Pete Treiber Jr. has always wanted to work in a creative field — he just didn't know it would happen so literally. He started as a camp counselor, granola maker, photo and video production assistant, and more before digging into the farm with his Pop, and he brings both his clever resourcefulness and his playful perspective to every bulb of garlic he grows. He's an artist and farmer who left the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, New York behind to build an organic produce farm from the ground up with his father, Peter Treiber Sr. on the North Fork of Long Island. After eight years of hard work, he's turned Treiber Farms into a successful enterprise and while keeping everything organic, like farming should be. And while he is certainly not the first person to leave a large city to become a farmer, he's the only example I know of who intertwines his love of visual art within his farming practices. Take a walk with Pete around the farm, and he'll regale you with stories of previous events hosted for art exhibits, artist-in-residence programs, and just good times in general. A sculptor himself. He also seems to be cultivating his own artistic vision to deepen his practices of feeding and nurturing others in a way that is distinctly human. He's a seeker, a self actualizer, a lightening rod of community, and a unique individual who I'm proud to call a friend.
Pete Treiber, Junior has always wanted to work in a creative field — he just didn't know it would happen so literally. He started as a camp counselor, granola maker, photo and video production assistant, and more before digging into the farm with his Pop, and he brings both his clever resourcefulness and his playful perspective to every bulb of garlic he grows. He's an artist and farmer who left the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, New York behind to build an organic produce farm from the ground up with his father, Peter Treiber Sr. on the North Fork of Long Island. After eight years of hard work, he's turned Treiber Farms into a successful enterprise and while keeping everything organic, like farming should be.
And while he is certainly not the first person to leave a large city to become a farmer, he's the only example I know of who intertwines his love of visual art within his farming practices. Take a walk with Pete around the farm, and he'll regale you with stories of previous events hosted for art exhibits, artist-in-residence programs, and just good times in general. A sculptor himself. He also seems to be cultivating his own artistic vision to deepen his practices of feeding and nurturing others in a way that is distinctly human. He's a seeker, a self actualizer, a lightening rod of community, and a unique individual who I'm proud to call a friend.
Links:
PFP - Pete Treiber
Pete: [00:00:00] I came out here wanting to learn how to grow food for my own curiosity, and to feed myself and to see what that looked like and what it felt like. This was a hundred percent, the steepest learning curve I've ever dealt with in my life. But I also think that with anything where there's so many like varied techniques and there is no right answer inevitably people do think they have the right answer and that they say, you know, I've been doing this for a while and like, this is how you do it. And it's like, well, I also think there's, there's merit in having no experience and having to blank slate. And you can just say like, I've got a feeling. And what little I do know, I'm going to go with that and yeah believing that, like, you know, "oh, you can't grow organic fruits." Like, well, why not? What are you talking about? Like people wouldn't growing fruit for millennia. Maybe you're just not thinking about [00:01:00] it the right way. Yeah. Human scale, human food going to humans. That's, that's what's up. That's how it was happening. And that's how it will continue to happen. And the world doesn't need another conventional farm. Period. It's not what the world needs. And I personally Peter Treiber Jr. do not want to participate in that type of farming. What is enough?
Jordan: Welcome to the Prix Fixe Podcast, where the new voices in the culinary world share their stories and their own words. The show is produced and edited by me, Jordan Haro in Los Angeles, California.
Farming is a primal human practice. When our nomadic ancestors realized we could spend less time hunting and instead choose to plant roots in the ground, our species demonstrated a preference for taking the time to foster community. If one person grows a crop, they could sell it to their [00:02:00] neighbor, perhaps in exchange for money, who then is nourished with food, which they need to live. The math is simple. Repeat this process a few billion times over in communities become towns and towns become cities. Nevertheless, farming is undeniably a part of us. When I close my eyes and imagine the vision of a farm. I tend to favor an idealistic image, abundant flora and fauna, a spectrum of colors, wheelbarrows, maybe a scarecrow, dogs, and a few happy farmers wearing overalls, tilling fertile soil. And watering their crops, but today's reality doesn't look like that. Look around at the many big cities that bloomed out from agricultural growth and eventually yielded to urbanization and the industrial revolution. And now even those early 20th century economies have fallen by the wayside to diversified jobs in other areas of human advancement, such as tech, medicine, and finance just to name a few. Today in America, a country built upon agriculture, hardly any small GMO-free [00:03:00] farms remain. In 2019, there were 16,585 certified organic farms. A big jump from just over 10,000 in 2008. But compare that to 6.4 million total farms in 1910. Granted it's impossible to truly compare these numbers based on sheer number of farms without factoring in total acreage and when organic certifications took hold via legislation, but my imagined image of bucolic bliss seems more or less like a fairytale. What happened? To fully answer that question would require an entire podcast series in itself. I digress. Meet Pete Treiber Jr. He's an artist and farmer who left the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, New York behind to build an organic produce farm from the ground up with his father, Peter Treiber Sr. on the North Fork of Long Island. After eight years of hard work, he's turned Treiber Farms into a successful enterprise and while keeping everything organic, like farming should be. He's been fighting the good [00:04:00] fight of growing beautiful produce as nature intended it. As you can imagine his journey wasn't easy. And while he is certainly not the first person to leave a large city to become a farmer, he's the only example I know of who intertwines his love of visual art within his farming practices. Take a walk with Pete around the farm, and he'll regale you with stories of previous events hosted for art exhibits, artist-in-residence programs, and just good times in general. A sculptor himself. He also seems to be cultivating his own artistic vision to deepen his practices of feeding and nurturing others in a way that is distinctly human. He's a seeker, a self actualizer, a lightening rod of community, and a unique individual who I'm proud to call a friend. I was fortunate to escape New York City to spend a day with Pete during the height of the Omicron variant surge last winter. The ensuing interview was recorded after the most bountiful lunch imaginable, every bit of its source from the farm. And I'm excited to share it with you. Let's listen in.[00:05:00]
Pete: Um, my name is Peter Treiber Jr. And I'm a farmer and an artist. I'd say my story begins somewhere in Brooklyn, New York City, uh, after college in 2010, 2011, with a degree in history and anthropology and real no clear roadmap, trail map of where to go next. I really enjoyed my time in college and I enjoy the things I learned, especially when I stopped going to the business school. And I got to, you know, learn from professors and read things that really excited me, you know, anthropology and history. And it was Mesoamerican pre-history and modern Mexican history and a history of the American west. And, uh, the most influential class was [00:06:00] called the anthropology of art. And that really kind of rocked my world thinking about art in native cultures and how we consider it art, but it's really just these people's cultures, whether it's, you know, a rug that's handmade by the Qashqai or, uh, like a nomadic tribe or a mask, or, you know, uh, cave painting, any of these things really, um, shifted my, my view about what is art and even just thinking about, uh, visual art. So anyway, I, I finished school and moved back to Long Island and then into Brooklyn and yeah, I had no idea what I wanted to do. And eventually what I'd come to learn is, you know, through doing a lot of things that I didn't want to do, learning what I didn't want to do, uh, was that I wanted an apprenticeship. I wanted to find someone who was doing [00:07:00] something really powerful and moving and really, you know, physical and that they were making something real. And it had to be creative, but yeah, when I was 21, 22, I couldn't articulate