At Berkshire Grown we spend a lot of time thinking about local food -- how valuable it is, how the different parts of our food system work together, and how we can get more local food to more people. If you look around at the vendors in the Berkshire Grown Winter Farmers Market, you will see an abundance of another key product that is important to our farm economy: fiber. At the Berkshire Grown markets alone, farmers offer skeins of yarn from local sheep, luscious goat and sheep pelts, and cozy knitted products like alpaca gloves, socks, and wool hats and scarves knitted from local wool. We talked to some of our Berkshire Grown member farmers about what it takes to get fiber from the animal to the farmers market or yarn shop. 

At Ashford Heights Farm in Adams, farmer Teresa Daignault produces raw fleece, roving (cleaned wool that’s ready to spin), yarns, pelts, and knitted and handwoven items. As a knitter and spinner, Daignault says that "sheep just seemed to make sense” when she was looking into raising animals. Daignault has grown her flock of Gotland and Leicester Longwool sheep from five animals to almost one hundred. 

Alpacas, llamas and goats also produce valuable fiber. Alpaca fiber is actually warmer than sheep’s wool, because the hairs are hollow and can trap more warmth. According to the New England Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, alpaca fiber has “the softness of cashmere, the luster of silk, the lightness of goose feathers, the durability of wool, and the warmth of a cozy fireplace. At Colonial Alpacas in Williamstown, Dell Rodman raises a small, quality alpaca herd and has their fiber made into a variety of products.

In addition to the individual fiber producers, the local fiber economy, or “fibershed”, is a larger system that moves fiber products from the farms to consumers. As with the more familiar term “foodshed”, a fibershed is composed of the farms, processors, and consumers who work together to produce and distribute their local fiber products within a geographic area. Awareness of local fibersheds may lag behind interest in local food production, but as consumers increasingly focus on sustainability and supporting the local economy, local fiber will become more prominent, and projects like the Western Massachusetts Fibershed, an offshoot of a California-based initiative, aim to spark interest in local, sustainable fiber production.  

One major challenge to local fiber production is a shortage of mills to turn raw wool into yarn, finished knit, or woven products. Daignault of Ashford Heights Farm has struggled to find mills that can balance quality and cost and sending fiber to distant mills is expensive. She’s looking forward to working with Nobletown Fiber Works, a new mill in Hillsdale, NY. Nobletown’s operator, Lewis Cleale, is excited to join the local fiber economy after extensive research on the business and mechanics of fiber processing. Cleale says the process of starting a mill has been one of sharing knowledge with his customers to produce the best fiber products. “I have had my hands in probably 15 different types of wool in the last few months,” he says. “Each breed has different wool. Each wool processes differently.”  

Goat and sheep pelts are part of the fiber world, too. When livestock farmers have sheep or goats processed for meat, they can also send the hides to a tannery to be turned into durable, attractive pelts. “Our pelts add comfort and joy to everyone’s home,“ says Melissa Martin of Dandelion Hill Farm. The pelts are versatile: some customers throw them over a chair or couch to add style to their home, while others use them as yoga mats or even comfortable dog beds. Martin also saves wool from her breeding stock to wrap the farm’s goat milk soap. The wool wrapping turns the soap into an exfoliant bar, and acts as green packaging that can be composted when the bar is used up. 

With the wide variety of fiber products available from local farms, local fibershed products can warm your body, brighten your home, and — if you knit, crochet, or weave — they can fulfill your creative side, too. 

The current fibershed of the Berkshires descends from the19th century milling industry in the region. The large scale textile mills in the 1800's strengthened made the Berkshire economy strong until the 1950s, when the the last woolen mill in Pittsfield closed. (You can read the timeline compiled by Hancock Shaker Village.) Those former mills now house many small businesses and food- and farm-related ventures, including the Berkshire Grown Winter Farmers Market held at GreylockWorks, a former mill complex in North Adams.

To the east of the Berkshires, in Worcester, Mia Lumsden's idea for Uncommon Strands developed after she learned that much of the wool from our region is discarded each year. Partly that's a result of a shortage of mills capable of processing raw wool into usable forms and partly because sheep with especially fine wool are hard to raise in New England. Coarse wool is still wool though, so when she learned that huge quantities of wool grown in New England are sitting unused in barns or thrown into compost piles (or worse, into the landfill), she started making felted items and is still experimenting with some product designs, but plans to have items to sell by the summer. Uncommon Strands products will be 100% New England grown and made.

Famers who nurture, raise and tend their animals for fiber are important to the agricultural landscape, ecosystem, and local economy. Fiber in the Berkshires is here to stay.

