Quiet denizens of the North Fork

"Souls of New York" creator Brent Sterling Nemetz gets away from the city to look at the North Fork tonight at 8:30 on Ch. 21 (Newsday/Peter Basich)

BY VERNE GAY | Newsday Staff Writer

September 6, 2006

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This much we know: That on that slender, gorgeous slice of green land sandwiched between two bodies of water and known commonly as the North Fork of Long Island are potatoes, ducks and grapes. And this much we likely do not: That there are unusual, interesting, quirky, lively people who harvest each of them. These are the souls, colloquially speaking, who lend this magical place its charm and mystery. And it's a fair bet there's no one else like them in the whole wide world.

Anyway, that's the pitch for tonight's latest installment of "The Souls of New York," and - with a word changed here or there - could be for any of the others that have aired since 1997. This clever, engaging series is predicated on the notion that while most of us are fighting for pole position in the daily rat race, there are many others who are not. These are people who have little need for "What Color Is Your Parachute?" A resumé is just a foreign word to them. A job isn't a means to an end but an end in itself.

Ah, to be one of said souls ...

Produced (and directed and created) by a soul from Amityville, Brent Sterling Nemetz, tonight's edition is a genuine Long Island special. Profiled are Rosamond Phelps Baiz and her husband, Christian Baiz, who manage the Old Fields Vineyard in Southold, vintners of everything from Pinot Noir to Blush de Noirs; Dee Muma and Ed Tuccio, who raise buffalo on North Quarterfarm north of Riverhead (and not mentioned in this broadcast for some inscrutable reason is that Tuccio also runs one of the North Fork's oldest real estate agencies, Edwin Fishel Tuccio Real Estate). There's also Martin and Carol Sidor, who grow potatoes on 150 acres in Mattituck; David Nyce, furniture maker in Greenport; Ted Webb, a keeper of the Long Beach Bar Lighthouse - aka Bug Light - at the entrance to Orient Harbor (rented out to vacationers at $1,000 per night); Doug Corwin, of Crescent Duck Farm, a huge family-owned operation in Aquebogue; and Jim King, who hauls 150 lobster traps out of Mattituck Inlet.

Nemetz has a clear and uncluttered eye - he lets his subjects do the talking while his camera work is notable for its clarity and, on occasion, beauty. Unfortunately, he hasn't got the soul of a good reporter: These portraits almost demand perspective and even explanation, of which there is virtually none. Why - for example - Old Fields, and not any of the many other winegrowers on the North Fork? Why did duck farming become so prominent here? Anything else about the North Fork we should know (like ... where does one begin)?

There's an unspoken poignancy, though, to these portraits. The North Fork is one of the last major redoubts of agriculture on Long Island, but how much longer before the redoubt becomes a strip mall? Maybe, just maybe, souls like these will forestall - or prevent - what seems inevitable.

ThE SOULS OF NEW YORK: NORTH FORK. A nice portrait of a beautiful place, but could use a little more perspective. Tonight at 8:30 on WLIW/21.

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