Hamptons Verified

Farm Stands & the Harvest

60 stands, fields and markets — what they grow, and when it’s ready.

From the fields01 / 60

Suffolk County grows over 100 different crops. These are the places that sell them to you directly.

All stands
Opens · April
Asparagus, spinach
Peak · July–Sept
Sweet corn, tomatoes
Last standing · December
Collards, parsnips

12 pick-your-own · 7 farmers markets · several cash-only, so bring cash · best early Saturday · Oysters & shellfish is its own section

Filters3 stands & markets

3 stands

Mattituck · 3 stands

  • 🥕 Farm stand

    Harbes Family Farm

    The North Fork's agritourism heavyweight — original farmstand, an eight-acre Barnyard Adventure with pig races and animal encounters, and a vineyard tasting barn, all on one Mattituck site.
    • 🌽 Sweet corn
    • 🥬 Vegetables
    • 🎃 Pumpkins
    Mattituck · North Fork day trip
    Farmstand & Barnyard Mon–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri 10am–7pm, Sat–Sun 9am–7pm; Wine Barn Mon–Thu 11am–6pm, Fri–Sun 11am–7pm
    Full details
    @harbesfarm37K
  • 🧺 Pick your own · 🧺 Pick your own

    Patty's Berries and Bunches

    Berries and bunches, exactly as advertised — a Sound Avenue farm where you can pick fruit and cut your own flowers in the same visit.
    • 🫐 Berries
    • 🌷 Cut flowers
    • 🥬 Vegetables
    Mattituck · North Fork day trip
    9:00am–6:00pm
    Full details
    @pattysberriesandbunches7,556
  • 🧺 Pick your own · 🧺 Pick your own

    Cooper's Farm Stand

    Open eight to seven, seven days, on Breakwater Road near the Sound — the North Fork stand with the friendliest hours on the whole list.
    • 🥬 Vegetables
    • 🎃 Pumpkins
    • 🌷 Flowers
    Mattituck · North Fork day trip
    7 days, 8:00am–7:00pm
    Full details

🗓️ The harvest calendar

What’s on the tables in September

39 crops, per Cornell Cooperative Extension's farmstand chart.

🌱 New this month

🥬 Brussels sprouts🌱 Cauliflower🎃 Pumpkins & gourds🌱 Turnips🍇 Grapes🍐 Pears

⏳ Last call

🫐 Blackberries🫐 Blueberries🍈 Cantaloupe🍏 Plums

🥬 Vegetables (29)

🌱 Beets🥦 Broccoli🥬 Brussels sprouts🥬 Cabbage🥕 Carrots🌱 Cauliflower🌿 Celery🥬 Collard greens🌽 Sweet corn🥒 Cucumbers🫘 String beans🍆 Eggplant🌿 Herbs🥬 Kale🥬 Lettuce🧅 Leeks🥗 Mesclun🧅 Onions🫑 Peppers🥔 Potatoes🎃 Pumpkins & gourds🌱 Radishes🧅 Scallions🥬 Spinach🥒 Summer squash🎃 Winter squash🥬 Swiss chard🍅 Tomatoes🌱 Turnips

🍑 Fruit (10)

🍎 Apples🫐 Blackberries🫐 Blueberries🍈 Cantaloupe🍇 Grapes🍑 Peaches🍐 Pears🍏 Plums🫐 Raspberries🍉 Watermelon

🧺 Ready to pick yourself in September

The whole year, crop by crop
CropAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
🌱 Asparagus
🌱 Beets
🥦 Broccoli
🥬 Brussels sprouts
🥬 Cabbage
🥕 Carrots
🌱 Cauliflower
🌿 Celery
🥬 Collard greens
🌽 Sweet corn
🥒 Cucumbers
🫘 String beans
🍆 Eggplant
🌿 Herbs
🥬 Kale
🥬 Lettuce
🧅 Leeks
🥗 Mesclun
🧅 Onions
🌱 Parsnips
🫛 Peas
🫑 Peppers
🥔 Potatoes
🎃 Pumpkins & gourds
🌱 Radishes
🌿 Rhubarb
🧅 Scallions
🥬 Spinach
🥒 Summer squash
🎃 Winter squash
🥬 Swiss chard
🍅 Tomatoes
🌱 Turnips
🍎 Apples
🫐 Blackberries
🫐 Blueberries
🍈 Cantaloupe
🍒 Cherries
🫐 Currants
🍇 Grapes
🍑 Peaches
🍐 Pears
🍏 Plums
🍓 Strawberries
🫐 Raspberries
🍉 Watermelon

