So cool to have been included in the Rural Intelligence 2017 Holiday Gift Guide. We are delighted!

Below, our tastings and special events through the holidays. We will update with additions and changes as they happen…merry and bright xo

Saturday December 2 The Chef’s Shop, Great Barrington, MA – tasting 11:30-2:30, select jars available in the store

Sunday December 3 Copake Falls Winter Walk (in the Taconic Wayside Inn) Copake Falls, NY – tasting & sale 1-4pm

Friday December 8 Indian Mountain Holiday Marketplace, Indian Mountain School, Lakeville, CT – tasting & sale 2-6:30pm

Saturday December 9 Hillsdale General Store, Hillsdale, NY – tasting 1-2:30, jars available in store

Saturday-Sunday December 9-10 Winter Work:shop Winter Market at Wickham Solid Wood Studio, Beacon, NY – tasting & sale Saturday 12/9 10-6 Sunday 12/10 11-5

Thursday December 14 Sierra Lily, Poughkeepsie, NY – tasting & sale 4-7pm

Saturday December 16 Berkshire Grown Holiday Market, Monument Middle School, Great Barrington, MA – tasting & sale 10-2

Saturday December 16 Fishkill Farms Holiday Market & Fair, Fishkill, NY – tasting (including cocktails!) 12-4, select jars available in the farm store

Sunday December 17 Harney & Sons Millerton, NY – tasting 1-3, select jars available in the shop

 

Coming to the tail end of harvest now this mid-October but we are playing catch up on all fronts with September. That usually sweet month of back to school energy and crisp mornings, golden light and shortening days blew in bitter and no sweet about it cold on the personal plane at les collines. We’ll write more about that over on the daily grace side, suffice it to say here that as always we’ve found solace in the natural world, in the farmers and other folk who like us have chosen a life closely entwined with it, and in our wonderful customers and stores who support what we’re doing.

Chipped Pears, Crabapple Jelly and Concord Grape Preserve are in now, they all are looking and tasting gorgeous. The Crabapple was featured in a Hudson Valley Bounty back-to-school bag along with other amazing local products like Bread Alone bread and the Peanut Principle nut butter.

Sadly for the first time we have no quince sources, the blight last year has run into this and thus there will be no Quince Preserve for the first time in les collines history. Pumpkin Confit is still in development, with a pH requiring more tweaking before we can safely release, so stay tuned: hoping by the end of the month. The test batches so far are so good, it will be well worth waiting for. And when we get a bit of a lull we will begin working on some of the rosehip juice we extracted from Jane Iredale’s rosehips growing just behind us at market. Very local sourced.

A fun article about using preserves in cocktails is out now in the fall issue of Edible Berkshires. Penned by the multi-talented Christy Frank of Copake Wine Works in Copake and formerly Frankly Wines in Manhattan and complete with seasonally appropriate recipes using les collines and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. We hope to collaborate on a cocktail class with Berkshire Mountain this winter, stay tuned.

Our demo of Heirloom Tomato Butter marinated rib eye sold out our stock at the Great Barrington Co-op, it was our first time cooking live for a demo so especially glad it went well and nothing caught fire…

We’ll be sad to see the Great Barrington Farmers Market draw to a close the 28th, hard to believe given our feet dragging last spring about committing to a full season. It’s definitely a huge weekly commitment complete with schlepping but so very rewarding in the connection to our customers and other farmers, and we’re grateful to have been there. Two more Saturdays to catch us on Church St.

Otherwise events every weekend now so follow us on social media for locations and times and hope to see you and share some les collines love xo 

with thanks to P. Baptiste, Sheri Kiernan and Hudson Valley Bounty  for contributing photos.

link here for Sinatra’s version of the classic song, heartbreaking perfection.

August of dog days, blackberries, heirlooms ripening at last. Festivals and a frenzy of summertime events and the slant of the sun, hinted at in July, now undeniable. It is a summer of beautiful clouds, many days with rain, and not very hot temps.

At les collines whatever the weather high summer continues, with a recent beautiful batch of Shiro and red plums from fellow Great Barrington Farmers Market vendor Maynard Farms of Ulster Park. We are so glad to have Plum Jelly, we were without last year due to the freeze of stone fruit.

Blackberries from Greig, blueberries and black raspberries from Samascott are in now and combine for that dense, dark, 3-berry pie flavor Black & Blue, my favorite for breakfast with fresh ricotta and toasted almonds. Lavender continues to be a summer favorite, and customers have been telling me they love it with lamb– mix with Dijon and fresh rosemary to glaze, or serve with.

Local yellow and red onions coming in now from Markristo Farm slow simmer for our new batch of aromatic Onion Confit. Markristo also provided us with most of the Indigo radicchio for our Grillsdale offering, Meyer Lemon Rosemary Jelly glazed BC salmon, on grilled radicchio topped with tapenade. We were one of 11 chefs (cooks, in our case!) cooking last Saturday for 500, definitely intense. But a lot of fun and in a gorgeous setting.

Keeping it local, among others an appearance at the market at Falcon Ridge, a cocktail demo at Hillsdale Fine Wines and Spirits and a preserves and wine tasting at Domaney’s in Great Barrington have kept us hopping; we’ll be tasting at the Berkshire Co-op this Saturday right after the Great Barrington Farmers Market.

But back to jelly news…sweet and jalapeño peppers in now from Common Hands means Hot Pepper Jelly is back and in full swing. Concords and crabapples soon. And in a few weeks we are looking to try our hand at a Pumpkin Preserve, stay tuned.

Seems right to be thinking pumpkin now as the weather this past week, while spectacular, is more typical of September than August, with some very chilly nights and just barely sun-warmed days We’ll take it xo 

Gooseberry blackberry heirloom tomato; red onion yellow onion our Confit was approved!!!

The confit debuted to rave reviews at the Great Barrington and Copake-Hillsdale Farmers Markets this past weekend, and for the moment it is on sale now only at Olde Hudson.

Otherwise….this has been a real mixed month of weather with coolness and rains that have felt more like spring or fall than midsummer. For the first time in recent memory lighting a fire in the wood stove (indoors) in the month of July felt appropriate.

But also, the classically spectacular long summer days of warmth and peepers and fireflies. Where getting up at 5 a.m. or earlier feels a gift rather than a chore.

Today was one of those days: for this last day of July 2017 it was what felt like a pretty classic, perfect summer day. Almost hot, a little humid, plenty of sun, and here in the country that delicious coolness to begin and end the day.

Whatever the season it’s high season still and the days, though growing shorter in light, remain long long long for the farmer and producer. So we’ll let the photos fill in the gaps and hope to write more next time xo

with thanks to Paul Amash, Bruce Firger, Keyanna Gaylord and Sheri Kiernan for contributing photos  …

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A coolish Memorial Day weekend, don’t put the wool away yet. Our third market at Great Barrington, our first at Copake-Hillsdale Saturday felt more like early October than late May.

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Though a bit chilly, windy and wet thus far, this May seems especially GREEN.  So many shades of, yellowish spring green to Kelly green and so many shades– is it more than usual, or was I not paying attention before.

The blossoms look lush and wonderful, a prolific fruit year is tentatively predicted, making up for the sad losses of last year.

It is SPRING at les collines and the urge to speak in all caps is taking hold.

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