Leon 1909, Valerie Mnuchin's 'love letter to Shelter Island' is also getting love from people who have to come by ferry.
01/18/2023
Lost and found
January in a cold climate is a good time for brisk walks, roasted vegetables and mittens.
Mitten comes from the Old French mite, a term of endearment for a cat, probably because these hand warming gloves with a sleeve for the thumb were made of fur. Surely, not cat fur.
My mittens are fish-shaped with alternating black and gray stripes and they swim over my hands.
They are loose, and soft, light and tightly-knit so the wind doesn’t get in. I love them so much that after I’d worn them about a week, I couldn’t stand the thought of losing them, so I bought another pair. A spare.
A recently-published memoir by a British Royal discusses the heavy burden of being a spare, but I don’t get it. A spare has a purpose and is treasured, but is rarely called upon to do anything. Is it so bad to be a spare?
Last winter, I wore my mittens often, and a right-hand mitten was the first to go missing. I retraced my steps, looked under the car seats, and combed the parking lot at the IGA. And then I switched to the spare mittens with the remaining left-hand mitten as a back up.
The world, some say, is a chaotic place, but I’ll never accept that. There is a place for everything, even if everything is not currently in its place. I’m a list-maker, a document-filer, a box-filler, even when my organizing efforts do little to slow the gradual decline into disorder that is called entropy.
Entropy never decreases; it’s a fundamental rule of thermodynamics and it’s probably somewhere in the Shelter Island Town Code.
But entropy can be slowed, and that’s why I did not stop looking for the missing mitten until spring came, and I figured it had probably been used to line the rabbit burrow under the forsythias.
Summer passed, and when the thermometer finally stayed below 40 degrees, out came my mittens for their second season of service. This year it didn’t get cold enough for mittens until after Thanksgiving, and a few days later somewhere between the dump and exercise class, entropy surged, and my right-hand mitten disappeared.
I scoured every parking lot I’d been through, and texted pictures of the lonely mate to everyone I had seen. While poking around in a pile of leaves with a stick, thinking it might have flown off my lap when I got out of the car, it occurred to me that I still had a spare mitten from last year.
Since I’d already lost a right-hand mitten, the remaining spare was left-handed and I had to wear left-handed mittens on both hands, but they were still comfortable, and I don’t think anyone really noticed.
Then at the end of a dark, cold, disorganized day during which I had already left my phone in a closet, and my coffee cup on the picnic table, I lost a mitten somewhere between the elliptical in the Fitness Center and the school parking lot. With no more spares, this was a crisis.
I tore the place up looking for it. I checked other people’s coat pockets, looked under each stationary bicycle, and searched the parking lot by the light on my cellphone. Defeated, I reached into the pocket of my coat for the car keys, and pulled out the missing mitten. A miracle!
But where were my car keys? Out of the tiny breast pockets of this many-pocketed coat came doggy treats, Kleenex, face masks, and another miracle — the mitten I lost last winter. I was back up to three mittens! (The car keys were in the console.)
Sometimes I tire of the same dog-walk routes, but Mabel likes her usual ways, so we stick to a loop that goes along Chase Creek in the morning and one that goes up to the top of Goat Hill and back down through the wooded Heights roads in the afternoon.
Last week, as Mabel and I approached the house at the end of our morning loop, I was missing a mitten. We went back around on our loop and there it was, where I had dropped it while lunging to grab a chicken bone before she got it.
I guess it’s a good thing we stick to the same paths. Eventually we catch up with ourselves, and entropy abates. That afternoon my husband and Mabel were lagging behind me when I heard him say, “Look at this!”
There in his hand was a dirty, black glob that I had taken for a flattened spot of macadam as I power-walked past it. His glove had been lost for over a week, and now it was found.
Like they say, if you love something, set it free. But make sure you have a spare.
10/26/2021
A perfect day for volunteers to thank and be thanked.
Scores of Shelter Island volunteers came out in force to enjoy the first Hometown Heroes BBQ sponsored by Shelter Island Lions Club, the Shelter Island Action Alliance, and the Town of Shelter Island. Many Island businesses donated their tastiest picnic fare, including The Pharmacy, Marie Eiffel, Vine Street Café, Maria’s Kitchen, The Islander, The Lettuce Lady, Stars Café, and impressive baked goods ‘from the women who play mahjong.” It was a genuine beach party with all the considerations of sand in the sandwiches and airborne umbrellas you’ve got to love. Police Chief Jim Read reported high winds at set-up on Saturday morning, leading to the decision to locate a large tent a little off the beach, where it was more stable, a call he was second-guessing once the winds dropped and the beach was filled with volunteers.
