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High Rock Park

Saratoga Farmers’ Market summer season starts Saturday

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Pleasant Valley Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is kicking off its summer season this weekend with many changes, as the region continues to adapt to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The market hours will shift to 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays. The market also will not be returning to High Rock Park this summer. It will continue to operate outdoors at the Wilton Mall.

High Rock Park is not available this year because of ongoing construction and potential road closures. In addition, social distancing protocols would not be able to be maintained in and around the market pavilions.

“The mall’s management has been extremely supportive of us,” says Saratoga Farmers’ Market Board president Beth Trattel. “Their flexibility has helped us keep the market going.”

Nettle Meadow & Ballston Lake Apiaries, photo by Pattie Garrett

The market had been operating in the mall’s food court area before the pandemic. It closed for one week in mid-March, and then reopened outdoors in the parking area between the former Bon Ton and B.J.’s Wholesale Club six weeks ahead of schedule.

The market has been following strict social distancing requirements. Vendors are spaced several feet apart and keep gloves, disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizer on their tables. Face coverings must be worn. Customers are asked to remain six feet apart from vendors and each other, not handle produce, and to leave their dogs at home. No music or other entertainment will be offered at this time. Only food and hand sanitizer produced by local distilleries has been available for purchase.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market, photo by Pattie Garrett

These restrictions are expected to remain in place through the summer, says market administrator Emily Meagher. Meagher anticipates 65 vendors will participate in the Saturday market at the season’s peak, and 20 on Wednesdays. The market also has established a drive-up curbside service for pickups of preordered items.

Meagher adds that while the pandemic conditions have made the market less sociable than it usually is, vendors are receiving a lot of customer love.

“Our aim is to continue to provide our community with fresh and safe local food,” Meagher says. “We are less festive, but with farmers markets deemed an essential service in New York, we are celebrated now more than ever.”

 

List of vendors for summer 2020

 

2020 SFMA Summer Layout

 

Saratoga Farmers Market Kicks Off Outdoor Season at High Rock Park

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By Julia Howard

Saturday mornings are market mornings for hundreds of area residents. Join them tomorrow at High Rock Park as the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s 41st season opens.

Farmers, home artisans, and craftspeople will join city officials and others for a ribbon cutting just before 9 a.m. Then, as music from the Running the River band fills the air, vendors will begin offering fresh vegetables and fruits, meats, eggs, dairy products, home-baked goods, prepared foods, flowers, art, and more.

Anna Mae Clark rings the opening bell, photo by Eric Jenks

“We are thrilled to welcome several new vendors this year,” says market administrator Emily Meagher. “Our variety of local products is unparalleled.”

About 65 vendors participate in the Saturday market. The Saratoga Farmers’ Market also operates from 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays, with about 30 vendors.

Bring your shopping list and walk, bike, or drive to High Rock Park. Grab a coffee made with locally roasted beans and perhaps a light breakfast from one of the many prepared food vendors featuring items like crepes or breakfast sandwiches.

And shop.

Vendor stalls fill the pavilions and spill out onto the lawns. Volunteers will watch your bags and help transport your goods to your car with the Friends of the Market’s veggie valet wagons. The FreshFoodNY app and pickup service is available for pre-ordered items.

This year, we encourage you to visit the market via bicycle, if feasible. We also invite
you to bring your own bags to reduce plastic and will have totes available for purchase. We are continuing our compost collection program and will accept fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, used tea bags, and similar items. We have an ATM on site, and many vendors accept credit cards. We also accept SNAP benefits.

Shushan Hydro Farms, photo by Eric Jenks

While shopping, check out the children’s activities, and booths featuring the Adirondack Live Steamers, Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, and Cornell Cooperative Extension Service’s master gardeners.

Says market administrator Emily Meagher, “To experience spring in Saratoga is to opt to dine on the patio, order tickets from SPAC, and embrace the return of the outdoor farmers market where the fragrance of flowers and produce mixes with freshly baked bread.”

See you there.

