Saratoga Farmers' Market

Kid's Activities

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

Getting Ready to ‘Go Outdoors’

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

More sunshine and balmier temperatures are filling the days, despite the overnight frosts that still threaten the tender seedlings being nurtured for the summer. With the increasing warmth, vendors at the year-round Saratoga Farmers’ Market are talking eagerly of “going outdoors.”

“Going outdoors” means the market will make its annual move from its winter location in the Lincoln Baths Building at the Saratoga Spa State Park to High Rock Park. The move begins next week: the final winter market at Lincoln Baths is tomorrow, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The summer season will kick off 3-6 p.m. Wednesday; the grand opening will be at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“I love being outside,” said Marcie Place, owner of the Chocolate Spoon. “We have a nice hearty winter market, but six months indoors is enough.”

“We’re back in the fresh air, and in town,” added Phyllis Underwood, owner of Shushan Hydro Farms. “It feels like coming home.”

High Rock Park has been home for the Saratoga Farmers’ Market since the 1990s. Having an opportunity to operate twice a week allows farmers and other vendors to provide Saratoga area residents with an abundance of fresh food, garden starting seedlings, prepared foods, and other items. It also lets the market reach several different groups of customers ranging from families and downtown Saratoga employees on Wednesdays to these groups along with weekend tourists on Saturdays. This gives each of the weekly markets a distinct identity.

Outdoor Market at High Rock Park

“We get so many schoolchildren on Wednesdays from the Lake Avenue Elementary School,” said Place. “It creates a sense of fun. And Saturdays are like a huge community festival, that everyone joins into.”

Market director Julia Howard encourages shoppers to stop by High Rock Park on Wednesdays, even if they make most of their purchases on Saturdays. The mid-week market continues to expand with 24 vendors in 2017, an end-of-school celebration on June 28, and the second annual Power of Produce Club for children.

“It’s an entirely different experience,” said Howard, of the winter to summer transition. “Indoors, we’re like a tight-knit community. Outdoors, everything gets bolder, brighter.”

Visit the final indoor Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 29 at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park. Then, join us for the summer 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park.

Wednesday Market Vendors
Beginning on Wednesday, May 3, 3-6 pm

Agriculture

Burger Farm
Butternut Ridge Farm
Fresh Take Farm
Gifford Farm
Gomez Veggie Ville
Lewis Waite Farm
Mariaville Mushroom Men
Otrembiak Farm
Owl Wood Farm
Pleasant Valley Farm
Row to Hoe Farm
Saratoga Apple
Scotch Ridge Berry Farm
Slate Valley Farm
Slyboro Cider House
Underwood’s Greenhouse / Shushan Valley Hydro Farm

Prepared Food

Euro Delicacies
Healthy Gourmet Kitchen
Homestead Artisans
R&G Cheese Makers
Saratoga Peanut Butter Co.
The Chocolate Spoon
The Country Corner Cafe
The Food Florist

Service Providers

Mister Edge Sharpening

Coloring Easter Eggs Using Natural Dyes

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Shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table

Supply List
*supplies available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 1 dozen eggs, any color*
• 1 cup chopped red cabbage per cup of water* — makes blue on white eggs, green on brown eggs
• 1 cup shredded beets per cup of water* — makes pink or purple on white eggs, maroon on brown eggs
• 2 tablespoons ground turmeric per cup of water — makes yellow eggs

Cooking Instructions:

1. Bring 1 inch water to rolling boil in medium saucepan over high heat.

2. Place eggs in steamer basket and place the basket in the saucepan. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook eggs for 13 minutes.

3. Combine 2 cups ice cubes and 2 cups cold water in medium bowl. Using tongs or spoon, transfer the eggs to ice bath. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Dyeing Instructions

1. Add a cup of water for each color into a saucepan. Add cabbage, beets or turmeric and bring the water to a boil.

2. Cover, and turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. You can cook longer for a deeper color. Drip a little of the colored water onto a white dish to check the color. When it has reached to color you like, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

3. Pour the cooled colored water through a fine-mesh strainer into another saucepan or bowl.

4. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar per cup of strained colored water. Pour the water over cooled cooked eggs in a bowl. The eggs must be completely under the water.

5. Refrigerate until the desired color is reached. My Saratoga Kitchen Table refrigerated eggs overnight.

6. Try rubbing dry dyed eggs with oil (olive or melted coconut oil) will allow them to shine.

Future farmers – Or at Least Future Farmers’ Market Shoppers

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By Julia Howard, Saratoga Farmers’ Market Director

One value of making a shopping trip to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market a part of your weekly routine is the connection that it inspires between you, your food, and the farmers who grow it.

Photo by Pattie Garrett
Photo by Pattie Garrett

Over the past two years, we have worked to deepen that connection by making the market a place that is not only foodie-friendly but family friendly, as well. We host a weekly drop-in kids’ activity and live music, and as we start preparing for the summer we are looking forward to rolling out our Power of Produce program again. The goal of that program is to get children excited about carrots, broccoli, and raspberries, as well as locally produced honey, cheeses, and other products. In the process, we want market goers of all ages to learn about farming, new foods, and new cooking methods – while having fun.

Looking for new ways to connect your children to local foods? Try these ideas:

• Find something that grows on a vine, underground, and on a tree. Let your child choose these items, and come up with an easy recipe for making it. (See the accompanying recipe for a hint on how to get started.)

• Find something new. Have your child identify an odd piece of produce and then ask the farmer selling it what it is and how to prepare it. Farmers love sharing recipes so this is a great way to strike up a conversation and make a friend in the process.

Saratoga Springs Public Library Activity. Photo by Pattie Garrett
Saratoga Springs Public Library Activity.
Photo by Pattie Garrett

• Do a scavenger hunt. Write out market ingredients for an evening meal. Send your kids on a hunt through the market to find them. Jot down the names of the farmers selling the products as they are located and then marvel at the list of diverse food producers that you are supporting.

• Buddy up on a budget. Children can learn great money-saving skills when they’re given the task of buying their own fruits, vegetables, and snacks such as honey sticks for lunch boxes or other meals.

• And finally take pictures. Ask your child to name the most interesting item on display at the market each week, and take a photo with your cell phone. Then, create a collage of these edible arts that features perhaps a giant sweet potato, a sprouting mushroom, or even a wide-eyed fish.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, through April. Our summer season at High Rock Park begins Wednesday, May 3.

Saratoga Farmers Market by Pattie Garrett

Carrot, Cucumber & Apple Salad

Adapted from recipe by Ciara Attwell at My Fussy Eater
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 2 carrots*
• 1 cucumber*
• 1 apple*
• 10-12 cherry tomatoes*
• 1 tablespoon honey*
• Juice from 1 lemon*
• Lemon zest*

Instructions

1. Wash the carrots, cucumber and apple and peel the carrots with a vegetable peeler.

2. Cut the ends off the fruit and vegetables to create a flat surface.

3. Attach each one at a time to a spiralizer and spiralizer to create spaghetti like noodles. If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use a julienne peeler too.

4. Place the spiralized fruit and veggies into a large bowl. Chop the cherry tomatoes in two and add to the bowl.

5. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the lemon zest and honey. Drizzle over fruit and veggies.

6. Serve immediately.