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Pork & Greens

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

Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

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Recipe by Pork & Greens

Makes 4 servings

This one-dish salad is easily customizable with seasonal ingredients and your favorite flavor of pork bacon. This salad also works well using any fresh salad greens and crumbled sausage.

Ingredients

  • ½ lb bacon*, chopped 
  • 12 oz. spinach*, torn into bite-sized pieces 
  • 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar* (or lemon juice) 
  • Optional: 2-3 oil-packed anchovy fillets and 1 Tbs capers 
  • 1/2 oz. radish microgreens* 
  • Salt and pepper to taste 
  • a few tablespoons of fresh herbs* 

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp and browned. Remove from the pan and chop into pieces. Do not drain off the fat, as this becomes the dressing! 
  2. Turn off heat. Stir in the anchovies and capers. Whisk in the vinegar. Add spinach. Stir until greens are wilted, do not over-cook. 
  3. Season with salt, pepper, radish microgreens, and herbs. Serve on a platter or right out of the skillet.

 

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

Bringing Pork and Greens Together

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Isabel Buenaga grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, far away from farming. She went to Lehigh University, where she grew aware of many world problems and was frustrated by a lack of solutions.

Then, she spent the summer of 2016 working at a farm in Vermont. A solution to at least one problem – food waste – started to click. She spent the next few years traveling between Puerto Rico and the Northeast U.S., working at other farms. She started Pork & Greens in 2020.

Pork and Greens, photo provided.

Two years later, Buenaga is raising pigs and growing pea shoots and other microgreens on leased land in Rensselaer County. The combination brings together animals she loves, foods she likes, and a path toward a more sustainable food system she hopes to help build.

 

 

I visited the farm on a mild March afternoon, arriving a few hours after Buenaga brought in the first batch of piglets she plans to raise this year. As the eight-week-old animals oinked excitedly in their new pen, Buenaga and the farm’s assistant manager Emily Liebelt prepared part of the animals’ meal: milk, bread, buns, cookies, and bananas from the Regional Food Bank.

Pork and Greens, photo provided.

Pork & Greens pigs feast twice a day on such food bank goods along with spent brewer’s grains and whey. This blend gives the animals vital nutrients through food that otherwise would go to waste. As the piglets grow, their consumption increases. They go out onto pastures where they root out grasses and weeds, which can offer future space for the planting of greens and other vegetables. 

Buenaga loves her pigs for their silly antics and fondness for belly rubs. She also appreciates how they help eliminate food waste. “Packages get broken or mislabeled, and the food inside them gets thrown out. In addition, a lot of the food we produce generates by-products like whey. Pigs are a good way not to let that all go to waste.” 

 

Pork and Greens, photo provided.

Buenaga also grows microgreens and hopes to add additional greens. For now, she is starting small. In November, she joined the Saratoga Farmers’ Market as a new vendor and looks forward to her first outdoor season this spring.

This week’s recipe: Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

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

Breeds Bring Many Benefits to Local Farms

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By Julia Howard

Local farmers, who offer their products at Saratoga Farmers’ Market, raise specific breeds of animals for various reasons: good temperament, ability to improve cropland and wildlife habitat, ability to produce high-quality meat and poultry, and to produce products such as wool.

Ameraucana rooster at Squash Villa Farm, photo provided.

Jim and Himanee Gupta-Carlson’s Squash Villa Farm in Schaghticoke is home to several heritage breeds of chicken, including Ameraucanas. This species lays remarkable green eggs and produces dark, lean meat, an attribute of its active nature. 

“Ameraucana chickens take approximately six to twelve months to reach a harvestable size, compared to other breeds that can mature in just weeks,” says Jim. But Ameraucana chickens are well worth the wait. Their flavor is rich and complex and perfect for roasting and simmering in sauce or stew. 

Angus cattle at Longlesson Farm, photo provided.

At Longlesson Farm in Buskirk, Angus cows happily graze on 450 acres, rotating between fields. One of the farm’s owners, Christophe Robert, explains that their cows breed with the best Angus bulls. Christophe bases bull selection on calving ease, growth, and meat quality, but they also focus on docility and maternal attributes.

Natural colored Romney fleece from Elihu Farm, photo provided.

 

Mary and Bob Pratt,  from Elihu Farm in Easton, have been breeding sheep for over 30 years.  

“We realized that having a greater variety of fleeces would work better for our sales,” says Mary Pratt. “That meant we’d have long wool (from Romneys) and medium wool (from crossbred sheep).” 

Pratt notes that the breed does not affect the taste of lamb, which mainly depends on what they eat and how long they hang at the butcher.

 

 

Hebron Valley Veal owners Ariel Garland and Matt Campbell attribute the remarkable taste of their products, in part, to their whole-milk-fed calves from the farm’s herd of pastured Holsteins. That breed is notable for its milk production.

Pork and Greens, photo provided.

At Pork and Greens in Castleton, pigs of various breeds spend their time rooting, grazing, and lazing through their wooded spaces. A mix of species ensures diversity in characteristics and genetics, according to farm owner Isabel Buenaga. 

And, at Ramble Creek Farm in Greenwich, Josh Carnes takes pride in his herd of grass-fed Angus and Hereford cattle. It’s also home to forest-raised heritage-bred pigs and pasture-raised poultry.

This week’s recipe: Roast Heritage Chicken with Carrots