Ginny Moore hails from the suburbs of Philadelphia. She studied agriculture and the environment (among other things) at McGill University, and has spent the last two seasons apprenticing on farms—in 2010, at Skunk Hollow Community Farm, a small vegetable CSA in her hometown, and in 2011, at Hawthorne Valley Farm, a biodynamic and organic vegetable and dairy farm in the Hudson Valley. For the last 6 months, she has been working with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, interviewing new farmers in the region for the New Farmer Narrative Project. This fall, she will be starting her master’s degree in agroecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. There, she will be working for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, assisting with their Beginning Farmer Program.

Anna Duhon grew up in the Berkshires Hills of Western Massachusetts, where she first became passionate about the intersection of agriculture and community life. She’s been following that interest ever since through experiences living, working and researching on farms and in agricultural communities. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from Harvard University with a thesis exploring a therapeutic farm community near her childhood home, and a Masters of Arts in Natural Resources and Peace from the University for Peace in Costa Rica with a thesis on the local food system in the Southern Berkshires. These days she lives just over the border from the Berkshires in Columbia County, New York. Through her work as a social scientist with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, she does social and cultural research on the interconnections between people, nature, and agriculture. Recently, she has especially enjoyed the opportunity to explore the paths of new farmers in the County through the New Farmer Narrative Project. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

Farm-to-table chefs from the Berkshires and Hudson Valley come together in the kitchen to showcase and celebrate their shared food community. Leah Eden of HeritageRadioNetwork.org attended the first ChefX dinner, a unique culinary exchange that brings chefs and food lovers together from Berkshire County and Hudson Valley. Tune in as Leah speaks with several of the Berkshire-based chefs who made the trek to Hudson to share their regional cuisine and cooking philosophy with Hudson customers.

To learn more about ChefX events, check out Berkshire Farm & Table, a non-profit that works to cultivate regional economic development by creating fun food events. On Monday, April 29, Allium Restaurant + Bar in Great Barrington will host the next culinary collaboration - five esteemed chefs from the Hudson Valley will be cooking up a great meal in the Berkshires. Get your tickets today!

This week on Snacky Tunes, Finger on The Pulse are joined by Cathy Erway of Hapa Kitchen and Justin Carter of Sunday Best fame.