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wellness

Local brands boost wellness of customer and community

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Photo courtesy of Shane Avery

By Emily Meagher

If you’ve seen Shane Avery at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, you’ll know he’s a busy man operating two businesses at once. Avery started at the market as Saratoga Urban Farm, selling microgreens and wheatgrass shots. The latter inspired him to make holistic wellness products more accessible to customers. The creation of both Earth To Mind, a CBD product line, and Junbucha, a green tea and honey-based twist on kombucha, soon followed.

Photo by Laura Kenny

Earth To Mind was born at just the right time: “People were asking if anyone at the market produced CBD products, so it seemed like a great opportunity for me to try to fill that gap,” says Avery. Earth To Mind’s product line includes tinctures, topicals, rubs, and now also soft gels. Its CBD Assistance Program aims to improve accessibility and gives 40% off to veterans, low-income customers, and those on disability. And CBD isn’t limited to humans; the products are also great for pets, to calm anxiety and to ease inflammation.

Photo courtesy of Shane Avery

The origins of Avery’s Junbucha, “the champagne of kombucha”, were also at the market: loyal customers demanded more of the homemade kombucha that Avery would share. “Jun is a tough to brew culture, but the honey makes for a lighter, floral brew that still has those same probiotic properties.” Made with organic ingredients, Avery produces flavors like blueberry & lemon, pineapple & turmeric, and ginger & yerba mate. Cold-pressed juice is added just before bottling to make a fruitier brew than the often vinegary kombucha.

Avery’s companies both aimed to fill customer demands at the farmers’ market. The regard for community wellbeing is evident from the way they operate, whether it be through sourcing local ingredients to support other small businesses or renting out their shared commercial kitchen space for others to incubate new ideas. “You need a healthy ecosystem for your business to grow in, and I try to take an active role to help sustain that ecosystem for others.” The brands also value environmental sustainability, using recycled packaging and reusable bottles (a recent favorite was a customer using bottles for sand art). “It’s obvious to consider the earth when you’re a farmer; your hands are literally in the dirt. But other food producers are equally responsible for operating sustainably,” Avery says.

Avery is grateful for the platform that the farmers’ markets have given him. “In my opinion, it’s the best place to incubate new products and ideas. You get instant feedback, and customers reviews are honest, accurate, and high-quality. As a farmer or producer at the market, you’re adding value to a larger marketplace of ideas.” Find Earth To Mind and Junbucha at the farmers’ market every Saturday, or order online on earthtomind.com and junbucha.com.

Are you looking to grow your business in 2021? Vendor applications for our summer markets are open until January 31! Local farmers, artisans, crafters, and specialty food makers are welcome to apply. For more information visit saratogafarmersmarket.org/vendor.

Riding Your Bike to the Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Saratoga’s Bikeatoga group encourages people to get out of their cars and onto their bikes in the spirit of easing traffic as well as promoting good health, fitness, and fun. Now, the organization is partnering with the Saratoga Farmers’ Market to bring more bicycling enthusiasts this summer to High Rock Park.

Starting tomorrow, market goers will be able to buy a $5 Bicycle Benefits sticker at the market shed. These stickers will entitle purchasers to a $2 coin redeemable at a vendor’s stall of their choice each time they visit the market via bicycle.

The partnership brings the market into the community’s Bicycle Benefits program, a project that Bikeatoga’s Ian Klepetar founded in Saratoga about a decade ago. That project has since expanded nationwide. Its goal, says Klepetar, is to help build safer and healthier communities via bikes.

“Getting more people to realize their great ability to move with their own power is meaningful in a number of ways,” says Klepetar. “It creates a way to address the city’s biggest issues: safer streets, healthier humans, and noise, visual, and air pollution caused by vehicular traffic.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market shares similar health goals, which makes joining the Bicycle Benefits program a natural fit.

“Our vendors will benefit from having more bikers at the market,” says market administrator Julia Howard. “And by giving people an incentive to bicycle to the market, we will be able to ease traffic around High Rock Park.”

How Bicycle Benefits works is simple. Bicyclists affix their stickers to their helmets. Then, when they visit the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, they can stop by the market shed at the south end of the High Rock pavilion and show the sticker to a market staff member or volunteer on duty. One $2 coin will be offered per day.

Those who purchase Bicycle Benefits stickers at the market also will be able to obtain discounts at other businesses who participate in the program.

Market regulars who live outside Saratoga can participate even if biking from home isn’t feasible by parking away from downtown where congestion is less and biking into the market.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and check us out on the FreshFoodNY app. E-mail friends@saratogafarmers.org for volunteer opportunities.