Edible Vineyard 2023 - Off season

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NO. 51

OFF SEASON

OUR FOOD, OUR STORIES, OUR COMMUNITY

MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

OFF SEASON 2023

ev COOKING FOR A CAUSE • PIE IN THE SKY • GREAT GRAINS

VISITING AN

PHOEBE COLE-SMITH

TAUTOG, A BRINEY

Ayurvedic kitchen

comes home, sort of

beauty to behold

Doyle Construction Corp.

Quality Home Building on Martha’s Vineyard

Experts in construction, renovations and restoration of high quality homes on Martha’s Vineyard since 1990.

54 Hidden Village Road, West Tisbury, MA 02575

www.doyleconstructionmv.com • 508.693.9004 • bmazza@doyleconstructionmv.com

R E A L E S TAT E - M A RT H A’ S V I N E YA R D

Real Estate Services Island Wide

Beetlebung Corner, Chilmark 508-645-3533 www.conroymv.com We are celebrating 50 years in business

Tea Lane Associates Tea Lane Associates extends wishes for peace and joy

Extends wishes season for peace and joy this holiday and into throughout the New Year! the New Year!

tealaneassociates.com

Specializing in Choice Properties Since 1967 Specializing in Choice Properties Since 1967

508.696.9999 West 508.645.2628 508.696.9999 WestTisbury Tisbury 508.645.2628 Chilmark Chilmark

MV Community Services thanks Chicken Alley Thrift Shop volunteers for all they do to support MVCS and the island community.

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EDIBLE VINEYARD MAGAZINE is published by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, publishers of The Martha’s Vineyard Times weekly newspaper, Vineyard Visitor, Martha’s Vineyard Arts & Ideas Magazine, The Minute daily newsletter, and the websites MVTimes.com, VineyardVisitor.com, and MVArtsandIdeas.com.

PUBLISHERS Peter and Barbara Oberfest EDITORS Tina Miller and Connie Berry tina@mvtimes.com • connie@mvtimes.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kristófer Rabasca PRODUCTION/DESIGN MANAGER Dave Plath DESIGN Nicole Jackson PROOFREADER Irene Ziebarth AD SALES Jenna Lambert • jenna@mvtimes.com Sharisse Scott-Rawlins • sharisse@mvtimes.com

You can see the digital version of this magazine at ediblevineyard.com. EV is available at newsstands and select retail locations, free of charge.

Find Edible Vineyard on Instagram and Facebook @ediblevineyard SUBSCRIBE Please inquire at ediblevineyard@mvtimes.com about subscriptions by mail.

Contact EDIBLE VINEYARD THE MARTHA’S VINEYARD TIMES P.O. Box 518, 30 Beach Rd. Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 508-693-6100

CROSSLAND l a n d s c a p e

Professional Landscape Services Est. 1975

Sustainable • Landscape Design • Site Planning Drawings • Stone Masonry • Lawn & Garden Maintenance • Excavation • Nursery Stock Permitting • Perennial Gardens • Sod

Warmest Holiday Wishes & Peaceful New year “Local source for local living”

MS Environmental Design, BS Plant and Soil Science. Massachusetts Certified.

MA Certified Landscape Professionals, MA Certified Horticulturalists

Now is the best time for lawn renovation, fall planting and fall cleanups!

508•693•8888 • CROSSLANDLANDSCAPE.COM off season 2023

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Feel good about the food you grow.

With UNCLE MIKE’S Herbs & Veggies you get quality, non-GMO plants that are selected for their ability to perform in our New England climate and are grown with Integrated Pest Managment (the good bugs eat the bad bugs) so you can feel good about growing organically at home.

Follow us

On Martha’s Vineyard Uncle MIke’s herbs & veggies are sold exclusively at Jardin Mahoney.

45 Edgartown Vineyard Haven Road Oak Bluffs - 508.693.3511 @JardinMahoney www.jardinmahoneymv.com

CONTENTS

DISHING

IN THE KITCHEN

8 Out & About News about eating out — and staying in.

24 Feeding the mind, body, and spirit

Finding balance in an Ayurvedic kitchen.

By Mollie Doyle

By Maddy Alley

ESSAY 12 At home, sort of A summer kid extends her stay — forever.

By Phoebe Cole-Smith

FEATURES 30 A sweet beacon Pie in the Sky reminds us that we’re almost home.

By Mollie Doyle

FARM & SEA 20 Briney beauty Tautog have a face only an angler could love.

By Alex Friedman

42 On the farm Growing grain is a tradition worth reviving.

By Kate Woods

36 Cooking for a cause Joyful Eatings program feeds the most vulnerable.

By Connie Berry

DRINKS 40 Off-season in six wines

Pair them with local restaurant offerings and enjoy!

By Sam Decker

DONE! 48 Final thoughts Poetry and peace to end the year.

By Justen Ahren

Tina Miller

COVER IMAGE: Astrid Tilton’s image of a Hazlet rye plant maturing in the field.

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SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESS MEANS ADVERTISING LOCAL TOO Come experience the bounty We are now open year round Growing together with you, our community

Contact the MV Times to learn about how you can effectively promote your business and expand your reach in 2024.

adsales@mvtimes.com 508-693-6100

EDITORS’ LETTER

W

e love the off-season on Martha’s Vineyard, mostly because it allows us to breathe a little deeper and a little easier, and to try all the recipes we haven’t gotten to.

This issue is full of good choices — from winter congee to Super Bowl chili to lamb and mushroom ragu — you’ll surely find something delicious to add to your own recipe box.

Another great thing about this slower time of year is that we get to meet new people, like some you’ll find in our pages.

Phoebe Cole-Smith recently made the move to Chappaquiddick full-time, and we learn how she’s adjusting, and the must-haves she’s adding to her new kitchen. Fisherman Alex Friedman shares his love of the not-so-pretty tautog, an unattractive but very tasty variety of fish. Kate Woods dives deep into growing grains on the Island, and Mollie Doyle writes about Jacqueline Foster and her Ayurvedic kitchen. Mollie shifts to an off-Island gem and popular stop for Islanders when she writes about Pie in the Sky Bakery and Cafe in Woods Hole. Each of these stories lets us inside people’s lives and helps keep us connected.

We hope you enjoy curling up with a warm cup of tea or coffee with this off-season Edible Vineyard. We’ll see you again when the weather starts to warm up.

Astrid Tilton

OPEN YEAR ROUND | 63 CIRCUT AVE. OAK BLUFFS, MA | 508-696-0200 | sweetlifemv.com

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OUT & ABOUT

A plethora of easyto-love fare from the Loud Kitchen.

Out &

About Comfy and cozy, these picks keep us going year-round.

WORDS Maddy Alley

Connie Berry

Salted Caramel Sauce made with M.V. Sea Salt.

Courtesy Heidi Feldman

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Island Goods Winter weather can make it challenging to get outside, and difficult to get to the Island, but local businesses with online shops and nationwide shipping are making it easy to get Vineyard products anywhere on or off-Island. Martha’s Vineyard Sea Salt offers a variety of raw salts, including seasonal flavors such as the Cookie-Cocoa-Coffee holiday salt blend, in their online shop (marthasvineyardseasalt.com). Island Bee Company sells honey and wax products, straight from the hive to their online shop (islandbeecompanymv.com). Martha’s Vineyard Coffee Co. sells coffee, caps, and canvas totes on their site (marthasvineyardcoffeeco.com). Chilmark Coffee Company caters to the winter whimpers by selling through their online shop only in the off-season (chilmarkcoffeeco.com).

And when it’s time to wash it all up, Flat Point Farms sells their goat milk soap on Etsy (flatpointfarm.com).

The Loud Kitchen This year, the Ritz Café is getting a little bit better, and a little bit louder. Chef Canieka Fleming has turned the lights on and the music up in the Ritz’s kitchen.

The menu features customizable wing options and Southern-style sides, all with vegan or gluten-free options. Dinner takeout is available Tuesday through Sunday, or whenever the lights are on.

The party doesn’t stop there though; every Sunday, in collaboration with the Ritz and DJ Smooth B, Loud Kitchen will be serving a boozy brunch, with everything from loud chicken and red velvet waffles to spiked coffee.

OUT & ABOUT community, volunteers, food, and monetary donations are accepted. Volunteers, especially those who are bilingual, are needed for a variety of tasks and times. Food donations, particularly those found on their online wish list, can be dropped off at various food collection bins around the Island including at Cronig’s and Stop & Shop. Lastly, but most importantly right now, monetary donations of any amount can be sent through their website, from anywhere in the world (igimv. org/about-island-food-pantry).

Art Cliff Diner September sees a seasonal shift — from summer to fall, from beach bathers to wedding wishes, and from the busy bustle to a slower speed. Some would say the season is over. Not the Art Cliff Diner, whose “Open for the Season” sign was hung outside in mid-September, just in time to warm up the summer lovers who were starting to fear the first frost.

After almost two years of renovations, the décor may look new, but the menu (and parking lot) has the same, beloved, and tasty chaos with everything from frittatas to French toast.

Pantry donation boxes are located around the Island.

Tina Miller

Boxroxs After a summer of watching oysters fall off of paper plates, local raw bar shucker Job Deforest is launching Boxroxs: eco-friendly oyster trays. Each tray has six shallow wells, designed to keep oysters upright, and to keep their tasty juices Continued on page 10

Photos : Nicole Jackson

Butter, milk, eggs, and other essentials are all available for pantry pick-up.

Boxroxs eco-friendly oyster trays.

Island Food Pantry The Island Food Pantry might be one of the few Island establishments that gets busier in the winter, as seasonal work and pay slows down. Currently located at the Portuguese American Club in Oak Bluffs (but soon to move to a new, roomier location on Dukes County Avenue), the Island Food Pantry supplies fresh and frozen food, including locally made meals from their new yearround kitchen, to 4,200 registered people.

