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

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

POP Club

From Hiking Boots to High Rock: Saving the Planet with Farmers’ Markets

By

By Marley Bonacquist-Currin

 

Marley Bonacquist-Currin hosting the Power of Produce Club for Kids, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

A year ago I left the United States in my hiking boots with high hopes of learning to save the planet. Three months later, having learned a lifetime of lessons from a 100 person eco-village in Iceland, I returned to my home country, full of excitement and enthusiasm for doing what I loved and for helping our world by living what I had learned.

And quickly I began to feel as though my dreams were being crushed like a bug.

I walked into grocery stores full of packaging and plastic-looking produce. After a semester of growing everything but the kitchen sink, my heart sank. I felt as though I had fallen into a dream at Solheimar, the eco-village in Iceland, and had been brutally awakened by a harsh reality back home that people don’t care.

Then, an internship with the  Saratoga Farmers’ Market popped up. It felt like a match made in heaven, and happily, it was, right here on earth.

This summer, I’ve run barefoot through High Rock Park on rainy days, laughing with the vendors as thunderstorms and torrential showers have hit, sweated on sunny days while sipping real-food smoothies to cool off, and be surrounded by fresh produce and wonderful people.

When I came back from Iceland to my world as a Siena College student, I didn’t feel at home. At the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, I realized home was amongst the berries and beans, mushrooms and melons. The positive energies and fresh local foods remind me that people do care. Packed from open to close, with kids flooding in on Wednesdays to spend their Power of Produce tokens on fresh blueberries and string beans, the market suggests that there is a generation of people growing up barefoot in the grass, eyes full of wonder, who believe that farmer’s markets are the real grocery stores.

As my last semester at Siena College begins, I look forward to helping businesses realize the planet is worth saving through farmers’ markets. I want my generation and others to know that it’s time to get started.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is at High Rock Park, 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through October. We move to our winter location at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park on November 4.

Power of Produce Club Helps Create a New Generation of Healthy Eaters

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By Julia Howard, Saratoga Farmers’ Market Director

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market has wrapped up its first-ever Power of Produce Club for the summer. However, as fall approaches, market vendors, volunteers, and staffers encourage parents and their children to continue the journey of connecting the food they eat to the farmers that grow it.

POP Club 2The club began in June with support from a $500 grant from Stewarts Shops, and took place during each Wednesday market from June 1 through August 31. Children between the ages of 5 and 12 received a passport and a $2 POP token to spend on fresh produce. They participated in a range of activities that included tasting and planting herbs, creating fruit cone snacks, using the Cornell Cooperative Extension Office’s bicycle blender to create a smoothie in a blender powered by a bicycle, preparing granola balls and fruit kebab rainbows, going on vegetable scavenger hunts throughout the market, and talking with farmers to learn about healthy food.

“We loved it,” said one mother, Courtney, whose three-year-old daughter Althea was a regular POP Club participant. “It’s teaching kids about eating local and about eating fruits and vegetables.”

Another participant was Anika, age 6. “Anika loved using the tokens and getting to buy her own fruits and vegetables,” said her mother, Marketa.

POP Club 3Children who participated in the POP Club received a stamp on their passports and prizes each time they earned four stamps. They included BPA free water bottles, baseball bats and balls, jump ropes, herb growing kits, and sidewalk chalk. More than 25 children received these prizes over the course of the summer.

“This has been our favorite thing to do on Wednesdays,” said Stephanie, the mother of four-year-olds Xander and Lydia. “We love coming and getting a stamp on our passports.”

As a mother myself, my goal was to educate children about healthy eating first. I also saw the program as a way to build stronger connections between the market and the communities we serve. I was delighted to welcome Stewarts Shops, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Serendipity Arts Studio as participants. We look forward to continuing to see parents and children at our market, and will continue to offer healthy eating tips in our online newsletter every week.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market takes place 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park.

 

Hold The Ice Cream

Adapted from www.tasteofhome.com

This healthy snack is as fun to make as it is to eat! We found this to be one of our favorite POP Club activities and we hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients

*Ingredients available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• Fresh seasonal fruit (blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries) *
• Vanilla or maple yogurt *
• Small ice cream cones

Directions

Prepare fruit by cutting or scooping into bite sized pieces. Small fruit such as berries may be left whole. Fill ice cream cone with fruit and top with a scoop of yogurt.

Back to the Land with Blind Buck Farm

By

By Carolyn Shapiro

[pjc_slideshow slide_type=”blind-buck”]

Located in Salem, New York, Blind Buck Farm is home to a variety of fiber-bearing animals, whose fleece is hand-­collected, made into yarn and roving at local mills, and returned to the farm to be dyed with metal-­free, non­toxic dyes. “By keeping our own flocks, we can guarantee that all of our fiber is natural,” says owner Lubna Dabbagh.

A favorite yarn produced at Blind Buck is their Signature Blend which combines Merino mohair and Leicester longwool. Dabbagh notes that the fun part of yarn production is choosing a variety of colorways for the finished product. Inspiration comes from the abiding colors on the farm as well as from nature itself, including flowers, exotic fish and birds. The result is a delightful combination of tones from earthy to bright.

