new vendor

Bringing Caribbean cuisine to Saratoga Farmers’ Market shoppers

September 28, 2021 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

How Vashti Ma’at and Leon Carr met isn’t quite about food. But how the 20-year friendship has grown to their partnership through Vashti’s Kitchen Delights is definitely about the food. Vashti’s Kitchen Delights is among the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s new vendors. Ma’at and Carr bring the prepared meals and sides that Vashti’s Kitchen Delights features to market each Wednesday and Saturday.

Ma’at was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and Carr in Jamaica. Each emigrated to New York City with their families. Ma’at holds a degree in sociocultural anthropology, has trained as a pastry chef, and has had a career as a consultant. Carr has worked as an engineer and has run businesses. Vashti’s Kitchen Delights is an amalgam of their experiences and their fused Caribbean cultural cuisines.

Salacious Hen and vegetable sides, photo provided

Ma’at and Carr met in Queens around 2001. Carr owned and operated a cyber café and computer-repair business, and Ma’at had a malfunctioning laptop. After a series of jousts and jokes, she decided she could trust Carr to fix it, and Carr proved himself reliable. He allowed clients to use the cafe computers for free while their devices were being repaired. Ma’at became a regular. Carr learned she had a small catering business and hired her to provide breakfast for a business meeting.

“No one remembered what happened at the meeting,” he recalled. “But everyone remembered the food.”

And so it went. Vashti catered meals, and Leon helped develop the business. They moved to Amsterdam in 2006. Ma’at was employed through a grant-funded position, and when the grant ended in 2017, she decided to devote herself to cooking.

Vashti and Leon visited several area farmers’ markets. “We decided that, as caterers, such markets would offer potential customers the opportunity to sample our dishes and experience our cuisine,” she said.

Vashti’s Kitchen Delights’ offerings are dairy and gluten-free, with many vegan options. Ma’at gives many of them a Trinidad and Tobago touch through using such ingredients as coconut oil, all fresh herbs like cilantro, and spices like cumin and cinnamon. She adds a touch of fun by giving them names like the Sassy Pig (pork) and Salacious Hen (chicken).

Vashti often makes time to shop at other vendor stalls for ingredients for the business and the meals she and Carr enjoy on their own time at home. The conviviality defines the business and the relationships she and Leon build with customers and others.

They’re all about the food.

This week’s recipe: Cabbage Medley

Nine Pine Soup & Design shares the benefits of white pine

August 30, 2021 By marketeditor

By Madison Jackson

Nine Pine Soup & Design, photo by Pattie Garrett

On Wednesday afternoons under the shade of the south pavilion in High Rock Park, you can find Janine Stockin, also known as Jai, owner of Nine Pine Soup & Design, behind a table of thoughtfully displayed products.

Nine Pine Soup & Design, photo by Madison Jackson

Pine cones adorn a table with jars of white pine needles, teas, and oils. Homemade soup broth gently steams nearby. Tree branches, carefully woven with colorful yarn, are placed around the space. The art of decorating these branches is known as Ojo de Dios or God’s Eye; a traditional Mexican craft that symbolizes peace, protection, and prosperity. Jai handmakes each piece in various sizes and colors meant to inspire meditation and a sense of calmness.

The main focus of her business is the needles of the white pine tree, a conifer traditionally used for lumber and sap. In this case, Jai uses the pine needles to brew tea and oils rich in vitamins and antioxidants.

Jai sought a spot as a vendor with the Saratoga Farmers’ Market to share the many benefits of white pine needles with the community. She has been studying plants since age 14 and pursued an education, earning a degree in Botany and Earth Science. In January 2019, Jai became inspired by information on white pine from well-known herbalists like Susan Weed and Dina Falconi.

White pine has a rich history with Iroquois roots and is known as the “Tree of Peace” for helping to end a conflict between the Five Nations. White pine needles are rich in compounds linked to better health, and, historically, they have had many uses as natural remedies. They are high in antioxidants, Vitamin C, calcium, and potassium.

Jai makes a healing massage oil infused with white pine oil and almond oil, which deeply conditions the skin. She notes the uplifting aromatherapy of the tea and oil, which soothes and nourishes the body. Jai also makes white pine broth and white pine iced tea.

Stop by the Wednesday market to speak with Jai about her products and sample her fresh white pine needle tea and broth. For more information on her products, contact Jai at 9pinedesigns@gmail.com.

