WILLIAMSBURG — The Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation has awarded Alan Everett, 65, of Hemenway Hill Farm in Williamsburg, with its 2018 John Ogonowski Award.
“I was pleased to present Alan with the 2018 Ogonowski award,” MFBF President Mark Amato said. “With more than 35 years of dedicated service to the Farm Bureau, he was a deserving recipient of this award.”
Established in 2001, the award is a memorial to John Ogonowski, a longtime MFBF member who was actively involved in the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, serving as a mentor to immigrant farmers.
Tragically, Ogonowski was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, as part of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
The John Ogonowski award is given to a Farm Bureau member who has demonstrated distinguished service to the organization, to agriculture and to the community.
Everett has been farming for almost 40 years. During that time he ran his family dairy farm, was active in the Farm Bureau, as well as several agricultural organizations including the Pioneer Valley Milk Marketing Cooperative (Our Family Farms), the Williamsburg Agricultural Commission, the Massachusetts Association of Dairy Farmers, and the Agrimark Cooperative.
A member of the Farm Bureau since 1981, he is currently the Hampshire County representative to MFBF board of directors.
He has also served the town as a member of the School Building Committee and as a longtime volunteer firefighter.
“The fire department just got approval from the state Legislature to keep me on,” Everett said, noting that all firefighters of his age have to get special permission to remain on the job.
Everett said that while he is no longer involved in the dairy industry, he still raises hay, heifers and beef cattle on a little less than 100 acres.
“The Ogonowski award is meant to recognize those farmers that are not only a fixture in the Farm Bureau community but ones that give back to their own communities,” Amato said. “Alan has split his time between Farm Bureau, the dairy industry and his local community, making him an excellent award winner.”
To receive this award, one must first be nominated by their county farm bureau. Those nominations are sent to the state bureau and they select one individual to present the award to each year.
“I was notified about this two weeks ago and it is a real honor,” Everett said. “There are a lot of people who do more than I do.”
ASHFIELD — The Hilltown Land Trust is holding its fourth annual photography contest focusing on nature in the hilltowns.
People are invited to submit up to two photographs featuring individual trees, taken in a rural western Massachusetts town, west of the Connecticut River.
The photographs may be of a seed or nut when it begins to germinate, the twisted trunk of a dead tree, or any stage of life in between.
This year’s contest theme is “The Amazing Life of Individual Trees.” Submissions will be entered into an adult or youth category, each of which will have one winner and one runner up.
The four winners will have their pieces printed, and professionally framed at R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton.
The winning photographs, and the eligible submissions will be placed on display at an opening reception to be held at the Bullitt Reservation in Ashfiled later this winter.
High-resolution photos can be submitted through the Hilltown Land Trust website at hilltown-land-trust.org. Submissions will be accepted until Dec. 15.
For more information call Susan Schroder at 628-4485 ext. #4, or email HLToutreach@thetrustees.org.
WILLIAMSBURG — The work of painter and printmaker Lila Valone is currently on display a Meekins library and a reception will be held Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.
This exhibit includes drawings, monoprints, pastels and paintings most of which depict representational scenes in Scotland.
Valone has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art education and studied painting and printmaking at Swain School of Design. She has also worked as an apprentice to artist Gregory Gillespie.
The show will run until Dec. 29.