that. So I, I made granola for Early Bird Foods, which has become a, uh, you know, a pretty longstanding granola company based out of Brooklyn. And I work for this woman Nikisha and we made delicious granola. And, you know, I made the granola and mixed the granola and baked the granola. And, um, that's sort of my first foray into food and being interested about food and recognizing at that time that food was going to be, or becoming more important to people, you know, quality ingredients, handmade, local, Uh, you know, things that people could root for. Um, even in like a big city, [00:08:00] like, like New York, and then, you know, I worked at a shitty burger and hot dog place that was supposed to be fancy and really, it was just a burger and hot dog place. And, you know, and did all sorts of other odds and ends worked for a temp agency working at like a desk job. You know, you go in, you interview, you do like a typing test and they place you somewhere. So that's what it was like after college. And I took a road trip around the country and it was becoming more clear that I needed to do something creative and to keep learning. I think that was, that was another big part of it was, I felt like by the time I graduated college, I'd gotten really good at learning, going to class, taking things in. Thinking about them in my, in my own way. And then it's over and then you're done. Once you figure it out, once you crack the code of how to, how to do it all, [00:09:00] you're then out in the world. And you either think about grad school or you don't, or if you study history, maybe you become a professor or a school teacher, or you go go law school. And I was just so uncertain about everything. I mean, I looked into some of those avenues, um, even so far as like visiting, you know, The New School and seeing, you know, learning about their sort of, you know, anthropological studies, um, that were available post-grad and yeah, I was, I was just so unsure. So I just kept kinda kicking the can down the road and, uh, working wherever I could and the last sort of serious internship job I had was an advertising firm. And that was really, the sort of the last straw, as far as I thought it was going to be really creative and you'd write copy and brainstorm and you know, that real TV [00:10:00] version of advertising and it wasn't anything like that. And I didn't really want to participate in it. Uh, I was lucky to kind of take one or two steps into what I ended up doing for the next four or five years, which was working for a visual artists named Mac Premo. And yeah, I I've found that apprenticeship that I didn't know I wanted or needed. And I saw his artwork one day and it was this big, beautiful assemblage of old tools built into their own sort of individual boxes, but all built into one bigger piece. And there was imagery behind them and there was wax and paint and beautiful craftsmanship. I was so struck by that I said, "is this what someone does for a living? Is this some, something that someone would be willing to teach me?" And I met him, you know, long story short, we started working together and we were thick as [00:11:00] thieves for almost a better part of five years. And he taught me everything he knew about carpentry and we made films, stop motion animation, live action. And he had his fine art career. And here in this big, beautiful building called The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn that was filled with other brilliant creative types, and so you're just surrounded by that energy. And it was a beautiful community and it was a great place. I really, really feel that I was reborn in a way in, into this creative world. And it was everything I wanted and needed, and it was really beautiful and everyone was so welcoming and willing to teach and to give me work, which was really the, the big part of that is I got to survive and live in Brooklyn. And I did things that I really enjoyed and I was learning every day. And yeah, I couldn't be [00:12:00] more grateful for that. I did that for, yeah, four and a half, five years, then I got my own studio and my own work. And I started showing my own artwork. And, uh, almost as soon as I got my own studio and all that, and doing freelance, building things for people, whether it was, you know, benches for your office space or a set for your weirdo art film, my father was retiring from, uh, his career of being in the insurance business and decided to buy some land on the North Fork of Long Island where, uh, my mom's family had been spending time, you know, since the early 1900's. And so, yeah, he bought some land and decided that in his, uh, journey post-career, he would, uh, start a farm. And, yeah, just as soon as I was sort of riding high in Brooklyn and doing my thing and finding my way, uh, [00:13:00] I also had this moment where I thought my studio is really small. I can't really fit a sheet of plywood in here to make things for people. And I'm borrowing Mac's space and I'm, you know, working after he's done and I want to get an apartment closer to the studio and I can't afford that. And I liked my lifestyle and I got to travel and I got to go places and do things and enjoyed a really well balanced life of fun and creativity. And I didn't know how to scale and that wasn't really like a word I would have used at the time, but, uh, something that's used a lot in farming. And, uh, I did not know how to scale my life to, to get a bigger studio, to get the better apartment and not sacrifice, uh, the things that I really enjoyed most about that life. So I decided to leave Brooklyn [00:14:00] in, uh, in 2016 and move to this brand new farm uh, that my dad was starting and he had, uh, she mentioned, he bought the land in 2014 and then started cover cropping and doing all sorts of things. But I asked if I could come and join in this new venture, not knowing anything about what that would look like, you know, in so many levels, working with my dad and it being a family thing. And, you know, working with a friend who was hard as the farm manager. I should back up a second and say that, uh, I was also while still in the city thinking more about being outside every day. And that was something, since I was a kid, I recognized as being something I need, I need to be outside. And I love nature. And I love, I spent all my summers in the Adirondacks, hiking and canoeing. And, uh, there was something about that, that I, that I needed [00:15:00] while living in the city. And you know, these tiny little apartments and from apartment to subway car. And to, you know, studio and certainly the Invisible Dog was not your average workplace. I mean, it was far from it, but, uh, the outside time is something I needed and also the food I was eating while I was living in the city, uh, mostly consisted of pizza and beef jerky and the green juices I was getting from, uh, Mr. Melon on Fulton street. I wanted to eat better and I wanted more of a balance in my life in that regard. And, you know, I was going out all the time and drinking plenty of beer and felt really tired and run down all the time. And I had some friends that were working on farms and I'd actually had an opportunity while my last year, as a camp counselor to volunteer on a farm. Uh, I really started to fall in love with the idea of this lifestyle, of being on the [00:16:00] land, close to the land, and really, you know, with you food. It really stuck with me when I saw and participated in harvest of, you know, some beets and a few other root vegetables that we then took to a grill top and threw down a little bit of oil and grill those vegetables. And we made a soup that afternoon as well. And that really resonated with me. And, you know, the people that were working on the farm were, you know, barefoot and, and there seasonally, but they were living this lifestyle that I really admired. The seed, if you will, of the farming was planted, you know, sometime in 2011 and actually even found an old notebook page from 2012 and it had a grocery list on it and it said yogurt, granola, you know, laundry detergent. And then at the end of it, it just said, "farm job question [00:17:00] mark." And that was 2012. And so it was with me, uh, after that point and I kept thinking about it and, but I kept chugging along and again, I learned so much in Brooklyn that I'm grateful for, especially the, what I can do with my hands now and the creative problem solving and things that are so important to do farming. Around that time, had my first taste of farming and visited some friends around some farms on the east end of Long Island and got to ride a tractor and enjoy the fruits of those, those farms harvests. And so, yeah, it wasn't a totally foreign thing. When I moved out here in 2016, it was brand new. All of it. What are we going to plant? Where do they get planted? How do you plant them? When do you plant them, all these things? What do y'all, what is my role in all of it? Yeah, it was starting from scratch.[00:18:00]
