Shop Local
One of the things I love most about my town is how little has changed in the time my family has been here. Despite living in suburban Long Island, the North Shore still feels like the country. You can go into the shops in town and chat with people you know. The roads are narrow and windy. We can drive down the road to stop by our amazing local farm, or up the road to pick up fresh eggs. We’re really lucky. I love the personal connection, the fact that if we choose we know exactly where our food comes from. And food tastes so much better, too, when it’s fresh as of that morning!
Food feels especially meaningful when it becomes the center of tradition–we always get pies from Youngs Farm, traditionally a tart cherry pie for Thanksgiving and a Tollhouse pie to leave out for Santa. Bunny cookies appear in our Easter baskets. Their jam is a centerpiece for weekday breakfasts. It’s special to have a place that’s played such important roles in our lives, and I love that I get to share this with my little one, the way my parents and grandparents did with me.
What are your special local places?
Saturday mornings we take our own country road drive, headed for the Flora Butcher to select from his family raised Waygu beef and local pork, Two Dog Farms sustainable grown produce and bread from a bakery just down the road a bit more. On the drive back,, we swing into the mercantile store at Livingston for small farm eggs – varying size and colors as they are when gathered by hand – and milk with cream on top from a farm in the nearby Delta. If not too late in the morning, there’re sausage biscuits wrapped in foil still availible.
That sounds truly idyllic! What a great Saturday morning tradition 🙂