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Explaining why he’d organized the gathering, Kaiser told Patch: “Our family chose to work with this collaboration because we are a small community of food processors. And when one falls, the others should pick them up.”
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“Jeanette is the nicest person I’ve ever met. She has a heart of gold and I love her dearly. And I can’t believe this is happening to her,” Margaret Kaiser said.

“Jeanette is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever known,” said Penelope Rudder, who came to support her friend. “Her arms are always open to embrace you — and now, we just want to embrace her.”

Aki Goldberg agreed. “She’s a very dear friend; she is one of the kindest and most honest people. She is the most helpful soul — and this is the most unfair thing. Many people are just out for themselves, but Jeanette gives and shares with warm and good hands.”

Patricia Conforti of Square GF said when she first met Jeanette, at a farmers market, she immediately knew she’d found a friend. “She made a whole meal for us to share, vegetables, shrimp.”

A single mom of three kids, Jeanette prepares meals of love, she said. “She’s the family matriarch,” she said. “She’s so nurturing.”

Goldberg, who prepared butternut squash soup for the event, said: “I put a lot of love in here. This is my way of giving back to her.”

Doctors diagnosed Jeanette Candido with the grade 4 brain tumor—the most aggressive type—within days of symptoms surfacing, according to her family.

During an emergency surgery, doctors removed about 20 percent of the tumor.

Jeanette is a mother of three, a manager at the Southampton Farmers Market, and a fixture at numerous other Long Island farmers markets known as “The Granola Lady” for her artisanal granola business, The Granola Plant.

Now, her children Adeline, Michael and Robbie, are raising money via GoFundMe for the heavy financial burdens associated with the diagnosis, including medical and recovery expenses. So far, friends, family members and community members who’ve never met Jeanette have raised $44,939 of the $100,000 goal.

“The funds raised here will go to her medical bills, rehabilitation expenses, and quality of life care in coming months. We hope that you’ll consider supporting her as she navigates this difficult season of her life,” her daughter Adeline wrote on the fundraiser page.

In a post-surgery update, Adeline said that while the tumor caused Candido to lose some of her vision before surgery that can’t be recovered, her mother’s “mobility is different” but she is “doing super well otherwise.”

“She is strong and ready to fight cancer as hard as she can. There is a long road ahead as we learn to navigate life as this new ‘normal’ for now,” Adeline said. “Mom still has to figure out the next steps and undergo continued treatment in the upcoming weeks.”

In the update, Jeanette’s family shared words from their mother.

“We appreciate the overwhelming support. So many of you have been texting, calling, sending prayers and well wishes, and supporting our GoFundMe. I have no words to express how much the monetary support at this time helps ease the blow to my children and I as we figure this out,” Jeanette said. “My heart is so full with all the love and I’m grateful for you all. We are blessed.”

Kaiser and his family believe in giving back, even as he’s been featured in the national spotlight.

When Netflix unveiled its new competition series on August 9, “Blue Ribbon Baking Championship” — a show featuring 10 of the top blue-ribbon bakers from state fairs nationwide — Riverhead residents saw a beloved face representing the traditions and tastes that they’ve long associated with heart and home.

Contestants in the eight-episode series vie to win $100,000 and the eagerly-sought “Best in Fair” blue ribbon, offering a dazzling array of desserts and delectable choices found at state and county fairs across the country. The show features host Jason Biggs alongside judges Sandra Lee, former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses, and artisan baker Bryan Ford.

Kaiser took the first episode by storm, winning the Judges’ Choice blue ribbon for his “North Fork Potato Candy,” a sumptuous treat made with North Fork potatoes, coconut, chocolate and a dash of ingenuity that left the judges wowed.

Speaking with Patch, Kaiser described how a farmer found his way from the fields to Netflix fanfare. “A couple of years back, we found that there was a disconnect. People didn’t know how to use fresh produce — or where their food actually came from,” he said.

He began posting “Meal Reels” on the farm’s Instagram page, sharing recipes for fresh focaccia bread or eggplant Caponata. And, Kaiser, said, he shared a reel about his famous “Concord Gape Pie,” mentioning that the mouthwatering favorite had won a blue ribbon at the Riverhead Country Fair.

Not only was his father-in-law Harold Feinberg a potato farmer, his wife and he are now farming themselves, their roots deeply entrenched in the rich soil where their legacy lies, Kaiser said. “I like to incorporate something from what I do, into what I make,” he said. “I also like to think outside the box — and I wanted to impress. Little did I realize what I had created was deemed phenomenal by the judges.”

Appearing on the show gave Kaiser a newfound sense of confidence, accomplishment and can-do spirit. He’s energized, brimming with plans for the future and ideas on how to reach out and educate people about the food they eat and the abundance of healthy natural fare on the North Fork.

To that end, Kaiser has begun hosting cooking classes and both lunches and dinners at the farm, as well as fundraising events such as the farm-to-table dinner to benefit Candido.

Kaiser and his wife first bought the farm in 2013. Margaret’s father was a potato farmer in Bridgehampton who “developed part of his farming business into a produce brokerage. He would sell produce and seed from Maine to Florida. He had a North Fork packing shed on Sound Avenue andand he kept steer at Wolf Pit in Mattituck,” Kaiser said.

But, after his father-in-law Feinberg died in the 80s, the farming operation closed.

Kaiser, originally from Sound Beach, met Margaret, from Jamesport, when he was working in the kitchen of a Rocky Point restaurant and she was the dining room manager. Soon, what began as a friendship — filled with movies, the beach, dinners — soon blossomed into romance; the couple soon married. Like most couples, they didn’t have a lot of money; Margaret’s brother gifted them the use of the clubhouse at what is now the North Fork Preserve County Park, for their reception.

The couple had a landscaping business and originally bought the farm in 2013 to expand that business with greenhouses and a nursery, Kaiser said. Ironically, he said, “we wound up in the spot where we got married; the preserve used to be part of the farm.”

Just as plants sprouted from the rich soil, so, too, new dreams were born.

“We bought the farm, not with the intention of farming,” Kaiser said. “But there’s something about this place, an aura, that things occur, evolve, organically.”

What began slowly, with the thought of cultivating a small piece of ground to grow basil, suddenly flourished.

“It became, ‘Let’s eat off this land.’ We had plenty of land to grow for ourselves — and then it became the homesteading model, where you grow food for yourself and you barter, trade, and exchange the surplus.”

Eventually, a beekeeper was hired, and Kaiser kept planting.

“I call myself a farm chef,” he said. “The biggest difference is a restaurant chef will have an idea for a special, go to market, and look for the ingredients he needs. A farm chef looks at 500 lbs. of tomatoes and says, ‘What am I going to do with all of this so it doesn’t spoil?'”

It’s important to Kaiser to also encourage other small farmers; his barn is set up with produce and products from others on the North Fork.

And that includes stepping forward to help that family of farmers when times are difficult and the road seems dark — lifting one another up during their greatest battles.

Click the GoFundMe link to donate to Jeanette Candido.

With additional reporting by Jade Eckardt

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