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

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

Lovin' Mama Farm

Celebrate Earth Day by heading to the farmers’ market

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By Julia Howard

Earth Day is April 22, and with it comes the opportunity to reflect on the environment; what can we do to honor and protect the nature surrounding us. Earthday.org describes this global event as not just a day but a movement. At Saratoga Farmers’ Market, we agree wholeheartedly. The environmentally-conscious collaboration between local businesses, farms, shoppers, and the community is inspiring and encouraging, and we invite you to join in!

Composting at the Saratoga Farmers Market, photo by Madison Jackson.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market is pleased to continue offering community composting with help from Squash Villa Farm. Market-goers may drop fruit and vegetable scraps and compostable household matter like coffee grounds and eggshells in a large composting bin located at the TrustCo entrance at the Wilton Mall. Composted material is donated to local farms.

By shopping with baskets and reusable bags and adopting healthy habits like carpooling or taking public transit, we all can contribute to a healthy environment. 

And, when you shop at Saratoga Farmers’ Market, every dollar makes a difference in supporting local farms and businesses that, in turn, support environmental health and sustainability.

Local businesses have found innovative ways to reduce waste, which substantially affects the environment. Mean Max Brew Works repurposes their spent grain at [farmacy] Restobar in Glens Falls, where the restaurant makes crackers and other dishes from the leftovers. Argyle Cheese Farmer makes bread from whey, a byproduct of making cheese. Award-winning cheesemakers, Nettle Meadow, feed whey to their goats. And, Pork & Greens pigs feast on food bank goods, spent brewer’s grains, and whey.

Businesses like Junbucha prioritize environmental stewardship by composting food waste and recycling cardboard, metal, and plastic in their production facility. Filtering systems reduce their water consumption.

Reusing packaging is also a top priority. Farms accept clean egg cartons, plastic and glass containers, and even rubber bands from produce. Ballston Lake Apiaries sterilizes and reuses all of their glass honey jars rinsed and returned by customers. 

Lovin’ Mama Farm, photo provided

Many local farms, such as Pleasant Valley Farm, compost, rotate crops and use cover crops to hold soil nutrients. These farming practices are vital in supporting land ecology. Lovin’ Mama and Owl Wood Farm promote no-till, regenerative farming. Undisturbed soil layers build a healthy ecosystem with many benefits—mainly healthy soil to grow healthy food.

This week’s recipe: Chicken Spinach Salad with Butternut Squash

Sweets, Meats, and Easter Treats at Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Julia Howard

This weekend holds much significance in celebrating Passover, Good Friday, and Easter. Traditions may be cultural, spiritual, or simply individual, and this Saturday, Saratoga Farmers’ Market invites you to shop for your holiday feasts, festivities, and Easter baskets. We will also be giving away an Easter basket full of local goodies!

Kokinda Farm’s eggs, photo by Toni Nastasi.

Let’s begin with an Easter staple: eggs. Lovin’ Mama Farm, Kokinda Farm, Squash Villa Farm, and Elihu Farm have fresh, delicious, multi-colored eggs perfect for your Easter brunch and for dying in various colors—dying multi-colored eggs results in deep, earthy hues. You can even make natural dye using kale, beets, and onions. All are available at the farmers’ market. 

Saratoga Chocolate Co., photo by Toni Nastasi.

For those highly-anticipated Easter baskets, Saratoga Chocolate Co. makes Easter easy with pre-made baskets filled to the brim with their locally-made Easter-themed chocolates and sweets. They also have an assortment of chocolate bunnies in dark, milk, and white chocolate and in salted caramel. Ballston Lake Apiaries has honey sticks, and Slate Valley Farms has various maple candies. Brighten up a basket with crisp apples and apple chips from Saratoga Apple. 

The Food Florist, photo by Toni Nastasi.

Balancing breakfast preparation and egg hunts while pulling together a feast for later in the day can be challenging, but The Food Florist can help. Their Easter brunch menu includes a variety of take-and-bake quiches and ready-to-go breakfast casseroles like sausage, egg, and cheese; add a side of our homemade blueberry french toast.

For the main course, Bob and Mary Pratt from Elihu Farm are still taking orders for lamb cuts for Easter or Passover. Send your order to elihufarm@yahoo.com or call 518-744-3947. Other options include whole chicken from Ramble Creek Farm and Squash Villa Farm or brisket from Longlesson Farm. Pork & Greens and Hebron Valley Veal also have specialty cuts.

