Fads, fads, fads.  There are a lot of popular accounts of carbon sequestration as a solution to climate change, biochar as a soil additive, and replacing organic with regenerative because organic is getting watered down by industry.  Scientist and farmer Will Brinton brings light and intelligent consideration to these topics and many others.  After our discussion Jaye and I realized how essential emissions reduction is, and other solutions are oversold and used by fossil fuel companies to dodge their responsibility to switch or quit.  Cover crops with biocides tries to pass as regenerative, and films about carbon farming have some errors and are often overly optimistic.  Will Brinton had so much to say that we interviewed him for 2 one hour shows.  The first show first broadcast in November 2024 on WBCR-LP is

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aexck1K_ombNAznSNw_6Ps_kmsCkWDxx/view?usp=sharing

The second broadcast there in December is   https://drive.google.com/file/d/19-stVzuO-CjfrAEQ9IOgm6iwCPukAs-V/view?usp=sharing

Here are some rough recordings of an Oct 6 concert at Sandisfield Arts Center 4-6 PM, first and second half respectively.  Terry Keevil, oboe; Gerold Mohn, clarinet and bassoon; Stewart Edelstein, French horn, Bill Taylor, piano, Tari Roosa, flute and piccolo, Jaye Alison Moscariello, voice.

Note that this is from a recorder near the back of the hall.

Here are some 2024 Mostly Modern Festival pieces of mine.

Normalizing Evil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2KTTltAdJY

program notes: Normalizing Evil-3rd mvt only notes

Ode to Ludwig (this one we are doing with oboe and bassoon on Oct 6; here is with violin and bassoon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew8AMXiDDOg&list=PLUOHtooUK6OjKTDjnjqal2QMyFPZCGzFe&index=3

and these are from 2023:

Regenerate, Heal, Cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO10bpLj0lw

24×8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN5NiWxwxtI

Jamie Nadler and Zach Russman of Dancing Greens Farm, a new farm started in 2023 in Monterey, MA is focusing on living soils growing nutritious food.  Get inspired by the newest generation of farmers!

Donn Hewitt and Mary Rose Livingston run a sheep farm with draft animal power (horses, mules).

At Sandisfield Arts Center, 4-6 PM on Sunday October 6, 2024.  Bill Taylor (piano), Gerold Mohn (clarinet, bassoon), Terry Keevil (oboe, English Horn), Tari Roosa (flute, piccolo), Stewart Edelstein (French horn), and Jaye Alison Moscariello (vocals) will perform works by Bill Taylor, Camille Saint-Saens, Dmitri Shostakovich, and a few surprises.  Tickets in advance at SARC  https://sandisfieldartscenter.org/events/ or at the door (but please order now and tell your friends!)

Also, there is a lengthy interview with me in The Artful Mind, August issue.  You can find it here; I was not on the cover; the article starts on page 16 https://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/the_artful_mind_august_ok_2024_

Our latest interview broadcasting on WBCR-LP Great Barrington 97.7 FM and streaming at berkshireradio.org Mondays 10-11 AM through Sept. 3 is also here anytime.  Joe Pappas is the new orchard manager at Riiska Brook Orchard on New Hartford Road in Sandisfield, and he has extensive experience at numerous New England orchards and a passion to grow the healthiest and safest to eat fruit.  While totally organic is very difficult in apple orcharding, he is working on some of the latest methods to eliminate most toxic spraying, using trapping, careful monitoring, and biological ways to reduce pest pressure.  Apple season starts in early September and now is a time to learn more about all that it takes to make a successful apple season possible.  .

The magazine has a lengthy interview with me, Bill Taylor, in the August 2024 issue.  I am not on the cover; my article begins on page 18.

We interviewed  musicians and artists Ben Luxon and Susie Crofut about their extensive flower and food gardens, and occasionally we turn the discussion to our gardening.  In place of our regular theme Nature’s Dream, we hear a bit of Ben playing the accompaniment to the Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro which his granddaughter will be performing in the future.

.  Now in their 80’s, they have had full lives as artists, musicians, and co-creators of beautiful gardens blending the formal and the wild in their Sandisfield Center property overlooking a beaver pond and forests.  Ben’s singing career of opera, oratorios, songs from various genres, and Susie’s art and design sensibilities have lent richness to the Sandisfield Arts Center where they are key creators of this community gem,  We spoke with them in late June 2024 on their back deck overlooking the flower gardens, and then had a walk and talk around the vegetable, flower and fruit beds and trees.

This also broadcasts Mondays in July from 10-11 AM EDT on WBCR-LP Great Barrington 97.7 FM, Berkshire Community Radio,  streaming at berkshireradio.org where you can find recent episodes of our show and make a donation to support locally produced programming

.  Thanks for listening!

is our interview with folks at The Seed Farm at Princeton. Growing our and saving seeds from all over the world, with a focus on troubled regions where protecting locally adapted genetics is needed, and building connections with indigenous and other people. We interview Nate Kleinman from Experimental Farm Network, Tessa Desmond, Seed Farm director; 2 students (Kennedy and Katie who will be the student farm manager), Chao Lao, post doc at Princeton working on developing a high oil okra; Chris Smith from Utopian Seed Project; and Gina Talt, Project Specialist at the Seed Farm. Edited to broadcast on WBCR-LP Mondays 10-11 AM EDT in June 2024 although a technical issue prevented it from playing on June 3, 2024.

The subtitle “The past 100 years: 1924-2024” points to the themes of this sextet (oboe, bassoon, percussion, harp, piano, and cello).  Notes about the piece and synthesized audio are below.  The performance by American Modern Ensemble will be posted around September 2024.  The synthesized audio misses the middle statement of a 3 note motif, but see the September 2024 post with the video of an actual performance!,

Normalizing Evil