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Starting small begins with dreaming big

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By Mary Pratt

Elihu Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

Before Bob and I started Elihu Farm, we lived in New Scotland, self-employed writing about acid precipitation and climate change (before it became a ‘hot topic’).

Eventually one of us said, “We should do something agricultural.” Soon we bought our Elihu Farm in Easton, named for Revolutionary Patriot, Elihu Gifford. Instead of raising vegetables and berries, the book left in our house, “Raising Sheep the Modern Way,” pushed us that way. We’ve raised sheep since 1987. And concentrate on lamb cuts, pastured eggs, and wool.

The way we started has made me curious about how other Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendors began.

Argyle Cheese Farmer, photo by Pattie Garrett

Before we joined the Market, we met Marge and Dave Randles. Dave and his brother ran Randles dairy farm, founded in 1860 in Argyle. Dave explained, “Seventeen years ago, the price of milk was abysmal, so we thought of doing value-added products.”

Making cheese was Dave’s first idea, at Argyle Cheese Farm. But “Marge is a visionary,” he said, “who thought about a variety of products.”

They offer fantastic yogurt, award-winning cheese, cheese spreads, cultured buttermilk, smoothies, gelato, and more. Check out tzatziki sauce, new breads, doughnuts, and baked goods.

Something’s Brewing, photo by Pattie Garrett

When the Market needed a new coffee vendor, Beth Trattel, Something’s Brewing, at first shared a small space with Argyle Cheese Farmer. “The Market was a better fit than my coffee shop in Greenwich.”

“About two years ago, I started coffee roasting.” with sustainable beans. “It’s like making wine, or cooking,” she said. “…more creative and flexible.”

Her Battenkill River Coffee has several varieties, and she blends her own teas, blueberry lavender this week. In addition, she makes lemonade, iced black tea, iced mocha, Italian cream soda.

Mark Bascom and Lindsay Fisk, planted Owl Wood Farm in Salem five years ago. They heard owls in woods at a leased farm and their current farm.

Owl Wood Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

They studied environmental science at two colleges, including sustainable agriculture. Lindsay explained, “We started working on farms during summers, and took various apprenticeships after college.”

After the apprenticeships, they decided to raise Certified Naturally Grown vegetables, herbs, and strawberries. Lindsay said, “It’s a grassroots alternative to the National Organic Program, and we do it so we can be third-party verified.” At Farmers’ Market, salad greens are the most popular.

This week’s recipe: Iced Mocha

Cheese Dip for a Special Day

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CHEESE DIP FOR TWO
Author: The View from Great Island
Serves: 2
INGREDIENTS
*Ingredients available at the farmers’ market
  • ¼ pound Fontina cheese*
  • ¼ pound Gruyere cheese*
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon white wine*
  • Fresh thyme*
  • Fresh chives*
  • Baguette slices*
  • 1 clove garlic*
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Remove the rinds and cut the cheese into cubes, about ½ to 1 inch. Put them in a small cast iron pan or another broiler friendly pan, about 6 inches. Add the oil and wine. Sprinkle the herbs across the cheese.
  2. Broil about 5 inches from the broiler for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
  3. Slice the bread. Heat a grill pan over medium to high heat and toast the slices until they are browned. While the bread is warm, run the cut side of the garlic along the surface to give a subtle flavor.
NOTES
I used Mercy Cheese from Argyle Cheese Farmer and High Rock Cheese from Homestead Artisans of Longview Farm.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Gears Up for its 40th Year

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

 

Tomorrow marks the first Saratoga Farmers’ Market of 2018. It also rings in the market’s 40th year.

For many longtime vendors, the milestone marks a moment of pride. It affirms that the Saratoga Farmers’ Market mission of supporting Saratoga with fresh farm foods continues to thrive.

Farmers’ markets have deep roots in American society, dating back to Native American trading spaces. Markets all but disappeared after World War II, however, as a result of corporate agriculture and the arrival of national grocery store chains that taught consumers to prioritize convenience over freshness. By 1965, there were just six farmers’ markets in New York State.

The decline began to reverse in the 1970s. In 1976, the U.S. Congress passed a Farmer to Consumer Direct Marketing Act. The act authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide public money to states to promote direct marketing between farmers and consumers in ways that would be clean, healthy, and safe for all.

Two years later, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market was established, and area farmers began bringing plant seedlings and fresh produce to downtown Saratoga.

The first season was a challenge, as many longtime vendors recall, but persistence paid off and today farmers’ markets are becoming an increasingly important aspect of many communities and an important contributor to the economies of such small cities as Saratoga.

While the breadth of today’s Saratoga Farmers’ Market has changed considerably, its mission remains the same. Vendors sell fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, cheeses, maple syrup, honey, and an array of prepared goods. The overall market offerings also continue to be predominantly agricultural items grown or raised within four counties. Three-fourths of the items available at the market are agricultural.

