Saratoga Farmers' Market

fall

A versatile trio for fall meals

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The three sisters method of interplanting corn, beans, and squash is an Iroquois practice that helped sustain the soil that farmers in our region use today.

It was rooted in long-term sustenance: By planting beans as companions to corn, the nitrogen that corn plants deplete is restored and bean vines receive a climbing pole in the corn stalks. Meanwhile, low-to-the-ground squash leaves create shade which prevents the soil from drying out. At seasons end is a harvest of three foods that one can eat immediately or store for winter use.

Squashville Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

In market farming, three sisters gardens are hard to find. Most farmers plant in rows, separating crops from one another. Yet, many of those rows produce corn, squash, and/or beans – all of which are abundant now at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. Each makes a delicious dish by itself. The three also can be combined to create soups, salads, stir fries, and casseroles.

I first encountered the three sisters method in a gardening guide in the 1980s as a young adult trying to create a garden. On paper, planting corn with beans and squash seemed easy. You first plant corn kernels in a mound of soil. After the corn sprouts, you add beans, around each shoot of corn. Once the beans are established, you add squash. You weed while the plants are young and then leave them until it’s time to harvest.

Burger’s Marketgarden, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Creating such a garden is easier said than done, as I quickly learned while trying not to step on squash or uproot corn as I snipped bean pods. Still, I use the three sisters as a template for growing food and eating it. This lets me cook with corn and a wide variety of squashes and beans.

I adapted the accompanying chili recipe from a basic ground beef and vegetable chili. I used fresh corn from the Gomez Veggie Ville but chose Squashville Farm’s carnival squash over the butternut squash that the original recipe suggested. I also used dried red beans over canned, and ground venison instead of beef. The result was a mildly spiced chili filled with the three sisters at the center.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Celebrates Last Gasp of Summer

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By Julia Howard, Market Administrator

 

High Rock Park, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

October is inching toward November. At the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, this means that we are preparing for our annual transition, from outside to in. Join us tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at High Rock Park for our final celebration of summer and our last outdoor market.

What’s fresh in late October? Still ripening tomatoes, crisp salad greens and frost-sweetened kales, freshly dug sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, our amazing seasonal pumpkins and an array of other winter squashes, cups of warm apple cider and, as midday temperatures creep toward the high sixties, iced lemonade.

The market also will be participating in the Saratoga Springs’ Downtown Business Association’s annual Fall Festival. We will feature music from Four Old Guys and Er Go Blue and a free fall wreath-making activity for children of all ages. We also will announce the winner of our annual Guess the Weight of the Pumpkin contest at 10 a.m.

We also are looking forward to our fifth winter season at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park, which begins next Saturday, Nov. 4. As tomorrow’s market ends, we will pack up our summer signs and shut down the market shed. When you visit us next Saturday, you will find us under not open-air tents but in a bazaar-like atmosphere indoors.

Our winter market features many of our summer vendors, thanks to farmers who make use of greenhouses, high tunnels, and state-of-the-art storage technologies to grow and maintain a high level of quality local produce year-round. We also will be holding our seasonal holiday home arts and crafts bazaar.

While we love the summer market, we relish our November through April time indoors, too. For many of our vendors, the winter market offers a cozy, intimate space for farmers and shoppers to get to know each other better. Winter is a great time to ask your favorite farmer questions about their farms. Winter also is an opportunity to stockpile recipes and other food preparation tips.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market ends its summer season tomorrow at High Rock Park. The market moves indoors to the Lincoln Baths Building at the Saratoga Spa State Park on November 4, where it will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through April. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Creamy Roasted Garlic Potato Soup

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Adapted from recipe by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet Eats
yield: SERVED ABOUT 4
total time: 1 HOUR

INGREDIENTS:
*Ingredients currently available to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

1 tablespoon olive oil*

1 tablespoon unsalted butter*

1 yellow onion, diced*

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped*

4 to 5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 bulbs roasted garlic*

1/3 cup cream*

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Roasted Garlic: Preheat oven to 375. Chop off the top portion of the garlic head to reveal cloves. Lightly rub back and forth to remove paper and peel any excess paper off. Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil on top the garlic cloves and let soak for 10 minutes.

Cover with foil and roast in a baking dish for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. To eat or add to the recipe: let cool, then squeeze from the bottom of the garlic head to remove caramelized cloves.

Garlic Potato Soup: Heat a large stockpot over medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Once melted, stir in the onion with a pinch of salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and enough stock to cover the potatoes – starting with 4 cups and using more if needed. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender and falling apart about 20 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Carefully add the mixture to a blender. Squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves and add them to the blender too. Puree the soup until totally creamy and smooth. Pour the mixture back into the pot and heat over low heat. Add the cream, salt, and pepper. Taste and season additionally with salt and pepper if needed.

Cultivate Your Sensual Side with Garlic

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Now that the stars of summer – tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants – are starting to exit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market stalls, it’s time to turn attention to one of our area’s more sensually spicy offerings: garlic.

Garlic harvest at Pleasant Valley Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Garlic is typically planted in mid-October after some frosts but before the ground has frozen. It appears in mid-spring as an early green garlic, in early summer as scapes, and in July as bulbs encased in papery outer skins. Underneath those layers are cloves that mellow as the months pass into a warm, rich seasoning for soups, casseroles, roasts, and veggie sides.

Garlic is available in late winter. It is also among the area’s easier crops to grow. If you’d like to try your hand at doing so, now is the time to start.

As you visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market through October, buy some bulbs to eat and additional ones to plant.

At home, gently break your bulbs apart, separating the cloves. Choose the biggest cloves to plant and eat the rest. Create a space in your garden, where you can plant your cloves two to three inches deep, about eight to 12 inches apart. Place the cloves in the ground, bottom ends down, and cover them with soil. Then, cover these cloves with a thick layer of straw, hay, or even leaves to overwinter.

As the snow melts in late March or April, you should start to see green tips poking through the mulch. Pull the mulch off, and watch your garlic grow. Through April, May, and June, stalks will form and start to thicken. These stalks and the immature bulb beneath the soil are edible as green garlic, a taste of what’s to come.

Around mid-June, the winding, curvy tendrils known as scapes will start to appear on the plants. Cutting them off helps the bulbs grow. By July, the stalks will wither and turn brown. That’s the sign that your garlic is ready for harvesting. Use a garden spade or spoon to gently dig deep around the stalks to get to your bulbs.

Farmers typically cure freshly harvested garlic in dry, airy spaces.

After your harvest, go through your bulbs and save some cloves to plant for the next year.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is Wednesdays 3-6 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at High Rock Park through October. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Grated Carrot Salad

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Adapted from recipe in Milk Street Magazine, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table

Serves: 6

 

INGREDIENTS

*Ingredients available at the farmers’ market

  • 2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon*
  • 1 Tablespoon minced shallot*
  • 1 teaspoon honey*
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ¼ cup olive oil*
  • 1¼ pound carrots, peeled and shredded*
  • 1 cup chopped fresh parsley*

 

INSTRUCTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, tarragon, shallot, honey, and cayenne. Let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk in the oil until emulsified, then add the carrots and parsley. Stir until evenly coated. Season with cayenne pepper. Serve or refrigerate for up to 24 hours.