Nostalgia, Food and Farming at The 2012 Long Island Fair

A prize winning pumpkin or a blue ribbon apple pie might seem better suited to the Amish county than a suburb of Manhattan, but indeed, the good fun and neighborly traditions of our agricultural heritage are thriving this weekend at the 170^th Long Island Fair. 

Held annually at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, The Long Island Fair is the official New York State sponsored County Fair for Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.   The event was first held as the Queens County Fair back in 1842, when family farms dotted the landscape of Long Island. 

The event is co-sponsored by the Agricultural Society of Queens, Nassau & Suffolk Counties, one of the oldest agricultural societies in the United States.   Originally held on member’s farms and vacant lots in Hempstead and Mineola, the society acquired fairgrounds in 1866 on Old Country Road in Mineola, today the site of the County Court Complex.    A focal point of the fairground was the Grand Exhibition Hall.  For years, the event was known at the Mineola Fair, before it moved to its current home at Old Bethpage Village Restoration in 1970 where the Grand Exhibition Hall has been reconstructed for the annual autumn celebration. 

Strolling the fairgrounds is like a walk back in time to a simpler era.   One is surrounded by the smells of food and the sounds of farm animals and traditional fiddle music.   

Inside the Grand Exhibition Hall, the handicrafts of gardeners, bakers and quilters are displayed, many pinned with prize-winning ribbons for “First-in-Show” awarded by the society.  

Many are forging a new agricultural tradition on Long Island.   Restoration Farm is well represented at the fair with a bounty of autumn vegetables transported from the nearby fields by electric tractor.

The agricultural exhibit features the impressive yields of farmers and gardeners all over the region, including the largest pumpkin grown on Long Island this season.

There are more than a few bushels of locally-grown apples for snacking.

Who can resist an old-fashioned homemade treat, like these pumpkin glazed donuts?  Certainly not me!      

Everywhere the fruits of the soil dazzle the eye.

It all kind of makes you yearn for the simplicity of a kinder and gentler time, until you realize that moment is right now, and fortunately for Long Island residents, baking, quilting, planting, getting your hands dirty and harvesting your own food hasn’t gone out of style.  

©2012 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

New Roots at Restoration Farm

Bunches of Red Russian Kale sprout at Restoration Farm in Old Bethpage, NY.

The rain has been endless – seemingly 40 days and 40 nights. The ground squishes as I traipse along the path at Restoration Farm, a certified organic farm at Old Bethpage, NY.

Somebody told me a while back that Community Sponsored Agriculture is a bit like life. You’re constantly planting and harvesting. Indeed. The constant planting and harvesting in life has created more demands and far less time. This has also meant a necessary change in my CSA membership, but with that, brings the opportunity for new experiences and the chance to plant some new roots.

A fine mist blankets Restoration Farm.

Head growers Dan Holmes and Caroline Fanning lead a large group of visitors down a rutted and gently sloping wooded path toward Restoration Farm. Their work clothes are streaked with mud, and they wear water proof boots. They are a friendly, enthusiastic and convivial couple, beginning their second growing season at Old Bethpage. It has been a busy winter season for Dan and Caroline. They married and are expecting their first baby in June.

A fine mist blankets the farm as we emerge from the woods. There is a pond and pasture to the left, and vegetable fields outlined by rustic split rail fencing extend up the hill on the right. A red-winged blackbird alights on a fence post. I can see several people bent over, working in the field. It is like stepping into another era, and with good reason. Nearby, sits an historic farmhouse, and in the distance one can see a tall white church steeple. Restoration Farm sits on the property of Old Bethpage Village Restoration, a living museum of 19th century structures depicting life in a Civil War-era Long Island farming community. The CSA was established in 2007 as part of Nassau County’s “Healthy Nassau” campaign to encourage healthy eating and a healthy environment.

Green splotches of color are visible in the dark, loamy soil at Restoration Farm.

There is a very personal connection for me in this place. Old Bethpage was established in 1970, and our family would visit regularly from the time it opened. You could get a gingersnap cookie and a glass of birch beer at the Noon Inn Tavern, and learn about 19th century farming practices, forging iron and making straw broomsticks. As an adult, I have often returned for old time baseball, Civil War battle reenactments, Independence Day parades, Temperance Picnics and historic celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas, complete with candlelight and period music. Old Bethpage helped inspire my deep love of local history, and now the land will also be the source of my local produce.

Restoration Farm Head Growers Dan Holmes and Caroline Fanning explain strategies for growing organic produce.

Dan and Caroline walk us through each field and tell us what we might expect. Green splotches of color are visible in the dark, loamy soil. There are neat rows of carrots, spinach, onions, lettuce and kale. Tender pea shoots are staked and reaching toward the sky. At the edge of one field, steam rises off mountains of manure that will be used for fertilizer, much of which comes from the cattle that are kept at the historic Powell Farm. In the distance, I can see the familiar steeple of the Manetto Hill Church, built in 1857.

We walk past antique barns, pigs and sheep and stroll down a country lane to visit the flower garden and the new berry fields where strawberries, blackberries and raspberries will be available for picking later in the summer. There is a volunteer working in a field. He is quite wet and covered with grass clippings but tells a visitor how happy he is each time he steps onto the fields of Restoration Farm and begins to work.

A place that inspires a love of local history is now a source of local produce.

We return to the distribution tent where a book called “From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce” is available, along with a spread of homemade blueberry muffins, jam and fruit salad. As the morning concludes, I’ve learned about planting cycles, fertilization, crop rotation, care of berries, flowers and herbs, and I feel a connection with the farmers who have graciously shared their knowledge and commitment for their work. I’m already counting the days until the first harvest.

©2009 T.W. Barritt all Rights Reserved