This new year brings some changes. Rick Green of Ballston Lake Apiaries has hung up his beekeeper hat to enjoy retirement, along with Albert Sheldon of Sheldon Farms. Joining the winter market are several specialty food vendors who made their debut in the holiday market last month. And the market board recently voted to approve products from Warren County into its mix, expanding the base from four counties – Saratoga, Washington, Schenectady, and Rensselaer – to five.

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park; follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.

Farmers’ Market is Local to the Core

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

High Rock Park, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday. Saratoga Springs is waking up, smelling the coffee and contemplating the day. Meanwhile, at High Rock Park, farmers are arriving from Milton, Ballston Lake, Argyle, Fort Edward, Salem and elsewhere. Within an hour they will create a space that represents local, food, farming and community at its best.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is local to the core. Farmers grow their vegetables and fruits, raise their animals, and make their artisanal cheeses, bread, and other goods mostly within a four-county radius. They rely on Saratoga shoppers to buy their goods as much as Saratoga relies on them for farm fresh food. This shared fellowship keeps money in our economy, strengthens our food systems and lets farmers and other businesses thrive.

What does local look like? How does it work? This glimpse into the farmers’ market provides some clues.

8:15 am and farmers are carousing with each other as they unload squash, lettuce, apples, beans and other goods. Tables snap open, tablecloths unfold. Bales of straw, sheaves of corn stalks, and pumpkins — hundreds of pumpkins — find their place. In between, the farmers sip coffee, joke about the weather and brag good-naturedly about their goods. They check out each other’s stalls. They will buy from or barter with each other, knowing that the cooperative nature of a farmers’ market means supporting each other.

The early birds arrive. Selling cannot start until 9 a.m. But that doesn’t restrict regulars from checking out the offerings — or when an item is in short supply lining up to buy it first.

“Got any arugula?” The question comes from a market regular.

“Yeah,” replies a farmer. “Right here. Have a look and taste.”

Two women line up for a pumpkin soup sample prepared by Friends of the Market volunteers. “Are you always here this early?” a volunteer asks. “Oh yes,” replied the women, with one noting that she comes in from Ticonderoga.

9 a.m. and vendor Anna Mae Clark rings a bell. The market springs to action. Shoppers fill their bags, local musicians play their hearts out, and children and parents crowd around a table where the weekly activity features pumpkin painting. By 11 a.m., the volunteers’ soup tureen is empty and market director Julia Howard is scrambling to find more pumpkins. One farmer drives back to his farm for more gourds while another provides five dozen. For Howard, the popularity of pumpkins is a coup. More children mean more families, more shoppers — and more future farmers.

As 1 p.m. approaches, gifts of food pile up for musicians as do donations for Franklin Community Center’s food pantry with which the market partners.

The bell rings. The market ends. The farmers pack up and head home, knowing that they’ll be back again.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market moves Nov. 4 to its winter location at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park, where the market will continue Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

 

Saratoga Cafe Brings its Special Touch of Sweetness to Farmers’ Market

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By Julia Howard, Market Director

 

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

My first taste of mixed berry jelly from The Country Corner Cafe convinced me that not all canned fruits are created equal. The flavor was pure fruit enhanced by a touch of sweetness. I was excited.

“We use half the sugar in our jams and jellies and pies,” said Roseann Hotaling, of The Country Corner Cafe. “We want the flavor to shine through and not the sugary sweetness.”

The cafe is well known for its breakfasts and lunches in Saratoga Springs. Now, Hotaling and her son Eric are taking some of their favorite products a step further, supplying them to local businesses and selling at farmers’ markets.

The Country Corner Cafe made its debut at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market this year, offering jams and jellies along with pies and fudge at the Wednesday market.

Roseann Hotaling of The Country Corner Cafe, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

“Farmers’ markets are such a great opportunity to visit and interact with people,” said Hotaling. Besides the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, she offers her products at the Nine Pin Cider tasting room, Impressions of Saratoga and the Spa City market.

Such home arts as baking, canning, and preservation run deep in Hotaling’s family history, which stretches back to her childhood in Walton, NY. Her grandmother and mother taught her the art of preservation, and after earning a degree in restaurant management, Hotaling began working first in a hospital/nursing home food facility and then with the state’s Child Nutrition Services program for public schools. This role brought her to Saratoga Springs in 1988, as director of the school district’s nutritional services.

The closing of a downtown luncheonette created an opportunity for Hotaling to start her own restaurant and in 1991 The Country Corner Cafe was born.

Hotaling has passed her knowledge of baking, canning, and preservation on to her sons Jared and Eric, who worked alongside her in the cafe kitchen. Eric continues to work with the restaurant, much to Hotaling’s delight.

“He has such an attention to detail and pride in everything he makes,” Hotaling said. “It’s a pleasure to work with him.”

Hotaling also recently celebrated the birth of a granddaughter, a sign perhaps that a family tradition will continue.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park through October. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for updates and special events.