Tip# 19: Be a NoFo Foodie

Today from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm the North Fork Foodie Tour takes place from Jamesport to Orient.  Want to see the best of the local, artisinal producers and growers?  Spend this beautiful Sunday on a self-guided tour and visit organic farms, boutique wineries, even a dairy and lavender farm.   All are opening their doors and many are providing special, insider visits to those on the tour not offered to the public.   

Not to miss  are two cooking demonstrations by local, 'celebrity' chefs Tom Schaudel (A Lure and A Mano) and veteran John Ross (now a Suffolk Times food columnist) this afternoon.  If you have read Tom Schaudel's book, Playing With Fire, than you know to expect a laugh or two along with some innovative recipes featuring local ingredients and exotic flavors.  And John Ross is considered the historian of Long Island regional cuisine.  Both talks take place at Charnews Farms in Southold, with Tom at 1pm and John at 3pm.  At 2pm, Chris will be speaking about Browder's Birds, and raising our pastured chickens along with the benefits of such. 

Other highlights on the tour:  

 
Tomato tasting at 11am with Stephanie of Invincible Summer Farms and her incredible array of heirloom tomatoes (at Charnews Farms)
Special Vineyard walk at Shinn Estate Vineyards at noon with Barbara Shinn
Catapano Dairy offers guided tours of their goats, dairy and cheesemaking facility at 11:00a, 1:00p and 3:00 pm
Take an old-fashioned hayride at the Harbes Farms and learn about the farm and family history
At McCall Wines, Russ McCall is giving a tour of his 100 acre-farmstead that includes vineyards and grass-fed Charolias cattle at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30
Guided Tour and talk with Karen Lee at Sang Lee Farms at 2:00pm and tastings all day
KK's The Farm will have tours on the half hour focusing on biodynamic growing from 10:30 - 2:30

Find the full line-up here: http://www.northforkreformsynagogue.org/calendar/events/
 

Don't miss this rare opportunity to get to know the extraordinary people producing local foods that make the North Fork such a unique and special place!

Tickets may be purchased on the day of the tour, after 9 a.m. at The Peconic Land Trust Ag Center at Charnews Farm or after 10 a.m. at any place participating in the tour. Children under 12 are free. 

Purchase price benefits the North Fork Synagogue Reform. For more information: Call 631.722.5712

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