Goodway Gourmet, photo by Toni Nastasi.

For the desserts and sweets, Goodway Gourmet will have carrot cakes, rum cakes, cookies, brownies, and macaroons. Parchment will have a selection of their Scandinavian pastries, cookies, and bread. 

Don’t forget local bread, artisan cheeses, spirits and beer, seasonal produce, and more!

While you’re out shopping, be sure to stop by the Market Information booth to enter to win an Easter basket full of local products. There will also be live music and an activity for children and families to enjoy.

This week’s recipe: Roast Lamb

Festive Foods and Flavors for St. Patrick’s Day

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By Julia Howard

  In the United States, Saint Patrick’s Day has ventured from authentic Irish traditions. However, Irish emigrants transformed the holiday into the celebration we know today; prominent displays of green, festive eating and drinking, and numerous parades. 

You can find the spirit of Saint Patrick’s Day at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. With the approach of spring, there will be plenty of green there for you, too! This Saturday at the Wilton Mall, local producers have all the goods to help you prepare for your Irish-infused festivities.

Gomez Veggie Ville, photo by Madison Jackson.

If you’re preparing corned beef, your beef brisket should be bathing in spice-filled brine. But it’s not too late to pick up locally grown essentials like cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. You can find the products you need at Gomez Veggie Ville.

Something’s Brewing, photo by Toni Nastasi.

Something’s Brewing recommends Sumatra roasted beans to make the best Irish coffee. Pour one and a half ounces of Irish whiskey and one teaspoon maple syrup into a mug, and fill the rest of the way with freshly brewed coffee. Stir, taste, and adjust the sweetness. Then top with whipped cream.

Pork & Greens has nutritious microgreens for fresh and festive greens. Lovin’ Mama Farm has returned with microgreens and potted herbs. And J. Adkins has a variety of succulents and houseplants to add a touch of green to your living space. 

Suppose you’re looking for other flavors with a St. Patrick’s Day flair. In that case, Saratoga Chocolate Company’s Matcha Bar has the perfect balance of white chocolate and brilliant green Wakatake matcha (green tea powder with an earthy flavor). Junbucha will have green Japanese Matcha Kombucha, a tart yet sweet fermented beverage made with high-quality matcha, tea, and honey. Goat Scape cheese from R&G Cheesemakers offers savory goat cheese flecked with green garlic scapes.

Mean Max Brew Works has a diverse selection of handcrafted beers. And Kim Dolan Designed is hosting a drawing to win a lovely, handmade, green cloak.

For this week’s recipe, we share the main course that’s even more authentic to the Emerald Isle than corned beef and cabbage. Shepherd’s pie with lamb is a hearty dish with Irish roots. We enjoy Wolfgang Puck’s version that features many seasonal vegetables.

This weeks recipe: Shepherd’s Pie with Lamb

Holiday Traditions on the Farm

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By Julia Howard

Laurie Kokinda’s horse Hyde, photo courtesy of Laurie Kokinda

The holiday season evokes traditions that create lasting memories while reinforcing our values and identity. This week, we look to our local farmers and producers as they share some of their favorite memories of their holiday traditions on the farm.

“When we were kids, Christmas Eve was always when we had our big dinner and presents,” shares Laurie Kokinda of Kokinda Farm and Laurie’s Jams and Jellies. “Christmas morning, we always saddled horses and went for a trail ride through Luther Forest. Back then, it was a single dirt road and especially beautiful if we got fresh snow.”

Christophe Robert of Longlesson Farm takes a traditional New Year’s Day family hike on their farm. “After a big New Year’s Eve celebration full of food and drinks, we hike to cure the hangover,” says Robert. They also bring their goats along as, according to Robert, “they hike better than the dogs.”

New Year’s Day Hike with the goats, photo provided by Longlesson Farm

At Slate Valley Farms, Gina Imbimbo happily anticipates the farm’s New Year’s tradition of making natural dyes from their farm-grown Christmas trees. The dye is a red-brown hue used to color yarn, socks, and linens. Their family also prepares for the maple season by tapping maple trees on the first full moon in January, the wolf moon, per Native American traditions.

Matthew Leon of Lovin’ Mama Farm describes their family traditions as “land-centric.” “Normally, around Thanksgiving, we do cider pressing, and in the New Year, we help with processing maple syrup,” says Leon. Processing maple syrup is just for their use, and Leon explains their rustic tradition of carrying buckets of sap to be boiled.