The farm is home to 25 purebred Angora goats, 30 Merino sheep, and seven Angora rabbits, all of which produce rare and exceptional fibers. In 2014, Blind Buck also acquired a flock of four Leicester Longwood sheep, an acutely endangered species. According to Dabbagh, contributing to the propagation of a rare and endangered species is one of the farm’s proudest accomplishments. All of the animals on the farm are naturally raised, spending the summer months in pastures. During the winter, they are fed a diet of organic hay and grain.

Blind Buck HatsIn addition to fiber products, Blind Buck Farm cultivates many uncommon vegetable varieties. Among these are chocolate bell peppers, chocolate tomatoes, Delmonico squash, and watermelon turnips, all grown from organic and heirloom seeds, and never treated with chemical pesticides. Dabbagh also raises turkeys and chickens which are housed in pastures and fed organic grain. Eggs produced by the hens are a colorful array of blue, brown, and white, which customers call “the Easter egg collection.”

Back to the land is the sustaining principle of Blind Buck Farm. Conscious of the impact of high quality goods on the sustainability of community and environment, Dabbagh advocates the purchase and use of local products to nurture and support local economies. As Dabbagh says, “I always point out that during this last economic downturn if communities had been more self ­sufficient, with more exchange of local goods and services, many families would have suffered less than they did.”

Open all year, Blind Buck Farm has a store on the farm which carries their full line of yarn products and produce. Dabbagh encourages visitors to tour the farm, sample produce, and taste the fresh farm eggs. A special delight of a visit to the farm is letting children gather their own eggs from the chicken coop . In addition to the farm store, Blind Buck’s products can be found at the Saratoga, Bolton Landing, and Warrensburg farmers’ markets where Dabbagh also offers free knitting instruction.

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market at High Rock Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays.

 

Learning about the Power of Produce at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

By

By Jeremy Riccardi

Denison Farm Strawberries
Denison Farm Strawberries

One of the best ways for children to develop healthy eating habits is to discover where their food comes from. Beginning this month, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s farmers, summer interns, and volunteers will help make that journey of discovery possible.

The farmers’ market is introducing its Power of Produce Club at its summer Wednesday afternoon markets. Children who join the club, also known as the POP Club, will receive a passport, a $2 POP token to spend on fresh produce, and a variety of educational tips on fresh, flavorful eating. Market staff will stamp the passport each time a child visits the market, and award prizes for every four stamps that a child receives.

The goal of the POP Club is to encourage children and families to learn about healthy eating during the more relaxed atmosphere of the Wednesday market. The tokens that children receive can be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables.

“The purpose is to empower children to make smart and healthy shopping choices independently,” said market director Julia Howard. “Education is the bridge between healthy eating habits and understanding where food comes from.”

Veggies at the Saratoga Farmers' Market
Photo by Pattie Garrett

Children between the ages of five and 12 can participate in the POP Club. The weekly educational activities will include conversations with farmers about the local food system, games, and samples of different kinds of produce. “Children will have the chance to sample fruits and vegetables that they might never have tried before,” Howard said.

Hosts for the POP Club include Diane Whitten, a nutritionist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Saratoga Farmers’ Market summer interns Sarah Morin and Carolyn Shapiro, and Serendipity Arts Studio, among others.

The POP Club is part of a national initiative. It originated at a farmers market in Oregon City, OR. It is offered through the national Farmers’ Market Coalition, of which the Saratoga Farmers’ Market is a part. Currently, about 50 markets nationwide participate in the program.

Howard sees the program as a way of establishing stronger community ties between the farmers’ market, local businesses, community organizations, and residents. The POP Club will run through the summer market, and children are welcome to join at any time.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market takes place from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through October at High Rock Park. Inquiries about the POP Club and other market events may be made at “the shed,” located near the south pavilions right by the restrooms.

 

Homemade POPsiclesPOPsicles with Fresh Strawberries and Blueberry Yogurt

Adapted from Lisa Longley’s recipe for Strawberry Blueberry Yogurt Pops

Makes 12 pops

This easy to make snack may also be a fun activity for you and your child to make together. The possibilities are endless when you use seasonal fresh fruit from the farmers’ market and locally made yogurt. The farmers’ market offers a variety of yogurt including Greek, plain, and an array flavors. Greek yogurt and plain yogurt may be sweetened with local honey. Fruit may be blended for a smooth popsicle or chopped for a textured popsicle

Ingredients
*Seasonal ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• Blueberry yogurt *
• Strawberries, sliced thin or diced *

Additional supplies

• 3-5oz. Paper cups
• Popsicle sticks cut in half

Directions

Place a heaping spoonful of blueberry yogurt in the bottom of a small paper cup. Then add a layer of strawberries and top with another heaping spoonful of blueberry yogurt. Place another sliced (or diced) strawberry with a slit down the middle that conveniently holds the popsicle stick in place, and top off with a little more yogurt. Place the cups in a mini muffin tin to hold them all upright, and freeze overnight.