This is truly a one-bowl meal! And fast – try cooking the barley and lentils in a crockpot all day – the longer they cook the creamier they get. You can add the veggies at the beginning and let them cook all day, or add them after the barley and lentils have cooked, about an hour before eating. And here’s a bonus tip: Soaking the beans and grains together overnight and throwing away the soaking water makes them easier to digest and helps them to cook faster. 

This soup also contains the healing triad of onions, mushrooms, and greens, easily remembered as OMG! Cruciferous vegetables like kale contain compounds that have a variety of potent anti-cancer effects. They also work synergistically with compounds found in mushrooms and onions to remove carcinogens, reduce inflammation, neutralize oxidative stress, and kill cancer cells. So eat up! The portion below serves four. 

Place soaked lentils and barley, the water or stock, salt, and kombu in a heavy-bottomed soup pot and bring to a boil, or use a crockpot on low for the whole day. Simmer one to two hours or until very soft and starchy (all day if using a crockpot). Sauté the veggies in the olive oil for 10 minutes, then add the herbs, sautéing a few minutes more before adding the Bragg or soy sauce. Add veggies to the soup or crockpot, simmer until tender, taste, and adjust seasonings. Serve garnished with fresh parsley and/or herbs, and toasted nuts or seeds.
     ~ Whole Foods for Healing classes are held regularly in the Kosmic Kitchen in Lee, MA. For more information contact Katherine Miller, Kosmic Kitchen, katherine@kosmic-kitchen.com, www.kosmic-kitchen.com. 

What We Offer
The Starving Artist Café & Creperie is located in downtown Lee, Massachusetts. Our philosophy is Always Organic & Local When Possible. We are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the summer, and serve savory and sweet crepes along with delicious sandwiches, fresh salads, homemade soups, organic baked goods, fresh organic juices, smoothies, Barrington coffee, and much more. There is something for everyone, including buckwheat gluten-free and vegan crepes, vegan and gluten-free baked goods, and organic meat options. Eat in, outside, or takeout are all available.
We are located next door to the Good Purpose Gallery. Our name pays homage to the many “Starving Artists” of the area with local artists’ paintings hung on the walls and a live musical brunch every Sunday, combining the art of food with our beautiful crepes.  

What Makes Us Different
We are a family-run organic café with a focus on creating healthy delicious food. We have many options for vegans, people with gluten allergies, and other dietary needs. We also feature local artists at our musical brunch every Sunday, serving breakfast all day with live music from 10am-1pm. 
Come join us anytime during the month of April 2012, mention Our BerkshireGreen, and we will give you half off the price of any dessert crepe!

We Are Community-Minded
One of our main goals at The Starving Artist Cafe is to limit the impact we have on the earth in every way. We support local and organic farms in the Berkshires as much as we can. This benefits local businesses and ensures you are getting the freshest products and ingredients in your food. Being avid recyclers in order to be kind to our environment, we use corn-based biodegradable plastic products and our paper products are made from recycled paper. Our website is hosted by 100 percent wind energy and our faithful customers receive a paperless newsletter each month. 

How to Find Us
We are located at 40 Main Street in downtown Lee. Open Monday through Saturday from 7:30am-5pm and Sundays from 8am-3pm for our musical brunch. On Fridays & Saturdays in the summer we are open until 8pm with live music. See www.starvingartistcreperie.com or follow us on Facebook for daily specials and updates. www.starvingartistcreperie.com  

The room is quiet, and I am swathed in a sheet and blanket, my face and décolleté covered with a rich layer of organic herbal creams that give off a faint pine-like scent. My feet, which have just been similarly massaged and moisturized, are enveloped in cozy booties. I hear faint strains of music and the esthetician preparing her next potion in a corner of the room, but the sounds seem far distant. In fact, I could be lying next to a train track with a freighter clattering past and not much care: I am that blissed out.  
     Though I think of myself as a low-maintenance person, I am no stranger to facials and massages, and I’ve been coming to Seven salon.spa, at Seven South Street, Stockbridge, for my hair since it opened six years ago. But this is the first time that I have ascended to its spa – several generously sized, well-appointed, and immaculate treatment rooms on Seven’s second floor. Ascended seems the right word: this facial and the massage that follows it make me feel as though I’m floating on a cloud.

