Since we are aware of the massive attrition of dairy farms in Massachusetts, (and the alarming amount of sad cow stories we've had on the show), we're turning our attention to a co-op that is still making milk magic happen. Angie Facey of Bree-z Knoll Farm, which is a part of Our Family Farms, shows us around their new facilites, including a robot that uses lasers to milk their cows, and a brand new, only-been-open-for-a-month milk processing plant.
Then we head east to encounter a group determined to make everyone feel closer to symphonic music. The New England Repertory Orchestra, or NERO, is a boundary-breaking, canon-rethinking, community-entrenched organization that does that and more.
Performing a pair of works centering grief, including a premiere of a newly commissioned piece from Felix Jarrar, the orchestra takes the stage at The Shea Theater this weekend. We chat with artistic director and conductor Cailin Marcel Manson and violin first-chair Michi Wiancko about how diversity as a mantra helps them change the landscape and equity of symphonic and operatic music.