As Sophie, a local beagle worked the crowd, Sharon Donno and Cristina Peffer were taking a moment off from volunteering to catch up. Peffer had an emergency appendectomy a few weeks back. Her hospital roommate — a woman in her 80s — asked Peffer how she was doing; they bonded and Peffer ended up losing an appendix and gaining a good friend.
Leah Friedman, and her brother-in-law Seymour Bilgray stopped by to pour some love on the music of Chris Tedesco as he launched into a fiddle solo of the Hall & Oates 1980 hit, “You make my dreams.”
School Superintendent Brian Doelger, Laurie Fanelli, Director of Senior Services and Town Supervisor Gerry Siller each stepped up to thank the volunteers.
Doelger, ever the educator, defined what it means to volunteer, “I believe that community means that members will sacrifice what is good for them personally to be a part of a greater good. That to me is what this day is about,” he said. “People sacrifice things — money, time with their family, talents — to try to make the lives of others in the community better.”
Siller thanked the volunteers of Shelter Island, and make note of what an extraordinary year it had been with two mass vaccination events and the sudden cessation of in-person school. Fanelli exhorted the crowd to “Enjoy one another.”
10/20/2021
Inspired by a winter squash, he takes the jack-o-lantern from arts-n-crafts to art.
MICHAEL VERSANDI’S FRANKENBERRY PUMPKIN CREATED THIS MONTH.
Last year, an estimated 150 million Americans carved a pumpkin, but it’s safe to say few of them approached the sculpting of winter squash with the enthusiasm and artistry of Michael Versandi. This year he’s already carved three, and he’s just getting warmed up.
Versandi, a graphic designer for northforker and Times Media Group, has an outside-the-box interest that is squarely inside the pumpkin patch. Every Halloween, he creates a series of whimsical and intricately-carved jack-o-lanterns; lights them, takes pictures and then watches them gradually disintegrate.
Often, his subjects are drawn from movies and popular culture like the images of characters from Goonies, or a jaw-dropping likeness of Alfred Hitchcock.
“I let the pumpkin dictate the design. I’ll pick up a pumpkin, give it a once over, decide to take it home, and then I let it decide what is going to happen,” he said of his process. Once Versandi has come to an understanding with the pumpkin, he works from memory, or free-hand to carve the image. He’ll refer to a photograph if he’s reproducing a familiar face.
Pumpkin is an unforgiving medium for the artist.
“Carving pumpkins can be laborious, and any mistake is hard to cover up,” Versandi said. “As it disintegrates, I take pictures of that too, but no one seems to be interested. It’s like looking at pictures of a melted snowman.”
“My favorite thing about pumpkin carving is that it does not last; that there is the art of carving, and the art of letting it become nothing,” he said. “Especially here on the North Fork, fall shows up and suddenly it’s gone. It disappears and then we are into the winter season. It’s an exact metaphor for the art itself.”
10/18/2021
Adventure among the cornstalks
Looking for something to do with the last of the local corn? Get lost.
A family visit to a North Fork corn maze is a great idea. In theory. The anticipation of a golden fall day, of an outdoors frolic with children, maybe a nice drink of cider afterwards… it sounds wonderful. But ask people for their maze memories, and you’ll hear stories; of backed-up traffic, disappearing children and scarecrows that frighten people, not birds.
It sounds straightforward. A few acres of corn planted in crooked rows, pay $10 a head, and off you go. Soon, you’ll recognize the turns, find your way out, and be rewarded with a cider donut. Or walk endlessly in circles. I have a friend in Southold who swore off corn mazes forever when she got lost with her two children, and had to yell for help to be guided out of the corn puzzle they were stuck in. This is not a position any parent wants to be in.
Some mothers just won’t go there. “I don’t remember taking my kids to a corn maze,” Janet D’Amato told me, “I had a hard time keeping track of all of them as it was.”
The one time I took my own children to the corn, reviews were mixed. One has fond memories of Krupski’s maze as a place where he got to wander around on his own. The other can’t remember if he had fun. “Judging from my dislike of looking for things, probably not.”
Perhaps no North Fork corn maze is better known than Harbes. Maggie Murphy and David Browne of Burro Hall Lane won’t soon forget a visit there with their daughter, and a large contingent of family and friends, including Maggie’s mom, who was then in her early 80s, but still game.
It was a warm day, and one member of the party wore shoes that were not maze-appropriate. As they moved through the turns, everyone was getting hungry for lunch, and eyes started to water, but that was probably just allergies. “After about 25 minutes we had looped around twice, and I decided to be a city slicker,” said Maggie. “I found a scarecrow and asked if his brain and $10 could help me find the maze’s fast pass exit. He obliged. He would have done it without the cash, but I thought it was the least I could do for getting us to the cider donuts faster.” Her advice to maze-goers: “Comfortable shoes, a crisp $10 bill and respect for the hard-working scarecrows you meet along the way.”
