Field Farm, Williamstown

Sunday, March 15, I hiked the trails at Field Farm in Williamstown with Deena Gilbert and the Berkshire County Hiking Group, a Meetup group. Field Farm is a 316-acre Trustees of Reservation property on agricultural land with views to the west of the Taconic Range and, to the east, of Mount Greylock. Beautiful! In addition, the garden has thirteen sculptures enriching the natural environment.

The site preserves two Modernist houses designed in 1948, low structures with lots of glass that, to me, look like they are growing out of the ground.  The houses are open as a bed and breakfast; six rooms, all with mountain views. There are picnic tables for day visitors.

That day, we hiked in a fierce snow squall which whited out the mountains. We snowshoed around a frozen pond, through open fields and on a trail in a mostly hardwood forest that traversed several brooks. After hiking we stopped at Ioka Farm, close by, to view the maple syrup-producing operation and eat some maple syrup-covered pancakes. Yum!

This is Field Farm's Modernist house with a large stone terrace.

The smaller house is nearest the pond.

Our happy group is ready to brave the snow squall!

View across the pond to both houses.

The Oak Loop trail included a couple of well-constructed bridges.

The trails are well-marked and easy to follow.

As we were returning, the sun almost came out!

She looks a little cold, doesn't she?

The next stop was Ioka Farm in Hancock.

With this modern oil-fired evaporator, Ioka Farm makes
approx. 6500 gallons of syrup every spring.
It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Before the sap gets to the evaporator, it undergoes
a reverse-osmosis process to remove some of the water.

This is the older and smaller wood-fired evaporator.

We tasted various grades of syrup, maple cream, and products
made with maple syrup. Then we had our pancakes!