This week’s recipe: Pine Needle Vegetarian Broth

Building community with bread

August 17, 2021 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

In February 2021, Leigh Rathner and his wife Cindy Rosenberg moved from Los Angeles to Saratoga Springs, where Rathner had lived earlier in life and raised his children. They had a dream: to feed people and build community. At the center was bread.

Seven months later, their dream has grown into NightWork Bread. NightWork is derived from Rathner’s previous work of logging difficult late-night hours in the film business. Now, those late hours mean care and passion. Rathner makes slow-rising, naturally fermented sourdough bread, often working late at night.

Rosenberg brings the bread to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, where it sells fast. In seven months, Rathner has gone from making 25 loaves a week to 325.

Their feat is remarkable. Besides learning the basics of business and the many factors that influence the making of artisan bread, they have had to figure out how to build customer support as newcomers to a place where old loyalties run deep.

Leigh Rathner of NightWork Bread, photo provided

The secret is bread.

“I’ve always been a community builder,” Rosenberg says. “Bread is a community builder, too.”

The connection got clear in 2020.

Rathner and Rosenberg lived in Los Angeles in a 145-unit condominium, where they knew three other people. Everyone was working or commuting. The COVID-19 pandemic brought people home, including Rathner who saw making bread as a means of calming the mind after his work dried up. As the loaves piled up, Rosenberg began distributing them. They met more people and in the once-lifeless building, a sense of community formed.

People began stopping in open-air hallways and other spaces to chat. Chats became meetups with food and drink. Neighbors began offering Rathner money to cover his bread-making costs. Then came preorders, and ultimately a product Rathner felt comfortable selling to others.

“That’s how we lived through the pandemic,” Rathner says. “Bread was a part of it.”

He and Rosenberg yearned to move to a smaller town with a strong farm-to-table ethos. Saratoga seemed like a good fit.

Cindy Rosenberg and NightWork Bread at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, photo by Pattie Garrett

Rosenberg, an acupuncturist, learned how to use Instagram from one of her clients in her last days in Los Angeles. En route to Saratoga, she posted reports via Facebook and began friending people and businesses locally, including me after a mutual friend put us in touch.

Rathner’s past ties to Saratoga also helped. His children had attended the Waldorf School, and even after he left, his friendships with some Waldorf parents had remained strong.

NightWork Bread is now available at three farmers’ markets, including Saratoga, and Rathner and Rosenberg hope eventually to open a store.

This week’s recipe: Panzanella

TogaNola’s Snacks Feed Adventurous Souls

August 3, 2021 By marketeditor

By Madison Jackson

TogaNola, photo by Pattie Garrett

In 2015, Katie Rhodes began training for her first marathon. Constantly hungry from her busy schedule, granola bars became her go-to snack until she took a closer look at the ingredients she was putting in her body. Most traditional granola bars are highly processed and packed with sugar. Looking to keep herself both full and healthy for her training, Katie decided to make her own granola bar using healthier ingredients and the Charlie Bar was born: a dark chocolate, apricot, and almond bar. Not long after, friends and coworkers began placing orders for bars and the personal venture became a business: TogaNola was formed. “With a mission to provide clean energy for everyone who aspires to be a better version of themselves,” says Rhodes.

Ken & Katie Rhodes, photo provided

In the past 6 years, TogaNola has expanded its range beyond its now 5 flavors of granola bars, adding granola clusters and “protein bombs” in a variety of flavors, like Maple Almond Butter and Blueberry & Ginger Sunflower Seed. All TogaNola products are free of gluten, dairy, and soy, and several flavors are vegan, so there are many options to accommodate dietary restrictions of all types. The business is committed to using locally sourced ingredients, compostable packaging, natural sweeteners (such as local honey and maple syrup), and small-batch baking.

Whether it’s a hike on a warm summer morning or skiing on a cold winter day, granola is the perfect snack for all types of adventures. Rhodes can attest to that herself: TogaNola granola bars and clusters have accompanied Katie on countless trips including a single season round of the 46 High Peaks last winter. “The bars are hearty and easily transported in a mess free package. They don’t freeze solid, even in the freezing winter temperatures in the Adirondacks, which is crucial to support Katie on her big hikes,” says husband and co-owner Ken Rhodes.

TogaNola at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, photo provided

TogaNola got its start selling at local farmers’ markets and has recently expanded to include an online store and partnerships with local businesses. Katie and Ken are excited to be joining the Saratoga Farmers’ Market as an opportunity to interact directly with their customers and meet other local vendors.

