Saratoga Farmers' Market

Goode Farm

The revival of community-supported agriculture

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By Julia Howard

Echo Creek Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

While the mainstream media reports on crops rotting in fields due to the food chain disruption caused by COVID-19, the local agriculture scene is experiencing a different reality. Local farmers are responding to the demand for fresh food and CSA’s, once considered to be a niche market, are gaining momentum.

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) by Echo Creek Farm’s definition is “a mutually beneficial commitment between farmers and their community.” Members of a CSA ensure a customer base and stable income for farmers throughout the growing season. In return, the farmer provides CSA members with a weekly share of seasonal produce.

Owl Wood Farm, photo provided

Local farms are experiencing a surge in CSA signups as consumers are looking for food that has been handled minimally on the journey from farm to table. Consumers are also looking to avoid the stresses of shopping and CSA shares offer a solution: a variety of ripe, freshly-harvested products on a consistent schedule.

Echo Creek Farm, Owl Wood Farm, and 518 Farms currently offer CSA shares. These shares vary in pricing, products, and frequency, and each farm offers pick-up and delivery options to meet customers’ specific needs.

Echo Creek Farm offers a ‘harvest share’ that runs for 15 weeks from June through September. “Our share relies heavily on familiar items. Each week you’ll receive a collection of vegetables that are in season and grown using organic methods. The amount varies a little as the growing season changes, but it’s generally appropriate for a family of 2-4 people,” says Mike Palulis, farm owner. Pickup is at their farm in Salem.

Owl Wood Farm offers two CSA options: a standard ‘box share’ that runs for 20 weeks from June through October and a ‘market share’ where credit is added onto a gift card in increments of $100 and customers use this credit while shopping at their farmers’ market stand. Owl Wood offers ‘box share’ pickup at the farmers’ market, drive-thru pickup at their farm in Salem, and home delivery.

518 Farms, photo by Pattie Garrett

518 Farms offers a variety of mushrooms in their weekly ‘small ½ lb. share’ or ‘ large 1 lb. share’. Subscribers may select from blue and yellow oysters, lions main, nameko, chestnuts, maitake, and shiitake with pickup on Tuesdays at the farm in Hoosick Falls.

In addition to these CSA farm shares, Elihu Farm offers an egg subscription, Slate River Farms offers ‘box selections’ on their pastured pork and grass-fed beef, and Goode Farm offers a weekly flower subscription.

This week’s recipe: Rhubarb Cake

In Full Bloom at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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Written by Catherine Morba

Robin Holland, owner of Goode Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

A bouquet of cut flowers will brighten a room and the mood of anyone who lays eyes on them. “It is easy to talk about local and seasonal food, but it is very exciting to see people turning on to flowers again, reclaiming a local craft that essentially skipped a generation since trade policy put flower farmers out of business in the early eighties” muses Robin Holland. Holland is the owner of Goode Farm, a flower and specialty vegetable farm located in Ballston Spa.

Goode Farm is shaking up the local flower business with their unique Flower Club subscription service, in which members get 6 centerpiece arrangements whenever they want them throughout the course of the season. “Designing with honest materials and their innate surprises and quirks has always been a constant fascination. I was never drawn to flower design until, in my attempts to landscape, I found myself surrounded by healthy and fragrant flowers, coordinated and in balance with season and place.”

Several market vendors offering a selection of cut flowers graciously offered tips for choosing the stems, arranging, and preserving freshness for days on end.

Balet Flowers & Design, photo courtesy of Suzanne Balet-Haight

Selecting Stems:
“My favorite flowers change as the seasons change,” says Suzanne Haight of Balet Flowers & Design. In the spring, peonies are stunning in bouquets and have an amazing fragrance. In summer, my favorites are Sunflowers and Zinnias for bright colors. In fall, Gomphrena and Hydrangea, fresh or dried. Succulents and Narcissus in winter, for their texture and because they can still be forced as a cut flower.” Haight also suggests Snapdragons, named for their resemblance to a dragons head when the sides of the flower are pushed together. Another aptly named flower, Chelone or “Turtlehead” is unique for its turtle shape and native origin in eastern North America. Both are whimsical and especially fun for children.

Arranging Bouquets:
“Fillers or accents for bouquets are what steals the show,” says Erin Luciani of Lot 32 Flower Farm. Luciani gravitates towards Scabiosa or Scabiosa Seed Pods, Gomphrena, Poppy Pods, and Ammi, otherwise known as False Queen Anne’s Lace. If arranging a full bouquet seems intimidating, Debbie Stevens of Butternut Ridge Farm suggests sticking with Sunflowers. “They speak for themselves,” says Stevens. “Just intermingle the dark-colored with the light-colored, and you’re set.”

Arrangement by Goode Farm, photo courtesy of Robin Holland

Preserving Freshness:
When asked for the best way to keep flowers looking fresh, one tip was widely agreed upon. “You should change the water every other day, if not every day,” says Burger Farm’s Andy Burger. “Not many people think to do that, but it’s important to prevent the stems from deteriorating.”