Harbes has innovated over the years. This year there are three ways to experience the maze of maize; one for the timid with Wizard of Oz characters (presumably without the flying monkeys); two that involve answering trivia questions as you progress through; and one with nighttime admission that starts at sundown, requires a flashlight, and scares me since it costs about twice as much as the same maze in daylight.
Shelter Island School Superintendent Brian Doelger grew up on Long Island, but did not go to corn mazes as a young child, although his parents did bring him and his brothers out East to visit farm fields. “I remember feeling excited and a bit scared, that I would get lost in them forever,” he recalled. “I do think there is good pedagogical value in visiting these farms; to teach children to learn directions and not be scared, to allow children to figure things out on their own. When we were younger, it seems like the kids were left to figure out a lot more on their own than they are now. Any time a child can problem-solve on his/her own, I think it is an excellent opportunity to grow.”
Linda DiOrio did not go to a corn maze as a child in Sweden, but she did take her own children, Mia and Christopher, and they seem to be none the worse for it. “We had a good time. Once it was a little scary and I thought we would get lost, but I am an adventurer so what can I tell you.”
When Susan Cincotta’s kids were little, she took them to a corn maze for the feeling of adventure. “Knee high by the 4th of July was what my kid’s Dad always said. He was from Wisconsin and corn was serious business…A maze was a relief from the stress, where kids could run, and get lost, and find their way.”
These days, my own fear surrounding corn mazes centers on the likelihood of being stuck on the way to one in slow traffic with a passenger who has to go to the bathroom. If not for that dread specter, I would visit Stakey’s in Aquebogue, where a corn maze purist can still find the emphasis on navigating through a vast expanse of corn rows, and less on interactive videos and trivia questions. The ability to navigate a maze is an important life skill and I intend to keep improving it.
10/07/2021
The season's batch of North Fork craft beers is anything but basic
The North Fork’s best brewers make beer like chefs make a meal, drawing on a palette of ingredients and combining them to achieve a unique experience of flavor. This year’s fall releases reflect the incredible creativity of North Fork brewers, and are packed with tastes and aromas that go beyond the humble pumpkin.
And like the brilliant fall foliage, they won’t last forever. From the lightest hefeweizen to a dark and tempting doppelbock, here’s a continuum of fall releases for you to savor while you can.
HEFE
Eastern Front Brewing Co. in Mattituck is a distinctive brewery with a mission: to preserve and emulate German brewing traditions in a time when adding sweet to beer is as on-trend as taking it out of chardonnay.
I Got a Rock is a fall squash ale with no cinnamon and no nutmeg. If you like cinnamon and sugar on the rim, manager Adam Slater will suggest putting it on one side, “so you can sip on the other and get the aroma, but no taste.”
Shown here is Eastern Front’s traditional, seasonal hefeweizen called Hefe (5.6% ABV), a golden beer made with a German strain of hefeweizen yeast that imparts a bright, crisp banana and clove flavor.
13100 Main Road, Mattituck
TASTY WAVES
Sour beers are cold-season favorites that pair well with hearty food, and Jamesport Farm Brewery is brewing a blackberry sour called Tasty Waves (6% ABV).
A good American sour beer balances bitter and sweet, and this one uses late-season berries to balance the flavors and contribute a purple/pink hue to the beer.
5873 Sound Ave., Riverhead
LEAF PILE
Greenport Harbor Brewing Company
Leaf Pile (5.2% ABV) is one of the North Fork’s most popular seasonal ales because it’s one of the most drinkable. Brewer Pat Alfred describes Leaf Pile as “a versatile beer, spiced but very balanced.
People come back for more and more pours of Leaf Pile. It can be paired with hearty foods and it doesn’t skew the palate.”
Last year an even bigger beer sprang out of the pile and quickly developed an avid following: Leaf Pile Pie (8.5% ABV) is back this year. It’s made with more malt, plus brown sugar, and supplemented with Golden Naked Hops that give a gingerbread flavor and a creamy sweetness from lactose. “That’s where the ‘pie’ comes from,” said Arnold.
42155 Main Road, Peconic and 234 Carpenter St., Greenport
HARVEST NOTES ALE
Harvest Notes (4.9% ABV) is a seasonal amber ale with subtle notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger from Twin Fork Beer Co. It’s sold locally in cans, and you can enjoy it in their downtown Riverhead tasting room with or without the sugar rim.
