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SFEE Reaches out to Winemaker In Need

Aug 4, 2020 | In The News

Robin Epperson McCarthy of Saltbird Cellars.

What many people miss about the wine business is that it’s year round. There’s a lot going on in between harvest and popping the cork.

“Grapes don’t stop growing because of COVID,” says Robin Epperson-McCarthy, who is the one-woman show behind Saltbird Cellars.

Epperson-McCarthy applied for an SFEE Resilience Grant (you can help fund the grants here) to help her buy screw caps and labels for her 2019 Sauvignon Blanc. “If hadn’t gotten it when I did, I would have put it on a credit card, which many wine growers end up doing.” She adds, “I’m concerned about other people will wind up in debt.”

Sauvignon blanc is Epperson-McCarthy’s specialty and is a grape that grows well on the East End. And winemakers like Epperson-McCarthy have been working to make the wine in the style unique to Long Island that reflects our soil, weather in climate. It’s working with Long Island wine landing in the middle between the two most famous sauvignon blancs: New Zealand and Sancerre.

Like other farmers Epperson-McCarthy had to modify her business model to adjust to the pandemic. She says regular customers are still able to buy the wine at the tasting room she shares with winemaker Alie Shaper, Peconic Cellar Door on Peconic Lane, which sells five different brands through their cooperative Chronicle Wines.

While the tasting room was closed, the wines were set up in the front window so customers can see what’s for sale and pick up curbside. The two have been shipping a lot of wine, she says, and online sales are brisk.

Epperson-McCarthy created tasting kits so customers can have the tasting room experience at home. The boxes include wine notes, tasting mats and five different wines in 50 ml bottles.

Things are getting back to “normal.” Peconic Cellar Door is now open Friday through Monday from 12pm to 5pm with outside seating and masks required.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the grant,” says Epperson-McCarthy. “Slow Food East End reached out in a time of need; we’re a community.”

WATCH: SFEE Featured on News12

Jul 24, 2020 | In The News

We at Slow Food East End are super excited our chair, Dr. Pennie Schwartz, was interviewed on News12 about the grants we’ve given to East End food producers to help them make it through the pandemic. Also featured Noah Schwartz, whose restaurant received our Snail of Approval (and is Pennie’s son) and oyster farmer Meg Strecker of Yennicott Oysters.

Here’s three blog posts about some recipients:

 

Oyster Farmers Hit Hard by COVID-19; Have to Pivot | Grant from Slow Food East End Helps

Jul 3, 2020 | In The News

All food producers and purveyors on the East End were hit hard by the shut down due to COVID-19, but few were hit so fast as the oyster industry. Most of those farming our waters sold their oysters to restaurants. When they closed, their entire market dried up.
 
“I know of one farmer who had to take oysters back from the wholesaler,” says Karen Rivara, an owner of Aeros Cultured Oyster Company in Southold, which sells seed oysters to many local farmers.
 
So when Slow Food East End offered resilience grants to help the food community, more than half of the applicants were oyster companies. You can donate to help us support all our farmers and food producers.
 
Steven Schnee of Founders Oyster Farm also in Southold said he got clobbered when the restaurants closed. “It’s been getting better in the past two weeks,” he says. “But I’ve found a sweet spot selling at the wineries.” It requires a lot of precautions and sterilizing. “I wear gloves and a mask, the table is six feet away from the customer; I’ve got wipes and spray. And the customer puts the money in a jar.”
 
He used the bulk of his grant for maintenance and to buy seed. “I had to fix the boat and the engine. It really helped to keep the wheels greased and the operation running.”
 
“One hundred percent of my business is direct to restaurants,” says Meg Strecker of Yennicott Oysters. “That turned out to be a lesson. You think you’re preparing for everything but you cannot prepare for everything.”
 
Strecker has taken to selling her oysters at KK’s The Farm’s farm stand in Southold. But the unsold oysters were getting big — restaurants like them four inches and under — and not many people know what to do with a bigger oyster. “They’re not comfortable shucking them, so we came up with the idea to teach customers how to cook them on the grill or in a pan,” she says. “And use ingredients from the farm. One of my favorites, because I have celiac, is the fried oyster po-boy tacos.”
 
Strecker used her grant money to buy biodegradable packaging, create shucking kits and to print postcards with recipes. She adds, “It turns out you have to spend a lot of money to help you make money.”

NO SHUCK…NO FUSS
HOW TO GRILL AN OYSTER

Clean oyster with cold water & place on tray
preheat grill or oven to med heat
place oysters cup side down on grill or in oven proof pan/skillet
when oyster opens pull off top shell and spoon in:

Ira’s Stinging Nettle Pesto from The Farm
compound butter
1”-strip local bacon, chopped shallot & white wine
grated cheese, white wine & chopped greens/herbs.

Close grill lid cook for 3-5 min

PROFILE Mimi Edelman, board member and farmer. SFEE is here to help

Jun 21, 2020 | In The News

Recently we’ve written about two of our initiatives — donations to local food pantries and funds to our Snail of Approval restaurants — all made possible through your generosity. So far, 14 grants have been awarded. Here is one story of how a grant will be used with others to come in the weeks ahead. You can help by donating to SFEE.
  
