0345.
CSA memberships are available at Adamah in Falls Village (get information at www.fvcsa.adamah.org or send an email to janna.siller@hazon.org); at Rock Steady Farm in Millerton (www.rocksteadyfarm.com and hello@rocksteadyfarm.com); and Ridgway Farm in Cornwall (www.ridgwayfarm.com and theridgwayfarm@gmail.com or call 860-672-5880; you can also order items online for pickup at the farm, which is on Town Street in West Cornwall).
To learn more about area farms, markets and CSAs, go to The Lakeville Journal Co. website and read our 2019 edition of Discovering Farm to Table at www.tricornernews.com/discover-farm-table-2019.
This issue has not yet been updated for 2020, so phone ahead to be sure the farm or market is open.
D.H. Callahan
Bernie Williams and his Band of Friends at Millbrook Winery in 2025.
Throughout the history of Major League Baseball, precious few greats have been considered five-tool players. New York Yankee Bernie Williams was one of them.
To be considered a five tool player, one must show exceptional proficiency in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, running bases, fielding and arm strength. But there’s another tool Williams possesses that didn’t make it to the back of his baseball card: his mastery of jazz guitar.
On Aug. 1 at Millbrook Winery, that elusive sixth tool will take center stage as Williams and his Band of Friends return to the Vineyard for a night of jazz, wine and possibly a baseball reference or two.
Williams is best known for his legendary career with the Yankees. During his 15 years with the Bronx Bombers, he won four World Series championships, four Gold Glove awards and one Silver Slugger award in 1998, the same year he won the American League batting title, making him the first player in history to win a Gold Glove, a batting title and a World Series in the same year. Oh yeah, he was also an MLB All-Star every year between 1997 through 2001.
But while his work on the field is well known to New Yorkers and the broader baseball world, he almost took the musical route through life.
Williams first picked up a guitar when he was just 8 years old and was immediately taken by the magic of music. He was so passionate about it that he attended a performing arts high school in his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. By the time he made it to the big leagues, he was known as the guy with the guitar in the locker room.
That reputation soon reached the Yankees’ fan base, with commentators telling stories of Williams and his outfield teammate Paul O’Neill’s jam sessions. O’Neill set up a drum kit in a paint room at the old Yankee Stadium, and the two would play together through rain delays, sometimes getting visits from New York City’s musical greats while they waited to play ball. MSG Network, which aired Yankees games at the time, even ran a promotional ad featuring the two World Series champions jamming together on a blues riff in their batting practice uniforms.
But unlike O’Neill, whose drumming is a hobby at best, Williams is a serious musician. During an appearance with Paul Simon at a charity event, Simon surprised Williams and his band by playing “Mrs. Robinson,” a song they didn’t know and hadn’t practiced. But just a few lines in, Williams was taking solos and riffing on Simon’s choruses with expert musicianship.
While Williams’ music is the main draw for the event on Saturday, the relationship between the All-Star and the winery goes beyond the performance. The collaboration started in 2021, when Williams visited the vineyards and instantly connected with then-general manager Ian Bearup, bonding over baseball, music and wine. They quickly decided to team up and create a custom variety they call Bernie’s Blend. This year’s bottle, featuring art from Williams’ daughter, Beatriz, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and will be released at the performance on Saturday night.
While the VIP ticket levels are all sold out, as of press time, bring-your-own-lawn chair spots are still available. The wine will be available at the vineyard and online throughout the year at millbrookwine.com.
Elena Spellman
Deanna Hearn opened Lucky Orphans in 2003.
If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice: “They’d tell us to slow down.”
From feeding retired racehorses before sunrise to guiding veterans, grieving parents and troubled teenagers through equine-assisted therapy sessions, Deanna Hearn rarely has a quiet day. As founder of Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue in Dover Plains, she oversees the care of more than 40 sanctuary horses while leading a nonprofit whose mission extends far beyond animal rescue.
What began as a childhood love of horses has evolved into a place where healing runs in both directions — for horses and for people. By the time you leave Lucky Orphans, it becomes clear that this place isn’t really about horses. The horses are simply how it begins. For Hearn, every rescued horse represents something much larger: hope, resilience, healing and second chances. The organization’s mission, she says, is simple: “People helping horses heal people.”
Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
Jennifer Almquist
A brass quintet at the Yale Music Shed at Weekend in Norfolk 2025.
Norfolk bursts with activity in midsummer with Weekend in Norfolk (WIN). An all-volunteer committee transforms the town with free public events for all ages. WIN 2026 begins Thursday, July 30, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 2.
Norfolk sculptor Jon Riedeman, the new head of Norfolk Artists and Friends (NAF), organized the group’s 19th annual art exhibition, featuring paintings, sculpture, photography and jewelry by area artists in the Art Barn on the grounds of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Riedeman expanded the show this year by inviting artists from New Marlborough, Massachusetts, to participate. The exhibit opens with a reception Thursday, July 30, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Music fills the air throughout the weekend. On Thursday night, take in the Emerging Artists Series concert from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Music Shed, featuring the next generation of professional chamber musicians presented by the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Then enjoy Friday Night on the Green, a welcoming party with live performances and free food.