To stock their shelves, some food comes from the Greater Boston Food Bank, but more and more, the Food Pantry has to rely on donations to buy food. To support the Island Food Pantry, and to support our Island

Pancakes and bacon at the Art Cliff Diner in Vineyard Haven.

Dena Porter

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OUT & ABOUT Library Foundation (wtlibraryfoundation. org). Located in the library lobby and open every day that the library is, the fridge has sparked conversations with summer visitors about inequities on the Island, fed fleets of school kids, and provided meals for those in a pinch.

marinating in the shell instead of dripping down your shirt. Each well has enough room for shaved ice, and an oyster of any size. The trays are made of bagasse, a sugarcane byproduct, that will break down 90 days after use, providing a functional and ecological alternative to paper plates. The trays will be available for purchase on Amazon.

Continued from page 9

Amity Island Run Club

The free food fridge, also known as the ‘freedge’ in the West Tisbury library lobby.

10 edible VINEYARD

Nicole Jackson

The West Tisbury library has opened a free fridge, a freedge as they call it, for anyone looking for an afterschool snack, a quick bite, or help to supplement their grocery budget. The specially made fridge and pantry is stocked with frozen meals, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and snack donations from Island organizations, local farms, and people in the community. To support the project, the library is accepting donations of unexpired, unopened canned or dried goods, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Monetary donations are also accepted through the West Tisbury

Amity Island Running Club members meet up to run and then have some fun for Thirsty Thursday each week.

Free foraging along a hike at the Huckleberry Barrens property in Katama.

MV Times

Sheriff’s Meadow Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, with the help of a MassTrails Grant, has opened a universal access trail loop at their Huckleberry Barrens property in Katama. This trail is open to everyone, with inclusive features such as handicap parking and braille signage. The trail is being lined with native plants for everyone to see, smell, touch, and eat. Seasonal shrubs, such as beach plums, blueberries, huckleberries, and hazelnuts, are being planted for free foraging. With universal access and free snacks along the way, there is no excuse not to enjoy this beautiful bit of nature.

Courtesy Amity Island Run Club

West Tisbury Community Fridge

The name Amity might make you think of someone running away from the jaws of a killer shark, and if you saw the Amity Island Run Club in action, you might think that’s what was happening.

Surprisingly, they do that for fun, nothing is chasing them. Every Thursday, all winter long, the run club takes over the streets of Edgartown, with walkers and runners dripping in reflective gear and sweat, before celebrating their achievement with a social, usually at Town Bar & Grill. Everyone is welcome, regardless of speed or skill. There are also various races and challenges throughout the winter to keep you on track. Starting in December, the festive Santa Run and the Boys and Girls Club Holiday Hustle 5K should prepare you to run or walk at least one mile a day during the January Movement Challenge, leading into the ultimate 10 or 20-mile run as part of the MV Winter Classic and Amity Relay.

OUT & ABOUT are available for those looking to relax.

Special themed events are planned to pop-up through the winter. The Cozy Corner Café is going to be open all year, giving Vineyarders a home away from home, at home.

Cozy Corner Café located in the Edgartown Triangle has something for everyone.

Cozy Corner Café As winter weather settles in for the long haul, finding an open oasis to cuddle up with a coffee can feel like an elite sport, running between seasonal closures on Martha’s Vineyard. The Cozy Corner Café, cornered between year-round businesses in the Edgartown Triangle, provides a convenient, welcoming, and

Nicole Jackson

Island Alpaca

warm spot to eat, drink, work, or watch the post office dramas unfold across the street. The European-style coffee shop aims to be inclusive and provide something for everyone. The kitchen serves everything from vegan wraps to cookie milkshakes. Designated work space will be set up with glass barriers, Wi-Fi, and a printer for remote workers.

Multiple televisions and a massage chair

Not all of the Island’s farmstands sell food, and not all of the Island’s farm animals are for eating (and I am not just talking about Chilmark the ox). Island Alpaca, celebrating 20 years of operation, breed their fuzzy friends for their soft fleece, easy dispositions, and strong constitutions. The alpaca farm will have free entry to meet the herd all winter, leading up to their annual Shearing Day on the last Saturday of April. Island Alpaca guides also offer an “Alpaca Walk and Talk” twice a day, reservable ahead of time, allowing keen visitors a more personable (alpacable?) experience. For those too far away to walk, the soft stuff is available at their online store at islandalpaca.com.

PUBLISHING 4 TIMES A YEAR To advertise call 508-693-6100 or email adsales@mvtimes.com.

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ediblevineyard.com

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ESSAY Coming home, sort of

I

on my days off and sneaking out to smoke high season. The family houses were rentf you'd told me, even just a handful and drink with my friends at night. ed and if I was able to come on my own of years ago, that I would be living Visits to the Island became more during high school and college summers, I on Martha’s Vineyard, wait — no, fleeting when I, too, moved to NYC after would stay with my grandfather and make Chappaquiddick Island, full time, college for work, escaping the city for money cleaning houses and waitressing at year-round, maybe even forever — the occasional weekend to stay with my the Harbor View, hitchhiking to the beach I would've said you were mistaken. sister and her swordfisherman It’s not that I haven't had boyfriend in Vineyard Haven. It a lifelong love affair with wouldn’t be until a decade later the Island, the bigger one, Cole-Smith moved when I’d be able to return with that is. After traveling for two full time to Chappy, an children of my own to the golden days in the back of a station wagon island off an island.

Augusts of my earliest memowith my older siblings, from the ries. We'd stay in my grandpartime I was two weeks old, we’d ents’ house in Edgartown, and arrive on the Island and spend the though they were gone, everymonth every August. Mine was a thing was just the way it had summer romance — abandoned at been — the medallion wallpaper, the end of the season and more or the scent of cloves in the old less forgotten as soon as Septemwooden bureau drawers. ber came around and I was back As an adult, every August I in my “real” life. shopped at the Island farmstands, There were the early golden marveling at the varieties of years: gracious family houses vegetables. When my children dotted throughout picturesque Phoebe Colewere small, an August highlight Edgartown, generations of Smith out foraging was the Agricultural Fair — we near and distant relatives just for ingredients. were always mesmerized by the around the corner. It was an sumptuous array of produce idyllic time of family picnics at displayed on paper plates in the South Beach, nighttime skinny exhibit hall. When my oldest was dips at Bend-in-the-Road, black10, and for the next 10 years, we berry picking, and crabbing in volunteered together to assist the our rowboat on Eel Pond. judges in the vegetable and fruit But Augusts came and went, category, me keeping track of all older siblings went off to college the winners in an official ledger, and beyond, moving to jobs and while my daughter wrote their lives in NYC, San Francisco, and names on the back of the ribbons, Martha’s Vineyard(!). With a attaching them to the appropriate farm to tend in Illinois, my mothdisplay — our behind-the-scenes er and stepfather spent less time perspective giving us an insider’s on the Island during the busy

COMING After a lifetime of visits, we’re now living HOME, our lives on a little SORT OF island-off-an-island.

WORDS Phoebe Cole-Smith

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IMAGES Claire Callagy

Coming home, sort of ESSAY

Phoebe at work on her apple-based recipe.

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ESSAY Coming home, sort of

We’d stay in my grandparents’ house in Edgartown, and though they were gone, everything was just the way it had been — the medallion wallpaper, the scent of cloves in the old wooden bureau drawers.

view of the Island’s agricultural community.

Having grown up in a family of enthusiastic eaters with a generous and gifted cook for a mom, cooking came naturally to me. It turned out that I derived real satisfaction from feeding people; food was a language I could understand. From the age of 11, I cooked with my best friend after school, following fancy recipes from our mothers’ housekeeping magazines. At boarding school, I made vegetarian dinners for groups of students at our teacher’s on-campus house. During one of my teenage Vineyard summers, my best friend came to stay and we cooked dinner for my Connecticut in search of a yard and public grandfather every single night, keeping schools, we eventually found an 1830s farmtrack of our culinary efforts with elaborate house and barn with three acres that felt handwritten menus. During college in Ann decidedly more country than suburban. At Arbor, I got my first cooking job at a machome with young kids, some land, and a husrobiotic restaurant, learning the ropes in a band who traveled a lot, I got more involved transformative kitchen environment where with gardening, learning about beneficial each worker was trained to perform every insects, soil health, and composting. task from dishwashing to line cooking.

Later, newly single and my babies now Living and working in NYC after college, I in high school, I was ready to figure out went from cooking tiny elegant dinners for my own next steps. A friend who was a two or three in my Sullivan Street studio to big spreads for raucous crowds, cooked on a hot plate in the loft I shared with friends on lower Broadway.

Phoebe Cole-Smith Then onward and uptown to serves up a delicious the East Side with a husband lunch for two. and babies, a proper kitchen, a proper dining room, many meals, many dinner parties.

At this point, even though we happily lived in a brownstone in Manhattan, the country life had become increasingly compelling to me.

Having moved as a teenager to a newly purchased 150-acre farm in rural Illinois with my mother, stepfather, and baby sister following my childhood in the northern suburbs, I became captivated with farm life — mowing fields and moving the hay bales with the tractor, feeding the heifers and their calves, helping to plant the kitchen garden, collecting the eggs from our chickens. I then attended the Putney School in Vermont — a working farm and secondary school where farming was as much a part of the curriculum as history.