 

Saturday Vendors at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 2019

Alaturco Mediterranean Grill
Argyle Cheese Factory
Balet Flowers & Design, LLC
Ballston Lake Apiaries
Battenkill Valley Creamery
Burger Farm
Clark Dahlia Gardens & Greenhouses
Dancing Ewe Farms
Dickinson’s Delights
Elihu Farm
Euro Delicacies
Feathered Antler
Freddy’s Rockin’ Hummus
Giovani Fresco
Gómez Veggie Ville
Grandma Apple’s Cheesecakes, LLC
Green Jeans Market Farm
Halls Pond Farm
Humiston’s Vegetables
Kim Dolan Designed Jewelry
Kokinda Farm
Lake George Distilling Company, LLC
Lewis Waite Farm
Longlesson Farm
Lot 32 Flower Farm
M & A Farm
Mangiamo LLC
Mariaville Mushroom Men
Momma’s Secret Salad Dressings
Moxie Ridge Farm
Mrs. Londons
Muddy Trail Jerky Co.
Mugzy’s Barkery
Nettle Meadow
Nut Zez, LLC
old world farm
Otrembiak Farm
Owl Wood Farm
Petra Pocket Pies
Pleasant Valley Farm
Puckers Gourmet
Pura Vida Fisheries, Inc
R&G Cheese Makers
Ramble Creek Farm
Rock Hill Bakehouse
Row to Hoe Farm
Saratoga Apple
Saratoga Chocolate Co.
Saratoga Crackers®
Saratoga Peanut Butter Co.
Saratoga Spicery
Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff
Saratoga Urban Farm
Scotch Ridge Berry Farm
Slate Valley Farms
Slyboro Cider House
Something’s Brewing
Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery
The Chocolate Spoon
The Food Florist
The Saratoga Winery
The Smoothie Shoppe
The Vermont Spatzle Company
Underwood’s Greenhouse / Shushan Valley Hydro Farm
Vital Eats
Wild Things Rescue Nursery
Yankee Distillers
Zoe Burghard Ceramics

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.

New Vendor Brings Spätzle Love to Wednesday Market


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By Julia Howard, Market Director

Minutes before the opening bell rings Wednesdays at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, Julz and Marty Irion fire up a burner to warm samples of their product, a gluten free spätzle.

The bell rings and a heady aroma fills the air. Market goers walk by, stop and smell.
“Would you like a sample?” Marty asks. As the shoppers taste the dish, Marty and Julz tell its story. Spätzle is a German dish made typically with wheat, flour, and eggs. The Irions’ version is gluten free, made with a blend of tapioca, corn, and potato flours along with local milk and eggs, and nutmeg. 

The Vermont Spatzle Company. Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Together, Marty and Julz have created a no-boil spätzle that is unique, delicious, and the only one of its kind worldwide.

Marty was born in Erlangen, Germany and loved the dish made the traditional way. He and Julz met in 1985 and married four years later. Julz started to make spätzle for the family.

Eight years ago, the couple needed to drop wheat from their diets. They were unwilling to let go of their love for spätzle so Julz began experimenting with alternatives. She found that creating a good gluten free version of the German favorite was not easy. The experiments stretched out for seven years. Until March 2017. “The family sat around the dinner table that night,” recalls Marty. “We taste it and we all said at the same time, ‘This is so good.’ ” They also realized they needed to share it, and decided, on March 11, 2017, to go forth with that plan.

Vermont Spätzle Company, based in Arlington, VT, sold its first spätzle in June 2017. The Irions offer it now at 60 stores and farmers’ markets. The appeal of their spätzle goes beyond being gluten free. On the packaging are the words “Package to pan in 90 seconds”, making spätzle a quick and easy dish to prepare.

For Julz, perfecting spätzle has been a carefully thought out craft. It’s not just the ingredients that matter, she says, but also the method of combining them, one at a time, in layers. She emphasizes its versatility: Her spätzle absorbs flavor, retains moisture, and is readily combined with a wide range of ingredients. Marty meanwhile focuses on his love for spätzle, a love he shares as he offers samples and stories.

Both he and Julz are gratified that so many customers keep coming back.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the FreshFoodNY app. E-mail friends@saratogafarmers.org for volunteer opportunities.
 

