Last weekend, my wife and I participated in Chickapalooza at the Garden of Eve Farm (Riverhead). She did cooking demonstrations throughout the day, showing people how to do amazing things with the greens that come in your CSA farm share. I stood close by offering out free samples of locally brewed beer from Rocky Point Artisan Brewers.
In addition to meeting a lot of really nice folks who are interested in organic produce, good food, and great beer, we had the opportunity to talk with other small producers. We got to talk to Ed and Suzette Montalvo who produce a drink called Coquito (drinkcoquito.com) which can be mixed with just about anything to make something delicious. And we chatted with Chef Giovanni (chefgiovanni.vpweb.com) who makes a line of hot sauces and spiced nuts.
Not only was it nice getting to know some fellow Long Islanders who enjoy good food and drink, it was interesting to hear them talk about why they started making the products that they do. I recognized their enthusiasm immediately. They wanted to share something they were good at doing with the world. It's a small world for these small producers and their operations are small because they are doing all the work themselves, the production, the sales, the distribution.
None of us are getting rich. In fact, these small business are doing well to cover their expenses. Why do I brew beer and do the work of getting it out to restaurants and pubs along the North Shore around Rocky Point? Not for the money (coz there isn't any, well not much anyway), it's all so that we can live in a place where something different is available, something of quality that says something about who we are on Long Island.