807 Raynor Ave., Riverhead
BURNING DOWN THE FEST
Oktoberfest season officially started in September, but almost every craft brewery is still offering an Oktoberfest brew well into the tenth month of the calendar. At North Fork Brewing Company in Riverhead it’s called Burning Down the Fest (5.5% ABV), with subtle smoky notes and a dark amber color.
Also available now is their annual fall brew, Butternut the Hutt (5.7% ABV), made with local winter squash and allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.
24 East Second St. Suite A, Riverhead
YOU CALL THAT A CALCULATOR?
Übergeek is a tiny but growing brewery and tasting room in the heart of Riverhead’s Polish Town neighborhood. In September, they got their first distribution deal for an IPA called What If We Nuke Mars? (7.5% ABV) — so look for it on store shelves this season.
If you like a darker beer for autumn, owner Rob Raffa is brewing a doppelbock style, You Call That a Calculator? (7.5% ABV) whose flavor profile he called “plummy and clean.”
400 Hallett Ave., Riverhead
More stops for your fall beer crawl …
October is the ideal month to try a new tasting room…or a few! Try these East End spots for local brews and handcrafted cider.
Long Ireland Beer Company
817 Pulaski St., Riverhead
(631) 403-4303
Long Island Farm Brewery
663 Wading River Road, Manorville
Montauk Brewing Co.
62 South Erie Ave., Montauk
(631) 668-8471
Peconic County Brewing
221 East Main St., Riverhead
(631) 740-9797
Riverhead Ciderhouse
2711 Sound Ave., Calverton
(631) 591-0217
Shelter Island Craft Brewery
55 North Ferry Road, Shelter Island
(631) 591-3250
Southampton Publick House
40 Bowden Square, Southampton
(631) 283-2800
Tradewinds Brewing Company
70 West Main St., Riverhead
(631) 591-3466
Westhampton Beach Brewing Co.
220 Roger’s Way, Suite I,
Westhampton Beach
(631) 998-0800
Woodside Orchards
729 Main Road, Aquebogue
(631) 722-5770
09/21/2021
The Chequit now in previews, features an inspired menu from Chef Noah Schwartz
THE CHEQUIT IS BACK WITH A SOFT OPENING OF THE NEW RESTAURANT FROM CHEF NOAH SCHWARTZ. (CREDIT: CHARITY ROBEY)
A major renovation is ongoing at The Chequit on Shelter Island, but a sampling of the food during a soft opening of the restaurant gives us hope for the future.
The menu, conceived by Chef Noah Schwartz of Noah’s in Greenport and executed by fellow Chef Darren Boyle, features Asian and American cuisine. While the menu is also still under construction, it’s encouraging in preview mode.
Let us take you through our first trip there:
The view
The mahogany porch with original-design spandrels offers charming views of Dering Harbor and of the 19th Century Victorian homes that dominate the neighborhood. Nowhere in sight is a building constructed later than 1900.
The drink
Winter on Washington Street ($16) is a sophisticated mix of Greenport Winter Harbor Gin, rosemary simple syrup, and lime served in an elegant, and shatterproof plastic cup.
The starters
We started with tuna poke ($22) and an order of scallion pancakes ($12). The crisp pancakes were layered thick with local spring onions, and the dipping sauce was excellent, soy sauce-salty with fruity yuzu and a chili-kick.
The main event
I ordered shrimp in the fried rice ($34) with sweet flecks of carrot and bright green edamame, with a fried egg on top and ate every grain. I thought I was going to skip the pork belly steamed buns ($15) that my dining partner ordered, but after one exploratory bite of the slightly sweet steamed buns wrapped around a savory slug of tender pork belly, perfumed with cinnamon, fennel, star anise and cloves, I soldiered on.
Around us, orders of Double Kobe Smash Burgers ($20) sped by to other tables filled with diners who fell silent as they lifted their brioche buns and dove in.
The encore
What is it about good key lime pie that empowers you to eat it, even if you were well-fed already? In this case, the refreshingly tart lime flavor and crumbly graham crust, paired with a tiny dab of whipped cream and candied walnuts were enough to inspire us to lift our plastic forks and enjoy the end of a meal that was a very good sign for the future of this beloved local inn.
The Chequit is located at 23 Grand Ave. in Shelter Island Heights.
09/10/2021
The Shelter Island Police Department is golden: 50 years of community policing
In 1965, a 20-year-old Montclair Colony resident decided instead of paying 15 cents for ferry passage to Greenport, he’d take his date home in a motorboat he found tied up at the Bridge Street dock in Dering Harbor. A sign on the gunwales that he may not have seen in the dark, read “Shelter Island Police.”