The Bistro at Infinity Music Hall is extending its hours from noon to 9 p.m. throughout Weekend, with live music during the day. Don’t miss the Yale Brass Quintet performing in front of the historic 1833 Opera House. In addition, Norbrook Brewery will host a tap takeover featuring its celebrated local brews.
The Sidewalk Sunday Street Fair fills Station Place and Robertson Plaza with local artists, authors and craftspeople selling directly to visitors. Open Studios invites the public into working galleries and private studios for live demonstrations and artist meet-and-greets. Food trucks will also be available at the street fair.
Guided and self-guided tours showcase Norfolk’s historic estates and Victorian homes, while Tiffany stained-glass tours let visitors view Louis Comfort Tiffany windows in local chapels. The Village Green hosts public weddings and vow renewals as part of the festival.
Choose from five garden tours offered Sunday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Outdoors, guided nature walks explore Barbour Woods, with birding treks for wildlife lovers. Great Mountain Forest opens its 90-year-old weather station to the public, and workshops cover fly-fishing and pollinator gardening.
Food traditions include a Blueberry Betty social and an old-fashioned ice cream social. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the IceBox Cafe is offering 50 cents off its signature freshly brewed iced chai. On Saturday, the cafe will serve buttermilk pancakes all day, complete with Great Mountain Forest syrup.
Kids’ programming features movie screenings, yoga on the grass and art workshops.
Visitors can begin their adventure at The Hub, 2 Station Place, where volunteer “WINbassadors” will hand out maps and schedules. Full event details and ticket information are available at weekendinnorfolk.org.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Richard Feiner And Annette Stover
Multimedia pioneer Laurie Anderson makes Tanglewood debut with a weekend of performances.
Musician, composer, performing artist and multimedia pioneer Laurie Anderson is one of the most influential and controversial figures in American contemporary and avant-garde arts. Her ambitious multimedia projects, encompassing music, film, visual projections, dance, and the spoken and written word, have enjoyed great public visibility, and Anderson has been recognized with many honors, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Gold Medal for Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and this year’s Kyoto Prize for Arts and Philosophy in the field of music.
Anderson will make her Tanglewood debut in a series of special events and performances Aug. 13-16, along with longtime collaborators and special guests, giving audiences an opportunity to experience her groundbreaking and challenging work, which has been received with both acclaim and confusion for its wit, innovation and interdisciplinary scope.
A concert on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 8 p.m., part of Tanglewood’s recital series that spotlights chamber music and solo performances curated specifically for the acoustics and atmosphere of Ozawa Hall, features Anderson, guests and members of the BSO in a selection of Anderson’s compositions for string orchestra led by conductor Dennis Russell Davies, principal conductor of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and artistic director and chief conductor of the Filharmonie Brno.
A program highlight is “Amelia,”a piece inspired by the pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. The piece draws upon text from Earhart’s pilot’s log from her final international trip. In its blending of historical fact with atmospheric electronic music, minimal instrumentation and evocative soundscapes, the piece can be seen as emblematic of Anderson’s focus on transforming a historical event into a meditation on universal human experiences.
On Saturday, Aug. 15, at 2 p.m. in Studio E in Tanglewood’s Linde Center, the renowned opera and theater director and educator Peter Sellars will speak with Anderson as part of the Tanglewood Learning Institute’s Spotlight Series. Sellars is active at Tanglewood as a director and curator of contemporary works, and will guide Anderson in an exploration of her groundbreaking career and creative process. Their discussion will shine a light on their long history of artistic collaboration and their common interest in expanding the boundaries of music, language, technology and storytelling.
On Sunday, Aug. 16, from noon to 6 p.m., Studio E will present the Lou Reed Drone, a drone-based sonic installation curated by Anderson using guitars from her late husband Lou Reed’s collection. The event features performances by Reed’s former guitar tech Stewart Hurwood and a roster of guest artists rotating throughout the afternoon.
Finally, on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Ozawa Hall, Anderson will present “The Republic of Love,” an evening of music and storytelling reflecting on America’s past and present, featuring the genre-defying jazz ensemble Sexmob in its Tanglewood debut, along with special guests Mazz Swift and vocalist Christina Courtin.
As the title suggests, the piece plays on the classical idea of a republic — a political community governed by shared principles — to imagine what such a community would look like if its organizing principle were love rather than power. According to Anderson, the work isn’t sentimental. Instead, it examines love as a political and ethical force that shapes how people relate to one another and to institutions.
Collectively, these events will celebrate Anderson’s continued explorations of the power of words and language, visual imagery, and cutting-edge technology to challenge perceptions and to help audiences make sense of some of the most compelling questions of our day.
For information and tickets, go to tanglewood.org or call (888) 266-1200.
Ruth Epstein
As August looms, college students begin to think about the upcoming academic year. Concerns over roommate compatibility or maintaining good grades are common. But for some, mental health challenges can arise in the campus setting.
