CUISINE
Stand By Me - The Vineyard Offers the Freshest and Finest at Roadside Farmstands
By Tina Miller Photography by Alison Shaw
Some would say the Vineyard has changed for the worst the past decade. More big houses, more swimming pools, more traffic, strangulating regulations and higher taxes.
That’s the bad news. But the good news is more great restaurants, and more local food from farm stands. The Island has encountered a renaissance in both small boutique farms and farmers. Driving around the Vineyard you can now find eggs, flowers and honey for sale at the end of a dirt road, with the only cash register a tin can and the honor system. Too there are more formal stands selling an array of veggies, fruit, flowers and even Island grown meat.
Most of us who live here know you don’t just end up on the Vineyard. You might get here by chance but you fight to stay. It’s expensive, difficult to find housing, never mind getting permits to build a home. Jobs are inconsistent and highly seasonal, yet if you choose to live here, the quality of life is hard to explain. The obvious is the scenery, large stretches of fields, woods and beaches, much of which is well protected with the huge conservation presence. Hence the difficulty to just acquire land and build a home.
The schools are amazing for a rural place, small classrooms with no shortage of support. It’s a great place for kids to grow up. The Vineyard has a creative population, full of entrepreneurs with strong wills to survive desolate winters and overwhelming summers. We are a population which chooses a career path that includes quality of life. I can’t think of a better example of this than the growth of farming. Many small family farms have sprung up or older farms revived throughout the Island. A new generation of creative hands are working the land again.
For the past 35 years Farmers’ Market in West Tisbury has been a consistent presence on the Island. This has always been a place for the freshest local veggies, fruits, flowers and even wool sweaters. I would not recommend eating the wool.
The farmers’ market has created an economy for locally produced food, a place where farmers could sell their goods and make a living. This new availability has created a wider demand for local food, so much so that farm stands now pepper the Island from out in Katama at the Farm Institute to Middle Road with Mermaid Farm and every town in between.
I always feel the farmers on the Island coexist well and complement each other. Andrew Woodruff of Whippoorwill Farm pioneered his own special beefsteak style tomatoes, red and juicy. Caitlin Jones has specialized in all colors and shapes of heirloom tomatoes. They are both growing tomatoes, but are offering something different.
North Tabor Farm has always been known for those bags of greens sold at its farm stand, the farmers markets, restaurants and other markets across the Island. Another notable veggie from North Tabor is the shiitake mushrooms, grown in the back of their youth-lot property under the oak trees. This earthly, meaty fungal is like nothing you will taste at a super market. Morning Glory Farm is kind of the Grande Dame of farm stands. Jim & Debbie Athearn and their kids have weathered many changes on the Island since they began farming in 1979. Morning Glory has become one of the largest producers on the Vineyard with everything from potatoes, leeks, and chard to the famous varieties of corn, fresh farm chicken, beef and pork and amazing zucchini bread. Morning Glory is almost one stop shopping.
I am not sure how many farm stands and end of the road operations there are on the Island. I can count 12 right now, and I am sure I missed some. It seems to one of the few growth industries these days. Even if a farm does not actually have a stand, you may find its produce at the larger super markets and smaller specialty markets. Basically you do not have to go far for amazing local food from the farm.
The one constant is this is basically a spring to fall business, which is probably okay with all these creative farmers, as the off season gives them time to regroup, relax and plan the field for the next season. For now, let’s indulge in the abundance this Island has to offer from all our creative, hard working farmers.
salad of hericots verts, almonds, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese
Serves 6
Alan Cottle and Debbie Farber own Blackwater Farm on Lambert's Cove Road. This small farm operates year-round with eggs, beef, pork and beautiful vegetables and flowers. Debbie is a fixture at the West Tisbury farmers' market and became known for her amazing delicate perfect, Haricots Verts, or Green Beans. Deep green and versatile, this is one of my favorite summer veggies.
1-½ lb. haricots verts, ends sniped
2 cups cherry tomatoes
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted in a 400-degree oven for about 4 minutes
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons aged sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
5 ounces crumbled goat cheese. About ¾ cup
Blanch beans by plunging them into salted boiling water and then shocking them in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain well, and lay on paper towel to get off excess water. In a large salad bowl add beans, tomatoes, and almonds. In a small bowl combine shallots. vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper and olive oil, Whisk well and pour over Haricots verts, tomatoes and almonds. Combine gently, then top with goat cheese. Serve at room temp.
