For our new series on healthy meal ideas, we’re going straight to the source: the people behind the North Fork’s pristine produce, seafood and poultry. Learn what a day of eating looks like at their homes.
Peter Treiber Jr. | Treiber Farms
Peter Treiber Jr., who works on Treiber farms with his father, is all about zero waste. His mantra: Eat local, eat leftovers. Often, he will repurpose last night’s dinner into today’s lunch by adding some extra protein to change it up. Treiber’s days start off like many, with a cup of French pressed coffee, and end with lots of fresh produce in season.
Tuesday
I love my mornings. I wish they’d last all day. The quiet, the light, the routine, all the potential that lies ahead. I boil water in my white Le Creuset kettle, one of the first things I bought as an adult human with my own kitchen to build. While the water does its thing, I stretch, sweep or read and answer emails, sometimes a few minutes of each. This particular Tuesday, I sweep, then I make the coffee with the best beans I can get my hands on, which usually leads me to North Fork Roasting Company. I have a little French press that makes one large cup. I slowly stir in a spoonful of coconut oil. Now, I am ready for the day and I head out the door. Work for me is steps from that door. I really appreciate the brevity of my commute.
That holds me over from 8 a.m. to about 10:30 a.m. or so, when I run back to my house to get a snack. I have a steady supply of homemade protein snacks that my girlfriend, Sophie, makes me — granola, honey, some sort of nut butter, all the good stuff.
This day is supposed to be one of the nicest of the week, and it certainly is not disappointing. It’s sunny and warm. Sophie and I decide to meet for a late season swim and some lunch. As soon as the last task was done a little after 12, I’m on my way to Nassau Point. We brave the icy crystal clear bay water and hurry back home to heat up gumbo that my friend Emily had made and dropped off at the farm. We are salty from the sea, and the gumbo is fishy and perfect. Emily is from Louisiana, so it was super legit. We make some toast to bolster our midday meal. Then it is back to work for me. We work these days until the sun sets.
I unwind after work with some reading and a nap before I feed my pup Peaches and head to a friend’s barn to do my nightly workout at 7 p.m. We do a 30 to 40 minute workout that gets the heart pumping with a healthy amount of sweat. It involves a bunch of burpees with pushups and planks for dessert. It really helps keep my mind right. I wipe my brow, drink some water and head home to eat leftover soup. This one is a spicy pumpkin soup made entirely with ingredients from the farm — our Long Island cheese pumpkins, shallots, garlic and black garlic chicken stock. It is orange and spicy and perfect.
After dinner, there is some art-making. I’ve been focused on screen printing on these old, vintage postcards that were gifted to me. I’ve sent nearly 25 of these postcards out to friends from Los Angeles to France. The rest will be shown at VSOP Projects in Greenport in December.
11:30 rolls around and I am fully prepared for bed. Goodnight!
Wednesday
My morning follows the same routine as Tuesday, except I think I’m wearing different work pants and for sure, a different hat.
Snack time is at 11:30 a.m. today.
Lunch is almost always with the farm team. This week was different, and today it was late, nearly 1:30 p.m. and alone. I spent my normal lunch hour dealing with an extremely temperamental farm truck. Once I got back to the farm, after being broken down by the coffee shop, I reheated some cashew cauliflower soup that Sophie had fixed up a few days before — all local ingredients of course. I added in my own smoked bluefish. I caught it in the sound and smoked it in my backyard. A lot of folks have this crazy aversion to bluefish in general, but I’ll tell you what, smoked bluefish is exquisite. Nobody on our boat really wanted the bluefish, so I took home and smoked about 30 pounds of filets. I ate this warming dish out of the pot, held between my knees, on the back steps of my house. It was warming inside and out. I took care of the soup, and Peaches took care of the dishes (I call it puppy pre-wash), and we are back to work. The daylight is fading, and there is much to do.
Dinner is at Sophie’s house tonight, but only after my workout is done. The menu tonight includes baked local spaghetti squash fritters served with a yogurt sauce, my dad’s homemade applesauce (made with Treiber Farms apples), a salad of avocado, roasted red peppers, spinach and arugula and a dish of 8 Hands Farm sausage, roasted spaghetti squash and Treiber Farms roasted pepper pesto. We wash this all down with really incredible sparkling wine that our friend Dean Babiar had made. He makes wine for Jamesport Vineyard. We eat and drink so darn well. Sleep comes easy, again.
