Scoopin' the East End

Scooped nearly every publication for the story on Long Island's first mobile slaughterhouse except one 

(which taught me a very valuable lesson about how pitching a story may mean having it stolen from you)

I ultimately gave the story to Dan's Papers, which has been giving me steady work as both a writer and photographer. 

Print version comes out on Friday, but check out the story on the Dan's Papers website:

http://danspapers.com/2014/02/browders-birds/

(Story inserted below for the truly lazy)

Gianna Volpe photo

Holly Browder sets up the Browder's Birds booth on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Riverhead Farmer's Market.

If you’ve ever bought one of Browder’s Birds to serve certified organic local free-range chicken at home or had one tantalizingly prepared for you at well-loved locavore paradise The North Fork Table & Inn, chances are you’ve been jonesing all winter long for another taste of the lean, local meat.

And you’re in luck, because not only are farmers Holly and Chris Browder the proud new owners of Long Island’s very first mobile slaughterhouse—thanks in part to a $61,375 grant awarded by the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council—but the farmers are also seeking a license that will mean they will no longer be subject to a 1,000-bird annual cap.

New York State’s small farm exemption currently allows the Browders to sell 1,000 chickens every year from their 16-acre farm in Mattituck.  They are looking into becoming licensed with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets as operators of an MPU, or mobile processing unit, which will increase that limit to 20,000 birds annually.

“Every small state exemption is different, so in Virginia that’s enough to make into a small business at 20,000 birds, but at 1,000 birds we sell out in October and then we’re done,” Holly Browder said of the difficulties in operating under New York’s small farm exemption, adding that she and husband will “never” reach 20,000 birds in hopes of maintaining their reputation as responsible, caring poultry farmers, who raise their local chicks free range.

“We’re not trying to be a huge chicken producer because the whole thing with pasture-raised animals is that you don’t want too many animals,” she said. “We just want to grow our business enough to be sustainable.”

Though Long Island’s first MPU is a 28-foot aluminum trailer filled with stainless steel equipment capable of processing upward of 500 poultry animals per day, Chris Browder, a former managing director at Bank of America and two-decade Manhattanite, said he isn’t looking to produce that kind of volume.

“Right now I’m just interested in learning how to use this thing properly,” said Browder, who has historically manually processed his chickens. “We’ll probably do 100 chickens at a time until we get super comfortable with it. Once we feel like we have everything under control, then maybe we’ll increase that number.” He said the facility “absolutely” has the capability to be moved around to other farms that have access to 100 amps of electricity, propane and potable water, but added he is not at a point where he has seriously considered doing so.

“Until I know the ins and outs of this thing, we’re just going to use it ourselves,” he said.

Browder plans to begin using the MPU come Memorial Day weekend, but added he will remain limited to 1,000 chickens until the licensing process is through.

“First order of business is getting the 5-A [license] so we can ramp up past 1,000,” he said. “Who knows if that will take two days or two years.”

Though Browder said the mobile processing concept is relatively new, he hopes the fact that the unit’s design has already been approved by New York State will help streamline the bureaucratic process.

“This particular unit was designed and built by a friend of mine named Ed Leonardi from WildCraft Farm upstate in Swan Lake,” Browder said of the facility, which he purchased last month. “I learned about him because of his MPU and called him shortly after he’d finished it in 2009 or 2010 and said that I would love to come up and take a look … It took him a long, long time to get that thing licensed, but he was finally able to get Ag and Markets to sign off on the design, so that unit is approved for [poultry] slaughter in New York State.”

Browder said though discussions of a mobile red meat slaughterhouse on Long Island are ongoing, he doesn’t believe it’s likely one will be rolling to the East End any time soon.

“Those things are expensive and they need a lot of throughput so the question is, ‘Is there enough volume out here to justify something that expensive?’” explained Browder. “The jury’s still out on that.”

Holly Browder said she is hopeful, adding that a recently-formed committee is looking at logistics on the subject looking forward. ”Everybody new is doing livestock,” she said of the East End animal raising trend.

Browder is a member on the Long Island Farm Bureau’s board of directors and was instrumental is the founding of Riverhead’s weekly indoor farmers market, Saturdays at 117 East Main Street, across from Suffolk Theater.

Gianna Volpe

Agentjanefox@gmail.com

Bylines Abound!

Hey there reporter's blog!

Just checkin' in with ya to let you know that I got my first hard copy bylines with Edible East End and Dan's Papers!

Unfortunately the Dan's Papers byline is coupled with an article that I did not write and (winemaker of Osprey's Dominion and Coffee Pot Cellars) Adam Suprenant's name was spelled wrong in it, but that's okay- my article about local wine for the holidays can be found in the Dan's Papers special holiday preview that came out about a week ago!