I came out here wanting to learn how to grow food for my own curiosity, and to feed myself and to see what that looked like and what it felt like, what is it going to feel and taste like to put a seed in a tray and transplanted, or put it directly in the ground and nurture it and come back and see the whole process. And then at the end, you know, share it with people and taste it and eat it and cook it and pickle it and all these things. So that was where I came into it. I wanted to learn for myself and I was super curious about it. And, uh, I really did want to see where this project would go. I mean, my father had zero background in commercial agriculture. He always had incredible gardens growing up. And as we got older, me and my sisters and, you know, we lived in the suburbs of Nassau County in a little town called Sea Cliff, [00:19:00] shout out Sea Cliff. Uh, we always had a garden and that's what my dad did when he came home from work, is he took off his suit and got in the garden, you know, put on his ratty Grateful Dead t-shirt, put on some music and was barefoot. And he, you know, we all spend time with him in there, but that's where he, uh, relaxed after the workday, he put down the briefcase and picked up the hoe. So that was definitely with me my whole life, but as we got older and as he got, you know, sort of, sort of towards the end of his career, you know, he started, he planted some fruit trees and he planted some raspberry canes and he, uh, started pickling things and, my mom got him, uh, some honeybees one Christmas that he picked up in the spring, the following year. Yeah. Again, it wasn't like totally foreign. We both weren't working in skyscrapers in Manhattan and there was some connection to the, to the land and the ground. And, you know, he hunts and we've always fished [00:20:00] together and these things, but yeah, my, my focus was, was the food. I wanted to be closer to my food and dig in to all the stuff that went with that. And that's, you know, planning what we're going to grow and where we're going to grow it. And I mean, there's so much god, cover cropping and irrigation, and, oh, we gotta put in deer fencing because if we don't, the deer will come and eat everything. And, uh, so that, that first summer, it didn't really get to harvest a lot, you know we planted a lot of, uh, perennial fruit, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, pears, then you're, you know, laying irrigation and moving pipe to irrigate the orchard grass and all these things. And so that was really, you know, my first step in agriculture was like the, not the growing part per se. [00:21:00] So I didn't necessarily know anything whatsoever about what I was getting into, but it all seemed necessary. And that there was a means to the end that we, that we would get somewhere and that, uh, we're laying the groundwork for what would be a fruit and vegetable farm. And we ended up getting some chickens that year, both, you know, meat birds, broilers, and egg layers, and so got right into that, which was all sorts of fun. And, you know, we processed those meat birds that year, which the first time, and only time I'd seen a chicken get slaughtered up to that point, I almost passed out. So there was some skepticism as to whether or not I would be okay with, uh, taking the lives, uh, of 30 chickens in a day or two. So we, uh, we did that and actually that whole first [00:22:00] slaughter coincided with the night of the 2016 election. So it was heavy. We were performing some blood sacrifice. Didn't work, what we were well, we were hoping for, uh, but we made it through it, uh, the chickens didn't, but yeah, we're just plugging along that year and it was really hard. You know, my dad didn't have a totally clear vision of what he wanted. He threw out a lot of ideas, you know, 10 acres of vegetables, one acre vegetables, fruit, more chickens, pigs. And they were all just ideas at the time. And none of it seemed impossible, but the amount of work that was going on and that needed to be done to even get some ground ready to plant in quickly, came into focus. So we really, really slugged it out that summer and grew what we could for ourselves. You know, some tomatoes here and there, but you know, we didn't have a greenhouse and the [00:23:00] barns we had moved into were chock full of other people. Stuff and sort of cleaning those and fixing things. And that's, you know, boys and girls, farmers wear so many hats. All of the hats. You are putting out fires literally and figuratively, depending on your situation, you gotta be, you know, a small engine mechanic, diesel mechanic, irrigation expert refrigeration. I mean so many different things in construction. You know, we, we had to build a greenhouse so we could propagate our plants in the spring, uh, and then also grow some crops in there. And I knew how to build things. The manager at the time knew how to build things, but it's a 72 foot long structure, by 30 feet wide and you basically buy a kit like an Erector Set and you [00:24:00] know, except it's giant and they're big steel pipes and they get dropped off in a couple of pallets and you got to like read the binder full of directions and put this thing together. And you're pounding posts in the ground and getting something to be square, that's that big, you know, you think like, okay, you're gonna start from here and you measure 72 feet that way and 30 feet that way. And then you do the same thing again. And then you measure diagonally and you're like, well, these are not square at all. This is a rhombus. And so you've got to start again. So there's a lot of things you have to do that isn't just, you know, harvesting. I think a lot of folks, including myself at the time I began didn't really think about how much goes into raising even just one crop. And yeah, it all, you know, kind of came into the viewfinder while I was doing that, you know, farming that first year and between working with my dad and the manager at the time. It [00:25:00] nearly made me quit that first year. It was so hard and so wrought with yeah, just like negativity and frustration and yeah, I guess sort of a lack of direction, you know, like what are we doing? You know, what is the end goal here? And we've heard so many things and yeah, I nearly wanted to give it up, but I didn't. I stuck it out and I wanted to see it through with my dad. I really wanted to figure out, I believed in, in something good was gonna come of us starting this farm. 2017 was the first year that I really sort of took over. Uh, that second year was when I stepped more into a, a leading role for the day-to-day operations of the farm. Yeah. We started planting some of the annual crops that we grow now. Finished the greenhouse, kept raising egg-laying chickens, some meat birds, and we had our first garlic crop that summer. And we started getting berries from our older [00:26:00] canes that have been planted probably before I got here in 2015. And so we had blackberries and raspberries and blueberries to pick, and then I had to find where those things were going. And that was, you know, something that I hadn't really thought about up until that point, because I hadn't had to was, uh, okay. We plant a bunch of things and oh, now there's things to harvest and well, what do you harvest into and how do you keep them cool or for in the case of tomatoes, you don't keep them cool. You keep them out of the sun and dry and hopefully with a fan on them. So the fruit flies don't get them. Uh, so yeah, it was our first venture into selling things, that looked like taking a flat of freshly picked berries to the local farm to table restaurant and meeting the proprietor and letting her try some. And she said, "okay. Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll take that as many as you have every week for the whole season." That was great that summer we ended up selling, I dunno to 12 or [00:27:00] 13 different restaurants and some were consistent and some weren't and, I'm picking Swiss chard leaves. And I'm like, I guess we spray these down and deliver them and put them in a crate. And, um, yeah, all these things that you have to consider when you're taking something from the ground and wanting to you know present it to somebody who's going to sensibly pay you U.S. Dollars for the thing, you know, trying to make it good and look good. And, uh, you think you're, you're confident that it, that it tastes good and all that, but so, yeah, that was a wild summer. I started pickling things and canning things and I was really obsessed with not wasting anything, you know, when you've put so much time and effort into a place and a space and especially uh, plants and crops, you really don't want to see anything end up in the compost pile and you really don't want to see berries, you know, left to rot on [00:28:00] the cane or, you know, leaves wilting or anything like that, or tomatoes dropping on the ground, which eventually you have to let go of, because it's ridiculous to think that you'll get everything. But I do take pride in the little amount of waste that is produced on this farm. And I've had folks that have worked with us who've been farming since they were 18 and they said this is the least wasteful farm they've ever worked on. So definitely take pride in that. We don't, uh, you know, grow 20% more of what we need just to have extra or to have a selection of like the most perfect market ready, you know, blemish free uh, fruits or vegetables.
