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Hannah Selinger’s lovely story on Quail Hill’s 35th anniversary is one of faves of the year. (Photo credit: Doug Young)
I learned so much reading this story about the venerable (and, quite frankly, super boot-strappy) Quail Hill Farm. Growing up on eastern Long Island, I took our farms for granted. With one right around the corner from our family home, my mom would hand me a buck or two and send me out to Anita Bartilucci’s little farmstand for whatever we didn’t grow ourselves, and it all just felt pretty normal to a kid who didn’t understand the value of land, the work of farming or what it takes to preserve both.
Layton Guenther at work on the farm. (Photo credit: Doug Young)
A dedication to Deborah Ann Light, whose generosity was part and parcel to Quail Hill’s origins. (Photo credit: Doug Young)
The notion that they were one of the country’s first CSA (community supported agriculture) models boggles my mind — a giant piece of progressive agricultural history right here under our noses — and how the work and passion of so many wonderful, dogged people, from risk-taking original farmer Bill Willet to Scott Chaskey, who took over for the latter and brought QH into its full bloom, to current farmer and steward Layton Guenther to Peconic Land Trust founder John v.H. Halsey, to the amazing Deborah Ann Light, who gave her land so that Quail Hill could have a happy farming home in perpetuity.
Amy Zavatto is the Editor-in-Chief for southforker, northforker and Long Island Wine Press. She's a wine, spirits, and food journalist whose work appears in Wine Enthusiast, InsideHook.com, MarthaStewart.com, the New York Post, Liquor.com, SevenFifty Daily, Imbibe, Men’s Journal and many others. She's the author of The Big Book of Bourbon Cocktails, Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails, Forager’s Cocktails: Botanical Mixology with Fresh, Natural Ingredients, and The Architecture of the Cocktail. She is a respected judge for the American Craft Spirits Association’s annual small-production spirits competition, and has moderated numerous panels on the topics of wine, spirits, cocktails, and regional foodways. She is the former Deputy Editor for the regional celebratory publications, Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn, as well as the former Executive Director of the Long Island Merlot Alliance. She is a member of the New York chapter of the international organization of women leaders in food, wine, and spirits, Les Dames d’Escoffier. The proud daughter of a butcher, Amy is originally from Shelter Island, N.Y., where she developed a deep respect for the East End’s natural beauty and the importance of preserving and celebrating it and its people.