Shop Local, Eat Fresh at the Saratoga Farmers' Market | Food, Crafts, Music in Saratoga Springs

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

Kid's Activities

Learning the Power of Produce

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By Julia Howard

 

As Saratoga-area children anticipate their last day of school, the first question on many parents’ minds is, “what are we going to do all summer?” The Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s Power of Produce Club offers children and families a free and easy answer to that question. 

Power of Pop Club, photo by Pattie Garrett

 Power of Produce Club (also known as POP Club) is a 10-week program that begins next Wednesday, June 29, and runs through the end of August. It takes place each Wednesday, 3-6 p.m. at the farmers’ market, and gives both children and their parents a chance to learn about local foods and farming in a hands-on way. 

POP Club is open to children of all ages and abilities. Each time participants visit the Wednesday market, they will receive a $2 POP coin that kids can use to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from a farmer of their choice. The coins are geared toward children between the ages of 5 and 12. In addition, children will receive a stamp on a POP passport. After receiving four stamps, children will be eligible for a prize.

POP Club Coin

The project aims to help children see how food and farming are intrinsically connected to strengthening community ties. By buying produce from our vendors, children form what might turn into lifelong relationships with local farmers. At the same time, children gain basic money skills and participate in weekly activities that offer a sense of how to enjoy local produce when it is at its finest.

Power of Produce Club is made possible by support from The Christopher Dailey Foundation. In addition, educational activities are being organized by numerous community partners like The Children’s Museum of Saratoga, Pitney Meadows Community Farm, Little Wings Farm School, Saratoga Springs Public Library, and more.

The first event takes place next Wednesday and will feature a free concert by Jack & Steve Zucchini and free face painting, activities, and food tastings. Nutrition educator Jodie Fitz will have copies of her book Fidget Grows a Pizza Garden. At POP Club, children will have an opportunity to plant a pizza garden to take home.

Look for the POP Club tent at the Wednesday market, across from the market information booth.

 

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at High Rock Park in downtown Saratoga Springs. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Learning about the importance and tastiness of local farming

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By Emily Meagher

Friends of the Market Host POP Club, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

School’s out for summer! That means a few months of family fun, relaxing, and, well… boredom. The Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s Power of Produce (POP) Club is here to keep local kids active and learning all summer long with educational activities, interactions with their local farmers, and challenges to try fresh market produce to get even the pickiest eaters to try new fruits and veggies.

This year’s POP Club, now in its 6th season, will run June 30 through September 1, every Wednesday at the High Rock Park market. Children may show up any time between 3-6 pm to participate in a fun, educational activity. Every week’s activity will be hosted by a community guest, including the Saratoga Springs Public Library, Cornell Cooperative Extension Food & Nutrition, Caffe Lena Music School, The Children’s Museum of Saratoga, Northern Rivers, and C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios. Children may participate in cooking demonstrations, scavenger hunts, crafts, gardening, and farmer meet and greet that provide nutrition and education.

POP Coin

Children who participate are given a $2 POP coin to spend on fresh fruit and vegetables at the market, and they will earn a stamp in their POP Passport – four stamps earn them a prize.

Buying produce with a POP coin gives kids the opportunity to meet farmers, learn money skills, and make smart food choices. “It’s great to see kids as young as kindergarteners come up to our stand, excited to shop for themselves. Especially when that week’s POP tasting has been a fruit or vegetable they hadn’t tried before but realize they like, and then spend their token to get more,” says Mark Bascom, owner of Owl Wood Farm and the market association’s president.

Power of Produce Club by Pattie Garrett

POP Club is open to all local children but is especially geared toward those aged 5-12. It is a free program, made possible through the generous support of the Christopher Dailey Foundation and the Adirondack Trust Company.

On Wednesday, July 7, 3-6 pm, don’t miss POP Club at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s ‘End of School Celebration’. This free family event will offer activities for children of all ages and a concert by Jack and Steve Zucchini (formerly of The Zucchini Brothers)!

This week’s recipe: Popsicles for All

Find more information and get updates on this season’s POP Club on our Facebook event page!

Week 3: Blueberries

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Blueberries from Scotch Ridge Berry Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

 

Here are the full instructions to the blueberry dough activity!

 

Extra resources:

10 Healthy blueberry snack ideas that your kids will love to cook (article)

Some more kid-friendly blueberry recipes (listing)

Blueberries – Healthy Kids Coalition (video)

Blueberry: How does it grow? (video – recommended for older kids)

The Bumble Nums Make Ballooning Blueberry Cobbler | Cartoons For Kids (video – recommended for young kids)

Week 1: Strawberries

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Photo by Pattie Garrett

Welcome to our first week of POP Club! This week, our theme is strawberries. We’re reaching the end of this delicious berry’s season at the market, but some of our vendors have a kind that grows way longer – until the end of summer!

Strawberries are a tasty early summer treat at the farmers’ market. They are the first of many berries to be grown around us, like blueberries, blackberries, and even more unusual kinds like gooseberries and Saskatoon berries, which you’ll all see at the market over the course of the summer.

Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C, which does many important things in your body, like help you heal from a wound. It also has plenty of fiber, which helps you feel full (and to go to the bathroom!).

 

Activity

Although strawberries are delicious to eat, today we are going to use strawberries in a science experiment! We’re going to get DNA out of a strawberry.

