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craft

Fall Favorites at the Farmers’ Market

September 28, 2020 By marketeditor

By Madison Jackson and Emily Meagher

Before the farmers’ market moves back indoors, we spend one last month with our tents up and our coats on to share fresh, local products with our community. Summer produce makes way for the fall harvest; a time for comforting food and drinks and festive seasonal products. Here are ten fall favorites you can find at our markets in October.

1. Apple cider and cider donuts
Saratoga Apple and Slyboro Cider House both operate their own orchards. Try their fresh apples, pressed apple cider, hard cider, and cider donuts. A real Upstate NY treat!

Saratoga Peanut Butter Company, photo by Madison Jackson

2. Pumpkin Pandemonium Peanut Butter
The name says it all. This Saratoga Peanut Butter Company creation is chock-full of rich pumpkin and peanut flavors. A guilt-free treat at only 2 grams of sugar per serving, it’s great on sandwiches, apples, ice cream, and more.

3. Hand-painted hats
Artist Gretchen Tisch, owner of Feathered Antler, gives hats a fall makeover. Pick up a leaf-accented fedora or hand-knit beanie at the market.

4. Hot chocolate cheesecake
Grandma Apple’s Cheesecakes’ flavors vary with the season. Our current favorite is hot chocolate cheesecake. It’s perfect for when you have company, but perfectly acceptable to eat all by yourself! Also available are apple and pumpkin cheesecakes and cheesecake filled apples dipped in chocolate.

5. Apple cider fromage frais
Nettle Meadow does cheesemaking with a creative touch, and it shows with their seasonal favorites. Back at the market are the soft apple cider fromage frais, pumpkin spice and maple chevre, and the brie-like Early Snow.

6. Local wool
Elihu Farm’s sheep produce award-winning wool, sold as washed and unwashed fleeces at the market. Pick up a fleece to do some cozy fall crafting!

Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, photo by Emily Meagher

7. Spooky soaps
At Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, no shape of soap is too crazy. Their fall mineral soap collection includes ghosts, pumpkins, black cats, acorns, leaves, and owls.

8. Ornamental corn
Fresh summer corn is making way for ornamental fall corn. Pick up some calico or broom corn from local farms for fresh seasonal home decor.

9. Hand-ground cinnamon
Saratoga Spicery’s fresh-ground spices and spice mixes include hand-ground cinnamon. Give your baked goods an extra fresh flavor!

10. Pumpkins!
Farmers’ markets in October wouldn’t be complete without fresh gourds and winter squash. Local farms have a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes in stock – you can even find some hand-painted mini pumpkins.

Photo by Madison Jackson

This week: not a recipe, but a craft… how to make felt balls with wool roving!

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: Apple, cheese, cheesecakes, cider, cinnamon, corn, craft, donuts, Elihu Farm, fall, favorites, Feathered Antler, Grandma Apple's Cheesecakes, hats, home decor, Nettle Meadow, peanut butter, pumpkin, Saratoga Apple, Saratoga Peanut Butter, saratoga spicery, Saratoga Suds 'n' Stuff, Slyboro Cider House, soaps, wool

How to Make Felt Balls with Wool Roving

September 28, 2020 By marketeditor

AdobeStock

Instructions from the Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Felted balls can be used to make a variety of craft projects like festive garlands, jewelry, mobiles, wreaths, and much more. The combination of heat, water, soap, and friction allows the fibers to mend together to create the ball. The entire process takes about 3 minutes.

Supplies
*Items currently available at the farmers’ market
● a selection of wool roving*
● dish soap
● warm water

Instructions
1. Rip the wool roving into small pieces (never cut the wool roving as the raw edges mend together easier).
2. Next, roll the small pieces of wool roving into a ball, overlapping each piece. This won’t be a perfect ball, just a rough ball or spherical shape. Be sure to make the ball of roving larger than you want the final ball to be because the ball will shrink as it comes together.
3. Now it is time to drop the ball of wool roving into a bowl of hot, soapy water. You only need to use a small drop of dish soap.
4. Let the ball soak for 5-10 seconds and then remove the ball from the bowl and begin rolling it between the palms of hands. Roll gently at first, just like you would roll a ball of play dough.
5. After rolling the ball around a few times, place your hand, with the ball, under hot running water…as hot as you can handle. Continue rolling the ball in your palms and placing it under hot water until it reaches the size and density that you want. The wool will bind together and shrink down.
6. When the ball has reached the size that you like, set the felt balls aside to dry out thoroughly. Once the felt balls are dry and firm you can use them as you like.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: craft, DIY, fall, felt, roving, wool

Cheesemaking is a passion, an art

June 8, 2020 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Argyle Cheese Farmer, photo by Pattie Garrett

A basic cheese can be easy to make. You heat milk to a particular temperature, stir in an agent such as vinegar or lemon juice to create curds, drain off the liquid known as whey, and wait for the curds to cool.

