
Kneeland Munson owner of KM Cattle (Falls Village) in the John Deere tractor with round baler attachment wrapped the rows of hay which turns into the round bale as pictured.
Kayla Jacquier
Kneeland Munson owner of KM Cattle (Falls Village) in the John Deere tractor with round baler attachment wrapped the rows of hay which turns into the round bale as pictured.
In Connecticut, we get a full four seasons. Bitter cold and snowy winters give way to lush springs, hot summers, and scenic falls.
To many, this is a predictable and reliable cycle. But farmers see the seasons differently.
Crop growth switches throughout the time of year and depends on weather. It is a delicate rhythm that farmers must balance for crop rotation and growth as the year marches on.
The correspondence between soil health, crop growth, leading yield, and weather is a vital harmony for success in the agricultural industry. The winter weather, from December to February, provides a much-needed rest period for fieldwork. It’s the ideal time for farmers to take stock of their seed inventory and prepare equipment for planting, highlighting the role of weather in the agricultural cycle.
By spring, the nutrient-filled fields are planted. Corn, grasses, and other varieties of vegetables are often highly produced locally for the agricultural industry. To naturally boost the bountiful crops, farmers may increase aggregate nutrients.
“Improved soil health assists the region long-term through: increased carbon sequestration rates, better soil organic matter and improved microbial activity, increased water infiltration, improved pollinator habitat — as well as increasing yields and profits. Improved soil health helps preserve local agricultural systems for future generations,” stated Shelby Washburn, a fourth-generation farmer from Laurelbrook Farm in East Canaan.
The planting process for larger plots typically includes heavy equipment and tractors with specific accessories to plant efficiently with maximized success in a shorter time frame. The two schools of seed planting are separated by tillage and no-till methods, both with their advantages and disadvantages. Tilling is turning the soil to better separate the aggregates for seed; however, it is more labor-intensive. The opposing method is the no-till option, which directly plants the seed into the ground without as much soil preparation.
Pictured above is a Laurelbrook Farm Field that portrays the difference of a hay field after first cut to a corn field that is still standing in the month of July — difference between a cycle timeline between different plants.Kayla Jacquier
Once seeding is done, in a short time the germination process begins to cover the field with the luscious green of growing crops. The farmers who planted their yields by hand or equipment indulge in the sight of hard work beginning to pay off.
When traveling through the area during summer, the eye often sees leafy growth amongst a field. Primary products for the local agricultural industry take root and lead to hay, additional types of grass, and vegetables. Specifically, different types of corn are significant products grown locally in the Northwest Corner. Ford Farm stand in East Canaan feeds many families with corn on the cob, while cattle companies plant just for animal feed. For decades, the corn-growing agriculturalists have used the Farmer’s Almanac term “knee high by the fourth of July” to help measure the ideal crop growth goal for corn.
While waiting for the green and yellow vegetables to be ready, this is hay season. Hay is what many people refer to as the overgrown lawn that needs to be mowed. More accurately, hay is cut about three times in this season to be turned into bales for the remainder of the year. When the field of tall grasses gets mowed, they then get raked into rows as needed and converted to square bales or wrapped into round bales.
The first cut of hay has the most variety of grasses, high levels of fiber, thicker stems, and a yellow tinge of color. The second cut can be classified as the higher fat and protein bunch with a greener color. The final cut is leafy, with the highest fat and protein content and the lowest fiber levels. The third cut can look the greenest of all.
Corn progression of growth — what it looks like in July.Kayla Jacquier
When fall finally rolls around from September to November, also referred to as harvest season, is when the tractor-trailer trucks are lining up on the road filled with corn. The corn is produced to consume for the remainder of the year. The importance of harvest season surpasses just the agricultural industry both economically and nutritionally and supports all industries. From farm markets and grocery stores to the economy cycling, the food rations would decrease without the harvested goods and the money passing through businesses.
With the arrival of winter, the process is recycled in the same order. New modern equipment, tools and techniques keep every year exciting. Endless hurdles of weather and risk must be overcome to provide these products, yet they bring greater rewards.
Each passing year continues the growth of goods and knowledge. From the snow melting and grasses green to when the tree leaves become warm-toned and raked off. The yearly cycle of a farm yields benefits that are endless and necessary.
Agriculture author Brenda Schoepp summed it up: “Once in a lifetime, you may need a doctor. You may also need a lawyer at least once. You may need a policeman at least once, and you will probably need a preacher at least once anyway. But every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”
HVRHS sophomore Wyatt Bayer will suit up for the Mountaineers' varsity baseball team.
