Fruit Fair Supermarket turns 90 years old this year! Claire, Monte, and Kaliis visit with Sam Newell, co-owner of the small Chicopee market. From its Front Street location, Fruit Fair serves people from predominantly from Chicopee, Chicopee Center, the rest of Chicopee, East Springfield, Springfield, and also some from Holyoke.

COVID taught Sam and Jared Newell that independent grocery stores lose out when the supply chain is disrupted. Those disruptions inspired the couple to build a greenhouse on the roof of the store, so they could supply themselves and their customers with fresh food under their control.

Newell says, “Sowe can’t always just depend on other people for our food. We’ve got to grow at least some of the healthy stuff that we eat and our community eats and we sell. We need independence. We need freedom. That was the inception of trying to build the greenhouse on the top of the roof.”

The greenhouse is up, and now the couple is regrouping, figuring out how they can fully equip the greenhouse and maximize food production, right in Chicopee Center.

Listen to this week’s interview!

Photos courtesy of NEPM. This show aired on NEPM on 2/11/26.

This week’s #localherospotlight features Something Special Cafe in Granby. Despite the wintry weather, this cozy cafe makes going out for breakfast & lunch worthwhile.

Laurie Grenier and her husband, Barry, opened the cafe during the pandemic in a homey farmhouse that was once the setting for a dairy. Something Special began as a catering business is 1985. She says, “We focus on Farmhouse Fresh. We believe in quality foods at a good price, and source ingredients as much as possible locally.”

Depending on the season, some of the farms the cafe draws from include Sapowsky Farm, Dickinson Farm, Red Fire Farm, and Cote Cattle Company supplies the meat for their famous hamburgers. Coffee is standard for a satisfying breakfast, and the cafe serves locally-roasted Esselon coffee.

Photos courtesy of NEPM.

It’s a new year, and as the winter winds howl, Claire, Monte, and Kaliis visit Black Birch Vineyard in North Hatfield. Listen to the conversation with Ian Modesto and Michelle Kurzbergen, the dog Yogi, and the cats Pinot and Chardonnay.

Learn about how their flock of 40 sheep help sustain the land, how valley weather suprises hearty winegrowers in the Finger Lakes Region of New York, and how local residents can sit a spell in a cozy tasting room, sipping wines and enjoying the arts this winter.

One highlight for winter is a red nouveau. Modesto explains its timing with the new year, “Our Nouveau is a take on Beaujolais, so to speak–an early, that’s very different. Typically our reds won’t be bottled for a year or longer after they’re harvested. But this Nouveau bottled a few weeks ago from our 2025 harvest, which is an unusual way of making it, but we wanted a Beaujolais style with our Marquette. It’s a very light, fruity red wine. It’s a really enjoyable wine, but it’s just different. And that’s the great thing about wine and what we were talking about earlier about changing your winemaking strategies to reflect what happens in the vineyard with farming. It’s a little different style than we typically make with our Marquette, so that’s why we’re excited about it.”

Photos courtesy of NEPM.

This show aired on NEPM on 1/29/26.

Jennifer Core, Monte, and Kaliis visit with Casey Flaherty and Kyle Steinberg of Nourish Wellness Cafe.

Casey took over Nourish in 2022, and Nourish is a vegan/vegetarian, all-organic cafe serving delicious food for anyone who’s looking to eat fresh, healthy food.

With the original location in Northampton, they opened a second location in the Eastworks building of Easthampton in 2026.

The cafe serves the best of the Valley all year long, including produce from Winter Moon Roots, Gill Greenery, Sweet Birch Herbals, Atlas Farm, Kitchen Garden Farm, and Real Pickles.

Listen in to learn more. All photos courtesy of NEPM. This show aired on January 21, 2026.

It’s January in western Mass., so it’s time for…flowers? This week, Monte, Kaliis, and Claire visit Lyle and Ryan Williams at Bramble and Blooms in Granby.

Listen in to learn about forcing tulips in winter, the contrast between locally grown flowers and the global flower market, and how a quest for a creative outlet marries passion in growing flowers for the local community–all while balancing a straight job in business.

All photos courtesy of NEPM.

This episode aired on NEPM on 1/14/26.

Kaliis, Monte, and Claire visit with fourth-generation farmer, Bud Ellison, of Ellison Farms Beef in Ludlow. He and his son, Zach, run about 70 cattle on their family land. Ellison breeds Angus and Hereford cattles to produce “Black Baldies.”

Ellison talks about how the farm is run much the way it was by his grandfathers, “We do things the old-fashioned way. We buy our own bulls, we buy high quality. We scour the countryside and Canada. We buy only high, high quality bulls. We’ve had the Grand National champion of Canada’s son here, and then we help other farms. We’ll cycle that bull around, because when the bull has nothing else to do, he’s gonna look for something to do to get in trouble. He’s 2000 lbs, so he can win most battles with fences and barn walls and all that.”

Listen in to hear more about the secret lives of beef cattle, raised right here in Hampden County.

Catch this week’s #localherospotlight on NEPM! Monte, Kaliis, and Claire visit David Machowski, of the Amherst Farmers’ Market. The gang speaks with Machowski while he receives a delivery from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts at the food pantry at the First Baptist Church in Amherst.

With forty years of experience managing the Amherst Farmer’s Market, Machowski. They discuss the history of the market and how this year they are offering a new winter market at the Bang’s Community Center. The winter market has music to inspire holiday cheer.

The winter sessions are Saturdays in December, 2025, 10am-2pm. December 20th will be their last winter market of the season.

Photos courtesy of NEPM.

Warren and Will McKinstry

McKinstry Farms has been growing strong in Chicopee since 1908. Will and Warren McKinstry are the next generation stewarding the family farm under the guidance of their parents, Bill and Nicole McKinstry. Will manages growing operations in the field and greenhouse, while Warren oversees the farm store.

This year brought structural improvements to the farm, including removal of railroad tracks, an enlarged parking lot, and a half-acre greenhouse that was funded through Massachusetts Food Security Infrastructure Grant program. Growing indoors allows the farm to offer fresh lettuce, herbs, cherry tomatoes, and peppers despite the winter weather.

Listen to this episode of the #LocalHeroSpotlight on NEPM.

This week the gang heads to the wilds of Chesterfield to visit with Rachel and Tevis Robertson-Goldberg, of Crabapple Farm. Snuggled in the Berkshire foothills, Chesterfield is between Northampton and Pittsfield, positioning the farm to serve farmers’ markets in both towns. Longstanding advocates for SNAP & HIP Rachel and Tevis reflect on the many changes in food access over the last year. Hear about their soft yarn favored by knitters and their philosophical approach to raising meat.

Photos courtesy of NEPM

This week, Kaliis, Jennifer, and Monte visit Wellspring Harvest Co-op in Indian Orchard. They talk with Fred Rose, co-director of the Wellspring Cooperative, and Clive Ndlvu, production manager of the Wellspring Greenhouse.

The hydroponic greenhouse is located in the Indian Orchard neighborhood of Springfield, where they grow five types of lettuce. Wellspring Harvest sells through Big Y and other area markets.

Wellspring is a family of cooperative businesses that creates sustainable economic opportunities for Springfield residents. Through jobs with on-the-job training and pathways to ownership, they empower individuals to build wealth and stability.

CISA staff photos.