Tip# 62: Don't Miss Opening Day!

The season has begun and it is time to start sharing what is new or just improved out east…

I am getting so excited about opening day at the Greenport Farmers’ Market on Saturday.  We have a new location at 624 Main Street, home the United Methodist Church, and I can’t wait to see my fellow farmer friends from last year: Stephanie of Invincible Summer Farm, Walter of Garden Fusion and Karen, the talented cheese-maker at Goodale Farm.   The market is going to be even better – and even more artisanal - with the addition of several new farms and vendors:

For opening day, The Old Field Vineyard will be a participating winery for the first time.  Make sure you take home a bottle of Cacklin Rose (sporting a silhouette of their Leghorn chicken) which is a perfect wine to sip after coming in from the beach. Or bring the Rooster Tail Red to your Saturday barbeque.  I am partial to all things chickens!  Both of these wines are light and uncomplicated – a perfect match for North Fork weekends.

Greg of Long Island Coffee Roasters will be selling his small-batch coffee – both beans and beverages – all freshly roasted in Southold.   After all, what is a Saturday morning without great coffee?    www.licoffeeroasters.com

Be sure to look for Paulo, of Metro Macs, and his brightly-colored, incredibly decadent french macarons (yes, that is the proper french spelling, too).   My favorite flavor is the salted caramel.  Yum. Take some home for your weekend guests.  Or better yet, get your guests to bring some home to you.  (Hint, hint houseguests)  www.metromacsny.com

Most of our Browder’s Birds customers already know Tom Hart, who helped me every Saturday at the market last season.  He has started his own farm this year called Deep Roots and will be selling vegetables, eggs and chickens.  This year you will even meet his wife – Brie!  Some of you are surprised it wasn’t me, I know.

Gula Gula Empanadas will be a new vendor this year.  And while I have not had the pleasure to try one yet, I will definitely be eating one…  or two… or three.  

And one of the coolest editions to the market is the Edible Schoolyards program.  Many of our East End schools now have school gardens with help from Slow Food East End.  The kids from these schools will sell their produce on a rotating basis each week.  Talk about educating the future generation!  Buy local and make a difference by encouraging our kids to grow healthy food for our community.

More market updates to come this season...

Greenport Farmers Market

At the Greenport United Methodist Church
624 Main Street - Market Lot on 1st Street

9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Opening Day this Saturday, May 19th

www.greenportfarmersmarket.com

Tip #60: To Market, to Market

On Saturday mornings from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm the village of Greenport plays host to an amazing Farmers' Market featuring all local North Fork farmers, many of them 'boutique' producers. 

Some of my favorite vendors include Laura of Blossom Meadow Honey, who brings along a hive and bees for customers to see her team up close.  Along with her honey, she also sells really cool products made from the wax in the hives.  Her beeswax crayons are made into fun, animal shapes for children. Completely safe & made without petroleum - which store bought crayons contain - they'd make a great gift for any child.

Goodale Farms in Aquebogue is a new licensed dairy and they sell fresh milk, along with homemade cream cheese, yogurt and butter.  It's all so fresh and delicious. And the milk comes in a glass quart jar which you bring back for re-fills. How nostalgic!

KK's The Farm, in Southold, sells biodynamically-grown flowers and vegetables.  Lately her table has been filled with fresh garlic.

The Apotheca sells an all-natural skin cream, Zincuta, which I've raved about in an earlier post (see Tip#12).

Phillip Schmitt & Son and Garden of Eve, two of the larger vegetable farms on the North Fork, always have quite a colorful array of produce - usually several different varieties of the same vegetable, and many heirloom varieties. 

Speaking of heirlooms, be sure to check out Invincible Summer Farms, of Southold. Farmer/Owner Stephanie grows 300 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and peppers.  Several of her tomato plants might be the only such type in the country!  Stephanie is also a seed-saver so she sells the fruit and plants at the market but her main mission is to harvest and maintain rare seeds.

Catapano Dairy sells goat cheese that is both mild and rich at the same time. Serge of Lavender by the Bay Farm always has an 'aromatic' table of cut lavender and lavender-infused products. If you walk by, he'll hand you a sprig!

Taste of the North Fork sells bottled sauces, jams and jellies all using local produce. Jeri also pickles all sorts of seasonal vegetables so if you are missing asparagus right now be sure to take home a jar of pickled ones.  Same goes for strawberries and her Strawberry Vinaigrette.

And Blue Duck Bakery fills the baked goods niche with fresh, artisanal breads, as well as muffins, croissants and fruit pies. There is a rotating winery each week giving out tastes and selling bottles.  And every week features a different non-profit group promoting their organization. 

Oh, and I hear Browder's Birds sells organic, pasture-raised chickens and eggs, both of which always sell out fast!

The market has a very homegrown feel with Greenport residents serving as market volunteers, and the market manager, Tiffany, pulling double-duty in the neighborhood by also managing the new Farmhouse restaurant on Front Street. These people really care about food and their town.  The market organizers even got NY State approval to accept Food Stamps - so lower-income families in Greenport now have another option besides the IGA.

Support the North Fork community, as well as your friends and neighbors, by shopping local this Saturday!  The Market runs until October 15th.  For more information or to volunteer for a Saturday shift go to www.greenportfarmersmarket.com