So when my husband and I decided to leave the city for

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working chef had gone to the French Culinary Institute in NYC and recommended I check it out. I enrolled in FCI’s ninemonth culinary program. Leaving home every morning at 6:30 am to be in my chef’s whites at my station, then back to Connecticut by 5 pm to be a mom proved a grueling yet exhilarating endeavor. I loved the formality, the memorizing of terms and techniques, the time away from my daily life back in the city. But best of all, when it came time to seek out a restaurant internship as part of my FCI requirement, I learned that Dan Barber, chef of the just-opened restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the pinnacle of farm-to-table dining, was an FCI alumnus. I'll never forget the jolt I felt every time I drove onto that spectacular property with its striped plots of produce, burgeoning orchards, roaming pigs, actual stone barns, and the bustling impeccable kitchen that created remarkable food from ingredients grown and raised just beyond the door.

With a grande diplome under my belt (apron ;-), and my dream of opening my own little farm-totable place in Westport upended by a fragile economy, I found work catering and as a private chef in Connecticut, New York, and the Vineyard, always sourcing as many of my ingredients as possible from local farms.

In 2014, after much deliberation, my (second) husband and I bought a little compound of seasonal cottages on Chappaquiddick with proceeds from the West Tisbury house he’d lived in with his late wife and my

Coming home, sort of ESSAY

Bone broth with Swiss chard, shiitakes, leeks, and a poached egg.

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ESSAY Coming home, sort of grandparents' Edgartown house that I’d inherited, intentionally creating our own version of a life together on the Vineyard, where we’d met.

Meanwhile, the gardens at home in Connecticut were expanding. We planted an orchard, a berry patch, cutting and herb gardens, we started raising laying hens and keeping bees. When we began to produce maple syrup on a substantial scale (even buying the lot next to us with a large stand of sugar maples) we officially became Dirt Road Farm. We rebuilt the old fallen barn on our property and I embarked on the first of our Barn Suppers.

Somehow, it felt like everything that had happened before had led me to these convivial gatherings of friends and strangers around an enormous wooden table in our rustic chic barn, savoring the seasons with menus that celebrated our farm and the farmers and makers in our midst. Seats at the table were filled again and again as we added more dates and even another table to nourish our expanding community. We conducted farm-to-table culinary workshops, hosted educational maple syrup and beekeeping events, and created an annual holiday pop-up farmstand with local farmers and makers selling their wares alongside our DRF goods.

To me, it was unimaginable that I would ever live anywhere else, that I wouldn't grow old right where I had set my strongest roots. We were strong and resilient, we had worked so hard to get to this place. Yet after 10 years of burgeoning Barn Suppers, a flourishing 425-tap maple syrup operation, and reaping all the bounty we had sown, the pandemic happened, bringing everything we were doing to a halt. The pause allowed us a reckoning, though, the realization that while we were certainly capable and committed to continue as we’d been going, we hadn’t directly considered the scenario that could unfold in, say, 10 years — when it would inevitably become harder to keep up with everything and cost us more to do so.

Of course we could’ve one day shut

Brown butter-roasted apples with bourbon and cream.

down the maple syrup operation, stopped creating the Barn Suppers and events, consolidated the gardens and grown less, given the chickens and bees away. Or we could pass the proverbial baton now and let eager new stewards take over Dirt Road Farm exactly as it was, with everything flourishing and productive and beckoning.

And that is precisely what we did.

When my mind was able to shift and I was able to let go of the physical place that was Dirt Road Farm, I knew that I would hold tight to everything I had learned from it. I would continue to harbor a deep connection to the seasons and growing things, wild and cultivated, to the importance

Our little universe on Chappaquiddick promises good things, and we are reveling in the possibilities that are yet evolving.

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of gathering community around local, seasonal and thoughtfully considered food wherever I was. I’ve discovered for myself that with change comes renewal, and facing some unknown can sharpen the senses and deepen one’s faith in what will unfold.

Our little universe on Chappaquiddick promises good things, and we are reveling in the possibilities that are yet evolving. I continue to cook, write, forage, develop recipes, and mull the ways I might gather and feed people in this next chapter. I do not have any gardens now — yet! — for the first time in decades, so I am seizing this moment to learn about the varied wilderness surrounding us on this tiny island-off-an-island, with its sandplains and forests and rare wildflowers and migrating sea birds. We are still transient as we ready our little compound — two original 1930s cottages and one new main cottage — to harbor us through all the seasons in the years ahead.

After all, I am no longer just an August person.

Coming home, sort of ESSAY

Bone Broth with Swiss Chard, Shiitakes, Leeks, and a Poached Egg Serves 2 Suitable for any time of the day, but especially appealing for breakfast, this bowl of goodness will give you the nourishment and comfort you crave to get you through a chilly gray day. Deceptively simple, this is almost more of a method than a recipe.

Note: Feel free to switch up any of the ingredients, using sprouting broccoli or bok choy instead of chard, oyster mushrooms instead of shiitakes, red onion in lieu of leeks.

Homemade broth is always preferred, made with the best ingredients you can find, whether it be chicken, beef, or vegetable broth.

4 cups bone broth (chicken, beef, or pork) or rich vegetable stock 2 Tbsp. avocado oil 1 large bunch swiss chard, stems included, washed and roughly chopped 1.5 oz shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and thinly sliced Sea salt to taste Pinch red chile flakes 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced 2 medium leeks, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced, white and pale green parts only 2 local organic pastured eggs

holding their shape. Season to taste, remove from heat and set aside.

Warm the broth in a medium saucepan to simmering and skim any impurities that rise to the surface with a fine mesh strainer. Season lightly to taste, if needed.

Swirl the broth with a spoon and poach the eggs one at a time, swirling each time, just until the whites are opaque but the yolks are still runny. Remove each egg to a shallow bowl.

Mound half the warm greens in each of two wide shallow soup bowls, placing a poached egg on top. Pour piping hot broth into each bowl, surrounding and covering the greens.

Finish with a pinch of pink salt, freshly ground pepper, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a shower of grated pecorino, if using.

Brown Butter-Roasted Apples with Bourbon and Cream Serves 2-4 Like apple pie with an “edge” instead of a crust. We’re so lucky that local and regional apples are available all year long here, thanks to their ability to store way beyond harvest. and of course it’s always a bonus to have friends with apple trees!

4 medium cooking apples, such as Braeburn, Mutsu, or Pink Lady 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter 1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise, seeds scraped, pod reserved 3 Tbsp. pure cane sugar 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated

Good olive oil, for finishing

1/4 tsp. sea salt

Pink sea salt, for finishing

2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

Finely grated pecorino romano

2 Tbsp.

for finishing, optional Heat a large saute pan over high heat.

Add the avocado oil, reduce the heat to medium, and add the greens and shiitakes, stirring to coat in the oil.

Season lightly with sea salt and add the chile flakes and sliced garlic.

When the greens are wilted but still al dente add the sliced leeks, stirring to combine.

Continue cooking the greens and leeks until tender, but the leeks are still

bourbon

1 cup heavy whipping cream Preheat the oven to 425° F Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter, vanilla seeds and vanilla pod and continue cooking, shaking the pan periodically, until butter smells nutty and turns brown, about 7 minutes.

Turn off the heat, removing and discarding the vanilla bean pod.

Cut the apples in half from stem to root (coring if desired), then toss with the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Place the apples cut side up in a baking dish, scraping the butter-sugar mixture on top.

Bake the apples in the oven, basting frequently, until deeply caramelized and tender, about 35 minutes.

Serve warm with unsweetened softly whipped cream or creme fraiche.

PHOEBE’S KITCHEN WISH LIST I am incredibly lucky to be dreaming about a brand-new kitchen that will have materialized sometime (well, because we have an awesome crew!) in the not-toodistant future when our new house is completed.

Here are some of the kitchen items on my still-being-considered “wish list”: 1. With a newly constructed wood-burning cooking hearth in my kitchen (my greatest wish and I got it!), I am researching Tuscan and/or Argentine grills to use in it — possibly with an additional accessory for cooking a la plancha.

2. I would like to upgrade my current large compost bucket to an XL one. Even though it will take up more counter space, I won’t have to empty it as frequently — because while I try to use every bit of a vegetable (nose to tail) the scraps still add up quickly!

3. If I can have a longer-than-usual magnetic knife strip, I will be really happy.

Obviously, anything made of metal can attach to it — so I would love to take advantage of that and have fewer things jumbled in a drawer. Plus, one cannot have too many knives.

4. Speaking of knives, I usually sharpen mine on a stone, which is to say I do not sharpen them frequently enough. I was so impressed with how sharp my kids’ knives were when I visited them recently in LA — turns out they had just invested in a brand-new excellent knife sharpener.

So I want one of those!

5. With all the canning and preserving I do, I need to replace my favorite kitchen scale (it lost a bolt or something), the old-school analog upright kind with a stainless steel bowl that holds a hefty pile of quinces or cucumbers.

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Sponsored by Cronig’s Markets and Healthy Additions

Simmering on the stove This hearty ragu with ground lamb is perfect for an off-season dinner.

A

s we head deep into the off season, it is the perfect time for hearty meals. Step out of your routine and grab some fresh ground lamb from the meat section at Cronig’s Market when thinking about what to cook. Ground lamb is a nice change, and pairs very well with fresh cremini mushrooms. This is a quick recipe to prepare, though it is nice to simmer for at least 45 minutes to infuse the flavors.

Lamb and Mushroom Ragu Serves 4 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced 1 yellow onion, diced 1 shallot, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 lb. ground lamb 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped 1/2 cup white wine 1/3 cup chicken or beef broth 1 14.5 oz can diced Murie Glen tomatoes Salt and pepper Sprinkle crushed red pepper Penne pasta Heat olive oil on medium-high heat in a heavy saucepan.

Add sliced mushrooms, stir, and let them saute for about 10 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and add diced onions, shallots, and garlic. Combine and let cook until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add ground lamb, breaking up the meat and combining all ingredients. Cook until lamb is cooked through. Add chopped rosemary, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Add white wine and let reduce. Add broth and diced tomatoes, combine, and cover — lower heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and let it reduce slightly for at least another 15 minutes. Cook penne pasta to your liking. Add pasta to the sauce and combine.