This was a hundred percent the steepest learning curve I've ever dealt with in my life. Uh, yeah, like internalizing and learning so much about so many [00:29:00] different things that all can affect what you're doing, you know, soil health and the amount of rain you're getting and how much you decide to irrigate all the varieties that you grow, there's so much to it. But to, you know, course correct after you've, you know, fucked up. You just try and pinpoint one of those things that you might've screwed up and you say, "oh man, you know, the color of the leaves is telling me that, you know, they didn't get enough water." You just take it in stride. And what's unique about farming. And I always compare it to, uh, you know, chefs in a restaurant. You know, you, you got service every day and if you didn't like how a dish turned out last night, um, you can even tweak it during that service. But you know, the next day you can, you can have those notes in your mind or written down and say, "Hey, I'm gonna, you know, I'm not gonna salt it as much, or I'm gonna, you know, brine it for longer. But with farming, [00:30:00] you know, if a crop is shit, you know, if you didn't weed the garlic enough and you know, you lose a whole row or the, the, the bulbs don't get to size. You got next year. And there's only so many seasons of growing in your lifetime. I think about that a lot. You want to get better and you do, and you do. You, you have to get better or else, you know, you know, you're making the same mistakes and have nothing to show for it, but it's, it's the greatest lesson in, in, in patience, you know, and you have to, you take it on the chin. These garlics are teeny tiny, and I don't think anybody wants to buy these or maybe they do, or we have to sell it at a super discounted rate or figure out some value added product to put them into. But you just got to try again next year and take note, and maybe it's the spot where you grew them. Maybe you can [00:31:00] do a better job preparing the soil or cultivate earlier or more often, or time it better. Yeah. So it's, it's hard, you know, it's really hard to mess up and, and get it right again, the same year. Maybe you're doing lettuce greens or spinach or kale or something, and yeah, you can have multiple planting succession plantings and but even then, you know, like two weeks' difference, the weather's a little different, it rains a little less , it rains a little more, that next crop that goes in the ground, two weeks later, it could be a thousand times better, no way if it's you know, they're, they're not weakened by the cold weather or whatever it may be or too much rain and they don't get any pest pressure. And they're perfect. I think diversifying, you know, not putting all of your, your proverbial eggs in one basket is super important and being flexible and being, being kind with yourself. Don't, don't beat yourself up. I spent a lot of [00:32:00] time the first couple of years of farming, um, giving myself a lot of grief and beating myself up about the things that, that weren't perfect. And didn't look perfect and we're at a place. It was tough going from, you know, fine art where, uh, and production where someone tells you, you know, make it nice, make it perfect, make it exactly how I want it. And at that point, you know, you know, and you've, you've got that short hand with whoever you're working with and you can do that and you can sand the edges the right way and space the screws two inches apart. It's yeah, it's been hard having that sort of, that, uh, that mindset and, uh, I'm not big on what we call that Zodiac signs, but I'm told it's a, it's a very Virgo attribute that I have that like wanting things to be very neat and orderly. And, you know, I like it a certain way. I am a certain way and I like things to look a certain way and that's just how it is. So, yeah, there's, there's an [00:33:00] interesting balance there with the farming, because you're not going to pull all the weeds. You're not going to beat all the bugs. You're not gonna change the weather. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. And yeah, don't, don't be so discouraged, uh, every time you fall flat on your face, which is quite often when learning to farm and especially, you know, we took on a lot. I mean, we, we grow on 14 acres and that's all, you know, all the fruit trees and the berries and then our garden, our market garden is one acre. And then we have the two tunnels that we grow in. And then, you know, all the other bits of property to maintain the weed whacking, the mowing, all this stuff. It's not just, it's not so simple as to say that you're now you're going out to the garden and that's what you're in charge of, you know, we're in charge of, uh, stewarding a good, good chunk of land. Yeah.
We are farming on the North Fork of [00:34:00] Long Island, which for all of you out there, that's right next to the Hamptons. Hamptons with a capital H, where P Diddy has his white party every year. So maybe you're familiar with that, but the North Fork is right north of that. I implore you to look at a map of long island and really just like New York City. I think that's important, especially if you live there to know sort of what the surrounding area looks like, but Long Island is about 120 miles long, I guess like a hundred miles out from Brooklyn. There's a fork. It looks like a fish's tail. And it forks out and there's two peninsulas and there's the south fork, which is the white sand ocean beaches of the Hamptons, you know, and then it ends in Montauk point in between those two forks is the Peconic Bay and a few islands, including Shelter Island, the bigger one. And then you have the North Fork, which is another peninsula that sticks out towards the Atlantic, but it is, um, yeah, on the North Shore and it is [00:35:00] got the Long Island Sound to the north and the Peconic Bay to the south. It has this crazy maritime influence. It's really a unique spot. It's it's yeah. It's steeped in agricultural tradition. When we say that out here, it's not just the land. I mean, people have been harvesting oysters and clams and scallops and, uh, fishing these waters for well before the white people came and settled. They're just like a very abundant place. There's just a lot to live on out here and to, and to eat. And, uh, yeah, it's um, our farm, Treiber Farms, is, uh, about a hundred miles from, a little over a hundred miles from New York City, which is crazy. Cause when people get off the highway, their first time out here, they're like, "what is this place? It's so green." And a lot of folks who do spend more time out here, they talk about this feeling of relief when they get off the highway. Because if you, if you take [00:36:00] exit 71, uh, which I recommend, um, you don't go through Riverhead, you end up on what we call The North Road. And you're just immediately in farmland. Th the main agriculture on the North Fork is sod farms, which is just . What it is. It's grass. They grow grass, they cut it up into neat little like rolls or mats, and they stack it up on pallets. And yeah, if you want an instant lawn, you buy sod. They come and they chop it up to the shape of your lawn and you put it in. And, uh, the rest of it is, uh, there's a lot of great vines. I think some, the oldest ones are probably like 45, maybe 50 years old at this point, something like 45 vineyards on just this like 30 miles stretch of land that is the North Fork from Riverhead to Orient Point. The rest is potatoes. That's been a huge crop historically out here, you know, all sorts of other [00:37:00] mixed agriculture. Uh, there's a ton of like, you know, big commercial, greenhouse operations that grow flowers year round and commercial nurseries. And then you have smaller family run, uh, yeah, like mixed agriculture, which is what we're participating in. And there's some folks that are around our size or, you know, a little bit bigger. They've been around for much longer. And then other folks that are just starting like us and another big crop are the ducks. There was like millions of ducks being raised and harvested on this part of Long Island all the way up, probably until like midway through the century. The potato farms, and then, you know, like the, the seafood stuff, like, you know, I've seen really cool pictures of barrels of oysters on ice being, you know, put into train cars, going back to New York City. You're on the Long Island Expressway for like an hour and a half and then boom, farmland. So it's, um, it's really a stark difference to [00:38:00] what you see on the, on the ride up and yeah, it's surrounded by beaches. It's really, I'm sure there's maybe some places like this elsewhere in the world, but I think it's really unique and what's also unique about growing out here in the North Fork is, uh, the soil. The soil is incredibly rich and really perfect for growing. And the growing season is super long. I mean, anything you really want to grow, you can do it out here. I mean, we have all sorts of fruit trees, flowers, vegetables, and the growing zone that we're in is called, um, or is labeled 7A, which is like a sub zone. And that's all based on like your average, lowest temperature in the winter time. And to give you an idea like Maine or parts of Maine, most of Maine is like zone four, which means like their average, lowest temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit, and ours is 32. Uh, but we're also like 7A because of this maritime influence and whether that's [00:39:00] happening even, you know, just west of here in Riverhead is not, what's going to happen here. And weather and patterns