It's got a Christmas tree on it and my article is called "Wine Down," if you happen to see it on your travels around the East End/Manhattan.

I work my little squirrel tail off, so I haven't yet gotten the chance to post clips here for y'all, but I'll get there! (All in good time)

Super psyched to see the review I wrote about Leann Lavin's "Hampton and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook" when it gets posted on Edible's website 😊

In the meantime - check out this portrait of me from First and South in Greenport's "prohibition night," which was well attended by what seemed to be the entire population of the East End's 20-something hipsters--dressed to the nines in historic garb  (including yours truly)

Cheers, friends (and enemies too!)

Update to keep y'all up-to-date

Hey y'all,

I know I need to start scanning my pieces onto my craptop (crappy laptop), but I haven't had much time to myself these days, so there's that.

If I never showed y'all - this was the Long Island business news supplement containing my first piece for them about East Ender biz seasonal success stories, which contains a huge portrait I took of Otto and John Wittmeier of the Modern Snack Bar in Aquebogue.

I did three or four pieces for Dan's Papers that should be coming out soon - one about the Peconic Ballet Theater, another about holiday cocktails, and a third about local wine for the holidays. 

The fourth is one I've not yet written - and is really just an aggregation of original cocktails from this year's best of the best bartenders. 

                                                      

Also my monthly mag feature for the Sag Harbor Express should be out soon - it's about fireplaces and how they add to the ambiance of a meal (=

I've also written my first few pieces for Edible East End! 

I did about seven "giftable" pieces, which are little blurbs about holiday gift ideas, a small piece on whisper vineyards in saint James and another small piece about how Rich Vandenburgh of Greenport Harbor Brewery finally got around to planting that barley we talked about last winter when I broke the news that their Peconic location could be Southold's first brew pub. 

I am now about to write a 500-word "notable"on Leann Lavin's "Homegrown Cookbook," which was supposed to arrive in the mail, but hasn't yet, leaving me heartbroken. 

Blahblahblah I love freelancing, but being impoverished is no fun blahblah.

Copy comin' out the ears: No complaints here!

Hello loyal/adoring fans!

(Obviously that's a joke)

Today is a very exciting week in publishing for this kid reporter!

Not only do I have at least three pieces published in three different publications, but one of them was my very first first-person piece! 

(Cue the tune - Happy, happy, joy, joy)

The art of scalloping can be found in this month's Sag Harbor Express magazine: XO On The Go.

                                         

Sag Harbor's Al Daniels is the subject of "The Art Of Scalloping."

 Also have a piece in the current Southampton Press "design and architecture" supplement on the effects of technology on design, as well as a piece in this week's Long Island Business News on how to run a successful business, despite the East End's seasonally-driven economy. 

                                         

Also: Just wrote a feature about the Peconic ballet Theater for Dan's Papers and another about master Malian kora player, Yacouba Sissoko, for the Sag

Harbor Express!

Now I will pass out (promptly with any luck!)

Plugging in - As seen in the Southampton Press Drive! Supplement

  BY GIANNAVOLPE   

                   

     When it comes to designing new cars, CAFE is king―and not the kind where you order a meal.

   CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy, is the number of miles per gallon that car manufacturers must meet when averaging the fuel economy of their entire fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks, or else incur a stiff penalty.

   These federal regulations, first enacted by Congress in 1975, are largely responsible for the leaps and bounds made toward developing more fuel-efficient―and now even fuel-independent―vehicles in the last few   years, local car dealers say.

   No matter where consumers decide to buy a new vehicle, they will find improvements in fuel efficiency in nearly all makes and models.

   “The new CAFE regulations have a goal of 36.6 miles per gallon in 2016 and 55.5 mpg in 2025, which is a long way off from where we are today at 27 and change,” said Stuart Schoener, general manager at Storms Motors in Southampton. “Manufacturers have chosen different paths in order to get there, but at the end of the day we’re all making huge strides in fuel economy very quickly. In addition to hybrid and electric cars, transmission and energy technologies are being developed to make the regular gas engine car way more   efficient. For example, transmissions were three-speed automatics 20 years ago, and now we have General Motors and Ford working together on a 10-speed automatic.”

   Mr. Schoener said the strict new CAFE regulations, which were announced by the Obama administration in August 2012 and have been endorsed by all 14 car manufacturers, also will cause a bump in the use of diesel as a fuel source for some passenger vehicles. “Chrysler does not seem to be headed down the road of electric cars,” he said. “They seem to be heading in the diesel direction. Americans have never been open-minded to diesel, but it’s about to be rammed down their       

   throats." Manufacturers will be hit with huge penalties if they don’t meet these requirements―so huge, some of them could ultimately be prevented from existing. It’s the reason Porsche and Volkswagen merged as a company. Porsche doesn’t build cars that are fuel-efficient, so they merged to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy of the fleet.”

