Jaymee Sire

While Tuesdays are generally a little quieter for most businesses around the North Fork, it’s the busiest day of the week for Carissa Hope, the baker behind NoFo SoDough. Her day starts at 5 a.m., making her husband a maple latte for work before churning out a minimum of 12 sourdough loaves, 45 chocolate chunk cookies, and three dozen of her decadent chocolate chocolate cupcakes. “I’ve done vanilla,” Hope explains of her signature combo. “But there’s something about the chocolate chocolate.

Driving down Peconic Bay Boulevard in Jamesport, you might miss it if you aren’t specifically looking for it. On a quiet plot of land in a residential neighborhood sits Golden Acres Organic Farm, marked by a roadside sign and a large flag billowing in the wind that says “OPEN.” As we make our way down the tree-lined drive leading to the old barn, the farm is very much in early-season mode; they opened for the summer just a day prior on June 1.

Dancing with the Smurfs, Drunken Woman Frizzy-Headed, Candystick Dessert … those aren’t the names of up-and-coming indie rock bands. They are just three of the over 400 varieties of organic vegetables and herbs you can grow in your own backyard using starter plants from a family-run nursery in East Marion. In the summer months, this little stretch of Main Road is teeming with tourists looking to snap photos in front of a picturesque sea of purple fields at Lavender by the Bay.