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Thoughtful Gift-Giving During a Pandemic

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By Julia Howard

As challenging as 2020 has been so far, the holiday gifting season feels like a bright way to end a dark year. Perhaps more than ever, gift-giving is a means of reconnecting with friends and family, some of whom we haven’t seen in person for nearly a year. We also get that gift-giving can be a source of stress even in the best of times, so we have some strategic ideas to make gifting during a pandemic a little more seamless, meaningful, and even enjoyable.

● If you prefer shopping from the comfort of home, find our vendor directory and shop locally online. Find links to local businesses’ websites, Instagram, and Facebook pages. Use the DM functions or pick up the phone to ask for suggestions and place orders.
● This year, some of the most thoughtful gifts are things that make time at home more enjoyable for your friends and family. Think practical and useful.
● Get creative with whatever budget you have. A great gift does not have to cost a lot of money.

Now let’s get gifting with local businesses at the farmers’ market!

Home Decor
These days we work, exercise, relax, and even attend school at home. We recommend Feathered Antler’s original paintings and framed prints of animals and landscapes to define and decorate living spaces. Feathered Antler also has hand-painted wooden fence posts adorned with positive sayings and nature scenes that can function as leash hangers, key hooks, and jewelry organizers.

Pendants & jewelry from Big Breath Wellness, photo by Laura Kenny

Local Libations
Wine, hard cider, and spirits always make great gifts – and local vintners and distillers make the very best. Slyboro Cider House and Saratoga Apple makes hard ciders from apples grown in their orchards. For wine-lovers, Fossil Stone Winery makes memorable wines from grapes grown on their farm. And, spirits enthusiasts will love everything from Yankee Distillers and Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery.

Gift Certificates & Subscriptions
Give the gift of something to look forward to, like Saratoga Farmers’ Market gift certificates. Elihu Farm offers a subscription for flavorful and nutritious eggs from their “hens on pasture.” Moon Cycle Seed Co. sells subscriptions for nutrient-dense seeds for hormonal balance. The 2021 CSA season will be here before we know it, so check with local farmers at the market to purchase a subscription for a friend or family member.

Jewelry
Is there a more classic holiday gift than a beautiful piece of jewelry? Kim Dolan Designed Jewelry makes unique, handcrafted silver and gemstone rings, necklaces, and earrings. If you’re looking to make someone feel special and promote wellness, Big Breath Wellness has various holistic healing jewelry. For nature lovers, Feathered Antler has
handmade jewelry with quartz, charms, and tassels.

Earth To Mind, photo by Laura Kenny

Self-care
Self-care means something different to everyone. Perhaps it’s cozying up to a cup of hot chocolate from Saratoga Chocolate Co. or making Earth to Mind’s CBD oil and rubs a part of the daily routine. There are many items at the farmers’ market to nourish and encourage self-care, like bee balm from Ballston Lake Apiaries and tinctures from Sweetbrier Farms.

 

Stocking Stuffer Ideas from Small Businesses
*Starred items are perishable and should be put into stockings just before gifting.

Saratoga Chocolate Co. photo provided
Cookie boxes from The Chocolate Spoon, photo by Laura Kenny

Fall Favorites at the Farmers’ Market

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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!

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market Is Also A Gift Market

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By Mary Pratt

Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, photo by Pattie Garrett

The Saturday Saratoga Farmers’ Market in the Wilton Mall parking lot is exceptionally busy. In addition to selecting veggies, meat, fruits, and prepared foods, customers can explore vendors offering gifts to purchase.

It’s easy to start the Saturday market with Something’s Brewing coffee. Beth Trattel roasts her coffee beans and sells many varieties of Battenkill Coffee.

Other foodie gifts include packaged cheese. In addition to yogurt, Dave and Marge Randles, Argyle Cheese Farmer, prepares cheese varieties. “Amazing Grace” won a silver medal at the NYS Fair. Lee Hennessy, Moxie Ridge Farm specializes in cheese from his Alpine goats. You can choose fresh cheese such as chevre or feta, or ripened Valencia and Cannonball. R&G Cheesemakers in Troy uses goat’s or cow’s milk from nearby farms. Sean O’Connor continuously creates new flavors to accompany his goat’s milk chevre, Camembert, and cow’s milk cheeses. Nettle Meadow also has a unique variety of hard and soft cheeses and chevre.

Or for a sweet treat, shop Saratoga Chocolate Company founded by Hank and Allison Rose. They use “only the highest quality chocolate and ingredients. Each selection is paired with complementary flavors that highlight the tasting notes of each chocolate”. Marcie Place, The Chocolate Spoon, bakes notable cookies, teacakes, and other treats that come in giftable packaging.

