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Volunteers Strengthen Saratoga Farmers’ Market Community

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

The core of any community is its people. At the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, that community includes farmers, of course. But it also includes the market’s staff and its volunteer group Friends of the Market. This year with the market’s 40th anniversary, the Friends are eager to welcome more volunteers.

The Friends’ mission is to work with shoppers and vendors to help the market thrive. Over the years, as the market has grown, the Friends’ activities have branched out from primarily operating a veggie valet service to several market and community projects that include a compost drop site, a food pantry partnership, and media outreach.

New volunteers are expanding the Friends’ goals further.

Ann Haden, for instance, is helping to launch a cooking class for Skidmore students. She recently spent an evening with market director Julia Howard at the Lake Avenue Elementary School working with children to identify vegetables, including celeriac, which the kids figured out smelled like celery but did not look at all like it.

“Volunteering with the Friends of the Market is an opportunity to expand the virtues of going to the farmers’ market,” says Haden. “Sharing the experience of obtaining products directly from the farmer/vendor, having discussions about products and the community feeling at the market is a worthy investment of my time.”

Haden’s enthusiasm highlights the vital energy volunteers bring to the market. As Howard notes, “We want to make sure that the time volunteers give us is well spent at the farmers’ market. We will provide training and an on-site orientation so that newcomers can meet our vendors and other volunteers. They will contribute to the farmers’ market in a big way.”

For farmers, the market is a rejuvenating day. They get to leave their farms and interact with the community. These relationships speak to why farming is vibrant: it centers on food, family, and friends.

Is volunteering at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market for you? One way to answer that question is to ask yourself: Are you passionate about local foods? Do you want to learn more about local farming? Are you free for an hour or two at least once a month?

If your answers are yes, join us. Contact us at friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org.  

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Farmers Fill Franklin Community Center Food Pantry

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Franklin Community Center’s Fresh Produce Day, photo by Pattie Garrett

Every Saturday at the end of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, volunteers collect some of the best of our local bounty: apples, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and maple syrup, among other items. These donated goods go from the farmers directly to the food pantry at the Franklin Community Center.

I began facilitating this project last fall, after the farmers’ market and food pantry established a partnership, and currently collect 75 to 125 pounds of locally grown or made goods every week.

“This partnership ensures that food is not wasted,” says Julie Slovic, Franklin center’s food program administration. “Our customers are very grateful and excited to have access to these products. It is a great opportunity to introduce produce they may not be familiar with and discuss the health benefits and simple and easy ways to prepare fresh vegetables.”

Farmers see the donations as an opportunity to help those in need. The project also ensures that highly perishable produce will not go to waste. This reduction of food waste is especially valuable at times of year when items such as nutritious salad greens are in plentiful supply at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market but often limited for food pantry clients.

How does the project work? At market’s end, farmers and I chat about their unsold goods and the pantry needs. They donate items if and when they can. I then take these donations to the pantry, where I weigh, sort, and label the items by name, farm, and “use by” dates. I store the items so they will remain fresh for three or four days – refrigerators for greens, apples, and fresh herbs; shelves away from direct sunlight for tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini.

If the items are unusual – say tatsoi or kohlrabi – I create a cooking tip for volunteers who arrive Monday morning to pass on to customers.

Franklin Community Center’s garden harvest, photo by Pattie Garrett

Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendors also provide seedlings in the spring to support the Franklin Community Center’s garden, another source of fresh food for the pantry. The garden through the summer yielded zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, beans, and herbs. Now, as fall approaches, we are harvesting chard and kale, and looking forward to our first baby pumpkins.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park through October. You also can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.