Dates of availability are approximate and may change with the weather. Farmstand seasonality from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County — “What's in Season at the Farmstands?”; picking windows from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County — Farms with Pick Your Own.

👩‍🍳 Cook it

What to make in September

Every recipe here uses something the stands have on the table right now.

Summer · 20 minutes🌽 Sagaponack Sweet Corn, Three WaysPike Farms is best known for corn, and Ina Garten has said so in print. From late July the right answer is to buy a dozen ears and not overthink it.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4–6

  • · 8–12 ears of sweet corn, as fresh as you can get
  • · Butter, flaky salt
  • · For the grill: olive oil, lime, chilli, crumbled cheese
  • · For the raw salad: basil, red onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.BOILED — bring unsalted water to a rolling boil (salt toughens the kernels). Drop the shucked ears in, cover, kill the heat, and leave 5 minutes. Butter, flaky salt, done.
  2. 2.GRILLED — pull the husks back without detaching, strip the silk, fold the husks up again. Grill 12 minutes over medium, turning. Peel back, brush with oil, hit with lime, chilli and crumbled cheese.
  3. 3.RAW — stand an ear in a bowl and run a knife down it. Toss the kernels with torn basil, finely sliced red onion, olive oil and a splash of vinegar. Let it sit 10 minutes.

💡 Tip. Corn starts converting sugar to starch the moment it's picked. Buy it at a stand that picked it that morning, and cook it that day — the difference is not subtle.

Summer · 30 minutes, mostly waiting🍅 Tomato and Bread Salad with Mecox Bay DairyAugust, when the tomatoes are heavy and slightly cracked and cost less than they will all year. The bread is there to catch what the tomatoes give up.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 2 lb ripe tomatoes, mixed sizes, cut into rough chunks
  • · Half a loaf of day-old sourdough, torn into pieces
  • · 1 cucumber, peeled in stripes and sliced thick
  • · Half a red onion, sliced paper-thin
  • · 1/3 cup good olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • · A large bunch of basil
  • · Mecox Bay Dairy cheese, shaved or crumbled

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Salt the tomatoes generously in a colander set over a bowl. Leave 20 minutes and keep the juice that runs out — that liquid is the dressing.
  2. 2.Toast or griddle the torn bread until dry and lightly charred at the edges.
  3. 3.Whisk the reserved tomato juice with the olive oil and vinegar.
  4. 4.Toss everything — tomatoes, bread, cucumber, onion, dressing — and leave 10 minutes so the bread softens but doesn't dissolve.
  5. 5.Fold through the basil and finish with the cheese and more oil.

💡 Tip. Never refrigerate an East End tomato. Cold kills the aroma compounds and you cannot get them back.

Summer · 1 hour🫐 Blueberry Cornmeal CakeFor the flat of blueberries you picked at Lewin or Patty's in July and cannot possibly eat before they turn. Cornmeal gives it the texture to hold that much fruit.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 8

  • · 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
  • · 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
  • · 1 stick butter, softened
  • · 1 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp for the top
  • · 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla
  • · 3/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
  • · 2 heaping cups blueberries, tossed in 1 tbsp flour
  • · Zest of a lemon

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Heat the oven to 350°F and butter a 9-inch springform or square tin.
  2. 2.Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt together.
  3. 3.Beat the butter and sugar until pale, 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and lemon zest.
  4. 4.Fold in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately, in three additions, stopping the moment it comes together.
  5. 5.Fold in the floured blueberries. Scrape into the tin, scatter the extra sugar over the top.
  6. 6.Bake 45–55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the top has cracked. Cool in the tin.