move super fast and it's not really indicative of like what's happening, uh, anywhere else in the state, or even like across the sound in Connecticut. It's very unique and yeah, the soil is just really tight for, for growing and that's because of the glaciers. Thank you to the glaciers. Appreciate that. From Riverhead to Orient Point, there's like one McDonald's, one Starbucks and like a CVS and Walgreens. So like as far as big. Oh, and there's a Dunkin Donuts, there's Dunkin Donuts, which is sometimes nice. I think it's something to do with like the, you mean municipalities, you know, like the, the towns, not allowing these things to come in and it's all been sort of cordoned off to Riverhead, which is like, you know, basically like the end of the highway, it is the end of the highway and that's where you [00:40:00] get, you know, the big box stores and yeah, it's really been kind of limited to there. And, uh, it's incredible that this place is, yeah, kind of like some weird, I don't time warp or like it's, it's been missed by the masses for so long. It is yet still just like mostly farms and family businesses. And certainly that stuff is changing and there's some people that are coming in and buying up bigger tracks of land and whatnot. But for the most part, I mean, it is don't get me wrong, it is like vacation town and New York and expensive and all these things. And it's difficult for young people to live in and whatnot, but ultimately, yeah, it's, um, it's all about local and local businesses. And we all go to each other's little markets and shows and support each other and sponsor each other's, you know, little league teams and Christmas fundraising, toy drives and coat drives and all these things. Yeah. We're all kind of in it together and we're all trying to make our [00:41:00] way out here. And yeah, it's really a beautiful thing that like, people can still have the local cheese shop and the barbershop and the local art gallery and the kitschy t-shirt store that says "North Fork" on it, or something funny about being from Long Island. Again, things are changing, but yeah, it's really, and people keep saying, "oh, it's going to become the Hamptons and this and that, it's going to change. And it's changing too fast." I really don't think it is, you know. It doesn't happen overnight. And I don't think it will. And even those that have come in and you know, again, don't get me wrong. We're, we're considered new out here. Like if you didn't go to high school out here, you are not a local, but we, um, yeah, we're committed to this community. And I think we've done a really good job of ingratiating ourselves into this place. Just doing everything we can to be positive in this space ourselves, while supporting as many other people as we can. Other [00:42:00] farmers, other producers, whatever it may be. Even if you think it's trending and it's cool. And the North Fork is happening and the New York Times is writing about it, and whatnot, uh, I think people come in and they, they have those ideas and they have, uh, concepts, you know, that they want to open up out here, the new, whatever, the new clothing store in Greenport. I think there, there there's a harsh reality there that like, it is not the Hamptons. And like there isn't that sort of money being spent and it's not, there isn't like the huge, you know, I don't even know what the numbers must be in the Hamptons as far as how big the populations grow. But up here, I mean, it's a steady trickle all summer and you get the summer people, but it's not booming. You know, it's not an explosion. And people quickly find that it's hard to be out here in the winter time and you can't be open 12 months out of the year, or you really got to figure out how to do that if that's what you want. And so it's, um, it's [00:43:00] not, not happening too fast. I think, you know, you can want it to happen fast, but it's not. And you know, I've learned a lot, working at this business, that I do want to exist 12 months of the year, cause I don't want to be, I don't want to fall into that trap of "let's make all of our money in 90 days between Memorial day and labor day when the population booms," because that is unsustainable on all fronts. It's no way to live because you're just stressed and then you make all this money and then if you don't, it's a shame. And then you like limp into the next year because you know, you can't pay your bills or whatever. And so I think I've, I say it's, it's like a pretty interesting time to be on the North Fork because I'm not exactly sure what it wants to be. It's, it's going to continue in its agricultural traditions, that's not going away, but as far as who is the year-round population and where do those people want to eat and drink and who do they want to buy from? I think maybe that's changing. [00:44:00] But it's not the $22 sandwich. That is not the way that we're going just yet. And I hope that's never where we go, but I don't think we all really know what that means just yet. So it's cool. It's cool to be out here now. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful place to be
One of the lowest points in this journey for us. Honestly, maybe there's two. It was after that first year where the first manager that was hired here was let go like that December, December, 2016, it just, wasn't working out. You know, there's a lot of hard work and again, I'm still trying to navigate working with my father and it's new for him, new for me. And now there's no manager and, you know, he had the farming experience. And so that was a real low point like that winter, but there was also a lot of hope in that, like, okay, like. This person who's [00:45:00] here, they're pretty negative, but we're going to move on. And it's Pete Sr and it's Pete Jr and we're going to figure this thing out. So there was still more, more hope to come. And, you know, my dad trusted a lot in me to, to have the vision and to, and to trust that like I was going to work hard at it, uh, which is incredible because I had no idea what I was doing. So thanks, pop. Uh, and we made it through that. And then, you know, through 2017, I had my cousin, uh, Chris, who was a lawyer in LA and who needed a change of scenery and my sister Kelly, and she needed a change of scenery from Vermont. And then our buddy Gardner, who I guess also needed a change of scenery, came out and we all, you know, kinda came together and worked that whole summer and had a lot of fun and learned even more. Remember that year I had somebody pretty sure it was Gardner, it left the, uh, it might've been me, actually who knows, the, uh, greenhouse door open in like October. And we had like beautiful cherry tomatoes and we got our [00:46:00] first like cold snap and it just like killed everything that was left in the greenhouse. And I was like, really upset about that. But, uh, that honestly like pails, it's like a drop in the bucket at this point in this whole road, and then another, like the, like the most difficult thing to date. And this is like another low point. And it's not like a single moment, but like human resources, like hiring the right people to work on the farm. Uh, and this isn't news to like anyone in any industry like finding the right people to work with. My experience is that, uh, with the farming is the work is really hard physically and the days are long and certain times of year are like way busier and way harder, like the summer, the height of the season, then maybe the spring or the fall. But you really, you really got to buy in, you know, it's a lifestyle choice. It's not, you know, for me, it's, it's not something you clock in and clock out of. And you [00:47:00] certainly can't instill that in someone else whose business it isn't, but you hope to impart some of that, like that love and care, uh, to the folks that you're working with. And yeah, in 2018, there was five of us and we all lived together. After that experience, you really understand like why reality TV works, you know, like 'Real World' and all that stuff that I was, you know, raised watching on MTV. You're like, "oh, I get it. Summertime young people working really hard trying to party as well." And you know, people are like hooking up and you're just like, "Oh my God, this is. This is nuts." Like the wheel, the wheels are going to fall off. And like a lot of it all did come to a head; like infighting and people being pissed at each other. And this person won't, won't talk to me. And, you know, we all live in the same house and man, it was just [00:48:00] that, uh, that's really stuck with me as far as trauma goes. And even like the first year with the first manager and stuff, like, it's just these, you know, interpersonal relations and like the work that you're doing, like you really just gotta, you gotta buy in and you gotta be sold on the dream. And like, we just got to get this stuff done and like, um, I'm tired, you're tired. It's hot out we're all hot, nothing we can do about it. We can like get up earlier. You know, if you guys want to get here at 6:00 AM, we could do that, and maybe we will. And so, yeah, I'd say those are, those are far and away the hardest parts of the farm. Thinking about it now and talking about it, like, I couldn't even tell you about like a failed crop or something. Cause that's just that doesn't have as big, a big, big of an effect on me and my dad and everyone else involved. As, you know, having, you know, one bad egg or a couple of bad eggs, or, you know, just [00:49:00] negativity. You don't need it. The plants don't like it either. You know, you want to raise them in a, in a loving environment. Lots of love.
