Farm Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Since moving to Long Island, I've been trying to find a farmer's market that's nearby and that's open long enough to accommodate my 'sleep-in' Saturdays. In New York, farmers markets were a little easier to find, with lots of farmers coming from Upstate NY, NJ, PA, and even MA to sell their produce. Of course, these markets had the major downfall that the traffic of the city was whirling past them, and I always wondered to myself whether the city pollution negated the purity of the produce.

Anyways, with some research, I found three that were within 10 miles of my apartment. The first is only open Tuesday afternoons so I'm not holding much stock in making regular pit stops there (not to mention it's held in the parking lot of a hospital, which just seems a little unnatural to me). The second is in Port Washington, right on the water, but the hours of operation are rather undefined. The third is an actual farm that sells its own produce. The upside is that there's absolutely no transportation involved (saving our air from truck pollutants - then again, my car did have to travel to get to the farm!) and, well, food doesn't get much fresher than straight from the farm! The downside is that the selection is limited to what that one particular farm happens to have grown and harvested that week.

I arrived at this adorable cottage, surrounded by acres of farm land, owned by Young's Farm. It was hard to believe that 5 miles down the road, I was staring at my rearview mirror, at the reflection of the Manhattan Skyline. The air was fresh and smelled of that distinct combination of dirt and freshly mowed grass. Inside, I filled up my basket with tomatoes, scallions, garlic, fresh mint, zucchini, and famous Long Island corn. I also bought a pint of the largest and sweetest blueberries that I've ever seen. Of course I couldn't help but buy a mini carrot cake loaf from the bakery next door (Youngs Farms' fresh fruit pies are a wonderous blend of the freshest fruits and the most delicious pie crusts and crumb toppings; I went with the carrot loaf because of its mini size). The produce was delicious; the garlic was fresh and potent, as were the scallions. It's amazing how much more flavor these fresh ingredients have versus their counterparts that ripened in a boat or truck, and have been sitting on the supermarket shelves for a few weeks. I'm hooked now!