Before Shelter Island established a Police Department in 1971, the Island was protected by constables — two or three full-timers who worked an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift, and were on call overnight, were joined in the summer by a number of part-time constables.
The boat the man had highjacked belonged to the taxpayers, and when he returned it to Bridge Street, law enforcement was waiting. He paid a fine of $50 and got a suspended jail sentence of 30 days. The account in the Shelter Island Reporter made fun of his $50 fare when he could have paid a total 45 cents for a one way and a round-trip.
The early years of law enforcement on Shelter Island sound quaint and even charming by modern standards. Training was minimal, and the need to remedy that was at the heart of the decision to establish the Shelter Island Police Department in 1971, Chief James J. Read said. “Before the police academy, it was basically, here’s a badge and a gun and, ‘You’re going to be a policeman.’ People’s expectations of the police are very high now and we want to deliver on those expectations.”
On September 13, the Police Department will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The establishment of a department meant training for officers, assurance of more fairness and transparency in hiring and employment practices, and New York State accreditation.
“Whether you call 911 in Albany or Long Island, the level of service and professionalism should be the same,” Chief Read said.
Howard Cronin served as chief of the Shelter Island Police Department from 1971 to 1976, followed by George Ferrer, who served as an officer for 25 years and was chief for 19. He died after a heart attack suffered while on duty in 1996. Chief Read joined the department in 1987, and in 1998 became chief, the longest-serving member of the force in its history at 34 years. He is already the longest-serving chief.
One thing has not changed over the years. “People call us for everything,” the chief said. “If you’re not sure who to call, here people will generally call the police. Our animal control officer was recently showing me a hawk that she pulled out of someone’s pool.”
Regular readers of the police blotter — the most popular section of the Reporter — have followed with fascination police interventions with dogs, cats, bats, deer, raccoons, osprey and porgies, among other critters.
Muffin, a long-haired chihuahua currently living with Mary Fran Gleason, can attest to that. Muffin was the dog of Mary Fran’s mother, the late Marion Gleason, and when Officer Tom Cronin came by one day to ask how Muffin was doing, Mrs. Gleason wondered why.
Officer Cronin explained that he had fielded a call saying the dog was wandering around the neighborhood, so he opened the door to the house and put Muffin back inside before Mrs. Gleason became aware that the pooch had escaped, an example of the kind of community policing that can only happen in a small town.
Community policing — then and now.
Dick Jernick grew up on Shelter Island, and spent 23 and a half years as a Shelter Island policeman starting in 1968 before there was a police department. He retired in 1992. In those early days, police were caretakers of last resort, and their wives sometimes answered late night phone calls for assistance.
But they did more than just take phone calls. “When I was a policeman, if we arrested someone who was a single parent, and there was no place for the kids to go, I had to bring home the children and my wife would take care of them,” Mr. Jernick said. “The state said if you’re going to keep bringing kids home, you have to get certified as foster parents.”
So the Jernicks became foster parents, taking in a total of 12 babies from birth to six months, when they were adopted.
Best and worst
Police in a small town face a special set of circumstances. “One of the best things about being a policeman is living and working here, and one of the worst things is living and working here,” Chief Read said. “The community struggles with boundaries and respecting boundaries. When a policeman is out with their family, maybe that’s not the best time to come up and discuss your domestic dispute, or your issue with the Town.”
But when it comes to the relationship between the police and the school community, the chief said, the closeness is all good. Building the FIT center, the tennis courts and Fiske Field were all school projects completed with support and involvement from the Police Department.
Before COVID, an officer would regularly take a lunch break at the school. Officer Anthony Rando teaches a class at the school designed to promote drug resistance.
“With the school, we consciously work to foster a relationship,” Chief Read said.
Changes in society, changes in the Police Department.
When the Department was formed, there was no such thing as school shootings, a tragic reality of school safety planning 50 years later. “If there is an incident at school, we don’t expect it to come, but we have to be prepared,” Chief Read said. “We are saddled with that. The other departments are half an hour away. We have to be able to respond.”
The recent preparation for Hurricane Henri gave Chief Read, who is the emergency management coordinator for the Island, the chance to allow the local media more transparency in return for help in getting the word out about storm safety. “We gave the local media access to the decision-making,” Read said. “We brought them in as something new and they got the word out.”
One area where adaptation has been harder is in hiring police professionals who reflect the diversity of the community. “It’s a challenge for us, especially if we look at the key area — having non-white males and females in that role,” he said.