A lot of, you know, the interviews I've listened to about farming and farmers, one of the words that always comes up is, you know, "scaling," you know, are you scaling up? Are you scaling down? Did you add five acres to your rotation? And now you want to get back to the original two because it's too much and you've got the market for just what you can grow on the two. And so why would you have five? In that transition, in 2016, 2017, you know, my dad was getting a lot of input from other people, you know, neighbors and, you know, a fellow farmer that he was consulting with. And he just had like a lot of input and, and good on him to really like, [00:50:00] honestly be vulnerable and just like asking for help and asking people, you know, "Hey, what do you think about this? And, you know, I'm thinking about growing fruit. How do you think I should go about doing it?" And he, he put in the time and asked a lot of questions, but I also think that with anything where there's so many like varied techniques and there is no right answer inevitably people do think they have the right answer and that they say, you know, I've been doing this for awhile. And like, this is how you do it. And it's like, well, I also think there's, there's merit in having no experience and having the blank slate. And you can just say like, I've got a feeling and what little I do know I'm going to go with that. And yeah, believing that, like, you know, "oh, you can't grow organic fruits." Like, well, why not? What are you talking about? People have been growing fruit for millennia. Maybe you're just not thinking about it the right way. What I'm getting at is that we had a moment, you know, in the birth of this farm where we [00:51:00] could have just maybe been more of a conventional farm. You know, because that's, you know, to a degree, a proven way of doing it, you know, you get the right tractors and right equipment and you have 300 or a thousand foot rows or 500 foot rows and you cultivate and you till and you fertilize and do all these things. And you, you know, you kill all the weeds and you get fruits and vegetables. Like it's, it's an if-then, like if you do this, then you get that. And there's no denying that. And you know, you see it all around us. I mean, that's the, um, preferred way of farming out here is, you know, on larger tracks of land with, with equipment, with machinery, and there's even, you know, certified organic farms that do it that way, but we had a choice and that was definitely a big moment for me and my father. And I really believed, I was like, listen, you know, we right now, because we have the financial backing, we don't need to, you know, turn a profit tomorrow. We [00:52:00] don't need to till up 10 acres and plant 10 acres and the world doesn't need another conventional farm. Period. It's not what the world needs. And I personally, Peter Treiber Jr. do not want to participate in that type of farming, what the exact conversation, and really, it was probably just like, it was so many conversations, just like, so like, every day, you know, my dad would be like, "well what about this?" And I'm like, "no." "Oh, well how about?" "No, like, we're just going to stick with this. And like, I just need you to believe." And you know, that, that was it's honestly been like years of those conversations because, you know, especially with the tree fruit and stuff, like the results aren't there, it takes years for these things to exist and like, yeah, a tree gets sick and there's no fruit and like another year and another year and another year. So it's hard to, you know, prove it, you know, to say, "Hey, pop, like, trust me. Like we're going to do it this way. It might not look the best right [00:53:00] now. And it's more work to do it by hand. And it's more work to, right now, but in the long run, it's going to be a huge payout and we're going to feel really good." And you know, when I have my nieces and nephews come or, you know, my friend's kids, or, you know, people's pets, whatever we go out into the field, I don't have to worry about anything. There's no chemicals. There's no, like, we're like, "Oh, hey, don't touch that. Don't put, don't put that in your mouth. That has something weird on it." We don't have to think about that. And I feel really good about the job we've done and I don't have scientific notes, you know, or, or studies to prove, but like, it feels like the animals really like it here. And you know, we've got populations of birds and blue birds and there's fox that live nearby and you know, it just, it feels balanced. It feels peaceful. It feels whole, you know, and we think about it that we think about it in the bigger picture. And, you know, it's interesting because the [00:54:00] people around us don't necessarily think that way. And like they're in a system and it's not that they don't necessarily want change, but they're just like, they're kind of stuck in a system, like a lot of folks in agriculture in this country, like you've subscribed to a certain system and you like, you have to keep doing it because you have loans to pay and you know, you gotta do it next year and you gotta like lease more land and all this stuff. So we're in the minority as far as how we go about doing our farming. And even when I talk to folks who have farmed in other ways, uh, or their families do, they're like, well, you know, eventually you'll have to, you'll have to get the bigger tractor and get the bigger rows going if you really wanna- I'm like, well, but we're doing it without that, you know? And like we're, we're doing all right. And, you know, year after year, getting better and selling more and doing more business and, you know, layering different parts of the business and working with different people and whatnot. And yeah, we're, we're kicking ass. The, and the, the [00:55:00] land looks great. So we do not use really big machinery. We prepare all of the land, uh, or the, the beds with, you know, shovels and a broad fork. And we cover crop and we mulch, we just opened up, uh, another full acre to plant into. And yeah, we used, uh, a disc to, to chop that up, but we're not going to like do it again and again and again and again, and plow it and disc it and plow and disk it. We nurture the soil and, you know, as I'm sure other people say, my farm manager says, "we are, we are a soil farmers." This is all about taking care of the soil. And that is like the most important part. So yeah, we made that decision a number of years ago and, um, I do not regret it one bit. And I know my father doesn't either. I think working at this size and with the techniques, there's just a lot more, it's human scale. So it's more approachable, you know, you can have, [00:56:00] you know, a quarter of an acre in your backyard or, you know, your grandparents' house or your neighbor's place or something, it's, it's more approachable. So while we're educating ourselves, I'd like to prove first to ourselves, but hopefully be an example to others that this style or technique, whatever you want to call it, approach to agriculture is sustainable. And what a lot of folks really want to know is like, "yeah, can I, can I live off of this? You know, is this, you know? Yeah, I know it's good for the environment, but, uh, as a business, like if I'm going to. Maybe eventually quit my day job, you know, like, can I do it this way?" And yeah, you, you can, you know, it's proven and not by our own example, you know, look at, uh, Jean-Martin Fortier and Eliot Coleman. And, you know, those were like the two big, uh, heavy hitters in like the market gardens and like the four season farming [00:57:00] zone, Jean-Martin is in Quebec and Elliot Coleman's in Maine. So that's like way colder than here. And these dudes are growing four seasons, you know, 12 months out of the year and killing it and making incredible livings that way. And Frith Farm is another one. We just got their book. They're up in Maine. I think what's also important is that, you know, for those that aren't farming is that, yeah, these are more approachable. I'm a person you can come and talk to, and there's so much to be learned and so much to educate the consumer on that it's very overwhelming. It's like, oh, what does organic mean? What does sustainable