DAN’S PAPERS
danshamptons.com
April 19, 2013 Page 37
Ending One’s Epicureal Odyssey in...Riverhead By stacy dermont
There are many epicurean trails to tread on the East End. While all lead to delights, some are short, some are long, some end in Riverhead. I’ve been living on the East End for a long time now, and I’ve been hearing about the wonders of The Cauliflower Association for years. I knew it wasn’t just cauliflower and I knew that I didn’t have to be a member of the association to visit, but that was all I’d gleaned. Last week an ad on WLNG told me to go there for rhubarb for my garden, so I did. But Tess at the front desk wouldn’t sell me any rhubarb. She said it was too early to plant it and I should come back next month. Wow, I really appreciate idiot-proofing like that. So I asked Tess what I could put in my (first-ever) vegetable garden right now. She offered up bags of white or red onion sets. I went with red because I figure those will work well with the tons of heirloom tomatoes I plan to make into salsa this summer.
place and time. In fact, it’s right around the corner from Riverhead’s old Agway in Polish Town (the Agway building is now Long Ireland Beer Company’s brewery). It’s not fancy but it offers just about everything you could need to grow fabulous vegetables. In fact, Bokina told me that he has serious rooftop gardeners driving in from Manhattan for supplies because The Cauliflower Association is the rare purveyor of bulk seeds that also offers in-person advice from experienced staffers. I don’t speak Polish (“Dermont” is of course French for “dirty Irishmen”) or Farmer but I got along just fine at the Cauliflower Association. I promised I’d be back for rhubarb crowns and gooseberry bushes when the time was right.
I can’t wait! Yes, this epicurean often heads to Riverhead and the North Fork for supplies and inspiration. A canning class taught by master canner Mark Vosburgh at the Hallockville Museum last month reminded me what life on the East End is REALLY all about. He gave the class participants a taste of his home-canned, Long Island carrots. Wow! There is no comparison to store-bought. If, I mean, WHEN, my garden really takes off I might have to buy one of those “Grown on Long Island” sweatshirts. Long Island Cauliflower Association, 139 Marcy Avenue, Riverhead, 631-727-2212, Licassoc.com
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The Cauliflower Association: pure garden gold!
I don’t know why a bag of onion sets costs only $3.05 (there’s probably 100 baby onions in it) when I pay that for six onions in the grocery store, but I’ll take it! Tess also sold me on her custom soil mix for planting: 1-1-1 parts compost, manure and potting soil. I bought a big bag of each and went for it. Lemme tell you, her mix does in fact appear to bring plants back from the dead. There were just a couple runty, dried-up onion sets at the bottom of the bag. I didn’t hold out much hope for their future, but I had room left in the bed so I stuck them in the soil. After two days and nights they are both plumped and sending up bright green shoots. I love this life-giving business. Can’t wait to yank them out and hang them up to dry. North Fork farmers founded the Cauliflower Association in 1901. Current Cauliflower Association CEO John E. Bokina, Jr. explained that the farmers needed a platform to exchange information and to pool their resources to buy farming supplies. The current store reminds me of visiting Agway when I was a kid in another
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