If your friends enjoy sipping, try a variety of sparkling cider from Slyboro Cider House. Dan Wilson is in charge of their “small dynamic farm, cider house, and farmstand in the foothills of the Adirondacks. His orchard, Hicks Orchard, continues a tradition of direct connection with the local community that dates back to 1905”.

Mugzy’s Barkery, photo by Pattie Garrett

When visiting friends who have dogs, be sure to bring gifts from Mugzy’s Barkery, named after their Old English Bulldog. The Barkery specializes in natural and organic dog treats that are “handmade, healthy, safe, and delicious”.

As you explore the Market, you’ll notice several talented crafters, including Balet Flowers and Design. Suzanne Balet Haight, a second-generation Market vendor makes functional, creative pottery, such as coffee cups, bowls and plates, and lovely containers that hold the flowers and plants they grow.

After you leave Balet Flowers, go to Feathered Antler where Gretchen Tisch will create a portrait of your pet from a photo. She illustrates clothing with birds, deer, moose, or their feathers and antlers. “They stand out as being the most stunning parts of animals who wear them from the sky to the ground.”

Kokinda Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

On her Kokinda Farm, Laurie Kokinda produces vegetables, fruits, jellies, and jams. Equally practical are her sewn products, including aprons and one-piece quilted hot pads. In the future, she’ll bring catnip pillows.

If you’re looking for handmade jewelry, Big Breath Wellness has handmade earrings and pendulums.

Mary Jane Pelzer, Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, a third-generation soap maker, has been producing a large variety of natural handmade soap in small batches for over 40 years. Look for basic body bars, hand soaps, and soap in special shapes such as lambs, flowers, fish, and eggs.

Farmers’ Market Finds Success During Unprecedented Times

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By Madeline McCarthy

Photo by Pattie Garrett

Normally, farmers’ markets are a space for customers to interact with their local food producers and community, sipping iced drinks while watching musicians play. But in the age of social distancing, making that gathering happen is impossible.

On March 20th, Governor Cuomo declared farmers’ markets essential businesses. Local food vendors were allowed to sell their products as long as they followed certain requirements, such as limiting the number of customers at their tables and changing the presentation of their stalls in order to encourage social distancing.

Fast forward nearly half a year, and our vendors have settled into the new way of doing business. We caught up with some of our vendors to see what this means for them, and noticed a trend: for many, the coronavirus has all but slowed down sales.

Feathered Antler, photo by Pattie Garrett

“My sales have been up 200%,” states Christophe Robert, a local meat producer who runs Longlesson Farm, as he chalks “sold out” next to another one of his products. He notes that since markets are outside and enforcing social distancing, more customers feel at ease. Robert continues, “Customers know that it’s only one person who’s touched the packaging, it’s not a big store where you don’t know where the product has been before it landed in your hands.”

In an effort to maintain these safe production lines, vendors have changed their displays to allow for more visual browsing.

“Usually, I have more of a built up display, but now I make sure everything is spread out and visible, so [customers] don’t have to pick it up in order to admire it,” says Gretchen Tisch, artist and owner of Feathered Antler. She believes that the alterations have changed shopping behaviors, causing customers to make more instant decisions about the products they purchase.

The Food Florist, photo By Eric Jenks

One concern has arisen for vendors that work with outside businesses. When chatting with Trisha Nussbaum from the Food Florist, which specializes in pre-made meals, she mentions that it became harder to acquire raw ingredients, encountering a chicken, pork, and beef shortage due to COVID. Though this has slowed down their production, it hasn’t slowed down their order demands.

“For us, we’re just doing what we always have, but with more ovens,” she summarizes with a laugh.

 

This week’s recipe: Boston Butt with Gravy

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Gift Guide

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By Mary Pratt

When searching for holiday gifts, come to Saratoga Farmers’ Market for unique products.

At the Wilton Mall entrance, shop evergreens for your home or a gift, from Scotch Ridge Trees and Berries. Charles Holub noted, “We have farm fresh wreaths, kissing balls, door swags, and table top trees.”

He will take special orders for decoration, and you can fetch a fresh Christmas tree at his farm in Duanesburg. The balsam, blue spruce, and concolor fir trees are naturally grown.

Something’s Brewing, photo courtesy of Beth Trattel

Beth Trattel has been a foodie for a few decades. She worked at restaurants since she was 19, and ran “Something’s Brewing” coffee shop in Greenwich.

Now she does her own roasting. “Beans are extremely fresh, sustainably sourced; roasted and flavored in small batches. She’s offering ‘Gift Bags’ with toffee and two sampler bags of coffee. “The chocolate-nut toffee recipe is tweaked by adding maple syrup from Slate Valley Farms”.

Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, photo by Pattie Garrett

Mary Jane Pelzer, Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, is a third-generation soap maker. She’s created natural, homemade, handmade soap in small batches for 40 years.