Making a really great cheese, however, is more complex.

“It is about using old world craftsman methods to produce cheese in a deliberate and careful, hand-crafted way,” says Sheila Flanagan of Nettle Meadow. “It is not overly industrialized or mechanized. It is connected to the animals whose milk is used. It is a way of life.”

That way of life is reflected in the broad array of cheeses that Nettle Meadow brings each Saturday to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, along with R&G Cheese Makers and Argyle Cheese Farmer.

R&G Cheese Makers, photo by Pattie Garrett

The cheeses are made from goat, sheep, and cow milk. They include soft chevres, camemberts, cheddars, mozzarellas, manchegos, blue cheeses, and more.

Artisan cheesemakers such as Flanagan, Argyle’s Marge Randles, and R&G owner Sean O’Connor draw on historic customs to create cheeses with minimal machinery. Often, recipes are unique to the cheesemaker and evolve over years.

For instance, Dave Randles’s favorite cheese – Mercy – evolved out of a recipe that Marge found in an old British cookbook, accompanied by several farmstead processes for making cheddar cheese.

Nettle Meadow, photo by Pattie Garrett

Flanagan notes that many Nettle Meadow cheeses are complicated to make. “Those complexities make them stand out.”

One favorite – Briar Summit – is made with goat, cow and sheep milk with raspberry leaf tea and cream added in. The ratios of milk vary by season. Two cultures plus a coagulant create the cheese.

“After two hours, the curd is cut and then we wait an additional two hours to pour the cheese by hand into pyramid molds,” Flanagan says. “The next morning, we flip the molds and let the cheese fall out of them and place them on a tray where they travel down to the again cellar to rest for two days.”

Flanagan applies salt and a a mold powder to help ripen and flavor the cheese. She turns it every few days while it ages.

Flanagan says, “It is a true cheesemaker’s cheese.”

 

This week’s recipe: Farmstead Macaroni & Cheese

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: Argyle Cheese Farmer, cheese, cheesemakers, cheesemaking, cow, craft, crafting, craftsman, goat, milk, Nettle Meadow, producing, production, R&G Cheese, sheep

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Produce from some of our amazing agriculture vendo Produce from some of our amazing agriculture vendors at today’s market!
Attention granola lovers!! Today is National Grano Attention granola lovers!! Today is National Granola Day. In honor of this, all sales with our friends from @toganola are 10% off this Saturday only! Their granola products are packaged in sustainable packaging and free of gluten, dairy & soy. 

Our winter market runs today from 9:3-1:30 in the Wilton Mall food court. Hope you can make it!

Photo of and provided by @toganola 

#saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket #farmersmarket #granola #toganola #thingstodoinupstateny #organic #shopsmall #shoplocal #nationalgranoladay
Our new 2023 Freshconnect $2 coupons arrived today Our new 2023 Freshconnect $2 coupons arrived today! For every $5 you spend using your SNAP/EBT card at our market, receive $2 in coupons. FreshConnect bucks can be used to buy: vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, honey, baked items, jams, plants that bear food, and prepared foods that are packed to eat at home. Plus, there’s no cap on issuance! Stop by our information stand to learn more. We’ll be open 9:30-1:30 tomorrow. ❄️🌾

#freshconnect #snap #ebt #nutrition #health #agriculture #shoplocal #shopssmall #farmtotable #saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket #farmersmarket #thingstodoinupstateny @wilton_mall_leasing
Interested in growing your business? Farmers’ ma Interested in growing your business? Farmers’ markets are a great way to start networking and finding your customer base. For 45 years, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market has provided a platform for local farmers, artisans, bakers and more build their businesses into what they are today. If you’d like to join our community, please submit your 2023 Summer Vendor application. The link can be found in our bio. Last day to apply is January 31st. DM us here or email me at sfma.manager@gmail.com with any questions!! 

#farmersmarket #startup #smallbusiness #shoplocal #entrepreneur #community #saratogasprings #thingstodoinupstateny #growyourbusiness
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