From the beginning, Seven’s spa has been a vital part of the business – the brainchild of Mark Johnson, who embarked on a career as a hairstylist 23 years ago, and his long-time partner and husband of two years, Maurice Peterson, who is Seven’s co-owner and business manager. The couple began their Berkshire residence as second-home owners, fell in love with the area, and moved here full time when they launched the salon/spa.
     Au courant with the latest trends in healthful hair, skin, and spa products, Seven offers organic single-process hair coloring with Herbatint, products by John Masters and others, skin care products by Pangea and Comfort Zone, and Jane Iredale makeup, the purest mineral cosmetics on the planet. It also offers manicures, including long-lasting shellac solutions, and a range of skin and body treatments, including facials, massages, peels, waxing, makeup application and lessons, complimentary private steam baths for spa clients, and myotonolgy (described as a nonsurgical facelift – note to self: mark for future reference), even tarot and readings by intuitive Sheilaa Hite.
“We have a gamut of clients – women, men, kids, actresses, and elderly ladies, and try to serve all of them with a good range of prices for services,” Johnson says. “We respect our employees, and they have their own creative control over what they do. Good quality people always look for that. We’re lucky to have the staff that we have.”
     Johnson still works in New York City two days a week at Space, the first high-end salon established in SoHo. Having trained with Vidal Sassoon, he spent four years doing magazine and runway work before deciding to work in the real world as a cutter and colorist. “It’s just much more fulfilling,” he explains. “What we do for our clients makes a lasting impact on their looks, and they’re living with the results of what we do day and night.” A great stylist combines mastery of technique with a high level of taste, and Johnson has both. The one thing that is missing at Seven is a diva-esque attitude among its employees and its clientele, and that’s a breath of fresh Berkshire air.
     Today, I am breathing deep, as esthetician Nicole Troiano slathers my face with gentle exfoliating, deep cleansing, and rich moisturizing masks from Comfort Zone’s botanical, bio-organic Sacred Nature line. While the second mask penetrates, she treats my feet and calves to a massage and moisturizing treatment. Fifty minutes later, the facialist’s ministrations, a succession of eucalyptus-scented hot towels, and sybaritic potions of borage oil, ylang ylang, sandalwood, and jojoba oil have left my skin feeling luscious and looking radiant. “How often can I do this?” this formerly low-maintenance client asks Troinano. She recommends once every four to six weeks, the length of time it takes normal skin cells to replace themselves. In time, she explains, with these bioorganic treatments, the skin will become noticeably better in quality and tone.                            A few days later, I return to one of Seven’s massage rooms, where masseuse Lori Meek personalizes her treatments to the preferences of the client, from deep tissue work with lots of strong pressure to the more rhythmic and flowing motions of the Swedish massage. I opt for the latter, relaxing into a meditative zone while my neuromuscular and lymphatic systems bask in satisfied waves of contentment. Soothing percussive chords play quietly in the background, as the therapist kneads my back with an all-organic scentless, non-oily blend of jojoba and shea butter. “The more relaxed the client is, the deeper the massage can go,” Meek explains. With nine years under her fingertips, she and Alex Vinogradov, the other lead member of Seven’s massage team, offer a total of 34 years of experience, way above the industry’s three-year norm. In addition to individual treatments, they team up for couples massages. “Massages break up adhesions, move fluid in the tissue, and bring blood into the muscles, so over time, the body becomes more supple,” Meek says. “People move differently and look younger.”
     I certainly feel that way. My complexion is radiant without makeup, my stride is somehow longer and looser, and my shoulders and back feel amazing. Deconstruct the word “treatment,” and what you get is “treat,” something we all deserve. 
Seven salon.spa, 7 South Street, Stockbridge, MA 01262, (413) 298-0117, www.sevensalonspa.com.

~ A full-time real estate agent with The Kinderhook Group, based in Stockbridge, Gladys Montgomery specializes in architecturally significant properties, including historic ones in all price ranges. She is an award-winning writer and editor who was founding editor of Berkshire Living Home & Garden and is the author of five books and hundreds of magazine feature articles in the shelter and lifestyle field. 

What is education? It is how we develop the abilities of the mind, it is how we acquire the powers of reasoning and judgment, it is how we “learn to know.” As the Irish poet  William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) observed, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
     In this article, we shine our spotlight on three nonprofit organizations that light the fire of learning in our children. 

