Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner: Denise Barstow Manz of Hadley

This dangerously delicious delight — mocha cappuccino cheesecake — is exactly what we want to be eating right now, curled up with a cozy blanket and a cup of something steaming. The photo was taken at Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery in Hadley by Denise Barstow Manz. How to enter: Snap a pic of something … Read more

Hockanum Day 2022

The Hockanum Rural Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, is a rural community encompassing a classically famous landscape along the Connecticut River in Hadley, Massachusetts.  The fertile farmland and quiet village is home to families that have been here for generations. On Hockanum Day, meet, discuss, and learn about … Read more

Gratitude Journal: Harvest on our Minds

Harvest on our Minds Corn harvest is underway and the entire farm team is holding our collective breath; praying for no breakdowns, a high quality yield, and a safe silage season. Harvest time involves a lot of sitting. Steven is sitting in the forage harvester, David is sitting while packing the silo, an army of … Read more

McGovern gleans input from farmers ahead of White House conference

By JULIAN MENDOZA Staff Writer Published: 8/16/2022 5:55:24 PM Modified: 8/16/2022 5:51:56 PM U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern toured farms in Franklin and Hampshire counties on Tuesday to gain perspective on their operations in anticipation of the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health to be held in more than half a century. As … Read more

Summer’s End

Those last few weeks of Summer Summer vacation always seemed to last for ages as a kid. So many memories made in such a relatively short span of glorious sunlit time. But the back to school ads are up, the fourth cut of hay is the silo, and the cicadas are singing that last-month-of-summer song. … Read more

Some Like it Hot

Corn General consensus on the farm: this heat wave has got to chill… But some like it hot! Corn originated as a tropical grass and can tolerate exposures to adverse temperatures as high as 112degreesF for brief periods. Corn’s ideal daytime temperatures typically range between 77degreesF and 91degrees! However, growth decreases when temperatures exceed 95degreesF, … Read more

Pioneer Valley Dairy Crawl celebrates dairy farms one scoop of ice cream at a time

By Gillian Follett | Special to The Republican Denise Barstow Manz is hoping to increase awareness of the Pioneer Valley’s dairy farms one scoop of ice cream at a time. Since 1806, generations of her family have been operating Barstow’s Longview Farm. Today, its farm store supplies fresh dairy, meat, baked goods and other products. Still, … Read more

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