   Other manufacturers are devoting significant resources to the development of fuel-efficient and electric cars. American car manufacturer General Motors, for example, took the plunge with the Chevy Volt, a car with a loyal following referred to in the industry as the “Volt cult,” said sales manager Les Corwin at Buzz Chew Chevrolet-Cadillac in Southampton.

   “The Volt is a little different than other pure electric vehicles, because it has a gas generator in it that kicks on to produce electricity after the battery dies,” said Mr. Corwin. “The battery has a range of about 40 miles for commuters, but you can’t get stuck in it because as long as you have fuel in it, it’s like any other car.”

   There is always the risk of running out of power in a fully electric car. Driving beyond the range of the car’s battery life, which for   most is about 100 miles, could leave the driver stranded.

   At Otis Ford in Quogue, marketing manager Tom Otis IV said the limited range of most purely electric cars, like the Ford Focus Electric, have made them less appealing to buyers looking for a primary vehicle, and more attractive to those who are locally based. “The Focus Electric is more of an around-town vehicle and would make sense for people in this area, because you could leave it here for weekends,” he said. The car has a range of about 75 miles, which, according to industry calculations, translates into the equivalent of 105 miles to a gallon. If the driver lives locally, he or she “could go back and forth to work every day and never fill up a tank of gas for the lifetime of the vehicle.”

   Mr. Otis said some commuters who make the daily trek to Manhattan have opted to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle to gain access to HOV lanes.

   He noted that it’s worth taking the time to research your needs and the rules of the road. “Our regular non-plug-in hybrid C-Max can’t go in the HOV lane, because you now need to have a plug-in hybrid in order to get access [to the HOV lane] when you buy a new car,” he said of the advantage to investing in a hybrid-electric vehicle. “We have people who buy the C-Max Energi specifically for that reason.”

   And though some argue against electric cars by citing the exorbitant cost of electricity―Long Island has some of the nation’s highest electric rates―Mr. Schoener said those costs are easily canceled out by equally high fuel costs in the area.

   “We’re talking about the relative cost to run your car in Southampton, so we don’t want to compare the cost of electricity here to the cost of gas in South Carolina,” he said. “We pay as much extra for gas as we do for electricity―if not more―so it balances out. And gasoline is also a lot more volatile from a price point than electricity, because it hits people immediately. When the gigantic meltdown we had in this country was $5-a-gallon gas, it hit you before the end of the week. You buy one of these plug-in electric cars and, depending on how many miles you drive, the nature of the drive and the accessibility to voltage, you can last a month without making a trip to the gas station.”

   Electric vehicles can be charged using standard 110-volt outlets. A Ford C-Max Energi will get a full charge if plugged in overnight. That time can be cut down to four hours by installing a 240-volt charging station at home. The number of 240-volt charging stations in public places is rapidly growing and can now   be found at some restaurants looking for a novel way to bring in customers.

   The future of electric cars is, however, uncertain. “Electric cars are not the future, they are the means to an end,” said general sales manager Frank DeBlanco at Apple Honda in Riverhead. “I think in the future, cars are going to run using hydrogen fuel cell technology, which is currently in the research and development stage.”

   Improvements in the performance, and the style, of alternative fuel vehicles is a priority of most car manufacturers, mostly because of increasing fuel consumption standards, but also to tap into a growing market of consumers who care about environmental issues.

   One manufacturer also recognized a need to offer a luxury version to the lineup. Tesla, a California-based car manufacturing upstart, this year released the Model S―an electric car that can go 265 miles on a single charge―a range that leaves most market competitors in the dust.  

   Advancements in electric and hybrid car technology is moving at a fast pace. “I think people should lease cars for the next four or five years, because the technology is moving so quickly,” suggested Mr. Schoener of Storm Motors. “Three years ago, in order to get 40 miles to the gallon, you had to buy the tiniest car you could find. Now you can drive out with a full-sized sedan that gets 40 miles to the gallon―and we’re only at the bottom of the hill. We’re only getting around 30 mpg, and we have to get to 55 average in a little over a decade.”

   Mr. Schoener said the increasing size of the fuel-efficient vehicle shows him that larger vehicles stand to benefit the most from the developing technology, because they have the room to hold enough batteries giving them a longer range.

   It is possible that eventually alternative fuel powered vehicles will become the standard―and all of us will be waving as we pass a gas station.  

❤️Baby's second Edible East End blog post❤️

Crooked Ladder Firetruck Beermobile Debuts at Chili Cookoff

Comment | September 26, 2013 | By Gianna Volpe | Photographs by Gianna Volpe

As seen on www.edibleeastend.com

                                                       

Red was all the rage at the 15th annual Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce Chili/Chowder Contest at the Boardy Barn on Saturday.

