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

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

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Creating a menu at the market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Longlesson Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

Those who frequent the Saratoga Farmers’ Market know it’s a special space. For four hours, shoppers, farmers, other vendors, and volunteers come together to talk food, shop and sell, and bop to the music of the week. The energy is electric, and the food is beautiful. We go home a bit tired but with our taste buds alive, eager to cook and eat.

And sometimes you arrive and discover your favorite vendor has sold out of eggs. Beef stew meat or pork chops are unavailable on that particular day. Vendors have onions but not scallions. Fresh greens, particularly in the winter months, are scarce.

Pleasant Valley Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

In some ways, this unpredictability makes the market what it is. When farmers and other vendors bring to market foods that they themselves grow, raise or make, availability will vary from week-to-week, and certainly by season. The market cannot offer everything, but it can assure customers that our food has not traveled 1,500 miles to reach its destination – which is an average computed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for produce offered at grocery stores. Our foods are locally grown, raised, or made, and it is fresh.

How does one learn to navigate the unpredictability to take advantage of foods that are local and fresh?

Herb and spice blends from Muddy Trail Jerky Co, photo by Pattie Garrett

One answer is to throw away the shopping list. Come to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market instead with a blank sheet. Browse what’s available, talk with farmers – the ultimate foodies—and make your meal plans for the week. Set a goal perhaps of trying a new item every week, knowing that full meals can be built with what we offer.

Sound ambitious? We’ll help. Starting tomorrow, we will be in a more open space in the Wilton Mall, moving from the walkway between the Department of Motor Vehicles and Bath & Body Works to the food court. Find us and look then for a white board near the market information table. On it, will be a recipe based on ingredients one of our vendors or volunteers found a few minutes before the market’s opening. Take a look, snap a photo with your cell phone, and shop. Give the recipe a try and share your results.

This week’s recipe: Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Honey Dip

A new chapter for the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is moving indoors for the winter. This change takes place every November, but this year is different. The market has a new locale, and a new start and finish time. It will be chaotic – and exciting.

Saratoga Apple, photo courtesy of Eric Jenks

The market’s new winter locale is at the Wilton Mall, Saturdays, from 9:30-1:30 p.m. Through the end of April, the market will stretch from the Department of Motor Vehicles location to the Bath & Body Works store. Vendors will intermingle with mall retailers in a space that offers convenient parking, bus service, free Internet, and warmth.

Market staff have been preparing for the move for about two months.

Still, they know the change will mean adjustments – for customers and vendors alike.

Gomez Veggie Ville, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

“We’re farmers,” says market association president Beth Trattel, with a laugh. “We’re used to being outdoors, around hay, animals, live plants.”

The mall has a decidedly different feel from the outdoor pavilions at High Rock and even the historic Lincoln Baths Building where the winter market took place in recent years. However, market director Emily Meagher notes, the mall and the market also pair together well.

Malls throughout America have been repurposing themselves as community gathering sites as consumer shopping habits continue to shift more toward online retailing. Likewise, farmers’ markets strive to bring the community spirit that accompanies them into locales where customers and vendors are protected from cold winter weather.

Mrs. London’s, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

When the market opens this Saturday, much will be familiar, notes Meagher. The opening bell ringer will walk through the area of the mall that the market will use, clanging away. Musicians will perform; hot coffee and prepared foods will be waiting; cans will be available for the collection of home compost, and Friends of the Market volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and assist customers. Most of the market’s longtime farmers will be offering their goods, along with a handful of newcomers.

Still, Trattel says, “we know this is a big adjustment for our regular customers, who we value quite deeply. We’re looking forward to working together to create something new.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is now 9:30 a.m-1:30 p.m. at the Wilton Mall. CDTA routes 450 (Schenectady-Wilton) and 452 (Skidmore College-Wilton) offer regular Saturday bus service with many stops in Saratoga Springs (see cdta.org/routes- and-schedules). Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Winter market offers new opportunity for mall, farmers, and Saratoga

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Shorter days, grayer skies, and sweater weather all mark shifts in the seasonal cycle of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. The market will continue to operate outdoors from 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park through October.

On Saturday, Nov. 2, the market makes its annual move indoors.

This year, however, the move will be to a newer, larger, and more accessible location at the Wilton Mall, where the market will operate from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturdays, in the area around the Department of Motor Vehicles and former Bon Ton store.

The move creates a community partnership between the nearly 60 vendors who make up the winter market and the retail businesses at the mall.

“We are excited about this change,” says Saratoga Farmers’ Market Association board president Beth Trattel. “It gives us an opportunity to give all of our vendors more selling space, while also offering expanded parking and a bus-accessible site to our customers.”

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Vendors will offer fresh produce, meats, eggs, cheeses and other dairy items, fresh-cut flowers, spirits, prepared foods, and a variety of handmade arts and artisanal craft items.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s move comes as changes in consumer shopping patterns are causing malls to reinvent themselves. The Wilton Mall has lost two major anchors in the past year – Sears and Bon Ton – and much of its space is unfilled. Bringing farmers, artisans, and other local businesses into some of that vacant space creates a vibrant shopping atmosphere that could help the mall rekindle its potential to be a public gathering space.

At the same time, by opening up its space, the mall is helping the farmers’
market address three of its greatest challenges: ample parking, access via public transportation, and vendor visibility to the public.

“We are excited about this move,” says market director Emily Meagher. “We will have ample parking. We will be located directly by a CDTA bus stop, and being in a space that is shared with many other businesses creates a ‘one-stop-shop’ for customers’ weekly groceries and other errands.”