Top with some shaved Parmesan cheese.

This story and recipe was brought to you by: off season 2023

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FARM & SEA

Off-season beauty, the tautog.

Briney beauty?

WORDS AND IMAGES Alex Friedman

O

Tautog may not be the best-looking fish, but it is one of the best-tasting.

f the many varieties of fish that swim in the waters surrounding Martha’s Vineyard, one species holds a special place in the hearts of local anglers and chefs, yet often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in either arena.

Known in other parts of the East Coast as blackfish, the locally named “tautog” is nothing if not a rather funny-looking fish, with mottled black and gray flanks, huge rubbery lips and crazy buck teeth that look like an orthodontist’s nightmare. Perhaps that’s why tautog are often overshadowed by the more glamorous local species; they don’t have the sleek lines and vibrant colors of the iconic striped bass, nor the power and brilliance of tuna or swordfish, or even the splashes of turquoise found on black sea bass. Tautogs aren’t exactly ugly, but they do have a face only a mother (or fishmonger) could love. What they lack in aesthetics, however, they more than make up for in sporting ability (tautogs are challenging but fun to catch) and truly excellent table fare. Tautog season peaks in the autumn, after many other fish species have left local waters, and provide a terrific opportunity to enjoy one of our most delicious and versatile local species.

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Tautog range from Nova Scotia to Georgia along the East Coast, and are almost always found near the bottom in rocky habitat, from boulder piles to jetties to underwater wrecks.

This marked preference is due to their unique diets, as tautog seldom eat other fish or squid, instead prowling along the rocky bottom to feast on mussels, shrimp, barnacles, and — their favorite — crabs. This is where their funny-looking mouths come into play as an effective evolutionary trait, effortlessly munching through hard shells. Tautog even possess a second set of molar teeth, positioned like two crushing plates in the back of their throats that helps them pulverize even the toughest shellfish armor. Their stout, blunt shape, and an outer protective layer of mucus, lets them cruise through the gnarliest crags and rocky nooks, hidden from predators as they search for their next meal.

If there’s one universally agreed-upon fact about tautog, it’s that they are delicious. Their meat is white and very firm, with a delicate, sweet flavor that reflects their diet. The crabs, mussels, and other shellfish they devour result in delectable filets, and as tautog don’t eat other oily baitfish, they also don’t

Briney beauty? FARM & SEA have any “fishiness.” Tautog have been referred to as “Poor Man’s Lobster” in cookbooks, sharing that nickname with monkfish and tilefish, two other crab-loving bottom dwellers.

The firm texture of tautog filets have always given it preference as a chowder fish, as the chunks won’t overly flake and fall apart. But these qualities also give tautog great versatility in the kitchen, and the mild filets can be baked, poached, steamed, baked, broiled, even cooked in an air-fryer to great delight.

From the Mid-Atlantic to Rhode Island, tautog (or again, blackfish in those parts) are a hugely popular sport fish for anglers, often boats of all sizes are fishing for them throughout the fall and early winter. They can be caught from shore as well, as long as you’ve got the necessary rocky structure, a jetty, or even dock pilings. The very best bait to use is — no surprise — a whole or half crab. Tautog are also a very popular quarry for spearfishing as well.

The commercial catch is limited by season and strictly regulated catch quotas — every fish that goes to market is counted, and when a predetermined threshold is caught, the season is closed. Tautog are caught commercially primarily by rod and reel, and strict size limits ensure that these slow-growing fish have a healthy population in the future. The tautog fishery is a perfect ex-

“They’ll surprise you … they can be moody and funny… every new day you’ve got to crack the code to get ‘em to bite … they’re a worthy adversary.” —Johnny Hoy

Beau Begin with his fresh winter catch.

Victor Montoya hooked a beauty in the off-season.

ample of local and sustainable delicious seafood, as it’s not a target of the large, industrial fishing fleets. Although there is an export market to New York and beyond for tautog, any tautog found in Vineyard restaurants or markets almost certainly came from local waters, caught by small-boat local Island fishermen.

“Oh, man, I love ‘em … they’re just champions,” says Johnny Hoy, when asked about tautog, adding his favorite way to cook them is “just about every which-way.” Along with his duties as frontman of the legendary Island blues band, Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, and being herring warden of West Tisbury, Johnny finds time every fall to commercially harvest tautog from Island waters, bound for Island fish markets and restaurants. If you find tautog in an Island fish market, chances are good it was caught by Johnny. Every chance he gets during the season, he leaves from Menemsha and the rocky coastlines of Vineyard Sound, armed with several rods, a bucket of crabs for bait, and a loving respect for his quarry. “They’ll surprise you … they can be moody and funny … every new day you’ve got to crack the code to get ‘em to bite … they’re a worthy adversary,” Johnny said when I asked Continued on page 22 off season 2023

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FARM & SEA Briney beauty?

Continued from page 21 Fresh filets of tautog, ready for cooking.

A winter treat from the sea.

22 edible VINEYARD

him about fishing for tautog.

His passion for the pursuit of the funny-looking fish shines through our conversation, even more so once we start discussing tautog’s edibility and possibilities for preparation.

“Chefs like ‘em,” Hoy quipped, ”they come into season after the stripers move away, and their filets are kind of similar, nice and thick and white and easy to make delicious.”

He shared a favorite recipe he adapted from Island Chef Albert Lattanzi, which calls for mixing fresh herbs, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and capers together with a mortar and pestle and coating the tautog filets with the mixture. Then, over high heat, sear both sides, just about a minute each side. Reduce the heat to low, put a lid over the pan and let finish for another 4-5 minutes. “Don’t overcook!” cautions Hoy, and he promises a melt-in-your-mouth delight that’s perfect for the cool autumn and winter seasons.

I like to cook tautog the same way I do cod and haddock, putting the filets in a glass baking dish, coating them with melted butter and then a mixture of Panko breadcrumbs and crushed Ritz crackers. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until the fish is white and opaque, and remove from the oven. Then turn on the broiler, and once hot, place the dish underneath for 15-20 seconds, just enough to lightly toast the topping. Add lemon wedges, and savor the sweet, mild flavors of a classic New England dish.

Of course, the old-timers were right about most things, including that tautog makes for awesome fish chowder. Making a base of fish stock is easy, and usually a single batch yields enough for several recipes, and can also be frozen for future use. After fileting, remove the gills from the heads, and place the rinsed heads and racks of bones into a stockpot and cover with water. Add an onion, celery and carrot, some peppercorns and a bay leaf, and bring just to boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes, occasionally skimming off any foam. Unlike bone broths, fish stock doesn’t improve with longer cooking, so after a half hour, strain the stock through a cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve, and you have an unparalleled base for chowder. Many cooks, Johnny Hoy included, will add the chunks of tautog filets at the very end, turning off the heat while putting on a lid and letting the fish cook to a perfect doneness with the residual heat.

Tautog have a funny name and a downright goofy appearance, but are among the most delicious fish that swim in Vineyard waters. It’s a healthy and sustainable resource, and supports the local small-boat fleet that needs all the help it can get in the face of industrial overfishing and cheap imported seafood. Try venturing beyond the classic recipes, and you will discover the sublime flavor and great versatility of tautog — and one of the great culinary delights of autumn and winter in New England. Once you’ve tried tautog prepared a few different ways, that fish with the funny face and the big buck teeth might just begin to become beautiful.

FEATURE Feeding the mind, body, and spirit

Feeding the mind, body, and spirit Finding a good balance in Jacqueline Foster’s Ayurvedic kitchen.

S

WORDS Mollie Doyle

Jacqueline Foster and her sweet pup in her Ayurvedic kitchen.

24 edible VINEYARD

IMAGES Randi Baird

ometimes it takes a while to find your thing. For Jacqueline Foster, it was not a question of finding but instead refining her thing. What to do with a love of food and spectacular cooking skills?

Jacqueline, who grew up in Central Massachusetts, attended Johnson & Wales Culinary School “before being a chef was a cool thing worthy of a serious and respected career.” After graduating, Jaqueline was awarded an eight-month internship cooking at Ireland’s five-star Adare Manor. “It’s a 14th-century manor.

The food was very French,” Jacqueline says. “We had to set up our stations where all our prep and service was on a white linen tablecloth that had to be pristine at the end of each night.”

She stayed, traveled, and cooked in Ireland for five years. “It’s an amazing place to cook. As far as resources go, it’s incredible. It is 50 degrees and moist. There is pasture for animals to feed on year-round. The seafood is incredible.” She worked for a woman who was an Irish revivalist. The restaurant was Gaelic-speaking only. “It was across from the Irish Parliament, so the restaurant was as much about politics as it was about food.”

When Jaqueline returned to the U.S., she studied at the University of Vermont’s cheesemaking school and then got a job working for a cheesemaker in Sommerville, Mass. Soon after, the Kitchen Porch’s Jan Burhman reached out looking for a person to make cheese for her for the summer. “Jan introduced me to Caitlin Jones and Allen Healy. I worked with them for about a year and a half and developed their feta with them.” After a year and a half, Molly and Eric Glasgow offered her a job at the Grey Barn. She worked with them for four years, developing their cheeses.

“Making cheese is a kind of spiritual practice. You are working with four essential ingredients: Milk, salt, rennet, and enzymes. It’s a mixture of control and allowing. Nature and nurture. A really cool

Feeding the mind, body, and spirit FEATURE

Some of the ingredients needed for a soothing winter congee.

off season 2023

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FEATURE Feeding the mind, body, and spirit

An aromatic and soothing soup, winter congee ready to enjoy.