💡 Tip. Tossing the berries in flour is what stops them sinking to the bottom. Don't skip it and then be surprised.

Summer · 15 minutes🍑 Grilled Peaches with Cheese and BasilPeaches run mid-July to mid-September on the East End. Heat concentrates a merely good peach into a very good one, which is most of what this is for.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 4 firm-ripe peaches, halved and stoned
  • · Olive oil
  • · Burrata, fresh mozzarella, or a soft Catapano goat cheese
  • · Basil leaves
  • · Honey (Pike Farms sells their own)
  • · Flaky salt, black pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Get the grill or a griddle pan properly hot. Brush the cut faces of the peaches with oil.
  2. 2.Grill cut-side down, undisturbed, 3–4 minutes until dark bars form and the fruit releases on its own.
  3. 3.Arrange on a plate with torn cheese, drizzle with honey and a little more oil.
  4. 4.Finish with basil, flaky salt and a heavy grind of pepper.

💡 Tip. Firm-ripe is the requirement. A soft peach collapses through the grates and a hard one never sweetens.

Late summer · 10 minutes🍉 Watermelon, Feta and MintAugust into October. Barely a recipe — a ratio and a reminder that East End melons are worth buying whole rather than pre-cut.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 6

  • · Half a watermelon, cut into thick wedges or cubes
  • · 6 oz feta, broken into rough pieces
  • · A large handful of mint
  • · Olive oil, lime juice
  • · Black pepper, flaky salt

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Arrange the melon on a wide platter, not in a bowl — you want it in one layer so it doesn't weep.
  2. 2.Scatter over the feta and mint.
  3. 3.Dress with olive oil and lime juice just before it goes to the table.
  4. 4.Pepper heavily. Salt lightly, because the feta is doing most of that work.

💡 Tip. A ripe watermelon has a deep yellow ground spot where it sat in the field and sounds hollow. A white ground spot means it was picked early.

Late summer · 1 hour🍆 East End CaponataLate August through October, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes are all on the same table at the same time. This is the dish that uses all three and gets better on day two.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 6 as a side

  • · 2 medium eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • · 2 peppers, cut into squares
  • · 1 lb tomatoes, chopped
  • · 1 onion, diced; 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • · 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar
  • · 2 tbsp capers, a handful of green olives
  • · Olive oil, salt
  • · Basil to finish

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Salt the eggplant cubes and leave them in a colander 30 minutes. Pat dry — this is the difference between caponata and oily mush.
  2. 2.Fry the eggplant in a generous amount of olive oil over medium-high heat, in batches, until deep brown. Set aside.
  3. 3.In the same pan, soften the onion and celery 8 minutes, then add the peppers for another 5.
  4. 4.Add the tomatoes, vinegar and sugar. Simmer 15 minutes until thick and jammy.
  5. 5.Return the eggplant, add the capers and olives, and cook 5 more minutes. Season, cool to room temperature, and finish with basil.

💡 Tip. Serve at room temperature, never hot. Make it the day before if you can — the vinegar needs time to stop tasting like vinegar.

Autumn · 3 hours, mostly unattended🍎 Cider-Braised Pork with ApplesSeptember and October, when the Milk Pail has a dozen apple varieties and every orchard on the East End is pressing cider. Use a tart apple and the fresh cider, not the concentrate.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 6

  • · 3–4 lb pork shoulder, in one piece
  • · 2 cups fresh apple cider
  • · 3 tart apples (Mutsu, Granny Smith, Gold Rush), quartered
  • · 2 onions, thickly sliced
  • · 4 sage sprigs, 2 bay leaves
  • · 2 tbsp cider vinegar
  • · Salt, pepper, oil

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Heat the oven to 325°F. Salt the pork heavily on all sides.
  2. 2.Brown it hard in an oven-proof pot, 4 minutes a side, until genuinely dark. Remove.
  3. 3.Soften the onions in the fat, then return the pork. Pour in the cider, add the herbs, cover, and put it in the oven for 2 hours.
  4. 4.Add the apples and cook uncovered for a final 30–45 minutes, until the pork pulls apart and the apples have half collapsed.
  5. 5.Lift the pork out to rest. Skim the fat, add the vinegar, and reduce the liquid on the stove until it coats a spoon.