Author and psychiatrist Mathilde Ross deals with the subject in her book “How to Thrive at College: A Guide to the Ups and Downs of Mental Health on Campus.” Ross, the daughter of Cicily and Joseph Hajek of Sharon, will be among the writers featured at the Hotchkiss Library’s 28th annual Sharon Summer Book Signing on July 31 from 4:45 to 7:30 p.m.
In an informative yet humorous style, Ross, a senior staff psychiatrist in the counseling center at Boston University, dispenses advice to both parents and students. The book provides strategies for communicating about difficult topics and determining when there is a serious problem and when symptoms may be normal behavior.
Ross takes readers through a college calendar year and shares a series of cases she has encountered during her tenure. She’s counseled students with debilitating fears of dogs or flying, eating disorders and sleep deprivation — challenges that prevent them from functioning. Others are gripped by the certainty that they will fail out of school.
She also discusses those who suffer from depression, live with obsessive-compulsive disorder and contemplate suicide. Many problems can be traced back to childhood, she notes.
Ross says there are some things “we know are very, very bad,” labeling them “the Big Three: child abuse, domestic violence or a parent with an addiction. Each creates an unsafe and unstable early childhood environment, which is very bad for human development.”
She also speaks about the enormous pressure some parents put on their children — whether to succeed academically, excel in sports or pursue a particular talent — and the effects such expectations can have.
She writes about “young people who are burned out, and don’t know who they are. They know who their parents want them to be — they’ve gotten that message. But they’ve been driven to achieve, at the expense of knowing who they are, how to take care of themselves, or even if it’s worth it. A parenting style that emphasizes achievement at all costs … has a cost.”
Ross introduces readers to terms such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure and response prevention, generalized anxiety disorder, stimulus restrictions and parenting pandemic.
While the subject can be heavy, Ross’s style adds a lightness to her message. Often self-effacing, especially when speaking about parenting her three children, she nevertheless provides tips that are easy to understand.
Ross said the impetus for writing the book came in 2017, when headlines blared about a mental health crisis among young people and she began seeing increased demand at her clinic. Friends, knowing her profession, peppered her with questions and concerns. Her short answer is, “The kids are all right. Not every single one, but the vast majority are very extremely totally all right.”
Her book, she said, is her answer to the public confusion.
For tickets to the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon’s Summer Book Signing, visit hotchkisslibraryofsharon.org
Kerri-Lee Mayland
Perhaps that’s why summer travel is so irresistible. It isn’t just the promise of sunshine or a change of scenery. It’s the chance to step outside our routines, notice how other people live, taste something we’ve never tasted before, discover a beautiful object made by local hands and come home just a little different than when we left.
The best trips don’t end at the airport or in the driveway. They continue in the way we cook, decorate, entertain and even dress. That’s why I always try to bring a little piece of wherever I’ve been home with me.
You don’t have to travel far to do it. A weekend in Vermont might introduce you to maple syrup from a family sugarhouse. A drive through the Berkshires could lead you to a local potter whose serving bowl becomes the centerpiece of family dinners. A stop at a Connecticut farm stand might send you home with lavender, local honey or a recipe you’ll make every summer.
The best souvenirs aren’t necessarily what you think they might be.
As I unpacked after a recent family trip to Italy and France, I found myself searching first for the two little mementos I’d brought back. They weren’t expensive or particularly remarkable, but I knew they’d be the things that would keep our vacation alive long after the suitcases were put away.
One was a small container of chunky flaked salt from a market in the South of France. My friend who hosted us insisted on buying it for me after I admired hers while cooking together. The other was a colorful silk scarf I found fluttering outside a tiny shop in Sanremo, Italy’s historic district, while my family waited for dinner at the restaurant next door. I know when I wear it, I will think of that evening again and again. The salt cost $8; the scarf, $12.
Since returning home, I’ve sprinkled the salt over tomatoes from my garden and used it to season pasta sauce. Every pinch brings me back to that bustling market and reminds me of the friend who gave it to me.
Some of my favorite souvenirs this summer, however, didn’t arrive home with me in my suitcase.
One afternoon, a friend served slices of fresh cantaloupe from a farm just down the road where we were staying. As I reached for a piece, she asked, “Don’t you want a little salt and lemon?” I never would have thought to pair those flavors, but together they transformed an ordinary melon into something unforgettable. Another day, I watched homemade hummus come together in minutes. I honestly didn’t expect it to taste much different from the store-bought kind. I was wrong. It was creamy, fresh and so flavorful that I doubt I’ll ever buy prepared hummus again.
Those recipes are now souvenirs, too.
That’s what is so satisfying about travel — it can change your everyday life long after you return through the keepsakes that come home with you. They’re recipes, ingredients, traditions and simple objects that carry a memory every time you use them.
The destination isn’t what matters most. It’s the feeling a place leaves with you and finding simple ways to carry that feeling into everyday life.
The next time you travel, whether it’s to Europe, Cape Cod, the Berkshires or just down the road, maybe you’ll be inspired to get creative when considering what to bring back.
Because the best souvenirs don’t just remind us of where we’ve been; they invite us to go back, if only for a moment — until we can meander again.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