Riverhead’s Crooked Ladder Brewing Company, the East End’s newest microbrewery, brought their already well-loved Gypsy Red, along with two other beers, to the event via a red fire engine—because that’s just how they roll.

“We’ve seen lots of guys that have smaller vehicles like pick-up trucks or your traditional van with taps on the side,” says Steve Wirth, a partner in Crooked Ladder and owner of next door’s Irish pub, Digger O’ Dell’s.  “We took it a step further because we’re us, so we went fire truck.”

The literally fire engine red beermobile, which can fit 10 half-barrels in its back, was once part of brew-master Duffy Griffith’s fleet at the Jamesport Fire Department and was converted into a rolling keggerator with help from Long Island company, Clear Beer, which also maintains the epic draft system at Digger’s. The downtown restaurant also serves as a sort of tasting laboratory for the brewing company

The Saturday afternoon event was the engine’s first public jaunt, but its owners already seem at ease with its operation and worked soundlessly by its side.

As Wirth ladled their rouge-colored wild boar chili into sample-sized plastic cups for queued-up consumers, Griffiths expertly tossed back the truck’s taps for the thirsty ones. That’s right—I said wild boar.

“We got it through U.S. Foods, which has an exotic meat department,” says Wirth. “You name it, they’ve got it.”

In addition to cubed pork loin, the chili also contained a number of local harvest vegetables, including tomatoes from Harbes and Reeve’s farms.

And though the chili’s vegetables were local, Wirth said Crooked Ladder has no immediate plans for purchasing local hops for their beer.

“We haven’t really designed an IPA we’re happy with, but once we have that recipe down, we’ll consider doing a wet-hopped ale,” he says. “We’re going to crawl before we run.”

Beer lovers may want to consider crawling too; Wirth says they’ve got an Oktoberfest on its way. “We think our seasonal beers are going to be really big. Our pumpkin ale is our number one seller right now.”

❤️Baby's first Edible East End blog post ❤️

As seen on www.EdibleEastEnd.com

Seafood and Barbecue at 

All for the East End Fund-raiser

Comment | August 21, 2013 | By Gianna Volpe | Photographs by Gianna Volpe

                               

Smoked oysters on brioche with whipped cream cheese, cauliflower foam and fresh dill from the Inn Spot on the Bay.

A sea of smiles and sweet tunes rolled into Riverhead Monday night for the All for the East End event at Martha Clara Vineyards, which brought a thousand-plus guests to the Sound Avenue farm to dance and nosh the night away in the name of the region’s thousand-plus nonprofits.

Local vendors, including The Wandering Palate, Foody’s and Blondie’s Bake Shop, lined the event’s perimeter for general admission guests in need of something to snack on, but a VIP ticket allowed its owner access to a separate food tent, where a host of East End restauranteurs served up heavenly hors d’oeuvres. Picture-perfect seafood plates made up the majority of the bite-sized samples, including theNorth Fork Table & Inn’s, which prepared a delectable poached shrimp with red Thai peppers, lemongrass emulsion, green papaya and peanuts.

                                

Cindy Halloran, left, and Claudia Fleming of North Fork Table and Inn.

The seafood plates were all superb and thematically appropriate to the strictly East End affair, but because Riverhead’s Maple Tree BBQ strayed from the sea, they were a welcome addition to the line-up as my taste buds became fatigued with fish, and, in my mind, the barbecue joint served two of the evening’s most delicious dishes.
“For the first dish, we put smoked baked beans with an Alabama-style barbecue chicken on crostini with a white horseradish-based barbecue sauce, topped with red hot barbecue sauce,” said Maple Tree’s Sean Judge of their Monday evening offerings. “Our second is herb crusted potatoes, North Carolina-style barbecue pulled pork and white horseradish-based barbecue sauce.”

To transition my tastebuds back to seafood, I stopped at the table of “Cheffe” Collette Connor of the Inn Spot on the Bay, where I was able to sample the best of both worlds. The Hampton Bays eatery served smoked oysters on brioche with whipped cream cheese, cauliflower foam and fresh dill, which Connor said was just for garnish, but I ate the entire sprig anyhow. (I love dill.)

“The oysters are local, and so are we,” said Connor, who coined the term for lady chef, “Cheffe,” with Inn Spot on the Bay co-owner, Cheffe Pamela.

Gianna Volpe is a freelance multimedia reporter on the East End of Long Island and one of 2013′s New York Press Association Rookie Reporters of the Year. She received her bachelor degree in journalism with an emphasis in photojournalism at the University of Missouri in 2010 and grew up at the foot of the Palisades in New Jersey, which overlook New York City. She now lives in Riverhead. Follow her on twitter @agentjanefox