The type or quality of the water can also play a role in flower longevity. “Zinnias do not like city water, but Sunflowers and Gladiolas don’t mind it.” Says Linda Gifford of Gifford Farms. “If you have city water, use distilled or filtered water instead.”

“Recut the stems at an angle, underwater if possible for maximum absorption,” adds Haight from Balet Flowers & Design. “Also, place flowers in a preservative solution such as 2 drops of bleach, 2 drops of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.”

Saturday Cut Flower Vendors:
Balet Flowers & Design, LC
Clark Dahlia Gardens & Greenhouses
Lot 32 Flower Farm
Kokinda Farm
Pleasant Valley Farm
Saratoga Apple
Scotch Ridge Farm

Planting flowers and food on Mothers’ Day

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The opening month of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s outdoor season is like a debut to summer: Several vendors are offering seasonal flowers, herbs, and vegetable seedlings. These items make ideal Mothers’ Day gifts. They also offer fast doses of color and character to fledgling gardens and promises of great harvests to come.

Look this weekend and next Wednesday for bright bunches of daffodils, branches of lilacs, and sweet-smelling hyacinths. Such flowers are available as bouquets. With them are pots of geraniums and packs of bedding plants, the horticultural term for fast-growing seasonal flowers and ornamental plants that can be transplanted into gardens immediately.

On Wednesdays, you can find such plants at the Butternut Ridge and Burger Farm stalls on the south end of the High Rock Park pavilion. And, at the end of May, Goode Farm will bring floral arrangements, dried flowers, and cut flowers. On Saturdays, look for flowers and plants at the Scotch Ridge Tree & Berries and Balet Flowers & Design. Also on Saturdays, the Wild Things Rescue Nursery is on hand with a variety of plants native plants that can help build bee and butterfly gardens. And, cut flower bouquets from Lot 32 Flower Farm will return in early June.

Scotch Ridge Berry Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

If growing food is your goal, many market vendors also offer a wide array of vegetable and herb seedlings. Some can go into the ground immediately; others are best nurtured in sunny windows until soil temperatures have warmed to about 65-70 degrees.

At the Burger Farm stall, tomato plants already are flowering and bearing small fruits. Andy Burger, who operates the farm with his parents, said that they started the plants at the end of January, raising them with heat and light in a greenhouse. The tomatoes are available for purchase now along with such summer plants as peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini and
summer squash. Burger recommends bringing such seedlings indoors at night and on chillier May days.

For immediate transplanting, try lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, and other greens, along with such herbs as cilantro, oregano, marjoram, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, and oregano. Other vendors who offer vegetable and herb seedlings include Butternut Ridge, Scotch Ridge, Balet, and Otrembiak Farm.

Most vendors will offer planting advice. Master gardeners with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Services are at both the Wednesday and Saturday markets, as well.

Wednesdays at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

When the opening bell rings at 3 p.m. next Wednesday at High Rock Park, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market will begin its 41st season.

The Wednesday market runs May 1-October 30, from 3-6 p.m. Like the Saturday market, it offers a wide array of amazing foods fresh from our region’s local farms, along with locally made wines and spirits, art, and meals to go.

For many market regulars, the Wednesday market is the farmers’ market at its best. It offers an opportunity to browse at a leisurely pace, planning a few nights’ meals while listening to local music, and taking part in a series of all-ages activities.

Earn a $2 Bicycle Benefits coin each time you ride to the Farmers’ Market

“The intimate size of our midweek market creates a more relaxed pace,” says market activities coordinator Julia Howard. “It’s a little more spacious, airy. It’s a great way to meet up with friends.”

This year, the market is celebrating eight new vendors:
● Goode Farm, fresh and dried flowers and wreaths;
● Slate River Farm, herbs, meats, eggs, and seasonal ramps and fiddlehead ferns;
● High Peaks Distilling, spirits;
● Italian Market, pasta sauces;
● Alaturco Mediterranean Grill, gyros;
● Oliver’s Café, crepes and kettle corn;
● Left Field, snow cones; and
● Vedanta du Mas Designs, art.

As always, the Wednesday market will offer free music, children’s activities, its Power of Produce Club, and information booths. About 20 other vendors – ranging from small farmers to local artists and food entrepreneurs – will be returning to the market, as well.

Power of Produce Club at the Wednesday market

The Tisch Family Band will serenade market visitors on opening day. Throughout the season, the market will participate in the Bicycle Benefits program, and host tours. Market staff also are planning to organize monthly bus trips for Saratoga seniors.

As a shopper and a farmer, I look forward every year to the start of the Wednesday market. It evokes the historic roots of Saratoga’s producer-only market and the region’s agricultural heritage. I enjoy talking to vendors as I fill my bags with great foods for a few days before I return to the market Saturday to replenish.