26 edible VINEYARD

Feeding the mind, body, and spirit FEATURE

“Ayurveda can address a myriad of ailments, from stress and anxiety to digestive disorders and chronic fatigue, by focusing on the root cause rather than just treating the symptoms.” process. It activated my scientist mind. I am really grateful for that time in my life,” Jaqueline says.

Looking to change things up, Jaqueline left Grey Barn and bought a food truck, which she called Mangku. “I was using Island-grown food, trying to make healthy, accessible food. It was really fun and really challenging.” But after two years of trying to make it work, she sold the truck. “The thing that broke me down was the truck itself. The generator failed multiple times. I got pregnant and had my son Isla. I had to shut down and rethink what I wanted to do.”

Around this time, she “accidentally” attended an Ayurvedic (sounds like ai-ur-vay-duhk) workshop. “Everything connected.

All the food paths had finally converged. The food systems, food as medicine, and as a chef, it all made sense. I was completely hooked.

I bought every book, took workshops, and slowly started to incorporate Ayurvedic cooking practices and medicine and food into my life.”

Ayurveda is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the world.

The word Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit words “ayur” (life) and “veda” (knowledge). Translated, it means “knowledge of life.”

Ayurvedic practices originated in India about 5,000 years ago and is a holistic approach to health, addressing balance in the body, mind, and spirit. Much like “Chi” in Chinese medicine, it looks at a person’s “prana” or life force. The system identifies a person’s Ayurvedic constitution, called a dosha, and then prescribes a program that includes a holistic diet based on this constitution that includes eating seasonally and using natural herbs, home practices such as tongue scraping, massaging one’s body with warm oil, oil pulling, and lifestyle practices such as yoga, meditation, and breathwork. All with the goal of bringing the body, mind, and spirit into balance.

“Ayurveda can address a myriad of ailments, from stress and anxiety to digestive disorders and chronic fatigue, by focusing on the root cause rather than just treating the symptoms. As you dive deeper into this ancient healing system, you will gain invaluable tools to proactively maintain your health, prevent illness, and foster longevity.” Jacqueline says.

Each person’s dosha is different, and may influence how well your body functions during specific seasons. For instance, the Vata dosha (air and space) is connected to the cold, dry winter.

The Pitta dosha (fire) is connected to summer, and the Kapha dosha (earth and water) is connected to wet, rainy, muddy spring.

Jaqueline just finished a year-long, 600-hour program of study at the Mahatma School of Ayurveda in Vermont (she also completed a 200-hour course of study) and has a license as an Ayurvedic health counselor. She now works with clients and as a private chef, bringing this lens to cooking and living. “But even if a client is not asking for Ayurvedic food per se, I am still applying the principles no matter what,” she says. Jaqueline’s Ayurvedic offerings began to take off during the pandemic. “I would get calls like, ‘My mother is really ill. I can’t be there. Can you cook for her and bring her some food?’ Others began to reach out to have food delivered while

they were being treated for cancer or to support women in their first 40 days postpartum,” Jacqueline says.

No matter what someone is looking for, Jaqueline always meets with her clients and does a thorough assessment of their needs. “I want to empower my clients. This is not about deprivation. I am not going to take things away from them. This is about positive changes. Positive results. In some cases I cook for my clients, but in most, I want to teach them so that they can do it for themselves and it is sustainable. I love that there is this simplified language and framework to work within. This is doable. Accessible. Not extreme. It’s about bringing bodies back into balance.”

Jacqueline says all of this in a gush as she stirs congee (it is Vata season) on her stove in her sunny Vineyard Haven kitchen.

Having just finished an intensive year of study, Jacqueline now wants to spend some time “digesting.” She lights a ghee candle, “I

Jacqueline Foster’s fridge holds magnetic spice containers.

off season 2023

27

FEATURE Feeding the mind, body, and spirit always light this when cooking for clients.” And then plucks some spices from her refrigerator. She works with ease, slicing garlic on a mandolin and crisping it up in some sesame oil. When the garlic is ready, cilantro and scallions chopped, she spoons the warm rice into bowls and garnishes the congee. "I see Ayurveda as a sensory science, bringing us into deeper awareness of the qualities of everything we come into contact with. This awareness alone is deeply healing, but is the fundamental toolbox for living in harmony with the earth and all beings," she says.

Jacqueline’s congee is an umami bomb. It hits all the right notes.

Tasting her food, watching her cook, makes it clear that after years of working in different kitchens with different methods and mediums, she has found her balance. Her harmony. Her food song.

To learn more about Jacqueline’s consultations, cleanses and workshops, go to matriarchayurveda.com.

VÃTA SEASON RECIPES Winter Congee

This warming soup is gentle on the digestive system and can be used for an easy and delicious reset or as a balm when you are run down or ill. The sweet qualities of the rice and the grounding nature of the broth are very soothing to vãta dosha, as they build and nourish, ballasting health against the elements of winter. The garnishes are particularly supportive in clearing congestion and respiratory stagnation with invigorating herbs. You can double this recipe and reheat for future meals, just be sure to add more broth as it tends to congeal once it cools.

2 quarts Vãta bone broth or chicken or vegetable broth 4-inch piece fresh ginger, smashed 4 cups cooked Basmati rice Fresh ground black pepper to taste FOR GARNISH: 4 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil 6 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin sea salt, to season 3 scallions, green parts thinly sliced 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped Cracked black pepper, to garnish In a medium pot, bring stock, rice, ginger, and black pepper to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover halfway.

Let cook for 25-30 minutes or until the rice has broken down and the soup has thickened to a light porridge consistency. In a small saute pan over medium heat, heat the sesame oil until it shimmers. Add sliced garlic to the pan and stir constantly until it is golden brown. Quickly turn off the heat and remove the garlic from the pan and drain on paper towels. Season with sea salt. Re-

28 edible VINEYARD

serve sesame oil. Ladle congee into bowls and garnish with toasted garlic, scallions, cilantro, a drizzle of warm sesame oil, and some more cracked black pepper.

Vãta Bone Broth Contrary to popular belief, Ayurveda does not solely prescribe a vegetarian diet. For some constitutions or imbalances, meat is indicated for its heavy and sweet qualities. This bone broth is especially grounding for Vãta dosha and in the Vãta season of winter. But the light quality of this broth makes it easily digestible for all constitutions.

The health of our bones, hair, and nails are associated with Vãta dosha and we commonly see imbalances like arthritis and osteoporosis, dry hair, rough skin, and brittle nails or cold extremities when Vãta is aggravated. This method of making stock at such a specific temperature is borrowed from the Japanese, and used to extract the most flavor, collagen, and minerals from the bones. No salt is added because it's simply not needed. A prominent truth of Ayurveda is: like increases like, so if we are looking to build bone strength and stabilize Vãta, why not go to the source.

You can sip this warm broth throughout the day or use it as a base in any soup, stew, or curry or the Winter Congee.

1 large (4-5 lb.) whole chicken * Winter Congee

2 whole cinnamon sticks 4-inch piece fresh ginger, smashed 3 star anise 2 Tbsp. black peppercorns

*Be sure to buy organic, pasture raised chicken if possible. Even better if you can get it from an Island farm.

Rinse the chicken under cold water until the water runs clear.

Put the chicken in a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot and fill with cold water so that the chicken is fully submerged. The water volume should be double the volume of chicken. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low. Skim all debris that has risen to the surface.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring the water temperature down to 176F, or just below a simmer. Hold the temperature here for at least four hours. If the temperature increases or begins to simmer, add a little cold water. Stir the pot every once in a while to assist the chicken in falling apart and extracting more minerals from the bones. After 6 hours, strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve, saving the meat for another use and discarding the carcass.

Pour into freeze-safe containers and cool uncovered and then refrigerate or freeze. The broth stays fresh for one week in the fridge and one month in the freezer.

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FEATURE

WORDS Mollie Doyle

At first, the title for this article was a joke.

But the more we thought about it, the more it rang true. THE local restaurant that serves ALL (or maybe most) Martha’s Vineyard residents is, in fact, off-Island.

For many a Vineyarder heading off-Island, Pie in the Sky is our first stop. For breakfast, lunch, a road snack. For any Vineyarder heading home, Pie in the Sky is a beacon. The light at the end of the road, signaling that journey back to the Island is now just a boat ride away. Before the Steamship engines rattle and the horns blow, we stop, get our tea, a popover, a cookie to hold in our hands to hold us over as we make the crossing.

Pie in the Sky has been “baking in the Hole” since 1982 when a young couple, Manny and Denise Dias, were on their honeymoon in Europe and noticed that every town had a local bakery and coffee shop.

It wasn’t too much of a stretch for Manny to be thinking about opening a bakery. His

30 edible VINEYARD

IMAGES Tina Miller

parents owned Jean’s Bakery in Teaticket, Mass. Upon their return, Manny and Denise began looking for a location. They soon learned there was a kite shop run by local artist Joan Kanwisher that might be available. They leased the shop the following year and sold Kanwisher’s prints. According to an interview with the Woods Hole Museum, “They were trying to think of names for the shop and not getting anywhere until one day Mr. Dias had the radio blasting the Jimmy Cliff song, ‘The Harder They Come’...

‘Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky…’ “It was the perfect name, and it still remains.”

General manager Erik Gura greets Edible on a gray fall morning. Dressed in green Carhartts, Crocs, a black vest, and a cap, carrying a yellow ceramic coffee mug, he blends in with the 10 or so other men wearing essentially the same Woods Hole uniform. Erik bought Pie in the Sky from the Diases in 2002.

Eight years earlier, he had arrived in Woods

Pie in the Sky FEATURE

The familiar Woods Hole landmark feels like home for Vineyarders.

Nothing better after a long journey than the full bakery at Pie in the Sky.