Cheesecake Maker Brings Family Favorites to Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Photo courtesy of Grandma Apple’s Cheesecake

Tucked into a corner of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market is a cheesecake maker. To market regulars, she is coming to be known as Grandma Apple.

Grandma Apple is Connie Capasso, owner of Grandma Apple’s Cheesecakes. She handcrafts her cheesecakes from high-quality, locally sourced ingredients and transports them to the market via a portable refrigerator that keeps the cheesecakes chilled and ready for on-the-spot eating.

The cheesecakes are available in individual cups for $4.50 each.

“Customers love the individual size,” says Capasso. “I appreciate that I can bake right in the cup and that the cup itself is recyclable.”

Like many artisanal businesses, Grandma Apple’s Cheesecakes grew from a passion.

Capasso has a large family and often would bake cheesecakes for them, trying out different crusts and flavors. Her family encouraged her to turn the baking into a business, so Capasso did some research, had a commercial kitchen built, and established a limited liability corporation. She joined the Saratoga Farmers’ Market last November during its indoor season and now sells at the Wednesday and Saturday markets and at a market in Albany.

Like the business, the name Grandma Apple has family roots. As Capasso tells it, her eldest grandson – now 21 and one of nine – used to call a number of women in the family “Grandma.” Some of these women were grandmothers and some were great-grandmothers. She knew that he loved apples so she always had them on hand when he would come to visit.

“When he was old enough to start speaking, I became Grandma Apple,” Capasso says. “Now all nine grandkids know me as Grandma Apple.”

The cheesecakes come in several flavors in a range of flavors including some standards such as traditional, chocolate, lemon, and peanut butter. But Capasso likes to experiment and often adds different flavors once her experiments have passed the ultimate taste test — her family’s approval.

“Every so often we have a taste test day,” she says. “It’s a blind tasting. I bring out the flavors, and they give me their feedback.”

Capasso also makes larger cheesecakes, which are available through special order. Visit her at the market, on the FreshFoodNY app, or email GrandmaApplesCheesecakes@gmail.com to learn more.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Find us on Facebook and Instagram, and check us out on the FreshFoodNY app. E-mail friends@saratogafarmers.org for volunteer opportunities.

Riding Your Bike to the Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Saratoga’s Bikeatoga group encourages people to get out of their cars and onto their bikes in the spirit of easing traffic as well as promoting good health, fitness, and fun. Now, the organization is partnering with the Saratoga Farmers’ Market to bring more bicycling enthusiasts this summer to High Rock Park.

Starting tomorrow, market goers will be able to buy a $5 Bicycle Benefits sticker at the market shed. These stickers will entitle purchasers to a $2 coin redeemable at a vendor’s stall of their choice each time they visit the market via bicycle.

The partnership brings the market into the community’s Bicycle Benefits program, a project that Bikeatoga’s Ian Klepetar founded in Saratoga about a decade ago. That project has since expanded nationwide. Its goal, says Klepetar, is to help build safer and healthier communities via bikes.

“Getting more people to realize their great ability to move with their own power is meaningful in a number of ways,” says Klepetar. “It creates a way to address the city’s biggest issues: safer streets, healthier humans, and noise, visual, and air pollution caused by vehicular traffic.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market shares similar health goals, which makes joining the Bicycle Benefits program a natural fit.

“Our vendors will benefit from having more bikers at the market,” says market administrator Julia Howard. “And by giving people an incentive to bicycle to the market, we will be able to ease traffic around High Rock Park.”

How Bicycle Benefits works is simple. Bicyclists affix their stickers to their helmets. Then, when they visit the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, they can stop by the market shed at the south end of the High Rock pavilion and show the sticker to a market staff member or volunteer on duty. One $2 coin will be offered per day.

Those who purchase Bicycle Benefits stickers at the market also will be able to obtain discounts at other businesses who participate in the program.

Market regulars who live outside Saratoga can participate even if biking from home isn’t feasible by parking away from downtown where congestion is less and biking into the market.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and check us out on the FreshFoodNY app. E-mail friends@saratogafarmers.org for volunteer opportunities.