children's activities

POP Club Calendar 2022

June 21, 2022 By marketeditor

Sponsored by The Christopher Dailey Foundation

www.saratogafarmersmarket.org

Wednesdays, 3-6 pm

June 29 End of School Celebration

Free Concert by Jack & Steve Zucchini

Pizza garden activity at POP Club

Jodie Fitz & Fidget Plants a Pizza Garden

Crafts with the Saratoga Spring Public Library

Free face painting by Artsy Fartsy Facepaint

July 6 Explore herbs with Pitney Meadows Community Farm

Smell, touch, and taste various herbs, and vote for your favorite

Tea tasting with mint and lemon balm tea

July 13 Fit food with Cornell Coop. Ext. Food & Nutrition

Bicycle-blend a smoothie with the Fender Blender

Take the 2 Bites Challenge and sample in-season veggies

July 20 Flower power with the Saratoga Springs Public Library

Lollipop flower craft

Flower ID activity

July 27 Buzz like a bee with Little Wings Farm School

Honeybee craft

Learn about our pollinators’ favorite flowers

Try a taste of local honey

Aug 3 Construct with 4-H Robotics

Hands-on robot demonstrations with Ozobots

Giant robot demo on the lawn

Build fruit and vegetable constructs with toothpicks

Aug 10 Musical food with Caffè Lena Music School

Make percussion instruments out of recycled tins and dried beans.

Learn about beans and their nutritional content

Aug 17 C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios

Activities TBA

Aug 24 Our 5 Senses with The Children’s Museum of Saratoga

Sensory garden activities

Aug 31 Go fishing with the Saratoga Springs Public Library

Paper plate fish craft

Take the 2 Bites Challenge and sample in-season fruit

Wednesday at the Farmers’ Market – A festival of fresh

April 26, 2018 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Market shopper, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market starts its outdoor season Wednesday at High Rock Park, with 28 vendors – seven of which are new. For the next six months, the market runs from 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

Why visit the market twice a week?

Market administrator Julia Howard has a simple answer: Everything is fresh.

The Wednesday market creates a space for families, downtown workers, and others to plan their midweek meals as they shop.

“Envision this as dinner Wednesday,” says market administrator Julia Howard. “Fresh-cut pasta noodles, cooked at home, with fresh feta cheese, hydroponic tomatoes and a parsley garnish. Add any number of vegetables from our produce vendors on the side, and cider or wine.”

For breakfast the next morning, Howard adds, try farm-fresh eggs and maple syrup, and perhaps a couple of goat riblets, chicken or a steak for dinner the next night.

“There will be so much good food this year at the Wednesday market,” Howard said. “There’s no reason not to make it a part of your meal planning for the week.”

Midweek markets are a boon for farmers from late spring through early fall when seasonal produce grows rapidly and is at its freshest. By having an opportunity to sell produce more than once a week, farmers are able to supply customers with a larger share of their harvests, which reduces spoilage.

Many farmers also use the market as a space to sell seedlings and container plants. Wednesday’s opening market celebrates this tradition by offering children and others an opportunity to plant a seed at the market, place their name on a label, and over the weeks to come, to watch it grow.

New vendors include pasta makers Mangiamo LLC, the Saratoga Winery, Infinite Concepts jewelry, and produce/meat farmers Green Jeans Market Farm, Halls Pond Farm, Ramble Creek Farm, and Squashville Farm. Joining these vendors are 11 returning produce farmers, a dairy farmer, a maple and honey producer, three baked goods vendors, two prepared foods vendors, two artists, and a knife sharpener.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market will hold its last indoor market for the season from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park. The market will be outdoors 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Gears Up for its 40th Year

December 28, 2017 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Tomorrow marks the first Saratoga Farmers’ Market of 2018. It also rings in the market’s 40th year.

For many longtime vendors, the milestone marks a moment of pride. It affirms that the Saratoga Farmers’ Market mission of supporting Saratoga with fresh farm foods continues to thrive.

Farmers’ markets have deep roots in American society, dating back to Native American trading spaces. Markets all but disappeared after World War II, however, as a result of corporate agriculture and the arrival of national grocery store chains that taught consumers to prioritize convenience over freshness. By 1965, there were just six farmers’ markets in New York State.

The decline began to reverse in the 1970s. In 1976, the U.S. Congress passed a Farmer to Consumer Direct Marketing Act. The act authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide public money to states to promote direct marketing between farmers and consumers in ways that would be clean, healthy, and safe for all.

Two years later, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market was established, and area farmers began bringing plant seedlings and fresh produce to downtown Saratoga.

The first season was a challenge, as many longtime vendors recall, but persistence paid off and today farmers’ markets are becoming an increasingly important aspect of many communities and an important contributor to the economies of such small cities as Saratoga.

While the breadth of today’s Saratoga Farmers’ Market has changed considerably, its mission remains the same. Vendors sell fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, cheeses, maple syrup, honey, and an array of prepared goods. The overall market offerings also continue to be predominantly agricultural items grown or raised within four counties. Three-fourths of the items available at the market are agricultural.

This new year brings some changes. Rick Green of Ballston Lake Apiaries has hung up his beekeeper hat to enjoy retirement, along with Albert Sheldon of Sheldon Farms. Joining the winter market are several specialty food vendors who made their debut in the holiday market last month. And the market board recently voted to approve products from Warren County into its mix, expanding the base from four counties – Saratoga, Washington, Schenectady, and Rensselaer – to five.

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park; follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.