Slow Down on the North Fork with us at 8 Hands Farm!

Date: Thursday, June 5

Time: 5:30 – 7:30pm

Place: 8 Hands Farm – 4735 Cox Ln, Cutchogue, NY 11935

We are so honored that our first fundraiser this year will be hosted by 8 Hands Farm, a 28-acre family farm on the North Fork that has earned our Snail of Approval for their growing practices. Their work and journey have earned our admiration.  

Join us on Thursday, June 5 at the farm, 4735 Cox Lane, Cutchogue, NY from 5:30-7:30pm for a private behind-the-scenes tour, which includes a chance to meet their newest lambs too!  You’ll learn more about 8 Hands philosophy that informs all they do — and enjoy a farm-to-grill multi-course tasting menu of their provisions, chefs Max and John of Fyr & Salt. We’ll be serving Bedell Cellars wines and Doublespeak Craft cocktails.  Tickets are $150, and we have a limited number of early bird discounts for dues paying Slow Food East End members. 

Meet with us to learn more about why we love 8 Hands. Their origin story is moving:

“After viewing the documentary Food Inc., we learned much about the industrialized food system we didn’t know and didn’t like.  With the large-scale animal confinement operations that dominate the food industry today, our society has gotten so far from what is natural and normal.   Herbivores should graze pasture, chickens should scratch to uncover bugs and eat grass, and pigs should root and turn up the soil in search of food.  It is these natural behaviors that play a critical role in soil, animal health, our environment, and ultimately in the food we eat.  

We realized that real change in the food system would have to occur at the grassroots level. So with no experience in farming, but driven by a desire to make a difference within our own community we decided to start a farm. After much reading and research, and visits to other sustainably run farms, we decided to put our knowledge to practice and start farming. We rented some farmland and bought some sheep, and began our journey. Since that time,e we have been challenged with the realities of farming that no book can prepare you for. Still, with perseverance, our farm has grown to the diversified operation we had first envisioned, built with the support of the wonderful community that has encouraged us every step of the way. “ 

Slow Down on the South Fork for Summer Solstice at Share the Harvest Farm!

Date: Friday, June 20

Time: 5:30 – 7:30pm

Place: Share the Harvest Farm – 55 Long Lane, East Hampton

Join us at sweet and mighty Share the Harvest Farm at 55 Long Lane, East Hampton on June 20 (rain date June 21) 5:30pm- 7:30pm, to meet our friends whose mission is to fight hunger with fresh, local produce. Come for a farm tour, get to know the farm team to learn more about their mission and growing practices and stay for fun, a beautiful sun set and great eats – enjoy the farm’s fresh produce with tastings by Boards by Jess and Aki’s Kitchen, freshly shucked oysters from Oysterponds Shellfish Company, wines by Channing Daughters and live music with Amber Roe. Your ticket purchase will support Share the Harvest’s efforts at a time when federal funding cuts are impacting social services and farms that support them.

Share the Harvest Farm earned a Snail of Approval for their amazing work. This non-profit farming organization grows and donates thousands of pounds of fresh, highly nutritious vegetables and herbs, serving numerous local organizations that feed hundreds of children, seniors, disabled people, and low-income working families in our community.

Share the Harvest started on a half acre in 2010, and now farms six acres at EECO Farm in East Hampton. Founded on the belief that everyone should have access to fresh, nutritious food, their mission is to grow highly nutritious and organic produce for donation to local food pantries and other charitable organizations, to increase food access for all in need, and to raise awareness about food insecurity on the East End. Fundamentally, the farm’s viewpoint is to give not what is left over or inferior in quality, but that which all would want to put on their own tables.

Organizations Share the Harvest’s services include:

– South Fork food pantries
– Affordable housing complexes
– The Retreat, women’s domestic violence shelter
– East Hampton Town Senior Citizens Nutrition Center
– Heart of the Hamptons
– Children’s Museum of the East End (CMEE)

Share the Harvest employs organic methods to encourage a diverse and thriving soil ecosystem that provides a healthy environment for the crops. A focus on nutrient-rich vegetables and cold-tolerant staple crops provides much-needed produce in early spring and late fall, when many families in our community are struggling to make ends meet. Past generous donations allowed STH to build greenhouses that extend their growing season to allow the farm to continue delivering produce all year-round.