The Nutrition Center

“Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.” ~ Daniel J. Boorstin (American historian, 1914-2004)

What most of us don’t know about food is quite a lot, and what we don’t know we don’t know about food seems immeasurable. What most of us do know about food is its significance for our health and well-being, perhaps even for our happiness. As with so much else, the best time to learn about food is when one is young, unbiased, and eager to absorb new information . . . and food! A child who is introduced to fresh, health-giving foods at an early age is more likely, throughout a lifetime, to enjoy such foods and consider them to be not only nurturing but delicious.
The folks at The Nutrition Center (TNC) know a lot about food. Here, youngsters can discover the delights of wholesome eating. Throughout the school year, TNC offers Food Adventures in our local schools. Presented in collaboration with the Berkshire Co-op Market, this program teaches students about nutrition and about making healthy food choices. Working in teams, the young people actually prepare snacks or mini meals right in the classroom. They also learn the basics of kitchen safety and the advantages of using locally grown and locally produced ingredients.

Berkshire Humane Society

“No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.” ~ Emma Goldman (Lithuanian activist, 1869-1940)

Intrigued by the link between the words human and humane, I consulted thesaurus.com, which gives 46 synonyms for humane in the sense of compassionate, among them the following: considerate, forgiving, gentle, good-natured, helpful, kind, natural, open-minded, sympathetic, tolerant, unselfish, and warm-hearted. These qualities are sorely needed, perhaps more than ever before, in our distressed and distressing world. And could there be a better way of teaching these qualities to children than by letting them interact with creatures even smaller, more innocent, and more vulnerable than they are themselves? 
The Berkshire Humane Society (BHS) offers opportunities for children to learn these qualities, which they can then apply in their interactions with others. During the school year, the BHS offers Party with the Animals, a two-hour children’s birthday party in the classroom, as well as free educational programs for local schoolchildren. Shelter Tours available throughout the year offer youth groups the chance to interact with animals awaiting adoption. The BHS summer day camp, Camp Humane, mixes fun and learning with a balanced curriculum of arts and crafts projects and presentations from a variety of animal professionals aimed at teaching the young camper to be a responsible pet owner.

The Montessori School of the Berkshires

“Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.” ~ Ernest Dimnet (French clergyman, 1866-1954) 

The name Montessori evokes images of independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development. Traditional educational systems focus on book learning, rote memorization, and the acquisition of objective, testable information. The Montessori method, by contrast, emphasizes experiential rather than theoretical knowledge. It uses the discovery model, whereby students learn concepts from actually working with materials. Learning by doing is a joyful experience rather than a chore.
An important feature of the Montessori approach is that children are not divided into groups by age. Rather, each class is a kind of family group comprised of children of two, three, or more age levels. As the children grow older, they take on increasing responsibility, helping to care for their environment and for the younger children in the group. Promoted by this structure, the focus is on cooperation and collaboration rather than on competition. The Montessori School of the Berkshires offers programs for toddlers through eighth graders, afterschool programs, and summer day camp.       


~ Rodelinde Albrecht, Concerned Singles, www.ConcernedSingles.com.

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Southwest Sushi Recipe by Katherine Miller of Kosmic Kitchen

Sushi from the store can be quite expensive, but it's very easy to make and extremely tasty! This delicious recipe makes approximately 36 pieces.

Pre-prep - red onion pickles and toasted seeds - see recipe below.
 
1 cup black quinoa (yellow can be used if black isn’t available)
1/2 cup amaranth
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 T umeboshi vinegar
1 1/2 T white balsamic
8-12 collard green leaves - medium size - trim the stem and flatten the raised middle rib with your knife,  
        blanch in boiling water until green and tender, set aside to cool

2 ripe but firm avocadoes - sliced into thin strips
2 medium carrots - finely julienned
6 scallions cut into long thin strips
1 cup red onion pickles
1 small can chipotle in adobo, vegan mayo (optional)

Wash the grains well and drain through a very fine sieve - the amaranth is very small. Place water, salt and grain in a heavy bottomed pot, bring to a boil, cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn the flame off and let sit for 10 minutes or more, then turn into a mixing bowl and add the umeboshi vinegar and white balsamic, mix well - it should be pretty sticky. While the grains are cooking prepare the veggies and blanch the collards.
When everything is ready place a blanched collard leaf on the table with the bottom of the leaf towards you
spread a thin layer of the grain mix over 3/4 of the leaf, right to the edges. Place smear of chipotle and the veggies across the center of the leaf and roll up tightly starting at the bottom. Using a sharp knife slice the roll into 1/2 inch chunks and arrange on a plate. Taste one to make sure you have the right amount of veggies and chili. Adjust as needed and continue until everything is used up