Hole to work as a ship’s steward for the SEA education program. “I loved it, but I wanted to have kids and wanted to be around to raise them,” Erik says. With kids, he has realized this goal. His wife, Megan Essex, and children, Frank, age 9, and Noah, age 7, are a part of his daily life — and the business.

“They break down boxes, help me stock the shelves. We live just up the street, so if I need to run down here and check on something, they can come with me,” Erik says.

Erik professes a lifelong love of food. “I have been working in restaurants since I was 12, growing up in Newburyport. Washing dishes, busing tables.” While in college at UMass Amherst, he and a friend started a catering company. “I’m completely self taught. We served homemade, good quality food, cooking for university staff. That kind of a thing.”

Erik’s purchase of Pie in the Sky was a leap. “I risked everything to start this business,” he says. “Working on a boat prepared me in some ways for this business.

The small space, efficiency, people around all the time. This place is going 24/7. At midnight we begin baking the pastries. At six we begin baking our breads — wheat, off season 2023

31

FEATURE Pie in the Sky sourdough, rye. Then we roll into making the cookies, pies, bars, and quiches. It is a constant flow. There are always three or four people here. It is a puzzle of food, people, and time. It is almost like producing a theatrical production.”

In the summer, Erik has 70 employees to support the flow of summer and Steamship traffic. He estimates that about 80 percent of his customers are from ferry traffic and says, “It takes us a week in January to make what we make in a day in July. When you look at the books, it is like a beautiful sine wave.”

As he shows Edible around the “new, improved” 2017 Pie in the Sky renovation, Erik points out the radiant heated sidewalk so he and his staff don’t have to shovel the entire patio by hand — and there is no danger of ice for older customers. He shows us the spectacular view from the cafe’s roof, which has a live camera feed for those who want to tune in and see what is happening in the harbor. And he walks us into the basement where one realizes that the entire upstairs/outside patio area is sitting over a giant refrigerator and freezer that, at -9 degrees, is “painfully cold.”

“We used to have about 11 refrigerators down here. One was always breaking or leaking. Having this new refrigeration setup has

Many delicious and creative options.

Head baker Tiara Ruggeri.

Kendall Stouffer turning her dough for croissants.

32 edible VINEYARD

Pie in the Sky FEATURE

Pie in the Sky’s former owner and current general manager Erik Gura.

Fresh coffee being roasted.

Fresh croissants out of the oven.

“ We make our own bread, roast our own meat. I want every person to be able to walk in the door and find something that appeals to them.” –ERIK GURA

been a game changer,” Erik says. And, even though Pie in the Sky is relatively newly renovated, the maintenance is “as intensive as a boat. Constant cleaning, repairs, upkeep.”

“We have about 400 items to source from three dozen vendors,” Erik says. “I source local ingredients as much as I can. We make our own bread, roast our own meat. I want every person to be able to walk in the door and find something that appeals to them.

Beyond the boat traffic, this is a crossroads.

You have the MBL, WHOI, SEA education program, U.S. Fisheries, NOAA, the bike path. Best people-watching on the planet.”

Customers can catch a glimpse of the kitchen beyond the full cases of pastries and menu boards. They’ll find baker Kend-

all Stouffer working on a bench, laminating dough for croissants. “We use about 15 percent whole wheat flour in our croissants,” Erik says. And head baker Tiara Ruggeri is ferrying freshly baked chocolate croissants to the pastry case out front. Meanwhile, three people behind the counter take orders, make espresso drinks, and chat with the kitchen about new and upcoming orders. No one is shouting. No one seems stressed, but everyone is moving at a steady clip.

In the cafe, Pie in the Sky’s coffee roaster, Gray Eldridge, is pouring green coffee beans into the roasting machine and sets a timer. Within seconds, the seating area becomes coffee-scented. Gray estimates that he roasts about 70,000 pounds of coffee a off season 2023

33

FEATURE Pie in the Sky year. He sets a timer on his phone and grabs a cup of coffee while he waits for the roaster to do its thing.

Outside folks sit, eat, chat, or wait for their food. Across the street is “the wall,” which, according to Erik, is where many of the locals hang and drink their Pie coffee.

Back in Erik’s office, which is not much larger than a closet, one can find Pie in the Sky merch stacked up against one wall, a couch that could house a small sleeping child with a black canvas Pie in the Sky banner above it, a computer, and a desk filled with lots of tchotchkes. Scientist fans of Pie in the Sky have gifted Erik things like a mug featuring the invented

species “Barchypopover Loebenis.”

In 2022, Erik sold the business to BT Brands Inc., a small publicly traded company.

“But I am here for the duration,” he says. “I still own the building, the land, and am the general manager of the store. From the outside looking in, it’s the same. But thanks to BT Brands, I now have the resources to invest in new equipment and offer better wages. It has increased Pie's staying power in the community. And now we can do things like be open from 6 am to 9 pm.” Erik leans back in his chair and sighs. “Of course there are easier ways to make money, but I love the people, the cooking, the science. I love the whole thing.”

Pie in the Sky’s coffee roaster, Gray Eldridge.

“ It is a constant flow. There are always three or four people here. It is a puzzle of food, people, and time. It is almost like producing a theatrical production.” –ERIK GURA

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34 edible VINEYARD

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FEATURE

Joyful Eatings brings chefs, volunteers, and the Island’s homeless shelter together in one program.

WORDS Connie Berry

Tunisian Chicken and Roasted Vegetables

by Chef Michael Brisson from l’étoile restaurant.

36 edible VINEYARD

Parker Bradlee

E

very year after the beach umbrellas are put away and we switch from watermelon margaritas to mistletoe mules, Island places of worship start warming up their kitchens, ready to feed the hungry (and cold) masses.

Years ago, most of the churches on the Island and the Hebrew Center began hosting Community Suppers, where volunteers prepared and served a home-cooked meal once a week during the winter months.

It meant that you could essentially eat out (and socialize) for free every day of the week. It was a bonus for those who were in need, and also for those who may live alone or who have a tough time in the off-season when the population dips from 100,000 to around 17,000.

Grace Church gives us hot soup and more on Fridays, the First Congregational Church takes care of Wednesdays, and in Edgartown the Federated Church has always handled Sundays. For a long time, they prepared a delicious lasagna spread on Sunday afternoons. Then COVID hit. The places of worship pivoted though, and they still managed to run the Community Suppers by plating up to-go containers, with folks pulling their cars up curbside to pick them up. It was a good thing too, as cars lined up week after week for food pantry staples since many folks weren’t working during the first several months of the pandemic.

Last year, the Federated Church started feeding the community and keeping that off-season loneliness at bay by organizing something they call “Joyful Eatings.” Each week during the off-season, the church invites an Island chef who is joined in the kitchen by seven or eight volunteers. They create a meal together and then more volunteers deliver the meals to the winter homeless shelter at Community Services. It couldn’t be more of a winwin — volunteers get a free cooking lesson from a chef and the Island’s homeless reap the benefits.

Before the current shelter was organized, places of worship were the original homeless shelters on the Island. Those that had the space and could manage it, took turns opening up their doors to the

Cooking for a cause FEATURE homeless. The program was called Houses of Grace and it brought with it a new sense of community and commitment to helping those who had no place to call home. For the Federated Church to evolve into Joyful Eatings wasn’t such a stretch.

Edible Vineyard recently sat down with some of the folks behind the program, including Lisa Belcastro who is now the winter shelter director. With the shelter open from Nov. 1 to April 20, the need for meals is greater than ever.

“Most of the Community Suppers, and traditionally Houses of Grace, ran from January to the end of March. Now that we’re outside of the seasons, I have to contract with restaurants for the meals and Harbor Homes pays for it,” Belcastro explained. Having the Federated Church supplying its contribution free of charge on Sundays is a definite bonus. The rest of the schedule is filled by Island restaurants that Belcastro has contracted with.

“I’m on a budget, so when I’m contracting with these chefs they’re preparing meals according to the shelter’s budget — and they’re being very, very generous,” Belcastro says.

“They donate above and beyond,” Gretchen Regan added. Regan is a chef herself, and one of the church’s many volunteers.

The pastor of the Federated Church, the Rev. Mark Winters, said that the generosity of the Island chefs speaks to some of the basic principles of faith communities. “That speaks to something from Federated Church pastor Rev. Mark Winters, center, works in the kitchen.

a Christian standpoint: love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” Winters says. “If we enjoy a good meal, we don’t send our neighbors a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

With Island restaurants supplying everything from vegan options to four-course meals that include things like butternut squash soup, salads filled with Island-grown veggies, salmon Wellington or chicken pot pie, you can understand how grateful Belcastro feels for the relationships built with the chefs. off season 2023

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FEATURE Cooking for a cause

“If we enjoy a good meal, we don’t send our neighbors a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” –Rev. Mark Winters Regan explained that seven or eight people sign up to volunteer with the chef at the Federated Church and then they spend Sunday afternoon preparing the food.

“The kitchen can only hold so many,” Regan said of the church’s facilities. “Chefs think it through, introduce themselves and figure out how to assign the work and share the learning experience.”

Regan said that the chefs make sure the dishes and recipes are user-friendly and that the meals are nutritious. And the volunteer cooks are happy to sign up, in fact the slots fill pretty quickly.

Jeanne Staples heads up the Joyful Eatings committee at the church, and said the program really resonates with people.

“It’s fun. You learn something, and you’re all coming together to do this nice thing that benefits vulnerable members of our community,” she says. Volunteers can sign up online through the Federated Church’s website and then show up at around 2:30 pm to get started.

“The chefs get here earlier and get things set up,” Staples explained. “Gretchen did a lot to outfit the kitchen as well as possible. And Cronig’s [Market] is incredibly supportive, donating a $100 gift card every week, so someone picks that up and uses it with an Island discount and gets all the ingredients they need.”

