Arts & Life
Valley Bounty: Plant medicine for the people: Local herbal company grows their own ingredients
By JACOB NELSON
Sometimes, medicine comes from a pill bottle. Other times, it grows right in your backyard, if only you knew how to access it.Blending modern chemistry with traditional wisdom, Blue Crow Botanicals puts locally grown herbal medicine right at people’s...
Faith Matters: The urgent need for a prophetic ministry for peace
By THE REV. DAVID JONES
I’ve been re-reading “The Prophetic Imagination,” a classic by biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann. In it he talks about the prophetic ministry of churches as being the result of two essential ingredients.The first ingredient is that a church must...
Sounds Local: Wendell Full Moon Coffeehouse returns with full schedule: Plus, Lady Hang at Hawks & Reed, and a tribute to the late Kate Lorenz
By SHERYL HUNTER
After a limited opening last year, the Wendell Full Moon Coffeehouse, held at the Wendell Town Hall, is ready to return to a full schedule. Briezyjane and the Hurricane will kick off the 2024/2025 season in fine style on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30...
Speaking of Nature: An exceptional evening extravaganza: An entire yellow-rumped warbler flock threw a party on my deck
By BILL DANIELSON
I realize that I wrote a column on the yellow-rumped warbler just last week, but I had an encounter with this species that was as wonderful as it was unexpected. I very rarely feature a particular species in consecutive columns, but this was an...
The Green Team makes dinner: 100 Mile Dinner is later this month in Greenfield
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....
Nostalgic in the 19th century: Two new exhibitions in Old Deerfield this fall aim to fill in more gaps of New England history
By CHRIS LARABEE
With the leaves changing and weather cooling down, Historic Deerfield is welcoming folks to two new exhibitions this fall aiming to tell the history of New England, while also exploring the feelings of nostalgia and beauty that shaped some of those...
Superstition, or just bad lighting?: Some animal shelters find black cats less likely to be adopted
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
One of the most enduring symbols of Halloween is the black cat, and their associations with the supernatural date as far back as the Middle Ages in Europe. Satan, witches and bad luck have followed these felines into the modern Halloween...
We need to talk about breast cancer: Get screened, become informed, know your options
By DEVORAH VESTER
As a breast cancer survivor, patient advocate for the flat community, and board member of the nonprofit Not Putting on a Shirt, I urge women to know their personalized risk of breast cancer, get screened regularly and become informed.Full and fair...
Book Review: A book for those who want to be entertained: ‘The Accidental Animal Cop’ by Stevie Lynn is full of mysteries
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,...
Faith Matters: Let us be more curious than certain: Each person, whatever their political views, is made in the image and likeness of God
By THE REV. HEATHER J. BLAIS
Recently, we took our oldest child on a tour of my alma mater, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Our oldest has always navigated life with an insatiable curiosity and desire to know more. I was eager for them to have a taste of the...
‘One sentence can change the course of a relationship’: Valley Players stage first full production, ‘Constellations,’ this weekend and next
By CAROLYN BROWN
Valley Players, a local volunteer theater group formed earlier this year, will perform their first full production in Amherst this weekend and next.The show, “Constellations,” by playwright Nick Payne, will be at Munson Memorial Library in Amherst...
Sounds Local: A night dedicated to Lucinda Williams: Signature Sounds’ Back Porch Songwriter series comes to Shea Theater
By SHERYL HUNTER
It promises to be a special night of music when a group of talented local and regional singer-songwriters come together at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. to pay tribute to the great Lucinda Williams. The show is part...
Speaking of Nature: A record-breaking month of bird-watching: One good thing to come from catching COVID was extra time at the Thinking Chair
By BILL DANIELSON
The month of September was one of the most beautiful stretches of solid gorgeous weather that I can remember. There was very little rain last month and whatever rain there was seemed to fall on weekdays. As a result, there was ample time to get out...
In a pickle at the Tyler Memorial Library: A no-cook, no-sink-required pickling recipe
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...
Learn to hear music differently: Six week course in Montague focuses on ‘The Art of Makam’
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
Weathervane Community Arts (WCA), in partnership with the Montague Common Hall, will host an inaugural six-class series called “The Art of Makam,” where participants will learn the modal music system of makam, taught by Boston-based musician and...
Sounds Local: Father daughter punk duo release first album: Rocking Puppies will celebrate ‘Civilized Show-Off’ this Saturday at Hawks & Reed
By SHERYL HUNTER
Playing in a punk band with your dad is rather unusual — even more so if you are only 9 years old. But for Pema Crigler, the lead singer of the Greenfield-based punk band Rocking Puppies, it’s not only a normal thing to do, it’s a lot of fun.Pema and...
‘Eating in Leverett’ for 250 years: New cookbook is a lasting memento of town’s major birthday
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...
The sweet spot for sweet potatoes: A Greenfield family learned the secrets of spud-growing by trial and error
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
Ryan Nestor comes from determined people: his grandfather emigrated by himself at age 11 from Greece, found work in restaurants, and became a citizen, homeowner, and family man. Like his grandfather, Nestor is passionate about gardening, and now...
Speaking of Nature: Still going strong after summer: Common chicory a hot spot for pollen and nectar-seekers
By BILL DANIELSON
One of the hazards of working in a school is the annual reunion of large numbers of people in small, confined spaces. The students get antsy and the adults get antsy, but this is just a temporary annoyance. The bigger problem is the confinement of...
Immerse yourself in spooky season: Revival Wheeler Mansion to offer two murder mystery weekends and a pumpkin fest next month
By DOMENIC POLI
The North Quabbin region’s only Gilded Age mansion is on track to have a most festive October this year, with two murder mystery weekends and a festival to celebrate the season and all its aura.The Revival Wheeler Mansion has scheduled a...
Your Daily Puzzles
An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."
A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.
Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.
Word search but as a strategy game. Clearing the board feels really good.
Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.