New police officers must be hired from a list of people who take the civil service exam offered every four years, and the list of Shelter Island residents taking the exam in the past has included mainly white males. “As we’ve evolved into a more Hispanic community, we’re trying to figure out ways we can get more people to take the exam, and we want to have a Spanish-speaking officer,” he said.
Woman Officer Taylor Rando will join the force this year, filling the spot opened up by the retirement of Sgt. Terrence LeGrady in January.
The anniversary celebration will be all about family, which in the case of the Shelter Island Police Department is family by blood as well as by long association. Chief Read’s son, James Read III is on the force, as are the sons, grandsons, cousins and brothers-in-law of retired officers.
The ceremony will bring the 30 or so full-time officers who served the Shelter Island Police Department, their families and survivors together to recognize their many years of multi-generational service to the community.
Chief Read will conduct a short ceremony, followed by a dinner (family-style of course) across the street at the Fire House.
09/09/2021
What we learned in the garden with former White House chef and food-policy expert Sam Kass.
SAM KASS AT HOME IN HIS CUTCHOGUE GARDEN. (PHOTO CREDIT: DAVID BENTHAL)
Sam Kass is standing in front of his Cutchogue home like Adam surveying Eden. A flowering row of corn plants marches down one side, a thicket of white strawberries adorns the far corner and a tangle of cucumber and zucchini seems to be getting bigger every minute. Fat yellow squash blossoms peek from under large leaves, and butterflies and bees are everywhere. “Now will start to be a real pollinator time, soon the monarchs will start showing up,” Kass said. “A lot of life is a wonderful thing to have at your doorstep.”
Former White House chef Kass and his wife, Alex Wagner, a journalist and co-host of “The Circus” on Showtime, bought the house in 2015. “The first time I walked out here, I said, ‘Here’s where the garden is going to go.’ It was a giant circular driveway,” he said. “We put in raised beds, spent a lot of time on making compost and making sure we got good nourishment in the soil.” Their children, Cy and Rafael, were born a few years later. Now the garden produces more than enough food for the family all summer long, and the corn they planted this year was Cy’s idea.
You can’t call Kass a typical home gardener. During his time as White House chef from 2008 to 2014, he not only built a kitchen garden on the most iconic lawn in the world, he guided food policy and helped Michelle Obama establish her healthy-living initiative, Let’s Move. The White House garden was part of a bigger strategy to improve nutrition in the country, especially for kids. “We were symbolically putting a big stake in the ground and sending a message to the country; figuring out if it was the right time, is the country ready, and would it resonate,” said Kass. “It surely did.”
The line from the White House garden to Kass’ garden in Cutchogue runs like the flight path of a pollinator. On a recent visit, he led the way to his favorite plant, a tree grown from a cutting of the White House fig tree. That tree came from a tree at Monticello, cut from a fig that Thomas Jefferson grew. I heard that Kass saved a White House fig tree from an overzealous volunteer gardener bent on composting it, a story that sounded a little too close to George Washington and the cherry tree to be true.
“Yes, that is a true story, and it was probably one of my proudest moments, outside of my children,” he said. “Whenever I had a rough day I’d take a walk down to the garden, take a minute, take a deep breath and go back to work. One day I had this feeling, a weird feeling, and I randomly went and checked the compost. The fig tree – really just a stick with some roots – had definitely been there a couple of days. It was very mad at me, didn’t grow for two years and then it just exploded. As you can see it’s another beautiful tree.”
Kass is planning to put more fruit trees on his tiny farm, enough for a little orchard, and more berries. So why would he plant a garden like this with so many great farm stands within walking distance? “First of all, so I can get shiso, daikon radishes, beans and certain kinds of squashes. I grow different varieties that people don’t grow around here. Lots of chili peppers,” he said. “But it’s really more the process of watching plants grow; how fast they grow, how fragile or resilient they are.”
His advice to someone looking to put a toe in the water of kitchen gardening is to start with something green and leafy. “It’s hard to mess up lettuce,” he said, although he has been brought to shame over melons. “I’ve been gardening intensively for twelve years and I still can’t grow a melon to save my life. I get fruit, it tastes terrible. I just don’t know what I am doing. Hopefully one of your readers reaches out … Send melon help.”
He follows a practice he established in the White House — where kids came to plant and harvest — with his own children. At times, the line between harvesting and eating in the Kass-Wagner household gets blurry. “I’d be walking around the garden and see a cucumber lying around with a bite out of it, or a half-eaten pea on the vine,” said Kass. “They take pride in the garden, and that’s everything.”
Kass sees an educational opportunity in every aspect of farming, even at this small scale. Today’s lesson was illustrated in corn, as Kass pointed out that Cy’s row of corn is taller at one end than the other because it gets more light. “You can see the power of the sun,” he told his son.