TogaNola’s next adventure? Handmade, locally sourced dehydrated meals to fuel trips that span multiple days. Keep an eye out for this new product later this year at the farmers’ market, and stay full and fueled with TogaNola’s granola bars, clusters, and protein bombs, available every Saturday at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market.

This week’s recipe: Summer Berry Parfait

Leaning into farming

May 31, 2021 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

It’s about an hour before sunset. A truckload of deep brown compost has just arrived at Leaning Birch Farm. It sits in a heap near the garden beds and high tunnels that Dan and Rose Fera began putting in their backyard five years ago.

Nic, their son, greets me as I pull up, but his focus is on the compost. A former coffee shop worker and musician, he pays close attention to the aesthetics – the color, the texture, the smell. He thrusts his arms deep into the heap and pulls out a handful. He forms a ball and lets its crumble through his palms back into the pile. He then buries his nose into a handful, savoring its smell.

Leaning Birch Farm is among several new produce vendors at this year’s Saratoga Farmers’ Market. The Feras grow dozens of varieties of vegetables in approximately 1.5 acres of space. They use intensive, high-yield planting techniques to maximize their space, which as Nic notes, teaches that “you don’t need a lot of land to make a decent living.”

Nic grew up in Saratoga Springs, where his parents were renters. Dan restored violins and Rose worked as a clinical director for a special education school. All three had a flair for art and a fondness for fresh food. Nic began playing music at coffee shops, and ultimately worked in the business himself.

Dan and Rose had a garden and relatively low rent. Still, they yearned to build equity by doing something they loved. That desire led them to purchase a house in Broadalbin. The house came with a yard filled with good soil and abutted a pond. It also came with a mortgage that was nearly twice the monthly amount they had been paying in rent.

Dan had a plan: Pay the mortgage with garlic.

“I had heard somewhere that you could make $40,000 a year on an acre of garlic,” he said with a laugh.

Nic and Ashley at Leaning Birch Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

Garlic as a sole moneymaker never materialized, but the idea helped the Feras see the hunger for fresh local foods. They began selling to restaurants, via a farm stand, and through a CSA. About three years ago, they joined their first farmers market, and now sell at markets in Schenectady, Glens Falls, and Saratoga.

“It’s a cool feeling to realize how many other people also are sitting down to dinner, eating our vegetables,” adds Rose. “We’re not just taking care of ourselves but our community, too.”

This week’s recipe: Ginger Sesame Salmon Salad

Cold-hardy grapes yield soul-warming wines

December 21, 2020 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The Fossil Stone Vineyard bottles of wine almost seem to glitter on display tables at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market: The golden hue of La Crescent, the ruby glow of Marquette, the fiery dark pink of their Rose, a blend of the two.

Fossil Stone is among the market’s newest vendors, joining in late August. But for owners Michael and Kelly Spiak making wine is not new. Their journey, like much of farming, is all about having a passion and the patience to transform that passion into products.

For Michael Spiak, passion began while traveling through New Zealand with the military.

“New Zealand was blanketed with vineyards, which I had a strange fascination with,” he says. “I loved everything about them … the posts, the vines, the grapes, and of course the wine.”

He and his wife Kelly owned land in Greenfield Center. They decided in 2006 to try growing grapevines. Their first wines came from vines planted in 2009, and they began selling wine in 2014. Today, Fossil Stone consists of more than 3,000 wines and a winery barn. A tasting room is set to open next summer.

The Spiaks grow cold-hardy French hybrid grapes developed by University of Minnesota viticulturist Peter Hamstead to produce LaCrescent – a crisp white with hints of apricot – and Marquette – a smooth medium-bodied red with hints of cherry and plum. They also craft a Rose from a 30-70 blend of Marquette and LaCrescent.

“It is darker than most Roses,” says Spiak, “but don’t let that fool you. It behaves very much like a Rose.”

At Fossil Stone, winter is a time to craft wines before the growing cycle begins in late February when vines will be pruned prior to bud break in late April/early May. The grapes grow through late summer and are harvested in fall.

Fossil Stone wines pair well with many winter farmers’ market offerings, such as beef brisket. “I used to work for the Saratoga North Creek Railroad as a locomotive engineer,” Michael Spiak recalls. “The chef on board used our Marquette to make a wine reduction and poured it over a broiled brisket and then paired it with our Marquette.”

“It was delicious.”

This week’s recipe: Marquette-Braised Beef Brisket

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