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Thank God for farm stands.

Not only do they keep our houses and our favorite restaurants stocked with fresh produce, but they often get us to expand our palate, educate us on where our food comes from, and, in many cases, have become a destination on the North Fork.

Don’t believe people ever make trips out here just for the fruits, veggies, and baked goods at our farm stands? Maybe you should check out Briermere Farms on the day before Thanksgiving or Windy Acres on a strawberry-picking weekend in June.

Never was this idea of farm stands as a destination more obvious than this past spring as many businesses were forced to shut down, but with our farms deemed essential cars lined up outside of them as locals and visitors to the North Fork flocked to pick up fresh goods at a time when there wasn’t much else to do.

When we first began discussing our July issue back in late April, we didn’t know quite what this summer would look like. (Even as I’m writing this in mid-June, we still don’t.)

But we did know our farms would be there for us, just as they have been for hundreds of years.

Few places have the history of a Wickham Farm, which is featured in this issue. It’s a true testament to the staying power that makes the North Fork such a special place. We also paid tribute to our agricultural history with a piece we did on Zander Hargrave, whose parents founded the North Fork’s first vineyard, and Giovanni Borghese, who runs the winery there today. That’s the first piece in a series that will be published on northforker.com this summer about multi-generation wineries on the North Fork.

Speaking of multi-generation, we also wrote this month about the Breitenbach brothers, who returned to a farming industry previous generations of their family had been a part of. It turns out sometimes agriculture is just in your blood.

Other stories to look for in this issue include a piece on foraging, another on beekeeping and a guide to picking up unique items for having a picnic on your next trip here.

Ultimately, we hope this issue feels like a breath of fresh air at a time you could probably use one the most. So pull your mask down for a moment and breathe it in. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Grant Parpan

Content Director

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