What is DNA? Our bodies are all made up of many, many tiny cells and each cell has its own job. Some cells make up our muscles, some make up our bones—and all together they make up our bodies! But how does each cell know what to do? That’s where DNA comes in. It tells the cells what to do. DNA is like the boss of the company. It gives cells instructions.

Plants, like strawberries, have cells and DNA too. DNA looks a little funny – like a swirly ladder (Google it to see for yourself!). When we get DNA out of a strawberry, it won’t look like this because it’s way too small to see. But if you used a microscope to look at it, you might see what the DNA looks like up close!

Here’s how to do our experiment:

Source: National Human Genome Research Institute (click on the photo to make it bigger!)

 

Recipes

After doing the experiment, you might just want to eat strawberries! We don’t blame you – they smell, look, and taste so yummy. Here are some recipe ideas that are easy for kids and their parents or caregivers to make together. Don’t forget to grab some fresh strawberries from the farmers’ market!

 

Breakfast:

Super Strawberry Fritters – just 4 ingredients, no added sugar, and a yummy energizing treat in the morning.

Dinner:

Strawberry and Spinach Salad – the spinach will help you feel strong, and the strawberries let you sneak something sweet into dinner!

Sweet treat:

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars – this recipe takes a little longer, but is a fun and delicious way to get baking.

Other:

Quick Strawberry Jam – super easy and a great way to preserve strawberries to last longer!

 

Share with us your photos doing this week’s activities by messaging us on Facebook (at Saratoga Farmers’ Market) or tagging us on Instagram (@saratogafarmersmarket)! Stay tuned for next week’s activities, going live on Wednesday, July 15.

POP Club offers children’s activities ‘to go’

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By Julia Howard

POP Coin

Summer has officially begun and throughout the state, summertime activities have been re-imagined to ensure safety and to stop the spread of COVID-19. The Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s Power of Produce Club, or POP Club, will continue to offer children nutrition education with new take-home activities and online support.

Beginning on July 8, children can participate in POP Club by visiting the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays with their parents or caregivers. At the market, they will receive an activity bag “to go”. The POP Club activity bag will include a take-home activity, recipe cards, and a $2 POP coin that can be used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ market. POP Passports will not be handed out and stamped this year, but families can anticipate nourishing activities with complete directions and supplies. Although the club is open to children, it is especially geared toward those aged 5-12.

In addition to weekly POP Club ‘to go’ bags, parents and caregivers can visit the farmers’ market’s website for video tutorials and photos that pair with each activity. This online platform will give children and parents the opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, and connect with the farmers’ market for additional support.

Photo by Pattie Garrett

“We are very happy to host our fifth season of POP Club with the generous support of the Christopher Dailey Foundation,” says Emily Meagher, market administrator. “It’s important that we give children the tools to be involved in agriculture and community, to help them understand that food and farming are intrinsically connected.”

POP Club continues to be a free program and will run for 8 weeks beginning on Wednesday, July 8, and running through the end of August. POP Club activity bags will be available at the green market information tent on Wednesday, 3-6 p.m. at the farmers’ market.

This season’s take-home activities include crafts, recipes, experiments, and information using seasonal fruits and vegetables as POP Club continues to give both children and their parents a chance to learn about local foods and farming in a hands-on way.

Buying produce with a POP coin gives children a chance to meet farmers, learn money skills, and make smart food choices.

This week’s recipe: Lightened Up Strawberry Shortcake

Quarantine Cooking with Kids

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By Julia Howard

With schools closed and many of us working from home, parents are desperately looking for ways to keep their children occupied. Food provides many opportunities for learning and play as well as nourishing our bodies and teaching important life skills. Here are 5 simple ways to use food and our local food system as learning tools for young children:

1. Cooking and Baking
Cooking and baking offer many learning opportunities for children; organizational skills, counting, measuring ingredients, team work, even writing out a grocery list. Cooking can be as simple as a smoothie, a salad, no-bake cookies, or assembling a picnic. Offering choices and presenting the activity as a game can be helpful in keeping the attention of your little ones.

2. Crafts and Games
The internet is peppered with DIY crafts and games to keep kids entertained, but look no farther than your fridge for real fun. Making fruit and vegetable prints with discarded stalks, cores, and stems is a creative, no-waste activity for little ones. Building constructions or creating a piece of art from cut fruit and vegetable pieces can make a tasty snack much more entertaining.

3. Planting Activities
If you want to garden with your kids but you’re not quite ready to dig out a space in your yard, here are some ideas that provide opportunities to grow on a small scale. Herbs, leafy vegetables, and celery may simply grow in water by cutting the plant at its base and placing it in water. An indoor herb garden or an outdoor container garden offers the full gardening experience. If you don’t have time to plant seeds, contact your local nursery as many are offering curbside pickup for plants.

4. STEM Activities
Whether your child is learning about taste vs. smell or the phases of the moon, food can be used for countless STEM experiments to stimulate higher thinking and problem solving. Try shaking heavy cream to make butter, experiment with the many ways to bake a potato, or make ice cream with salt, ice, and cream.

5. Driving Farm Tour or Virtual Tour
For families itching to get out of the house, a short drive through farm country can lift spirits during this difficult time. Make a map of your local producers, roll down the car windows, and take in the beauty that the area has to offer. Nettle Meadow and the Kemp Sanctuary even offer a virtual tour of their farm with opportunities to meet their famous rescue animals.

This week’s recipe: Apple & Carrot “Superhero” Muffins