Selling ramps in Southold: North Fork Sunday Scene

Kevin Polak and his wife Donna of Cutchogue have been selling ramps grown by his brother Billy in Aquebogue. — Kevin Polak and his wife Donna have been selling ramps grown by his brother Billy in Aquebogue. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

I was driving on Main Road in Southold last week when two things grabbed my attention: A farm stand freshly painted the colors of a John Deere tractor and a sign out front that read “local ramps.”

I stopped in to Country View Farm Stand II to inquire and met the daughter of the farmers, Jessica Polak, 27, of Cutchogue. She told me her uncle, Billy Polak of Aquebogue, grew them for the first time this spring and they have been flying off the shelves, even at $4.50 a bunch. She said she puts them in everything from omelets to soup. Her mother, Donna Polak, likes to sauté them with local spinach.

Polak said he planted the ramps on a whim this March after seeing them in a seed catalog. He didn’t plant much, but may plant a bit more next year. The local ramps are gone for the season, but they could get some from an upstate farm to last a couple more weeks.

The farm stand had previously been run by Donna Polak’s mother, Barbara Pelis of Riverhead, for 12 years and was called “Barb’s Veggies.” Donna and Kevin Polak took it over this spring, renaming it Country View II after their Country View Farm Stand a few miles east on Main Road, which they’ve owned since 2011. The Polaks plant on 15 acres in Cutchogue and five acres behind the farm stand in Southold.

Farmer Kevin and his brother Billy are fourth generation farmers and all the family members work at both stands along with some help from friends. A chalkboard on the wall of the stand tells customers what’s local this time of year. It includes asparagus, spring onions, leeks, rhubarb, spinach, many kinds of herbs, honey, eggs, Crescent duck, Schmitt’s horseradish and Goodale’s cheeses.

The farm stand is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week.

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