At their Annual Board meeting, Berkshire Grown Board of Trustees approved a slate of three new board members and elected officers. Incoming officers are Amy Rudnick, President; Peter Platt, Vice President, Tom Curtin, Treasurer, Lee Venolia, Clerk; and Jake Levin, Member-at-Large. The organization bade a fond farewell to two long-time Board members. Rotating off the Board of Trustees are Martin Stosiek, owner and farmer of Markristo Farm in Hillsdale, NY and Hester Velmans of Sheffield, MA.

Serving on the Board since service since 2009, Hester Velmans has advocated for Berkshire Grown as the Chair of the Development Committee, introducing friends and farmers to the organization, and provided her barn and home for networking, planning and celebratory events. Allison Rachele Bayles, the outgoing President of the Board thanked both for their years of service and saying “we are deeply grateful to both Martin and Hester’s many years of service that have provided guidance in strategic planning, and insight into the strengths and needs of our local Berkshire food system.”

Joining the Board in 2022 are three food and farming-focused Berkshire residents.

Katherine (Kat) Hand is Co-Owner and General Manager of Berkshire Cider Project – a small craft hard cidery located at Greylock Works in North Adams, MA. Berkshire Cider Project is dedicated to local sourcing, supporting Berkshire County agriculture, and celebrating the arts, culture, and natural beauty that makes the Berkshire region so special. Founded in 2019, Berkshire Cider Project is working to grow locally – hiring their first full time employees and expanding sourcing relationships with local orchards and institutions. Their tasting room will re-open in the spring– visit her there!

Jim Schultz is the lead farmer at Red Shirt Farm, a diversified organic no-till farm in Lanesborough, Massachusetts. He studied small-scale, regenerative agriculture at the Sterling Institute, the New Alchemy Institute, and Evergreen State College and apprenticed on several small farms around New England. He put farming on hold to raise two children with his wife Annie, while teaching, coaching and administrating in the local public schools for 26 years.

She is an award-winning chef and author of Sparks in the Kitchen, published by Knopf. Katy regularly contributes her seasonal recipes to the Rural Intelligence blog which celebrates and supports northeast regional foods. Katy grew up in Vermont’s Champlain Valley where her family raised grass-fed beef and free roaming chickens. As an amateur naturalist, she learned to forage for wild edibles and is devoted to all things local and delicious.

Robin Catalano for Modern Farmer

When Josh Young took over management of the decade-old New Lebanon Farmers Market (NLFM) in rural upstate New York in 2020, he needed to think creatively to mitigate the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t anticipate those efforts would result in a new hybrid market model that would garner a major grant from the USDA, and serve as a fresh-fare blueprint for food deserts.

Like many Northeastern towns that prospered during the Industrial Era, New Lebanon declined when the passenger rail shuttered in the 1950s. The town’s only grocery store closed more than a dozen years ago. Residents had resigned themselves to the 10-plus-mile haul for shopping.

As the coronavirus rocked the supply chain, Josh Young, a freelance software engineer, and his sister, Eleanor Young, who runs a butchery and sausage-making business, took the NLFM virtual, with online ordering and weekly pickup and deliveries. It was an immediate hit.

Read the article here. Photo credit Elise Zvirzdin.

Shop at the next indoor

Berkshire Grown Winter Farmers Market!

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Shoppers, may pre-order from many of the market vendors through What'sGood in order to save time and insure you get the fresh products you are craving before they sell out! Prepaid orders are picked up via the curbside pick-up service. Of course all shoppers are welcome in the market. Masks are mandatory for everyone.

For the March19 farmers market, pre-orders on What'sGood will open on Monday, March 14 and close Thursday, March 16 at 11pm. Shoppers using SNAP can pre-order online, and pay at the Market Manager's table on market day.

Admission is always free and SNAP benefits are available (with 1:1 Market Match up to $25) at both markets. HIP benefits for fresh fruits and vegetables are available, too. Visit the Market Manager's Table for tokens and more information. Visit berkshiregrown.org

Berkshire Grown connects you with local farmers, restaurants, and food producers. DONATE TODAY to celebrate local farms and food, sustain our Berkshire food economy, and Keep Farmers Farming! Support your favorite local eating establishment.

The 2021 Guide to Local Food & Farms is the Berkshire region's most comprehensive reference for finding local food, farms and restaurants that source from local farms and food producers.

This valuable resource connects you to farmers markets, CSA's, farms stands and farm stores, specialty producers, Berkshire County food pantry sites, local food & lodgings, and other business members who support Berkshire Grown and its mission to keep farmers farming.

Complete with contact information and a handy map, the 2021 Guide is now on the news stands throughout Berkshire County and the surrounding region. In addition you can find the 2021 Guide digital version and the Find Food and Farms searchable map on the Berkshire Grown website.

www.berkshiregrown.org