💡 Tip. Ask which apples are baking apples. A stand that grows its own will tell you which of this week's varieties holds its shape.

Autumn · 1 hour 15 minutes🍲 Pumpkin Soup with Sage ButterFor the pumpkin that came home from Hank's or Krupski's and is not going to be carved. Roast it first — boiled pumpkin tastes of nothing.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 6

  • · 1 small cooking pumpkin or 2 lb squash, halved and seeded
  • · 1 onion, 2 carrots, chopped
  • · 3 cups stock
  • · 1/2 cup cream or coconut milk
  • · 4 tbsp butter, 12 sage leaves
  • · Nutmeg, salt, pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Heat the oven to 400°F. Roast the pumpkin halves cut-side down, oiled and salted, for 40 minutes until a knife goes through with no resistance.
  2. 2.Meanwhile soften the onion and carrot in a little butter, 10 minutes.
  3. 3.Scoop the roasted flesh into the pot, add the stock, and simmer 15 minutes.
  4. 4.Blend until completely smooth. Stir in the cream, grate over nutmeg, and season hard — pumpkin needs more salt than you expect.
  5. 5.Fry the sage leaves in the remaining butter until crisp and the butter browns. Spoon over each bowl.

💡 Tip. A carving pumpkin is bred for size and makes watery soup. Ask the stand for a sugar or pie pumpkin.

Autumn · 25 minutes🥬 Brussels Sprouts with ApplesSprouts come in from September and hold through November — the last real vegetable of the East End year before the stands close.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved through the root
  • · 1 tart apple, cut into batons
  • · 4 slices bacon or pancetta, chopped (optional)
  • · 1 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp honey
  • · Olive oil, salt, pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Render the bacon in a wide pan until crisp, then lift it out and leave the fat. If you're skipping it, use 2 tbsp olive oil.
  2. 2.Lay the sprouts cut-side down in a single layer. Leave them alone for 5 minutes — you want one deeply browned face, not evenly grey sprouts.
  3. 3.Toss, add the apple, and cook another 4–5 minutes until the sprouts are tender at the core.
  4. 4.Off the heat, add the vinegar and honey, scrape the pan, and return the bacon. Season and serve.

💡 Tip. Buy them on the stalk if the stand has them. They keep for weeks that way and taste sweeter than loose ones.

The other 5 recipes, for the rest of the year
Spring · 15 minutes🍳 Asparagus with a Farm Egg and Brown ButterThe first thing worth cooking all year. East End asparagus shows up in May and is gone by the end of June, so this gets made a dozen times in six weeks and then not again.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 2

  • · 1 lb East End asparagus, woody ends snapped off
  • · 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • · 2 eggs (Iacono Farm, if you timed the hours right)
  • · Juice of half a lemon
  • · A handful of parsley or chervil, chopped
  • · Flaky salt and coarse black pepper
  • · Parmesan or a hard Mecox Bay Dairy cheese, for shaving

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Boil the asparagus in well-salted water for 2–4 minutes depending on thickness. It should bend, not flop. Drain and spread on a warm plate.
  2. 2.Wipe the pan, add the butter, and cook over medium heat until it foams, then smells like hazelnuts and the milk solids go amber. Two to three minutes. Do not walk away.
  3. 3.Pour half the brown butter over the asparagus. Add the lemon juice to the pan — it will hiss — and swirl.
  4. 4.Fry the eggs in the remaining butter until the whites are set and the edges are lacy and brown.
  5. 5.Slide an egg over each pile of asparagus, spoon over the lemon butter, and finish with herbs, flaky salt, pepper and shaved cheese.

💡 Tip. Snap one spear by hand to find the break point, then cut the rest of the bunch to match. Don't peel East End asparagus — it isn't woody enough to need it.