FALLS VILLAGE — With the arrival of warm weather, so too comes a new season of athletics at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
The Mountaineers will field teams in five different sports for the spring season: baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis and track and field.
Baseball gets the varsity season started with a scrimmage March 31 at home against Wolcott Technical High School. The Mountaineers will be coached by Bobby Chatfield this year. The last time most HVRHS varsity players took to the diamond was in August 2024 when Housy Juniors won the Babe Ruth League District 4 Northwest Connecticut summer baseball championship.
With a surplus of baseball players this year, junior varsity baseball returns to HVRHS. The JV boys, coached by Russell Sears, will get the season started April 5 on the road against Shepaug Valley High School.
Softball starts April 5 as well with a home game against Shepaug Valley. Coaches Pete Foley and Kaleigh Selino led the team to a 13-9 record and a trip to the Class S tournament last year. The Mountaineers will need to establish a new hurler on the mound after graduating star pitcher Anne Moran in 2024.
Boys and girls tennis begins April 7. The boys, coached by Jeff Tripp, will travel to Lakeview High School for the first meet of the season. At the same time, the girls, coached by Don Drislane and Mo Kirby-Dore, host Lakeview on the newly refinished courts at HVRHS.
The lacrosse season begins with a rematch of last year’s Western Connecticut Lacrosse Conference girls championship game. HVRHS, coached by Laura Bushey, will travel to play the reigning champs St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol April 9. St. Paul defeated HVRHS 13-12 in a riveting league final last May.
Track and field is set to start April 22 with a home meet against Lakeview High School. HVRHS, coached by Alan Lovejoy, has a number of decorated athletes returning to the track this year including Kyle McCarron, Ava Segalla and Anthony Labbadia, each of whom competed in the CIAC State Open meet last June. Many more returning runners and jumpers gained state-level experience last year at the CIAC Class S meet in May.
Fans of fine art filed into the Sharon Historical Society’s gallery on Saturday, March 15, for the opening reception of student works from the Northlight Art Center in Amenia, New York.
Northlight was founded in Sharon by Pieter Lefferts in 2010 and later moved to Amenia. This is the 14th year of the annual student exhibit.
“It’s an invitation for people who may never have thought that they might be included in an art exhibit,” said Lefferts about the show that includes 34 works created by a dozen artists. Lefferts added that visitors will see a range of abilities and individual expression.
“I like to draw out innate expression,” Lefferts said. Lefferts said there were 34 pieces as he had hung them all the day before.
Several works on display were inspired by local subjects. For example, Kathleen Kulig’s “Grand Dame of the Orchard” depicts an actual old apple tree found at a friend’s home.
“I’ve actually picked apples from that tree,” Kulig said.
Kathleen Kulig with her “Grand Dame of the Orchard” painting.Leila Hawken
Artist Cathleen Halloran’s acrylic on paper painting titled “Eleven Eleven” is a loving remembrance of her dog, Maddie, whose death was imminent as Halloran created the painting, an expression of her subject’s magnificent spirit.
Variety is evident in artists’ ages, mediums, experience and subject matter.
“It’s always a pleasure to see how the artists grow every year, a fascinating variety,” said Historical Society President Chris Robinson as he dished out the wine and other beverages in the reception area.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the historical society, although not all works are for sale. The exhibit will be open until Friday, May 9, during historical society hours. For additional information, go to www.sharonhist.org.
Coinciding with the gallery show, the Sharon Historical Society’s current exhibit is worth a visit. Titled “Family Collections,” the exhibit shows collective Sharon memories found in the artifacts left by ancestors, remembered now in part by what they left behind. Each is a clue to the town’s historic past, spanning two centuries.
Tess Marks as Little Sally and Jackson Olson as Officer Lockstock in the Housatonic Musical Theatre Society production of "Urinetown."
Last week’s Housatonic Musical Theatre Society production of “Urinetown” featured strong performances and superb choreography.
The remodeled auditorium at Housatonic Valley Regional High School made a big difference as well. New seats were a welcome addition, and the increased technical capability meant that the show was flawless from a production point of view.
The difference was so noticeable that director Christiane Olson thanked the taxpayers of Region One for supporting the recent school improvements project in brief remarks before the start of the matinee performance Saturday, March 15.
Katelin Lopes and Andy Delgado were powerful as the star-crossed lovers Hope Cladwell and Bobby Strong.
