Editor’s Note: This is the lastest ediction of my biweekly column for The Suffolk Times and Riverhead News-Review.
When I hit the North Fork in search of farm-fresh produce, I don’t go to just one farm stand. I have my favorites for certain things. If I’m buying tomatoes, I usually go to Sang Lee. We get fresh goat cheese at Catapano. When it comes to sweet corn that you can eat raw, right off the cob, even without the typical butter and salt, I head to Harbes Family Farm in Mattituck. Picked in the morning and on my plate that evening, it doesn’t get any sweeter.
Because of the never-ending fall festival atmosphere at the farm, I can never just stop in, grab my sack of corn and go. My kids want to do the barnyard adventure in the back of the property, the pig races, games and other activities that are tough to resist. It’s great and my kids have a blast there, but the sometimes-crushing throngs of people get less and less appealing for me every year.
What is a wine-loving, somewhat curmudgeonly father supposed to do?