Her basic body bars come in a variety of “flavors” with natural essential oils for “good clean fun.” For holidays her soaps include winter-woods trees, snowmen soaps-on-a-rope. Children (and adults) will enjoy cupcake soaps and ducklings floating on soap.

Feathered Antler, photo by Pattie Garrett

Gretchen Tisch’s life-time creativity is inspired by exploring the outdoors. Her handmade Feathered Antler products include stationery, jewelry, hand-knit scarves and hats, and clothing decorated with hand-painted antlers, moose, and trees.

Her unique pet portraits are created from owners’ photographs. Gretchen said, “I can still take orders in time for Christmas”. She’s also offering hand-painted mugs and wooden Christmas tree ornaments.

Zoe Burghard Ceramics, photo by Pattie Garrett

Zoe Burghard learned to be a potter at Earthworks in New York City. Later, like many other market vendors she concluded, “I’ve learned by doing.” From the City, she and her family moved to Saratoga because they liked the different pace.

Today her functional and Raku pottery is all wheel thrown and all one of a kind. The functional includes vases, jewelry holders, cups, spoon rests, salt and pepper shakers and clever bowls. Raku pottery originated in Japan, and Zoe’s is beautifully decorative.

Terri Smith from the Weaving Tree Studio said they offer a variety of gifts, such as snowmen socks stuffed with rice, glittery glass, hand-painted bottles with battery operated lights. She said her most popular gifts are egg crates, decorated with amusing phrases.

Big Breath Wellness makes jewelry, skin care, natural aroma therapy, and other gifts. Tierney Carey said their jewelry is “wearable art” with many stones from Columbia. They offer “Mommy, Daddy, and Me” jewelry sets. For “making holiday magic” they have handmade dream catchers, crowns and wands.

Tierney and partner, Yadira Roman, offer gift baskets with three themes: empress relaxation, blue goddess self-love, and sleepy witch self-care. This Saturday they’re featuring special baskets for $20.

The usual – and the unusual – at Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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Many regulars treat their trips to the twice-weekly Saratoga Farmers’ Market as opportunities to stock up on provisions for the week.

But going to the market also can be an opportunity to discover something new – an unusual fruit, an heirloom vegetable, a different kind of homemade sauce. To bring out that adventurous spirit, we asked our summer interns, Laura Kenny and Elizabeth Horgan, to explore the market and share their favorite finds. Here’s a short list of what they came up with:

1/ Lovage. Its flavor and smell can be described as a mix of celery and parsley, but with a higher intensity of both of those flavors. This herb is delicious in salads and soups. Find it at Otrembiak Farm.

2/ Lions Mane. This poofy mushroom sold by Mariaville Mushroom Men and Ramble Creek Farm is often equated to a steak or a lobster. Slice it thinly, cook it in a hot, unoiled saucepan for 3-4 minutes. Then add oil and seasonings of your choice. Turn off the heat and let it rest. It will taste a little like steak or lobster.

Celtuce, photo courtesy of Squashville Farm

3/ Garlic Scapes. These green curlicues are the flower of the garlic. Farmers cut them off to help their garlic grow and invite you to enjoy them as a vegetable or meat seasoning, atop pizzas, in pasta sauces, pickled, or stir-fried.

4/ Celtuce. This Asian green is harvested usually in late summer for its stem. Its young leaves, however, also are delicious in a quick stir fry with oil, red pepper, and peanuts. Find the leaves at Squashville Farm.

5/ Salsa Gardens. If all the fresh food makes you want to grow your own, check out the salsa and pizza “gardens” that Balet and Burger nurseries offer. All you need in a single pot.

Vital Eats, photo by Laura Kenny

6/ Kettle Corn. The Proper Popper turns this fair-like treat into a weekly market affair. Find them Saturdays with the other prepared food vendors.

7/ Chickpea cheese dip. Vital Eats offers its So-Cheezy and Zesty-Cheezy vegan condiments on Saturdays. These flavorful sauces are nut, soy, and dairy free. Chickpeas and vegetables pack creamy, tangy flavor that’s full of antioxidants, and protein.

Otrembiak Farm, photo by Laura Kenny

8/ Scallop squash. We often think of patty pan squash as small and yellow. But it can be big and multi-colored, as many vendor stalls attest. Small to medium scallop squash can be treated like zucchini. The skin is thin and the seeds are small enough you can slice and cook however you would like. You can pickle, saute, grill, or even bake this squash. Larger pattypan squash needs a little extra TLC, but they are the ultimate vessel for stuffing and baking.

9/ Spatzle. The Vermont Spatzle Co. offers a gluten-free version of this German specialty on Saturdays. Ask them for their list of recipes.

Photo courtesy of Feathered Antler

10/ And for that newborn, check out the hand-painted onesies at the Feathered Antler.

Of course, the interns made many more discoveries. We invite you to join them and explore.