Local Farm Heroes Public Concert
at the Shelburne Falls Senior Center

Franklin County farmers will be interviewed in a vacation music project led by local songwriter, Sarah Pirtle (pictured above). Children ages 5 to 9 will meet and learn from the farmers and write a song about each of them. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)

Farmers from four different generations and four different types of farms will be honored by song in concert on Thursday, February 18th at 2pm at the Senior Center in Shelburne Falls, MA.

Franklin County farmers will be interviewed in a vacation music project led by local songwriter, Sarah Pirtle. Children ages 5 to 9 will meet and learn from the farmers and write a song about each of them.

• Herb Purington of Wilson Hill Farm in Colrain is a seventh generation dairy farmer. The children will also hear haiku poetry about farm life by his daughter, poet Carol Purington.
• Daniel Bodkin of Laughing Dog Farm in Gill will do a permaculture seed propagation demonstration.
• Bethany Wiles will represent Hagers Brothers Farm in Colrain and their farm market in Shelburne.
• Five year-old Leora Fisher from the CSA Natural Roots in Conway will be both a songwriter and describe her experiences as a farmer.

“I want children to meet farmers of many generations and feel the vitality and importance of small farming,” said Sarah Pirtle who wrote grants to do the project in support of local farms after releasing her ninth CD recording, Pocketful of Wonder, celebrating farming. The concert will include songs written by the children, songs of hers like “A Seed Knows What to Do,” and folk songs about farms including “Down on the Farm,” by Molly Scott.

This program is held at Arms Library in Shelburne Falls and is supported in part by a grant from the Shelburne Cultural Council and the Buckland Culture Council, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.