And then there’s Mary-Jean Miner, a member of the church and brownie baker extraordinaire. She’s been bringing brownies to the homeless shelter for years, and she’s also a volunteer there.

The connection between the Federated Church and the shelter goes back a long time and it’s nurtured more and more every year. They’ve even published a cookbook called “Joyful Eatings,” full of the recipes and photos taken during the cooking gatherings. (Be sure to check out Miner’s two brownie recipes in the book.)

The photos in the cookbook were taken by professional and amateur photographers, one of them a high school student.

Staples is also the editor of the “Joyful Eatings” cookbook based on the kitchen gatherings this past year. She said they plan to do a cookbook each year, with sales benefitting the Harbor Homes Homeless Prevention Programs. The book includes recipes from the chefs who participated, as well as some from “the home chefs.” The first edition came out last August, but the plan is to publish the next one in June, just before the summer crowds begin to gather. They’re trying to raise awareness about homelessness on the Island, especially when there are visitors who might not have any idea about how part of the year-round community struggles. Belcastro said visitors and summer residents are often surprised to learn that food insecurity exists on an Island known for attracting so much wealth.

Regan said that the homeless on the Island are “well-hidden in the community.” They are adults who are working and have kids in school, she said. “Joyful Eatings,” both the book and the program, raises awareness and decreases the stigma aroundthe most vulnerable in the community. “Most people want to help if they get the opportunity,” Belcastro said.

For the chefs who participate, Joyful Eatings is a great way to give back by putting your skills to work for the community, Regan said. “Summer on the Vineyard you’re cooking for people here on vacation who are spending a lot of money, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Regan said. “But this is cooking for another part of society … we’re all needy in some way, even if we have housing. This is a way to address that and it brings people together. You’re actually doing something, not just checking off a box.”

Regan said that one of the reasons people become chefs is because they love to feed other people and to see the joy that comes from that.

“Food is one way we show love,” Winters said.

Purchase “Joyful Eatings” at Cronig’s Market or at the Federated Church office. Call 508-627-4421 for more information.

Barbara Reynolds

Happy volunteers in action.

Cooking for a cause FEATURE

Cathy Lewis’ Light Delight Super Bowl Chili Serves 15 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into ¼-inch chunks 3 lbs. ground turkey

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a skillet on high heat. Add squash, sauté.

Remove squash and set aside. Return the skillet to heat, add remaining oil and ground turkey. Brown and add to squash.

Put ground turkey and squash into a large pot. Add the next 10 ingredients. Stir. Place the pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and lower heat. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add water if necessary to get the consistency you want. Add corn, stir, remove from heat.

½ cup smoky barbecue sauce 3 Tbsp. chili powder 1 Tbsp. ground cumin 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 onion, minced 2 red peppers, chopped 2 cups dark beer (or N/A beer) 1 cup tomato sauce Hot sauce to taste 2 cups canned pinto beans, drained 2 cups frozen corn, thawed

Parker Bradlee

Parker Bradlee

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DRINKS

Off-season in six wines Pair them with a local restaurant’s offerings for a stellar winter on-Island.

WORDS Sam Decker

C

ome Labor Day, there’s one question that every yearrounder must be prepared to field: “What are you going to do all winter?”

Notice the emphasis on “do,” as if, like the college students, the more imaginative verbs had fled the Island after the third week of August.

The psychology behind this question is complex, but here are at least a few possible motivations. Morbid curiosity (as in, “How much will your offseason plans resemble the plot of ‘The

Shining’?”). Escapist fantasy (“Let me guess, surf lessons in Balí, followed by a three-week stage at La Verre Volé in Paris?”). And finally, simple boredom (remedied only by a mental image of me frantically scouring the Island for a proper cappuccino in late February).

Honestly, it’s a fair question. (If I were a summer resident, I’d want to know.)

The issue, rather, has always been with my response. You see, I never had any plans — at least not ones that I felt would interest those curious enough to ask.

That is, until now. Since returning home

Florez White Rhino Grenache Blanc 2019 Pouring Serve it at fridge temperature, but don’t be afraid to leave it on the table once it’s opened to bring out those bright herby aromas.

Pairing Grilled swordfish from Net Result (79 Beach Road, Vineyard Haven)

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from Montreal, where I spent the last half a decade, I’ve begun to see the Vineyard winter not as a necessary evil, but rather as an opportunity. And what opportunity isn’t best seized with a glass of wine in hand?

Which is why, this year, my winter plans will center around a few of my favorite bottles — as affordable as they are delicious — paired with all the local flavors and experiences I’ve so dearly missed during my time away.

Sam Decker lives in Chilmark, and is the general manager of Atria in Edgartown.

Keep Wines Pinot Meunier Pouring Pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes to bring it just below room temperature before serving.

Pairing The Larder’s Jambon Fromage sandwich. This fresh, juicy style of red wine is made for lunching in style — especially when delicious cured meats and brie-style cheeses are involved. (342 State Road, Vineyard Haven)

Bragging Point

Bragging Point Pinot Meunier

UC-Davis alum James Jelks is just as talented as he is groovy. Respected by both natural and conventional wine circles, he is one of the brightest stars in Santa Cruz. This masterstroke of a Grenache Blanc (a Southern Rhône variety) has more body and texture than your typical white, but with a zingy salinity (zalinity?) that leaves you wanting more.

deserves more recognition. And this wine, sourced from one of Napa’s first certified organic vineyards, provides ample proof. Fun fact: Pinot Meunier might sound a bit esoteric, but it’s actually one of two red grapes used in Champagne production (the other is its celebrity sibling Pinot Noir). Co-owners Johanna Jenson and Jack Roberts also happen to be one of California’s coolest wine-making couples, dividing their time between Napa and Jack’s native Gascony in southern France.

DRINKS

Les Lunes Cabernet Sauvignon

Hammerling Wind, Sand and Stars

Pouring Bright and lively, this Cabernet is perfect as a winter aperitivo, and best when chilled — so fridge it for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

Pouring The colder the better.

For this sparkling wine, move the bottle from the fridge to the freezer 15 to 20 minutes before you serve.

Pairing Grey Barn cheese plate! Lean into their fresher, creamier styles like the magnificent Eidolon. (22 South Road, Chilmark)

with braised greens and cheddar on homemade sourdough.

(At the Portuguese American Club, 137 Vineyard Ave., Oak Bluffs)

Bragging Point Unlike

Bragging Point

most American winemakers, Shaunt Oungoulian and Diego Roig farm their own fruit (currently about 10 acres across Napa and Sonoma). This translates to high sustainability standards and a price-to-quality ratio that is simply out of reach for most small producers.

Hammerling Wines is a small operation with big dreams. Its founder/winemaker Josh Hammerling is out to prove that California’s coastal ridge is the next great sparkling wine frontier. This bottle, in my humble opinion, might just prove him right.

Maître de Chai Red Table Wine Pouring We think all reds deserve a slight chill regardless of the season, so pop this one in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving.

Pairing Rosewater Market’s buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with pickles, greens, and aioli on toasted ciabatta. (20 South Summer St., Edgartown)

Bragging Point Maître de Chai’s winemakers, Alex and Marty, both worked as chefs at the French Laundry — which taught them that a dish (or a bottle of wine, for that matter) is only as good as its ingredients.

Accordingly, these two spend less time in the cellar and more time rediscovering old, forgotten vineyards in the wilds of Northern California.

Pairing Mo’s Cauliflower Melt

Ryme Aglianico Rosé Pouring I like my rosé cold (yes, even in winter), so I suggest keeping this one on ice — or, better yet, on the back porch.

Pairing Atria’s Beet with a “T” Carpaccio with Brussels sprouts, goat cheese, and kale.

(137 Main St., Edgartown)

Bragging Point Sonoma-based winemakers Ryan and Megan Glaab are Italian grape specialists, but Aglianico is their calling card. This red grape, native to Basilicata and Campania, is typically associated with full-bodied reds, which makes this rosé a thrilling exception.

And thanks to its oomph and complexity, it’s a rosé for the body and the mind.

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M

ON THE FARM

y body craves bread from a deep desire ingrained in me long ago. As with most people, I have childhood food memories that have stuck around throughout my life and bring me comfort in ways that are hard to explain or rationalize. It’s like our body’s way of guiding us to a safe place of comfort when little else feels like it’s within our control. When I was a child, nearly every Saturday morning in the summer, my mom and I would drive our little fishing boat the mile across the St. Lawrence River where we would dock, check in with Canadian customs and then hike up a little hill through the town farmers market to our favorite bakery, Tate’s — all in the name of a loaf of bread. The entire trip I’d be anxiously waiting, visioning my chance to pick out the most beautiful of all the baguettes, cradled in long brown parchment paper on a tall wooden rack, smelling like the sweetest of all scents. After securing the perfect loaf, paying and loading up on a few other pastries, we would begin to make our way back to the boat, intentionally at a much slower pace. As we would mosey down the sidewalk moving past people going here and there, Mom and I would take turns ripping hunks of the baguette, letting it slowly melt in our mouths — Mom each time declaring, “Just like the way they do it in France.”

RE VIVIN G THE TR ADITION AROU N D A B E LOV E D S TA PL E .

WORDS

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Kate Woods

IMAGES Astrid Tilton

Growing Grains ON THE FARM At any point in my life, I’ve never felt more satisfied, physically or emotionally, than after eating a piece of bread. Whether it was nature or nurture, my body continues to need bread like it needs water, and my body seeks it out and finds comfort wherever I’m able to find it. And though I’m seeking out slightly different kinds of bread than I used to and my perception of what a “good” loaf consists of has changed, the nostalgia and the emotion of ripping into a warm baguette with the most perfectly crisp crust and soft pillowy interior remains.