mean? What does no-till? I, I just want to like do what's right by me and my family and eat well. And then yeah. Maybe support my neighbor. If, you know, if I live close enough working at the scale, you, you can know thy farmer, you really can. And I encourage people to go do that. You know, I, I was asked the other day, you know, like, how do you know if it's good? I'm like, [00:58:00] well, like it or not, you just have to, you just have to ask you just got to ask the person who's doing the growing. There's no real secret question. You can ask, you know, that you get like a wink and a nod. Like, no, it's, it's, unsprayed, don't worry about it. Um, You can answer those questions and be closer to food. And a lot of folks offer volunteering hours and tours. A big part of this scale of farming is, you know, when COVID hit, if you're relying on some sort of like supply chain for your farm, if you're relying on your stuff, going off the farm and you know, way outside of your community, you aren't in great shape. And so if you're sort of like out of that central, you know, centralized commerce economy, you had it tough and might still have it that way. We were able to just service everyone around me and we did well in that and it felt good that [00:59:00] people could come, they could order on our online store and come pick up. That was really empowering for us, you know, cause that was, you know, that was 2020. And so that was, you know, our fourth season in, uh, in operation and uh, like, you know, selling to, to the public and it was hard and leading up to that and really wanted to reach more people and didn't want to be, you know, stuck in selling wholesale. And you know, I really, it came to the point where I just, I wanted to feed people and that's why I got an, you know, part of the reason I got into farming, I was like, I wanted to like feed my neighbors and it became clear right away that like, if we didn't have the farm stand or the farmer's market, we wouldn't necessarily be able to do that. So that's why we got into wholesaling restaurants, but yeah, human scale, human food going to humans, that's, that's, what's up, that's how it was [01:00:00] happening and that's how it will continue to happen. And there's all these articles that come out saying "Well, you know, will small-scale no-till farming, you know, save the world? And can we feed people this way?" And it's like, well, I think you can feed a lot of people. And if it's just like the community that you're around right now, that's pretty awesome. And hopefully it's just like a good example of what can be done on smaller plots of land. Maybe we get more people outside doing these things and understanding that what is enough? That can mean a lot of things. Like what is enough for you to eat and eating seasonally and all these things just for your, your like life, you know, what is enough to sustain you? Emotionally, spiritually, physically, and yeah, that's, that's what the smaller farms are all about.
When I first moved out here, the art and the farming seemed [01:01:00] like they needed to be two very separate things. I will be a farmer during the day and I will learn how to farm and that will be good and beautiful and fulfilling. And then at night when I'm home, I will, you know, work on collages and things like that. But since that point, especially after leaving The Invisible Dog and that beautiful community of, you know, 25 plus people always being around and doing all sorts of weird, cooky, beautiful things, uh, and seeing all the space that we have out here. It was really soon after I moved out here that I felt the need to have some sort of continuation of that artistic community. And because they had given so much to me that I didn't, I didn't see any, any way of, of severing that part of my life. So I immediately started thinking like, how do I get artists out here? How do I open up this place? You know, use this beautiful [01:02:00] old barn and, uh, really pretty much right away I had, you know, some people playing music at the farm. I had friends shooting, um, some scenes for a movie on the farm. Yes. Since then, I mean, we've had film screenings. All sorts of musicians come through. Dinners and disco parties and dance performances. You know, we've started a small residency called "Cooler Ranch", like the Dorito flavor, y'all. Uh, in partnership with Cooler Gallery out of Brooklyn, with my buddy, Michael Yarinsky. So slowly but surely, uh, organically, if you will, here on the farm, we've built a, uh, relationship with the arts that is, it's all kind of seamless. You know, we have some bigger sculptures out in the field. Some site-specific specific things, some wayward sculpture that needed a [01:03:00] home after public art projects were done. I've been boasting that we have, I think we have four out of the five boroughs represented as far as like public art projects that needed a home, the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn. And I don't think we have Queens. Oh and Staten Island. We have a piece from Staten Island. Sometimes when I talk about, it seems like we're, we're in a lot of different spaces, but it's all kind of just happened slowly, but surely over the years. It's really beautiful because the farm is, and has historically been a meeting place and a gathering place and a community hub and the barn dance, and then the barn, um, the barn concert is not a new concept. So, um, there was precedent there, which is nice and, uh, and to have the space to open up to folks. And I was so nervous when I had my first musicians come to play and all I really wanted was, one, I wanted people to show up, which was, that's [01:04:00] a whole other challenge. I just wanted them to enjoy playing in the barn. You know, I wanted it to sound good and to feel good. And if you come and play here, you know, I'm going to take you out into the field and we're going to like eat blackberries and you're going to have like a home cooked meal. And, uh, I know some folks have said, yeah, this is a far cry from like whatever shitbag bar that we're playing in. And we're getting, you know, soggy, French fries and mozzarella sticks. So it's really wonderful. And yeah, to have folks be able to come now and stay in this, at this place and in this space and like create artwork out in the field, you know, there's so many things that are in our lives that are derivative of agriculture, like the clothes you wear and the colors that make those clothes unique. And, um, you know, the beer you drink and the spirits you enjoy and, you know, there's, there's so much to it. And so we we've been working with our friend Cara Marie Piazza, who is a wonderful natural dye artist, and that is her, [01:05:00] uh, profession and, and her art. And so we grew a bunch of flowers, dye flowers for her. And I mean, that is incredible. I mean, to, to make a dye bath out of these beautiful flowers that are, that are feeding you in so many ways, I mean, just like the color palette, but then, you know, you're transforming a piece of fabric into, you know, like this incredible color scape. I mean, these like wearable pieces of artwork is incredible and we've grown indigo and, you know, I've used some of that stuff in my own work and it's really incredible. And, you know, working with herbalists and really seems endless, you know, the, the collaborations you can make. And, uh, for me, on a personal artistic note, I went from thinking that it is two separate things, you know, the art and the farming to something, um, there is no difference. For me, it's all part of the same lifestyle and worldview and how I see my life. I'm really just kind of like a change of [01:06:00] attitude and perception. I found something to do with my life. That is not only my job, my career, and a passion, but, uh, it is, you know, the ultimate creative expression. You are sculpting the land and it's long-term, and it's short-term, and there's, you know, immediate results and there's, uh, results that'll take, you know, basically a lifetime to, to see. You know, you're engaging all five senses. I mean, it's incredible. The flavors, the colors, you know. You're eating a carrot and you're looking at a bald eagle and the sun is setting like the birds are chirping and you're, you're