That’s the bad news. But the good news is more great restaurants, and more local food from farm stands. The Island has encountered a renaissance in both small boutique farms and farmers. Driving around the Vineyard you can now find eggs, flowers and honey for sale at the end of a dirt road, with the only cash register a tin can and the honor system. Too there are more formal stands selling an array of veggies, fruit, flowers and even Island grown meat.
Most of us who live here know you don’t just end up on the Vineyard. You might get here by chance but you fight to stay. It’s expensive, difficult to find housing, never mind getting permits to build a home. Jobs are inconsistent and highly seasonal, yet if you choose to live here, the quality of life is hard to explain. The obvious is the scenery, large stretches of fields, woods and beaches, much of which is well protected with the huge conservation presence. Hence the difficulty to just acquire land and build a home.
The schools are amazing for a rural place, small classrooms with no shortage of support. It’s a great place for kids to grow up. The Vineyard has a creative population, full of entrepreneurs with strong wills to survive desolate winters and overwhelming summers. We are a population which chooses a career path that includes quality of life. I can’t think of a better example of this than the growth of farming. Many small family farms have sprung up or older farms revived throughout the Island. A new generation of creative hands are working the land again.
For the past 35 years Farmers’ Market in West Tisbury has been a consistent presence on the Island. This has always been a place for the freshest local veggies, fruits, flowers and even wool sweaters. I would not recommend eating the wool.
The farmers’ market has created an economy for locally produced food, a place where farmers could sell their goods and make a living. This new availability has created a wider demand for local food, so much so that farm stands now pepper the Island from out in Katama at the Farm Institute to Middle Road with Mermaid Farm and every town in between.
I always feel the farmers on the Island coexist well and complement each other. Andrew Woodruff of Whippoorwill Farm pioneered his own special beefsteak style tomatoes, red and juicy. Caitlin Jones has specialized in all colors and shapes of heirloom tomatoes. They are both growing tomatoes, but are offering something different.
North Tabor Farm has always been known for those bags of greens sold at its farm stand, the farmers markets, restaurants and other markets across the Island. Another notable veggie from North Tabor is the shiitake mushrooms, grown in the back of their youth-lot property under the oak trees. This earthly, meaty fungal is like nothing you will taste at a super market. Morning Glory Farm is kind of the Grande Dame of farm stands. Jim & Debbie Athearn and their kids have weathered many changes on the Island since they began farming in 1979. Morning Glory has become one of the largest producers on the Vineyard with everything from potatoes, leeks, and chard to the famous varieties of corn, fresh farm chicken, beef and pork and amazing zucchini bread. Morning Glory is almost one stop shopping.
I am not sure how many farm stands and end of the road operations there are on the Island. I can count 12 right now, and I am sure I missed some. It seems to one of the few growth industries these days. Even if a farm does not actually have a stand, you may find its produce at the larger super markets and smaller specialty markets. Basically you do not have to go far for amazing local food from the farm.
The one constant is this is basically a spring to fall business, which is probably okay with all these creative farmers, as the off season gives them time to regroup, relax and plan the field for the next season. For now, let’s indulge in the abundance this Island has to offer from all our creative, hard working farmers.
salad of hericots verts, almonds, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese
Serves 6
Alan Cottle and Debbie Farber own Blackwater Farm on Lambert's Cove Road. This small farm operates year-round with eggs, beef, pork and beautiful vegetables and flowers. Debbie is a fixture at the West Tisbury farmers' market and became known for her amazing delicate perfect, Haricots Verts, or Green Beans. Deep green and versatile, this is one of my favorite summer veggies.
1-½ lb. haricots verts, ends sniped
2 cups cherry tomatoes
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted in a 400-degree oven for about 4 minutes
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons aged sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
5 ounces crumbled goat cheese. About ¾ cup
Blanch beans by plunging them into salted boiling water and then shocking them in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain well, and lay on paper towel to get off excess water. In a large salad bowl add beans, tomatoes, and almonds. In a small bowl combine shallots. vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper and olive oil, Whisk well and pour over Haricots verts, tomatoes and almonds. Combine gently, then top with goat cheese. Serve at room temp.