Here comes the height of the growing season! You can find all the heat loving crops at farm stands and markets -- and they're just getting started. Pick up some fresh sweet corn and local meat for your grill, tomatoes for tomato sandwiches, raspberries and blueberries for pies, and a LOT more. Check out CISA's searchable online database to find it all!

Farmers, like everyone else, are trying to figure out how to manage their budgets given rapid increases in their costs, including seeds, fertilizer, fuel, and labor. As we move into the height of the harvest season, farmers are making hard decisions about how much to raise their prices to cover their costs, while still keeping the food they harvest affordable to as many customers as possible. Hatfield farmer Harrison Bardwell explains, “Our input costs are up this year between 8% (for seeds) and 80% (for fertilizer). We try to make our products accessible and affordable to everyone, but we are in a very difficult position.”

Curious about what's really happening on local farms and what farmers are excited about? We talk with them every week on WRSI and our Valley Bounty column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Here are a couple recent highlights:

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants – local farmers grow dozens of varieties of berries like this, offering an amazing diversity of taste, color, size, and availability throughout the summer. Many of these berry plants began life at Nourse Farms, which, since owner Tim Nourse moved the farm to Whately in 1968, has grown into an unassuming giant in the berry business.

Leslie Harris of Quonquont Farm in Whately joined CISA's Phil Korman and Monte Belmonte to talk about pick-your-own season (blueberries and flowers now, peaches and apples to come), the farm’s history (involving “dry cleaning barons” and vaccinated cows), and ... taxidermy bobcats? Trust us: just listen.

Life in the Hilltowns is characterized by things being spread out – people, jobs, food – more than anywhere else in the state. It gives rise to the area’s beloved rural character. When you’re a local farmer, though, it does make it harder to find customers. Enter the Hilltown Mobile Market, now in its fourth year.

Phil and Monte talk with Lucy Damkoehler, chef-owner of Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston, about twice-baked croissants (the MOST delicious solution to day-old pastries you’ve ever heard of), Lucy's boomerang path working as a chef before returning to her hometown to open a bakery, and their new classroom space for cooking and baking classes — breaking ground this month for classes starting in 2023.