experiencing so much. And that's that's yeah, that's the ultimate, I mean, I couldn't have asked for, for anything better. I mean, Making collages is cool and like putting them in a frame on a, on a wall, in a gallery, but I'm really digging into, and to [01:07:00] all, all that, I just mentioned all those feelings about, about the farming. And it is, it is my artwork now. And, and, you know, I want the field to be a, like a non-traditional gallery space and it will be in it is. But when I had a solo exhibition, um, as part of like a called "The Four Rooms Show" and so each room, this gallery had four different artists and, uh, I was lucky enough to participate and everything I had in that room was, uh, speaking to my life on the farm. Every bit of it, you know, I had spirits in this log that I carved out. Really cool chest that I made from some, some driftwood. And I put three bottles of spirits that were distilled with things that I grew on the farm. I dyed some ropes that had turned into jump ropes that I hung in, one was Marigold and one was indigo. And that's all from the farm. And a corncob pipe from corn that I grew on the farm. And then like some tobacco that went with the pipe and, you know, a collection [01:08:00] of straw hats. And all of it was here, all it was from here and from me, and it was. I think the, the best representation of me and my work that's ever been presented and, you know, it's taken a while to get there, but it really was a really powerful for me to put all of those works together in a room. And it just felt so rich in who I am and what I do. And I think it really, I think it really came through. I think people came into that room, especially with what was being shown around me, uh, like really set itself apart. And I think you could, you could really feel me and the farm and the land and everything in it. So it's all together now, the farming and the art, man. It's it's all one and yeah, I think there's, there's so much to be done with it. It's really incredible. It seems a really sort of limitless possibilities of, of being creative with myself and with others and getting other people out here doing their, their best [01:09:00] work. Yeah.
Some of the continuous magic moments for me are always in collaboration with others and to bring folks into our little community that we might not have done, so like maybe the dye artists, like maybe she would have just kept buying flowers or maybe she would eventually found a farm to work with, but you know, like the local distillery Matchbook Distilling Co., I mean, we have been working with them for several years now, and like that really gets me, collaborations really energize me and to find a way, uh, you know, maybe like maybe it's with Michael and the gallery where we grew broom corn for an art show that was called "The Broom Show" and like 30 different artists made brooms. Artists and designers made brooms. Pretty much everyone used the broom corn that was provided, and that was all grown here. And the idea was like growing a show [01:10:00] from seed. And how cool is that? Uh, or yeah, or working with, um, seeing your crop go into someone's hands and they bring it home and eat it for dinner, or like, you know, it goes to a restaurant and ends up in a dish, but you know, working with Matchbook Distilling Co., they do their magic and they take, you know, our lemongrass or our pumpkins, or our, you know, honey nut squash or, or some flowers or some, some other herbs. And it then ends up in a distilled spirit, in a bottle with a really cool label. And it says, you know, you know, made with Treiber Farms, whatever it was, they were like, whoa, that is, it's got this new life to it. And so that's really powerful stuff. But one moment that really hit me, uh, as being an overwhelmingly positive. Was this past spring, we had a show on the farm called Art Basil that is, uh, obviously a poke at Art Basel, uh, in, is that how people [01:11:00] say it? The one in Miami? Yeah, that was, yeah. In collaboration with VSOP projects. My buddy, Jonathan, and we were like out in the field working on these rose bushes and we're like, "oh, we should do something like fun and like do show in the barn." and we'd like done before, but let's like really embrace this agriculture adjacent art, art adjacent agriculture sort of thought and feeling. And I was like, well, let's just, you know, poke a little fun at Art Basil, Art Basel, and do our own thing and call it Art Basil and actually like sell, we sold, I think like five different varieties of basil plants, like from like really tiny, like just two tree leaves, just slightly bigger versions of themselves like a little more established. And then, uh, you know, I made like three or four different types of vinegars. So there's like, and then we had the farm stand open and we had a, uh, herbalist slash like tarot reader. And then we had art. I mean, we had like, [01:12:00] we, he commissioned some paintings that were like, odes to like John Baldessari. And so, you know, there's some sort of food related things there. And I did some spore prints with mushrooms on big pieces of paper that were framed. And like, this is a piece of artwork. This is, you know, mushrooms that were, you know, foraged on the farm and all of these vessels. And, you know, these prints and my mother did some like oil paintings of like tomatoes and other things. This really cool artist in Brooklyn, uh, named Betty Rubble, who does like kind of food centric, kinda like paintings on rocks and stuff. So it's like, oh, this piece of concrete, she found, it looks like a box of Wheaties. Um, cause she painted it that way. And so what I'm getting at is that that was a good mix of all those things that I love and hold dear, which is the farming and the art and being creative. But it was the first event, post [01:13:00] vaccination, post COVID. And it was in the barn and it was a beautiful it was the weekend, before Memorial Day, it was beautiful, like the first nice weekend. And everyone came! I mean, like all of our local artists, friends, other farmers, um, people, we didn't know, you know, new friends, old friends. And everybody was so happy and everybody was so complimentary because no one else is doing stuff like that. And you can't appreciate it all the time when you're in it. But that moment was just really beautiful because people really appreciated it. And they told you, so, you know, they took the time to come and say, "hey, like, this is great. We really appreciate this. Like, please keep doing things like this." And we will, because that's what we want to do. And, and it feels good, you know, because it's been years. And even I could, even in [01:14:00] that moment appreciate, uh, the work that we had done, you know, that we had held true to ourselves and we could, we could, you know, take a moment and pat ourselves on the back and say like, "Hey, this is good. This feels good. Everyone else feels good about this. We feel good about this." It's the farming. It's the arts, it's collaborative, it's all a hundred percent about the local community and our friends and family and get putting ourselves out there. Um, so yeah, that was, that was a big moment for, for me and, and the farm this past May. Then, you know, plenty more to come.
Jordan: Thanks for listening everyone for links and resources about everything discussed today, please visit the show notes in the episode. For a deeper dive into this episode and all others in our archive, please visit our website www.prixfixepodcast.com. [01:15:00] If you want to support the podcast, the most effective way to do so, would be to hit the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platform that you're listening in from. Don't forget to leave us a review, too, if you have the option to do so. Sharing the show with your friends on social media is always appreciated. Shout out to Shawn Myers for creating the original music and to Jason Cryer for the graphical elements, the show is produced by Homecourt Pictures. You can always reach out to me at Jordan H-A-R-0 on Instagram and Twitter. Follow the show @prixfixepod on Instagram or email us via prixfixepodcast@gmail.com. I appreciate every second of your attention and support. See you in the next one![01:16:00]