After taking several loads of spent garlic tops to the compost pile, 4-year-old Cy proudly brought out four shapely heads of garlic that could have been plucked from a still life.
“I planted and harvested all these!”
“We’re in his garden,” said Kass. “I’m just his spokesperson.”
When Kass and Wagner were looking for a place to put down new roots, the North Fork’s locally grown products and rich food scene were a draw. “We came out here for a couple of weeks one summer six years ago and just loved it,” he said. “The vibe, the food, the wine, low-key nature of it. This place is very special.”
He’s a satisfied customer of Sang Lee Farms in Peconic, as well as 8 Hands Farm and Wickham’s Fruit Farm in Cutchogue, because, he said, “the way they do it is firmly rooted in this place.” Although the family dinner the night before came out of the garden, (purple cauliflower figured prominently) this chef also likes to indulge in take-out “whenever I possibly can.” He’s partial to Pizza Rita in Mattituck, Stirling Sake in Greenport, the North Fork Table and Inn food truck in Southold, and Jennie’s at Drossos snack bar in Greenport for fried chicken.
Kass said some of the most profound garden lessons illustrate the effects of a warming planet on the food supply. Tropical Storm Elsa had brought heavy rain and wind that morning, and Kass’ mother spent some time tending to mayhem among the corn stalks. “That big storm that just blew through — storms like that are definitely more frequent and more intense. It’s OK in my one little bed but if you’ve got 5,000 acres, you’re done,” said Kass. “We’ve gotten early heat where plants are tricked into putting out buds, pushing out fruit … then you get a cold snap. This increasing volatility is going to be really tough to deal with.”
Kass says the way forward for food production in a volatile climate is for farmers to raise a range of crops on their land, and his garden demonstrates that. “My cucumbers are late, but the eggplants are coming, the beans are coming, zucchinis, corn. The fall is the best, all the radicchio and the bitter greens.” Kass fretted a little that he hadn’t grown sweet potatoes this year for the first time. “The microcosm of the solution that’s embedded in a garden is the diversity that you plant. Look at how many plants I have to eat. As a model there is something profound and powerful about what is represented here.”
The work that Kass jump-started during his years as a senior advisor for nutrition policy in the Obama administration continues. Now an advocate for sustainable agriculture and consultant to businesses who want to adapt smarter practices, Kass is increasingly concerned about large, industrial farms centered around a single crop. “We’ve largely put all our eggs in a few baskets and that’s extremely risky. That works when we had a stable climate and unlimited resources of water and soil. We are carrying so much risk in terms of food security with so little diversity in our system. That’s something that’s got to change.”
For Kass, a garden is where meaningful change can start. “We don’t need to turn everyone into foodies,” he said. “We do need a lot more people to have a basic awareness and to care. That is the real work. It was a great joy [at the White House] and it has turned into a great joy here.”
09/02/2021
It's the perfect time of year for a North Fork cruise
End of summer? Naaah, it’s the beginning of boating. The best time to float is here. August and September are prime-time for your water-based explorations, and the North Fork is surrounded by aquatic adventure on all sides, whether by motor, sail or paddle. Here are some options for taking to the sea.
Take a narrated cruise to Bug Lighthouse
If you don’t own a paddle or boat shoes, all you need is two hours of calm weather on a Saturday night to go on a Bug Light Cruise with Bob Allen, great-grandson of the former lighthouse keeper. The Long Beach Bar “Bug” Lighthouse is the insect-like structure that can be seen from any East-facing vantage point in Greenport or Shelter Island. It was built to get mariners safely around a sandbar, just as the tour gets you and your fellow passengers safely from the dock at the East End Seaport Museum to the lighthouse, where you can disembark and take a look. On the way, you’ll see Greenport Harbor, Shelter Island and the most easterly part of the North Fork from a whole new perspective. Sailing dates are still available through September and can be reserved online. Bug Light Cruise and Tour, East End Seaport Museum, 103 3rd St. Greenport. Saturdays through September. $49/adults, $19/children for a two hour cruise.