So how has my idea of what “good” bread is, evolved? Well, being a farmer, I can’t seem to help but wonder… necessitate the need to know where, and how, and by whom the food that I consume came to be. And for me, bread has one of the most interesting paths to its final form. It always involves a thoughtful farmer, a meticulous miller, and a baker intimately in tune with their grain.

Rarely in our current food system do these three realms interact, but for the best bread… they must.

Let’s start with the farmer “Eating is an agricultural act,” says writer and farmer Wendell Berry, and that doesn’t end at fruits and vegetables. Grain is a staple in our diets as humans, and it too exists for readied consumption as a direct result of agriculture. So just as important as it is with vegetables to know your farmer, grain too deserves this encourage-

ment. Because when you know how your grain is grown, you know how the soil is being treated, how the farmers are treated and what it ultimately takes to put that loaf of bread on your table (spoiler… it takes a whole lot), your appreciation grows. It also often results in grain that has much higher nutritional value and also, always my favorite part — better flavor.

For most people though, knowing your farmer is more difficult in terms of grain than it is for other agricultural products. Grain farms tend to operate on extreme scales and are, even more so than most other crops, consolidated into isolated regions where grain grows best, where it can be grown cheaply, and where it can be shipped easily to the rest of the country or world. Grain, like vegetables, however, has a history of success in a wide range of regions often based on the selection of particularly well-suited varieties to their climates.

Variety selection based on genetics is key, as with most crops, and remains the greatest tool a farmer can use to help drive what little control is naturally available in their success. Growing, however, is only one part of the equation — infrastructure is a whole other, and it is the infrastructure that is often the factor that pushes so many farms to need to get big or get out. Growing grain takes a great deal of specialized equipment and unless you’re growing very large amounts of it, it just doesn’t make sense economically. The land, a tractor with a drill seeder to seed the grain, a combine to harvest it, large bins and fans to dry it, a sorter to clean it and separate it from weed seeds and other contaminants, and finally a means to store it all away from critters and pests that could easily destroy it.

Turkey red wheat plants maturing in the field.

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ON THE FARM Growing Grains

Grain is separated from its chaff during harvest.

a reminder of how common it was to have mills scattered throughout a community of growers. Today, there are incredible craftsmen revitalizing the work associated with building mills that are then slowly becoming more common in bakery spaces of small communities, allowing for a way to revitalize the intimate connection between bakers and their grain. New American Stone Mills in Elmore, Vermont, is one of those places, where Andrew Heyn builds beautiful stone mills by hand. We are lucky enough to be receiving one of his mills at Beetlebung Farm later this winter where we can hopefully help begin to support more farmers in their pursuit to grow grain and potentially foster a new local grain community.

The baker Bakeries and their bakers serve as the voices of the many hands before them — the seed breeder, the farmer, and the miller. They serve as really the only place where people are exposed to better understanding the origins of their bread and what it means for the end product’s taste and nutritional content. A baker who understands and accepts the nuances and inconsistencies that come with supporting varied sources of grain, and one that is willing to lean into these differences, is one who is directly supporting a sustainable and healthy grain economy. Just like the farmer in their field, a baker in tune this deeply with their craft is one that prioritizes observation, has patience, and a level of humbleness that allows them to accept that being in absolute control is not the priority. It is the baker’s job to be the conduit between good farming and good food.

The miller And then there’s the mill — another piece of infrastructure that has seen the incentives of scaling up wipe out accessibility of mills to the people. Milling is the seemingly simple process of breaking down a kernel of grain into a more digestible and multi-use form — flour.

It’s one that makes nutrients more readily available for absorption into the body, and one that when added with water and salt, gets you something much greater than the sum of its parts: Bread. Milling is a skill, but it’s also an artform, and can greatly impact the integrity of the flour and bread if not done with deep knowledge of the anatomy and unique characteristics of different grains and how best each of them are used. Milling done well leads to a more nutritious and significantly more delicious end product, which speaks to the level of importance it holds to the greater process of bread making.

Remember, grain is a living thing — it’s a seed after all, and though it may be less perishable than a carrot, it still will continue to lose life after harvested (and especially after milling) and should never be considered a shelf stable product. If it is, it has likely been sifted, bleached, and stripped of all nutritional content, all which is living, void of anything resembling actual food to be nourished by.

If you’ve ever driven around the Island and really kept your eyes open, you will have probably spotted the remnants of old mill stones — now retired to road markers or garden sculptures. Once staples of communities, stone mills, often run by water, offered a place for people growing their own grain, corn, nuts, and seeds to share in infrastructure. These mills allowed for greater accessibility to people growing their own staples at small scales. One such, the Old Mill in West Tisbury, still stands, though not in use as a working mill, but as

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Preparing the combine.

Growing Grains ON THE FARM

Dan reveling in his field of grain.

Grain seeds.

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ON THE FARM Growing Grains

Turkey red wheat plants maturing in the field.

At any point in my life, I’ve never felt more satisfied, physically or emotionally, than after eating a piece of bread.

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Growing Grains ON THE FARM

Dan working on the grain separator.

Dan Sternbach Despite all of the hurdles that exist in growing small-scale grain, one farmer persists. Dan Sternbach has been growing grain for over a decade on the Island, hoping to remind people the value of an industry long forgotten here. Dan is someone you can tell is motivated by a passion, and you’d have to be in order to do something that just doesn’t make much economic sense. As with most agricultural endeavors, a seemingly simple process of growing grain becomes immediately complicated by the nuances. He approaches growing from a humble position, constantly open to learning, wondering, and experimenting in new ways. But he also approaches it from a deeply intelligent way, one that only comes from seasons of observing his crop, making adjustments, collaborating with others, and research.

Constant fluctuations and unpredictability in weather, turkey, goose, and deer damage to a growing crop, constant weed pressure, unrelenting wet harvest seasons, broken equipment, pests pressures in storage — the list goes on of possible problems Dan must face in trying to achieve a successful growing season. But he is determined. All in the name of keeping grain growing alive on the Island.

Wading through his fields of chest-high rye with him, you can’t help but acknowledge how undoubtedly beautiful this crop really is, but what’s more is that this grain also has a deeper context and a story to tell; one of unique challenges of the Island, one of the history of genetics in the varieties he’s selected, and one of a very personal perseverance. He currently grows his wheat, rye, and oats on land at the Island Grown Initiative farm and sells it through the farmstead at Mermaid Farm and Dairy. It is an often thankless job, but Dan does it with so much heart and desire to share, one can’t help but be inspired by his dedication and will.

Though there have been moments in the Island’s history of ex-

citement over revitalizing the grain economy, the realities of what that has meant around the barriers to funding of infrastructure and equipment and finding people willing to invest have stalled things.

Even Dan still questions from year to year the viability of keeping his dream alive. Because grain is a commodity, a fact that has made it an interchangeable product to buy, sell, and trade — one void of cultural relevance, an origin story, or personal connection to the land or the grower, it is cheap. It is almost impossible for a farmer to make any money from growing grain on a small scale when it has to compete with commodity prices. But grain grown well is far from a sterile product lacking diverse qualities in taste and baking ability. Grain grown in soil that has been cared for is grain with terroir — grain that tastes of a place. Though it is beautiful and it is delicious, grain is not sexy. And the knowledge gap around the impact on nutrition and flavor in grain grown regeneratively and milled fresh is vast. Even more vast than vegetables. But what does it matter to have locally grown and milled grain in our community? Well, without it, a disconnect between people and their food is created, one that shields us from the realities associated with grain production and the intimate connection that we’re lucky to have with so much of our Island food.

More and more people are asking where their vegetables come from, how they’re grown and what variety they are. I don’t, however, hear that same conversation around grain, around loaves of bread, around croissants. As we build our small bakery and mill in the barn at Beetlebung Farm, as I continue to connect with Dan and other farmers throughout the region inquiring about buying their grain, I am so inspired that these farmers chose to do what they’re doing. They do it because they believe — they believe that grain is important enough to keep local, to grow at relatively small scales that can better protect the ecosystem which it is surrounded by. They believe in rotations where they can balance the health of the soil with organic forms of nutrients through cover cropping and grazing. They believe in flour that is living and has the power to truly feed us, not make us sick. I believe this too. I believe that people can be as passionate about knowing the variety of their locally grown bag of Danko rye flour as they are about their Mokum carrots. This Island is a truly inspiring place that celebrates agriculture and those that devote their lives to it. Let’s create the demand that supports a viable grain economy on the Island. Let’s put meaning back into that Saturday morning baguette that we have the privilege of ripping into, and smelling that sweet, distant smell of the soil that grew the wheat on the very land that we all call home here on the Island.

Grain is being cleaned through a series of screens.

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DONE! I saw a girl in the snow wearing one red glove.

May she be happy.

It is cold and gray. The old dog barks at the end of his chain at the morning ferry crossing the sound.

May you be at peace. Once again the ponds and fields are opening.

Prayer

By Justen Ahren

Last night, peepers chanted in the pond in the woods.

May you be free of suffering.

May you be loved. We had a friend who went for a walk and did not come home. May you be healed.

The roads are full of sand; the buds unfold.

There is no limit to what is given.

May you dwell in your heart. Again days will grow long.

Our eyes though small, see the enormous peace.

Our eyes though small see the enormous peace.

Again days will grow long. May you dwell in your heart.

There is no limit to what is given.

The buds unfold though the roads are full of sand.

May you be healed. We had a friend who went for a walk and did not come home. May you be loved.

May you be free from suffering. Last night, peepers chanted in the pond in the woods.

May you be at peace though it is cold and gray and the old dog barks at the end of his chain at the morning ferry, crossing the sound. May you be happy, girl in the snow, wearing one red glove.

Kate Feiffer

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Vineyard Haven 508-693-4457 • West Tisbur y 508-693-2234

Vineyard Haven 508-693-7097

JWD Edible Dec AD 12-11.pdf

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