Yesterday, my children, my parents and I spent the day at the 4th Annual Long Island Garlic Festival at The Garden of Eve Organic Farm. What a great way to spend the day and what a wonderful event.
There are myriad fall festivals around the east end at this time of year. Hallockville, Wildwood State Park, and just about every restaurant and farm stand along both the main and north roads have them this weekend. The long line of traffic crawling through Wading River today, at 12 noon, is a testament to how popular and well-attended these events are.
But the Garlic Festival was different.
As the name implies, the day was about Garlic. Harvesting garlic. Planting garlic. The medicinal properties of garlic (placing a clove between the toes to fight foot fungus was my personal favorite). And most wonderfully, cooking with garlic. There were delicious new pickles served “on a stick” beautifully seasoned with garlic. There was braised scallops with garlic served over salad. And mashed potatoes served with garlic herb butter..mmmm. There were roasted garlic spreads and garlic bread. Every food vendor, it seemed, was required to offer something served with garlic. Even garlic ice cream!
There are myriad fall festivals around the east end at this time of year. Hallockville, Wildwood State Park, and just about every restaurant and farm stand along both the main and north roads have them this weekend. The long line of traffic crawling through Wading River today, at 12 noon, is a testament to how popular and well-attended these events are.
But the Garlic Festival was different.
As the name implies, the day was about Garlic. Harvesting garlic. Planting garlic. The medicinal properties of garlic (placing a clove between the toes to fight foot fungus was my personal favorite). And most wonderfully, cooking with garlic. There were delicious new pickles served “on a stick” beautifully seasoned with garlic. There was braised scallops with garlic served over salad. And mashed potatoes served with garlic herb butter..mmmm. There were roasted garlic spreads and garlic bread. Every food vendor, it seemed, was required to offer something served with garlic. Even garlic ice cream!
But way more than a celebration of garlic, this festival was the real thing. As Terri Winchell, one of the great musicians who played at the festival, said, This gathering was like the old days of long island. Local people harvesting local vegetables and having a great time. It felt authentic – real people selling their own goods. Real, fresh and organic food. Sweet baby goats and a pen full of beautiful turkeys. Plus, it was a fall festival, so there were pumpkins to pick, Indian Corn to buy, gourds and squash everywhere.
The weather was beautiful: clear and sunny and breezy. The atmosphere was warm – Eve and Chris, the farm’s owners, made everyone feel as welcome as family members. In fact, I think the highlight of the day for me was getting to hold baby Shira for a while. (What a delightful spirit that little one has)! Although we’d set out to “hit” a few more festivals later, we were so content and peaceful we decided to spend our day at the Garden of Eve, eating, listening to music and feeling quite merry.
It was the perfect fall day.
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