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi
  
Mimi Edelman has been a farmer for 11 years, at first in Hudson County and, for the last three years, in Orient. She exemplifies the quote above as she reimagines her business in this challenging time as so many others are doing.
 
IandMe Farm, on Terry family land, is a two-acre property growing organic and biodynamic crops with views spanning from the Sound to the Bay. Over the last three years, Mimi worked with like -minded chefs locally and in New York City to grow crops requested by chefs during menu planning sessions in the winter months. The business was growing and gaining a following… then the pandemic hit. Restaurants closed with no opening in sight at the time.
 
During this period of uncertainty, Mimi picked herself up, began speaking with friends and colleagues and slowly began to create a new vision for her farm. Along the way she established important partnerships with purveyors like Peeko Oysters and North Fork Flower Farm. She would now expand beyond chefs and begin serving local consumers by growing crops that as she puts it “spark creativity, delight the palate and introduce new foods with flavors and aromas that people may not be as familiar with.” Harvest boxes filled with these out-of-the-ordinary vegetables, herbs, microgreens and shoots will be grown and then either delivered or picked up by the consumer.
 
When Slow Food provided a grant of $500, Mimi knew exactly how she would use it: to build a communications channel to her customers by designing a website describing her products and the philosophy which guides her choices. “This grant really jump started my ability to reach my customer and I am most grateful to Slow Food East End and their members who genuinely care about local food providers, particularly in times of need.” Take a moment to see what the website offers by visiting iandmefarm.com.
 
Right now, there are many struggling small businesses like Mimi’s that may never be built back because of lack of money and support. Won’t you please donate to SFEE to ensure our East End home can once again thrive and return to normal. You can help by donating to SFEE.

WATCH: Slow Food East End Helps Restaurants Pay Staff

Jun 6, 2020 | In The News

Laura Luciano, right, presents a check for $1,000 to Jason Weiner of Almond restaurant. 

Local governments are looking to permit outdoor dining where they haven’t before. That’s a good thing for Jason Weiner, chef/owner at Almond in Bridgehampton, who has been riding out the pandemic by serving takeout from his market next door three nights a week.
He applied for the payroll protection program, but the procedures and restrictions made the program hard to navigate. He still had to find a way to keep paying staff, including a long serving line cook, who had gotten sick.
Slow Food East End was happy to help with a donation of $1,000. You can help by donating to SFEE.
“The grant was elemental,” says Weiner. “We used a good chunk of it for our cook, who lives in a multigenerational house and contracted COVID-19. And we used a piece for a program we’re continuing for school lunches.”
Almond is one of the eight restaurants ­— including the Bell & Anchor, Art of Eating, 18 Bay, Estia’s, Noah’s, Love Lane Kitchen, Nick & Toni’s — on the East End that SFEE has awarded a Snail of Approval.
“We want to support them,” says SFEE chair Pennie Schwartz, “because of all they do to support us.”
Earning a Snail of Approval is not an easy task. A restaurant, caterer or farm stand must be recommended by a SFEE member and then fill out an extensive form, before a vote by the board. According to our website, “Snail of Approval is awarded to businesses that incorporate the Slow Food ideals of Good, Clean & Fair food. When customers choose a restaurant awarded with the SoA, they know they are consuming quality food that is mostly local and sustainably raised or grown.”
“Slow Food is really part of a crew of fellow travelers of farmers and fishers and cooks on the East End,” says Weiner. “It gives us moral support and shares our values.” He adds, “We’re all spokes of the same wheel and Slow Food is one of the hubs.”

UPDATE: Food Pantry Donations

May 26, 2020 | In The News

With your help, SFEE is feeding the community during this crisis. We committed to donate $15,000 to food pantries on the East End. You can donate to all the pantries too!

We recently told you about our donation to CAST (Community Action Southold Town) in Greenport. Next stop was St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach and Bread and More Soup Kitchen at the First Congregational Church, both in Riverhead.

Demand has doubled at St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach. According to their website, in April food was supplied to 266 people, which fed about 1,000 individuals. The pantry is run by Sr. Margaret Smythe, who for decades has ministered to the community, particularly immigrants, on the East End. At a point when most people are thinking of retirement, Sr. Margaret — who is known for her energy and the connection she has with the people she serves — has no such intention! Photo above of Sr. Margaret in the St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach food pantry by Denise Civiletti.

Bread and More Soup Kitchen at the First Congregational Church of Riverhead can no longer serve sit-down meals inside the church and has been distributing them at the kitchen door. According to the RiverheadLocal Judy Barth, a volunteer with the soup kitchen, said “After the indoor meals were discontinued, at first only about 10 people were picking up to-go meals. As the availability of the service became known through word of mouth, the number of people served jumped up to 50.”

SFEE has been able to help these pantries, as well as others, only through the generous donations of our members which continue to come in each day. Each organization has sent a loud and clear Thank You for the assistance which they greatly need and appreciate at this unprecedented time. Stay tuned for an update on our South Fork pantry donations soon.

You can help us match our $15,000 donation to benefit all food pantries on the East End.