Nettle Meadow and The Kemp Sanctuary, photo provided

Nettle Meadow Farm and the Kemp Animal Sanctuary celebrates Christmas with a big holiday bash hosted by the farm owners for the employees. The farm’s annual party includes a feast, a secret Santa gift swap, games, and good conversation. Farmworker Sean Dean jokes that the farm’s senior rescue turkey has the safest home.

This holiday season, we encourage you to build traditions of your own. Perhaps by sharing a favorite recipe, shopping for your holiday feast at the farmers’ market, or simply spending time with loved ones — which is where the true spirit of the season lays. The farmers’ market will be closed on Christmas Day and reopen on January 1, 2022.

This week’s recipe: Buttery Breakfast Casserole

Home for the Holidays Calls for Local Decorations

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Scotch Ridge Berry and Tree Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

By Emily Meagher

The cold, dark month of December calls for bright, warm decorations to make all that time spent indoors cozier and more enjoyable. At the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, local farmers and artists bring Christmas greenery and other seasonal decorations that you can cherish through the winter season.

If you celebrate Christmas, Scotch Ridge Berry and Tree Farm should be your first stop at the market. Charles Holub sets up outside the Wilton Mall and has tabletop trees, wreaths, kissing balls, and door swags available every Saturday through December 18. Their Norwegian and blue spruces, noble fir, and white pine varieties are naturally grown at their farm in Duanesburg.

Lovin’ Mama Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

For a less traditional wreath, Lovin’ Mama Farm offers ones made from dried flowers they grow on their land. “We plant rows of flowers interspersed between our veggies for diversity and pollinator habitat and bring fresh bouquets to summer markets and our handmade dried wreaths during the holidays,” says owner Corinne Hansch.

Feathered Antler, photo by Pattie Garrett

To brighten up any room, stop by Feathered Antler’s stand. Gretchen’s colorfully painted items include wooden ornaments to go in your tree, cards and stockings you can display on your mantle, and decorative throw pillows for on your sofa. Or grab a painted plant pot and add a poinsettia plant from J. Adkins Cultivation.

Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, photo by Pattie Garrett

Lastly, add some smaller items to spruce up your home during the holiday season. Ballston Lake Apiaries makes candles from their beeswax in shapes like bears and Faberge eggs. Gather around their warm light on a dark night. Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff’s holiday soaps, including snowflakes, gingerbread men, and many more options, will add some holiday cheer to your bathroom.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market offers three more opportunities to shop local before Christmas: on Saturday, December 11th and 18th, markets will run as usual. On Wednesday, December 22nd, a special market will run from 1:30 pm until 5:30 pm for a last-minute grocery and gift shop.

This week’s recipe: Peak-of-the-Season Salad with Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

Peak-of-the-Season Salad with Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

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Photo by Pattie Garrett

“The holiday season for our farm family has come to mean celebrating local bounty. Enjoy my recipe for the most delicious, nourishing, seasonal salad for the winter holidays!” – Corinne Hansch

Recipe shared by Lovin’ Mama Farm
Serves 6-8
Prep & assembly time: 25 mins

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

For the vinaigrette:
● 1 1/2 Tbs. sherry vinegar
● 2 small shallots*, finely diced
● salt and freshly milled pepper
● 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
● 6 Tbs. roasted walnut oil or a mixture of walnut and olive oils

For the salad:
● Local, seasonal baby greens, such as baby lettuce*, radicchio*, arugula*, or mesclun*
● Microgreens* or shoots*
● Assorted radishes*, including watermelon radish, sliced
● grated carrots*
● sliced cabbage*
● crumbled goat cheese* (optional)

For the toasted walnuts:
● 1/2 cup walnuts
● 1 tbs butter*

Instructions
To make the vinaigrette, combine vinegar, shallots, and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the mustard, then add the oil. Whisk well until the dressing is thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

To make the toasted walnuts, warm a heavy-bottom skillet and melt the butter. Add the walnuts and stir until coated in the melted butter and slightly browned. Watch closely as they can burn easily!

Assemble the salad in the largest bowl you have. First toss the greens, microgreens, and shoots together, then top with grated carrot, sliced cabbage, and slices of radishes. Add crumbled goat cheese and toasted walnuts, then drizzle the dressing on top and serve!