Macaroni and cheese, pulled pork and collard greens from Mama Lo's Barbecue in Great Barrington sit on an outdoor table in the sun. Photo by Kate Abbott

Food

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about food, listed from newest to oldest. We look into local food and foodways — farms and farmers, local markets and restaurants, food security, native plants and more.

  • Issue:

    Farm to office — new destination for agricultural deliveries

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    By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer As a teenager in the Champlain Valley of New York, Adam Hainer sold vegetables from his home garden at a farmers market.   But he didn’t imagine farming could ever provide his livelihood until he met Melody Horn, his future partner, at a now-defunct microgreens farm. They wound up starting read more

    Farm to office — new destination for agricultural deliveries
  • Issue:

    Building a grass-fed future

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    Beef farmers band together for access to new markets and new hope By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer   HEBRON, N.Y.At first glance, Sarah Teale seems an unlikely person to organize an agricultural cooperative for small-scale producers of grass-fed beef. She lives in Manhattan, where she has a successful documentary filmmaking career and her own production read more

    Building a grass-fed future
  • Issue:

    Town green for a localvore era

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    Owners aim to turn old fairgrounds into center for local agriculture By DAVID SCRIBNER Contributing writer   GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.At the town’s southern gateway on U.S. Route 7 lies the derelict Great Barrington Fairgrounds, a complex of ramshackle stables and barns, an overgrown racetrack with vine-shrouded stewards’ towers, a crumbling grandstand, and ticket booths encased read more

    Town green for a localvore era
  • Issue:

    A quest for full flavor

    By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer   HILLSDALE, N.Y.Becoming a spice trader wasn’t part of Laura Griffin’s career plan. But when she visited an Indian spice store in Boston in 2008, the experience changed her life. “The store had a wall of spices that looked and smelled amazing,” Griffin recalled. “And I realized my spices at read more

    A quest for full flavor
  • Issue:

    Growing greens all winter long

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    Grants help farms meet an all-year demand for local produce By CRAIG IDLEBROOK Contributing writer     POWNAL, Vt. Unlike many crop farmers in New England, Lisa MacDougall doesn’t hibernate. Even when the weather turned bitterly cold for a week in January, she was still busy picking spinach and kale for her community-supported-agriculture program and read more

    Growing greens all winter long
  • Issue:

    A taste for the tart

    By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer STOCKPORT, N.Y.Steven McKay looked out over a patch of elderberry bushes, dormant for the season, on a cold and sunny November day.  His sprawling Hudson Valley property is home to many things: dozens of berry bushes and a few grape arbors, a small flock of wandering hens, a family of read more

    A taste for the tart
  • Issue:

    Flavored by a colorful past

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    Lodge’s owner works to keep ambience of ‘70s folk music hangout By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer BECKET, Mass.When Daniel Osman bought The Dream Away Lodge in 1997, he became the caretaker of a special corner of Berkshire County lore. The Dream Away is a 110-seat restaurant, lounge and music venue that has been operating since read more

    Flavored by a colorful past
  • Issue:

    Locally grown foods at the mall

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    Supersized Saratoga store aims to show a niche is now mainstream By THOMAS DIMOPOULOS Contributing writer WILTON, N.Y. Construction workers were busy inside Wilton Mall last month preparing the space that will soon house the region’s largest natural foods and organic supermarket. New flooring had been installed, refrigeration equipment had begun to arrive, and workers read more

    Locally grown foods at the mall
  • Issue:

    Niche brewer getting bigger

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    By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer HOOSICK, N.Y.With the annual rate of craft beer sales growing by double digits nationally and a big thirst locally for its award-winning ales and lagers, Brown’s Brewing Co. of Troy is setting up a new brewery. The new facility, in a former factory just off Route 22 in North Hoosick, read more

    Niche brewer getting bigger
  • Issue:

    Take a sip, feel the heat

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    By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer PITTSFIELD, MASS. Dana St. Pierre recalled a recent experience at the Honest Weight Food Co-op Food Fair in Albany. There were dozens of vendors with booths set up along the lake in Washington Park selling edible delights ranging from homemade soups and grass-fed beef sliders to cupcakes and homemade peanut read more

    Take a sip, feel the heat