On sunny Tuesday mornings there are teenagers working the land at Share the Harvest Farm on Long Lane in East Hampton, searching under leafy greens for ripe cucumbers, digging in the dirt to find potatoes, and pulling long stems that lead to bulbous onions. They are part of a summer internship program with the farm and Pitch Your Peers Teen, a youth-led philanthropic and service organization that introduces students to local nonprofits, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and charitable funding.
The produce harvested on Tuesdays becomes part of snack boxes distributed to children at the Springs Food Pantry on Wednesdays. Brooke Bohnsack, the founder and president of Pitch Your Peers, came up with the idea.
“Brooke came to me with this idea to have kids volunteering on the farm because the summer lunch programs don’t usually contain anything fresh,” said Meredith Arm, executive director of Share the Harvest. “We have cucumbers that we just picked on the farm, some brightly colored cauliflower, and zucchini in different colors also — green and yellow — with hummus dip that the kids are also helping to create. It’s a really nice, full-circle experience. And the kids also go to the pantry and help hand out the bags.”
“The point is to get our kids out into the field and get their hands dirty,” said Ms. Bohnsack. “Once you’re at the farm, you’re like, ‘Why would I not do this?’ It’s amazing. You get more than you give. It’s important for our kids to take a minute, pause, and be grateful for what they have, and want to support their neighbors and classmates. That feeling can really be powerful and transformative.”
This week, the teens started in the cucumber patch, where Matthew Quirk, the farm director, showed them how to tell whether a cuke is ripe: It should be plump and full, but not look like it’s about to burst. Thin cucumbers aren’t ready yet.
“We harvested cucumbers, potatoes, and onions and taught them a little bit about being careful with the plants, the proper way to harvest, and what to look for to tell when something is ready,” Quirk said. “Something like the potatoes, this time of year, the plants are dying [when the leaves die, the tubers below are ready], so it’s pretty obvious. Cucumbers, showing them what a young one looks like, versus an older one, versus a perfect one.”
Brooke’s sons, Chase, Walker, and Hudson, helped harvest the vegetables. The potatoes were their favorite.
“You pick it up and it’s not there. You gotta go digging for it,” said Chase, a rising sophomore at East Hampton High School. “I like the hard work. You find purpose in it.”
“It’s good to give back to the community,” said Walker, who will be a ninth grader at Ross School this fall.
“It’s healthy,” added the youngest Bohnsack, Hudson, who is entering eighth grade at Ross.
Kira Brandman, director of operations at the Springs Food Pantry, joined the kids at the farm and was grateful for the extra summer help.
“The Springs Food Pantry runs year round, but in the summer we have a lunch program for just the kids, ages O to 18,” she said. “When they’re not in school and their parents are usually out working all day, often the kids are at home by themselves, so we provide them with some healthy protein options, some healthy snacks — and a few treats, because they’re kids.”
The pantry not only provides food, but also introduces families to new types of produce. “We have an 80 to 85-percent Ecuadorean community in Springs,” Ms. Brandman said, “ so there are certain herbs they use a lot. They make a lot of stews, so they want the hearty vegetables that they put in there. But we’ve taught them about squash. In Ecuador they don’t have squash, so it’s been a learning curve for them to understand it’s not just a pumpkin that you put out in the fall.”
“We bring 20 or 30 crates of them, and it’s caught on,” Mr. Quirk added. “People are discovering they can cook them, and they’re really delicious. Not everyone knows what to do with butternut squash. And it’s a lot of food, too. One butternut squash is a lot of food.”
Share the Harvest began in 2010 as a half-acre nonprofit farm and has since grown to six acres, donating more than 160 tons of produce. Giving isn’t just part of the farm, it’s the heart of the farm.
“Share the Harvest is the only farm that grows specifically to give. Our produce is grown to be donated, which is really unique and special to us,” Ms. Arm explained. “Last year, we donated over 60,000 pounds of produce. We now serve over 11 different pantries and organizations from Springs Food Pantry, Sag Harbor Food Pantry, The Retreat women’s shelter. We also have the kids from the shelter onto the farm. We really try to be very collaborative with our partners in different ways.”
For this collaboration between P.Y.P. Teen and the Springs Food Pantry, vegetables were harvested from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., then transported to the kitchen at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church by noon to be washed, cut, and packaged.
Share the Harvest’s farm chef, Nikki Glick, led the kitchen effort, showing students how to clean, safely chop, and package the produce while preparing hummus to go with it. Next week, she plans to teach them how to bake zucchini muffins.
“It’s literally farm to table. That term has gotten so watered down, but these kids picked the produce from the farm today and it will be on somebody’s table tomorrow,” she said. “They’re going to be the freshest produce they can be, full of nutrients, super tasty. It’s great. You just feel really lucky to be in a place that grows the most beautiful produce, working with a farm that really cares about their stuff. Everything is organic. You can really taste the difference.”
More interns joined the farm-to-pantry assembly line at St. Luke’s, eager to help neighbors in need.
“We’re preparing their lunches so they can have nutrition and grow and excel at their sports and activities,” said Sailor Cangiolosi, who will be a freshman at the high school this fall. “I just joined Pitch Your Peers. I get to help out and it feels nice.”
“It’s important to recognize that not everyone in the community is as fortunate as others, and it’s important to give back when you realize that you’re in a privileged place,” added Grace Dunchick, a rising junior. “I really like going to the Springs Food Pantry and handing the lunch to people. It’s amazing to see the faces of everyone when they receive the lunches. It really does make such a difference in their lives.”
The summer internship program was made possible by a grant from the Carte Blanche Foundation in New York City, which has supported Share the Harvest since 2024. “We came up with a budget and I brought it to one of our amazing donors, the Carte Blanche Foundation, and they immediately jumped on it and loved it and supported it with a donation to cover this internship, which is amazing. We’re very thankful.”
On Aug. 2, Share the Harvest will host its annual Summer Soirée, the farm’s largest fund-raiser, which helps finance the remainder of the growing season. Last year’s event raised more than $50,000. The farm is seeking volunteers to help plan the event and-or assist in the fields.
Pitch Your Peers Teen, which launched last spring, is also welcoming new members. The organization offers more than 176 volunteer opportunities.
“We’re super excited to launch this new teen program,” Ms. Bohnsack said. “We have about 25 kids signed up. The goal is for our kids to commit to 25 hours of service. If they do that, they’re entitled to pitch their favorite nonprofit as a team. But if you don’t want to pitch and don’t want to do 25 hours and just want to do 10 hours, we’d still love to have you.”
Both Share the Harvest Farm and Pitch Your Peers Teen have volunteer applications on their websites: sharetheharvestfarm.org and pypthehamptons.org.