Spring · 1 hour🍓 Strawberry and Rhubarb CrispThe two things that overlap for about three weeks in June. Strawberries go sweet, rhubarb keeps it from being a jam, and the oat top means you don't have to make pastry.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 6

  • · 1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved
  • · 3 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • · 1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp for the fruit
  • · 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • · 1 cup rolled oats
  • · 3/4 cup flour
  • · 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • · 1/2 tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt
  • · 1 stick cold butter, cubed

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Heat the oven to 375°F. Toss the fruit with 2 tbsp sugar and the cornstarch and tip into a buttered 9-inch dish.
  2. 2.Rub the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and cold butter together with your fingertips until it clumps. Stop while there are still pea-sized pieces of butter.
  3. 3.Scatter the topping over the fruit — don't pat it down.
  4. 4.Bake 40–45 minutes, until the top is deep gold and the fruit is bubbling at the edges, not just the middle.
  5. 5.Rest 20 minutes before serving. It sets as it cools.

💡 Tip. If you picked the strawberries yourself, use them the same day. Field-picked berries do not keep like store berries — that's the trade for the flavour.

Spring · 10 minutes🫛 Peas, Mint and ScallionsA five-minute side that makes an argument for shelling peas yourself. Only worth it in the six weeks the pods are actually sweet.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 2 lb peas in the pod (about 2 cups shelled), or 1 lb snap peas
  • · 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin
  • · 2 tbsp butter
  • · A big handful of mint, torn
  • · Lemon zest, salt, pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the scallions and cook 2 minutes until soft, not coloured.
  2. 2.Add the peas and 2 tbsp water. Cover and cook 3–4 minutes, until bright green and just tender.
  3. 3.Off the heat, stir through the mint and lemon zest. Season and serve immediately — the colour goes within minutes.

💡 Tip. Taste a raw pea at the stand. If it's starchy rather than sweet, the season has turned and you want snap peas instead.

Autumn · 45 minutes🎃 Roast Winter Squash with Kale and Cider DressingOctober and November, when the squash comes in and the kale has been through a frost — which is when kale is actually good, not before.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 1 winter squash (butternut, delicata, honeynut), cut into wedges
  • · 1 bunch kale, stems stripped, leaves torn
  • · 1/2 cup apple cider
  • · 2 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp mustard, 1/3 cup olive oil
  • · 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
  • · Chilli flakes, salt

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the squash with oil and salt and roast 25–30 minutes, turning once, until caramelised at the edges.
  2. 2.Boil the cider down to about 2 tbsp of syrup, then whisk it with the vinegar, mustard and olive oil.
  3. 3.Massage the kale with a little of the dressing and a pinch of salt for a minute — it will darken and soften.
  4. 4.Toss the warm squash through the kale, add the rest of the dressing, and finish with toasted pumpkin seeds and chilli.

💡 Tip. Delicata doesn't need peeling — the skin goes tender in the oven. Butternut does.

Winter · 1 hour🥘 Collard Greens and Parsnips, Slow-BraisedDecember, when almost everything is finished but collards and parsnips are still listed — the two crops Cornell's chart carries furthest into winter.

🧾 Ingredients · serves 4

  • · 2 bunches collard greens, stems removed, leaves sliced into ribbons
  • · 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
  • · 1 onion, sliced; 4 garlic cloves, smashed
  • · 3 cups stock
  • · 1 tbsp cider vinegar, chilli flakes
  • · Olive oil, salt

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. 1.Soften the onion and garlic in oil in a heavy pot, 10 minutes, until sweet.
  2. 2.Add the parsnips and colour them lightly, 5 minutes.
  3. 3.Add the collards in handfuls, letting each wilt before the next, then pour in the stock.
  4. 4.Cover and simmer gently 40 minutes, until the greens are silky and the parsnips are falling apart at the edges.
  5. 5.Finish with vinegar, chilli and enough salt. Serve with the pot liquid — that's the best part.

💡 Tip. Parsnips are sweeter after a frost, which is exactly when you'll find them. Cut out the woody core on any that are thicker than an inch.

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