After the recent superstorm, clean up, and then a snow storm, it's time to enjoy a bit of nice weather. Equine Affaire is ongoing through Sunday, Nov. 11, Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds, West Springfield, Mass. Admission is $15; children $8, younger than 6, free. Includes clinics, seminars, and demonstrations, plus souvenir program (while supplies last). Parking is $5.

A colorful felted work of art was seen at the Fiber Festival of New England, where we learned about Open Studio Hartford from the folks of Hartford Artisans Weaving Center, where seniors and artisans with low or no vision work in this studio to craft beautiful handwoven items.

Sale and open house with demos on Saturday, Nov. 10 and Sunday, Nov. 11 at 40 Woodland St. Open Studio Hartford features some 200 artists at work around the city with cooking demos, felted work, quilts, restored bicycles, pottery, wood, leather, photography – well, all sorts of creative human endeavors.

The Richmond Elementary Farm-To-Feed Community Harvest Festival is Saturday, Nov. 10, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., West Monitor Barn, 1949 East Main St., Vermont. Free. Open to children of all ages. Activities include grinding grain, making corn cakes, seed art, blending bike-powered smoothies, climbing on hay bales and much more. Enjoy a local lunch and dessert, listen to live music, and bid on items in a silent auction. All proceeds will support this school program. Call Amy Gifford at (802) 434-5853 for more.

A viticulture and enology workshop is set for Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the Hilton Hotel in Mystic, Connecticut. Hosted by The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Connecticut Farm Wine Development Council, the USDA Risk Management Agency, and the University of Rhode Island, cost is $60 (includes lunch and break refreshments). Sponsored and supported by Connecticut Farm Wine Development Council, the University of Rhode Island, and the USDA-Risk Management Agency. William Nail of The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station will do the introduction. Topics include “Fifteen Years of Evaluating Cold-Hardy Grapes” by Dr. Paul Read University of Nebraska; “The National Clean Plant Network” with Sue Sim, Foundation Plant Services, UC Davis; “Cold Hardiness and Winter Protection” by Dr. Imed Dami, Ohio State University; “Risk Management and Crop Insurance Programs” by Charlie Koines University of Rhode Island; “Nitrogen Nutrition in Fermentation” by Dr. Sara Spayd, North Carolina State University, and more. For details, contact William.Nail(at)ct.gov.

“The Garden Home for All Seasons” is a day-long symposium at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford on Saturday, Nov. 17, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., featuring P. Allen Smith, Tomasz Anisko and Ruth Loiseau. Holiday-theme demonstrations, vendors. Co-sponsored by Connecticut Horticultural Society. Cost is $95; includes a short tour of The Mark Twain House and a box lunch. Call (860) 280-3130 for information.

The New England states have been identified as “underserved states” by the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA), primarily because “the region’s farmers have not been significant users of the insurance products.” (Knowing many people who are both wise and frugal about managing their land and livestock, we are not surprised by this observation.) For more information, visit the New England Vegetable Guide, a handy resource for managing risk to farm income or www.rma.usda.gov.

Urban Rooftop Farming, a Connecticut Horticultural Society program on Thursday, Nov. 15. Ben Flanner, co-founder of the Brooklyn Grange, will tell how two acres of rooftop space in Brooklyn and Queens yielded more than 40,000 pounds of vegetables within two years. Event is at 7:30 p.m. in West Hartford. Cost, $10. Visit www.cthort.org for details.

For farms tours, artisans, festivals and country drives in the Green Mountain State, visit the VT Agency of Agriculture's web site, linked here.