Jackson Olson got a lot of laughs with his deadpan take on Officer Lockstock, often in tandem with Tess Marks’ wide-eyed Little Sally.
The entire cast hit all the right buttons, not the easiest thing to do with a show that contains multiple layers of satire.
The orchestra, led by Tom Krupa, was rock solid.
And Amber Cameron’s choreography was seamless. The cast looked like they’d been dancing together all their lives.
Race Brook Lodge
Tucked away on Under Mountain Road in Sheffield, Massachusetts, The Stagecoach Tavern dates back to the mid-18th century and offers fine dining in an enchanted setting. It also serves as the portal into the Race Brook Lodge, which harbors unique spaces for entertainment, lodging and wellness.
Intimate outdoor gathering areas are illuminated by strings of lights. A cluster of mid-century bungalows can be rented by guests who come to spend the weekend and attend concerts and retreats, which typically take place in the barns farther back in the woods.
This magical vision springs from the mind of David Rothstein, who purchased the property in pieces between 1990 and 2000, a continuation of his idea to create a place where like-minded people can congregate to enjoy cultural happenings in an idyllic setting.
Before acquiring the Race Brook Lodge, Rothstein, now 90, managed The Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, the premier outdoor music venue in the Berkshires during the 1970s, which he purchased with his former wife, Nancy Fitzpatrick, whose family owned the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge.
In its heyday from 1970 to 1979, The Music Inn featured a who’s who of iconic performers of the era like Ike & Tina Turner, B.B. King, James Taylor, Muddy Waters, The Byrds, Ravi Shankar, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, The Eagles, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Cliff, Toots & The Maytals and The Allman Brothers.
“Music Inn was the last outpost of the counterculture, which had evolved as a result of the groundbreaking evolution of jazz as the first integrated music genre that ultimately paved the way for Rock ‘n Roll,” Rothstein said.
Race Brook barn at nightLety Marcos
This history goes even deeper. Prior to the Music Inn, the buildings were known as the Berkshire Music Barn, and featured performers like Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk and the Modern Jazz Quartet. The property also featured The Lenox School of Jazz, The Lenox Arts Center, Toad Hall Moviehouse, and The Great Riot Alley Memorial.
As a student of modernist architect Louis Khan, Rothstein absorbed Khan’s ideas of “open frame” or a space without barriers. It’s a concept he used at the Music Inn that carries on at Race Brook.
Race Brook’s music programmer, Alex Harvey recalls how he came to do a retreat with Qi Gong master Thomas Drodge and noticed a Louis Khan poster on the wall. He spent a morning and afternoon talking with Rothstein about art, performance and community in a way he’d been dreaming about for a long time.
“When I saw the poster, I asked David about it. He told me that he was one of Khan’s assistants, and he actually drafted some of the buildings I’d studied. So, before I knew he had the Music Inn, he was a superstar to me,” Harvey said.
Harvey also met the current proprietor Casey Fitzpatrick — David and Nancy’s son — and the two hit it off, realizing they shared a common interest in global music. Armed with a deep Rolodex, thanks to his many years as a performer and ethnomusicologist, Harvey soon began programming shows at Race Brook.
When booking, Harvey looks for artists who can offer something beyond the typical performance.
“We had Alash, who are one of the more renowned Tuvan throat singing ensembles,” Harvey said. “With their energy, they change the weather of the room. It’s a participatory feeling. I loved reading the reactions online; was it a concert or a ritual? That’s what we’re interested in.”
“We have Beausoleil coming up on April 5. When they start playing, you feel transported to a hooch house in Eunice, Louisiana. They create a sense of place, and that’s what really excites me,” he added.
Sunder Ashni singing at Dia de los Muertos.Lety Marcos
There are regularly scheduled programs, like Jazz brunches every Sunday, and at times Race Brook Lodge is open to other groups who book shows like the recent “Almost Spring Weekender” a DJ’d house party produced by Edo Moore.
Ideally, Harvey books fully immersive weekends with music, workshops, and enjoyment of the spaces, whether hiking nearby trails or inside the barns.
“One of my favorites is the Dia de los Muertos weekend which has an open mic to the dead,” Harvey said. “It’s art as a form of medicine and healing. It’s kind of like Brooklyn Academy of Music meets Esselin.”
For elevated musical and wellness experiences in an idyllic Berkshire setting, Race Brook Lodge offers something for everyone. See their site for information on all that they offer: rblodge.com