Book a private eco-friendly tour of Greenport Harbor
If you are looking to tread lightly on the environment as you explore local waters, pass up the stinkpots in favor of a vessel that has been operating on a battery since 1999. Glory, an environmentally friendly tour boat of antique design, runs on eight batteries charged by an array of solar panels installed on the roof of Preston’s at the Greenport waterfront. Captain Dave Berson told me, “If the fish could vote, I’d be President.” Glory is a reproduction of a boat built for waterfront tours of an earlier era, and the back-in-the-day experience is part of what Glory delivers as she plies the waters of Greenport Harbor and Peconic Bay. Glory is docked at Preston’s Dock, 102 Main Street, Greenport. Call 631-477-2515, or visit http://www.greenportlaunch.com. $140 for a 45 minute private cruise for 4 people; $35 for additional adults and $20 for additional children, up to 10 people total
Live the yacht life without buying a boat
Vintage Yacht Kingfisher offers half-day, full-day, and multi-day charters out of Greenport on its beautiful 1959 50-foot Huckins Fairform Flyer. Each cruise is customized and can include extras like a private chef or tastings, said Dhardra Blake of Kingfisher Yachting and LuxuryDayCharters.com. She called an escape on the boat “the closest thing you can come to time travel”: Last fall, they even created a “Some Like It Hot” experience with retro food, music and the guests’ attire evoking the 50s era of the movie. You can also buy an annual membership starting at 30 hours of boat time. Book through October via www.yachtkingfisher.com or call 813.484.5663. Prices on request.
Sail away for the day with the Layla
How about boarding a 45-foot sailboat for a day ride with a few of your choicest friends? Captain Liz Gillooly and the elegant ship Layla (a Fastnet 45, one of only 19 made) are ready to make that dream happen. Orient is Liz Gillooly’s hometown, and she knows the local waters intimately. A lifelong sailor and U.S. Coastguard Licensed Captain, she could get you across the Atlantic, but if your schedule doesn’t permit that, you can book anything from a two-hour sunset sail to a 6-hour full day circumnavigation of Shelter Island with stops at all the nicest beaches for a swim. You’ll feel like Cleopatra on the Nile. Layla Sailing, 1410 Manhanset Ave, Dock H4, Greenport, 631-319-0161. From $700 for a private sail with 6 guests.
Get some alone time out on a kayak
If your idea of bliss on the water is a journey under your own power, Shelter Island’s Marine Water Trail is ideal. Put in your kayak at the Burns Road Town Landing on Coecles Harbor, or rent one from Shelter Island Kayak Tours and spend a few hours paddling around the North shore of Mashomack Preserve, one of the most unspoiled waterways on the East End. You will see birds. You’ll glide over jellyfish. If it’s not windy, you may have the kind of meditative experience that helps you sort out some things. Get a map of the Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail, and if you rent, call ahead and reserve a boat from Adam Mills at Shelter Island Kayak Tours, 80 Burns Rd. Shelter Island, 631-749-1990 . $60/adults, $30 children for a 2-hour guided tour; rentals from $30/2 hours.
08/20/2021
An idyllic wine-tasting spot has opened at Shelter Island's White Oak Gardens
WHITE OAK WINE GARDEN OPENED EARLIER THIS SUMMER WITHIN THE POPULAR SHELTER ISLAND GARDEN CENTER. (PHOTO CREDIT: COURTESY WHITE OAK WINE GARDEN)
By Charity Robey
Winemaker Tom Spotteck, of Lenz Winery and Kristian Clark, president of White Oak Farm and Gardens, have created an outdoor wine-tasting area within the existing garden center, on Rt. 114 in the middle of Shelter Island. Whether you are looking to purchase a vine or the fruit of, the White Oak Wine Garden is a relaxed and easygoing experience.
Julia King was on hand to pour from the curated menu of local wines on Thursday afternoon, chosen from a curated list that included a White Oak Wine Garden rosé as well as bottles from Saltbird Cellars, Montauk Daisy and Anthony Nappa.
“Our goal is to showcase some of local winemakers’ special wines — the things that they make on the side, to feature smaller winemakers that may not have their own tasting rooms or who have smaller tasting rooms,” she said.
Open since Memorial Day weekend, the tasting room is a lovely, rambling outdoor space of tree-stump stools, flowering plants, a pergola and enormous trees (including the eponymous White Oak) where you can relax with dog and kids, buy a glass of the house rosé — a “laid back and elegant” wine conceived by Spotteck — or Canette spritzers from Chronicle Wines, soft drinks and snacks.
Last Saturday, Kiki Boucher enjoyed lunch on the porch with a glass of rosé, two cheeses, locally made bread, cold cuts, champagne grapes and a French rose petal jelly that she’s partial to. “It was a very nice picnic lunch,” she said. “I read Vanity Fair while eating.”
Cheese and charcuterie from the King Andrew Cheese carriage are available Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and there is often music on weekends, including Rob Europe on Sunday, August 29, 2 p.m.-5p.m.
The White Oak Wine Garden is open Thursday- Monday 12 p.m.-7 p.m., 68-76 NY 114, Shelter Island. Reservations are not required.
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