Harvest With Heart: How One East Hampton Farm Nourishes the East End

One of the many pleasures of summer life on the East End is exploring the area’s rural side roads and byways that lead off the frequently jam-packed main thoroughfares. On these quieter routes, intrepid and hungry travelers will come across any number of roadside stands where they can get a taste of the local agricultural flavor — picking up fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers and an array of intriguing food items produced by small entrepreneurs in the area.

But on Long Lane in East Hampton, one boutique farm stand stands apart and operates under a truly unique model.

Share the Harvest Farm, a nonprofit, began in 2010 with a half-acre of prime farmland. Today, it farms 6 acres leased from the EECO Farm property in East Hampton. Founded on the belief that everyone deserves access to fresh, nutritious food, Share the Harvest feeds the hungry by growing and donating thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables and herbs to pantries and nonprofit organizations across the region.

“More than 80 percent of what we grow goes directly to local food pantries, senior centers, shelters and other community organizations,” said Meredith Arm, Share the Harvest’s executive director and farm stand manager. “What makes Share the Harvest unique is that we grow our produce specifically for donation — it’s never an afterthought or what’s left over and past its prime.

“Last year, we donated nearly 50,000 pounds of produce, and we’re on track to exceed that this year,” she added. “Weekly, we donate between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of produce, feeding over 1,000 families at the height of the season.”

The farm is cultivated organically by a small — but mighty — team led by farm director Matthew Quirk. Farm assistant manager Carmen Quintano also handles produce delivery to pantries and organizations. Flora Tsanimp and Lucia Tacuri work in the fields alongside many dedicated volunteers.

“We employ organic methods to encourage a diverse and thriving soil ecosystem that provides a healthy environment for our crops,” Arm said. “We focus on nutrient-rich vegetables and cold-tolerant staple crops that provide much-needed produce in early spring and late fall, when many families in our community are struggling to make ends meet. Past generous donations allowed us to build greenhouses that extend our growing season, allowing us to continue delivering produce year-round.”

Share the Harvest earns the bulk of its operating funds through sales at the Long Lane farm stand, which is open Thursdays through Sundays in summer. About 20 percent of the farm’s own produce stocks the shelves, but that amount alone isn’t enough to keep up with demand. Keeping the stand fully stocked through the summer — with produce and food products sourced from more than 70 area vendors — is a big job.

A summer week at Share the Harvest begins bright and early Thursday morning, when a member of the farm stand team hits the road in the Share the Harvest van, heading out to gather goods — including artisanal breads, cheese, jams, sauces and pies — that will be sold at the stand.

Stops include farms and vendors on the North Fork (they meet at Briermere Farms for product handoffs), Center Moriches and Hampton Bays (where vendors drop off items in the Macy’s parking lot). Thursday pickups include Briermere Farms, Montauk Smoked Fish, Urban Coyote Microgreens, NoFo Pot Pies, Goodale Farms, Flourbud Bakery and Aki’s Kitchen.

A second, shorter van run is done on Saturdays, if needed, to keep the shelves full. Many food vendors also stop by personally to drop off their products with the farm stand team, which includes Sophie Flax, Jade Zaluski, Robin Rea and Tatum Kenrich — who also run the bustling roadside business throughout the weekend.

In the early part of the week, when the stand is closed, food pantry deliveries and pickups kick into high gear.

The Heart of the Hamptons Food Pantry in Southampton picks up a truckload of fresh produce every Monday. On Tuesdays, Quintano delivers to the Sag Harbor Food Pantry, and on Wednesdays she drops off produce at Springs Food Pantry, Windmill Village, St. Michael’s Senior Housing, and The Retreat, which provides shelter and support to victims of domestic abuse.

Every other Thursday, Quintano delivers to the family pantry program at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. On Fridays, she delivers to the Hamptons Church Pantry in Wainscott.

“In addition to these regular stops, we also work with Long Island Cares in Hampton Bays, which picks up produce as needed,” Arm said. “And once our summer crops like tomatoes and peppers come in, we’ll be donating regularly to Hamptons Community Outreach and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Education Center.

“Demand continues to grow across all our partners, so we do our best to keep up and ensure no one goes without fresh, healthy food.”

That demand has only increased, becoming more acute in recent months due to federal food program funding cuts.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen a significant spike in requests for fresh produce,” Arm said. “Many pantries are now serving double or even triple the number of families each week due to sudden cuts in federal food aid and rising grocery costs. Shipments of food that these pantries depend on have simply stopped arriving without warning, leaving huge gaps to fill.

“For example, Long Island Cares’ pantry in Hampton Bays saw their numbers jump from serving around 3,000 families to over 7,000,” she said. “When they couldn’t get enough fresh produce to meet this surge in need, they turned to us for help — and even helped secure funding for us to build a much-needed storage shed, so we can safely store and distribute crops deeper into the winter months.”

In the end, it’s the community that keeps Arm and her team focused on their mission — not only to feed the hungry but also to promote and sell the goods made by small food producers across the region.

“It’s my personal side mission to support our local artisans and food makers — keeping our community food economy strong and growing together,” Arm said. “It’s truly a rotating, thoughtful mix that highlights the best of the East End.”

Share the Harvest Farm Stand is located at 55 Long Lane in East Hampton. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Local makers and small businesses whose products are sold at Share the Harvest Farm Stand include:

Amagansett Sea Salt Co., Aki’s Kitchen, Annie’s Ginger Elixir, Balsam Farms, BjornQorn, Bloom Country, Boa Vida Goods, Briermere Farms, Bushwick Kitchen, Burlap & Barrel, Butter Me Up, Dale & Bette Farm, Dos Ositos Paletas, Dreamy Coffee, East End Crispbreads, Fancy Peasant Olive Oils & Vinegars, Feathertop Farm, Feel Good Booch, Fine & Raw, Fishwife, Fletcher & Lu, Flourbud Bakery, Friday Foods Co., Goodale Farms Dairy, Hampton Grocer, Hamptons Handpoured, Hamptons Preserves, Harken Foods, Il Buco, Issa’s Pita Chips, Jamagansett, Julia Kearns, Kira’s Cookies, La Famille Bakery, Lamora Foods, Laurel Lane Honey, L’Isolina Pasta, Marilena’s Crackers, Mecox Bay Dairy, Milkpail Apples & Pies, Milla’s Puffs, Montauk Smoked Fish, Monte’s Sauce, My Bunny Baked Goods, New York Shuk, Nicola’s Raviolis, NoFo Pot Pies, North Fork Chocolate Company, North Fork Potato Chips, Norwegian Baked Crispbreads, Panadda Bakery, Peter Ambrose, Sagg Peanut Butter, Salsa Vega, Saratoga Water, Seed and Mill, Sfoglini Pasta, Shugg, Springs Fireplace, Springs Salt, Southampton Soap Co., Stony Brook Wholehearted Foods, Studio Hamptons, Sugar Sweet, Sue’s Balsamic Glazes, Sunset Pizzas, Superfood City, The Cookery, Tickwise, Twisted Challah, Two Sisters Nuts & Seeds, Urban Coyote Microgreens, Urban Pharm Shrub, Villa Italian Specialties and Wölffer Estate Non-Alcoholic Wines.