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

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

Wilton Mall

Farmers’ market still essential to community

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Customers respecting social distance while shopping at Elihu Farm’s stand, photo by Pattie Garrett

Community life in and around Saratoga has shut down in the effort to slow the Coronavirus spread. One space that remains open is the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings at the Wilton Mall.

The market, deemed an essential service, set up outdoors last Saturday in the parking lot outside the shuttered mall. Market staff created “stalls” out of parking spaces and placed vendors in spots that were spaced to maintain a safe distance.

Vendors set up tables and in some cases tents. They donned rubber gloves and had disinfectant wipes and sanitizer on hand.

What makes farms and farmers’ markets essential?

Most crucially perhaps is the fact that they offer food that is locally grown. You can find fresh vegetables, eggs, and chicken at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, along with such storable vegetables like carrots and potatoes; beef, pork, lamb, and goat; and even shelf-stable sauces, pickles, and dried beans.

Hannah Odasz of Pleasant Valley Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

“We need to be able to get our food to the community,” said Jason Heitman, of Green Jeans Market Farm, a vegetable grower.

“Farms are the heart of community,” added Julie Noble, of Ramble Creek Farm, which offers mushrooms and meats. “It’s important to keep food local, especially at this time.”

Farmers’ markets rarely operate outdoors before May. Last Saturday was sunny but windy, with temperatures that were below freezing.

As a vendor myself, I shivered through three layers of jackets, wool socks, and gloves. I filled my table with eggs and set out coolers of meat. I was unsure what to expect, but as market regulars and new customers arrived, it quickly became apparent that many hungered not only for food but a sense of community, too.

The Food Florist, photo by Pattie Garrett

Amid sales, vendors and customers exchanged news. There were no handshakes or hugs, but plenty of laughs and well wishes.

“We’ll be continuing the market every week,” said Beth Trattel, market board president and owner of Something’s Brewing. “We’re working with the mall to ensure that the space that we’re in remains safe.”

Kelley Hillis of Puckers Gourmet Pickles could not offer samples of her pickles but did display their award-winning ribbons on her coat.

“Farmers markets are vital,” she said. “The money spent here supports a local producer. It helps keep my family, and other farm families fed.”

 

This week’s recipe: Roast Chicken

Creating a menu at the market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Longlesson Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

Those who frequent the Saratoga Farmers’ Market know it’s a special space. For four hours, shoppers, farmers, other vendors, and volunteers come together to talk food, shop and sell, and bop to the music of the week. The energy is electric, and the food is beautiful. We go home a bit tired but with our taste buds alive, eager to cook and eat.

And sometimes you arrive and discover your favorite vendor has sold out of eggs. Beef stew meat or pork chops are unavailable on that particular day. Vendors have onions but not scallions. Fresh greens, particularly in the winter months, are scarce.

Pleasant Valley Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

In some ways, this unpredictability makes the market what it is. When farmers and other vendors bring to market foods that they themselves grow, raise or make, availability will vary from week-to-week, and certainly by season. The market cannot offer everything, but it can assure customers that our food has not traveled 1,500 miles to reach its destination – which is an average computed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for produce offered at grocery stores. Our foods are locally grown, raised, or made, and it is fresh.

How does one learn to navigate the unpredictability to take advantage of foods that are local and fresh?

Herb and spice blends from Muddy Trail Jerky Co, photo by Pattie Garrett

One answer is to throw away the shopping list. Come to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market instead with a blank sheet. Browse what’s available, talk with farmers – the ultimate foodies—and make your meal plans for the week. Set a goal perhaps of trying a new item every week, knowing that full meals can be built with what we offer.

Sound ambitious? We’ll help. Starting tomorrow, we will be in a more open space in the Wilton Mall, moving from the walkway between the Department of Motor Vehicles and Bath & Body Works to the food court. Find us and look then for a white board near the market information table. On it, will be a recipe based on ingredients one of our vendors or volunteers found a few minutes before the market’s opening. Take a look, snap a photo with your cell phone, and shop. Give the recipe a try and share your results.

This week’s recipe: Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Honey Dip

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Gift Guide

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By Mary Pratt

When searching for holiday gifts, come to Saratoga Farmers’ Market for unique products.

At the Wilton Mall entrance, shop evergreens for your home or a gift, from Scotch Ridge Trees and Berries. Charles Holub noted, “We have farm fresh wreaths, kissing balls, door swags, and table top trees.”

He will take special orders for decoration, and you can fetch a fresh Christmas tree at his farm in Duanesburg. The balsam, blue spruce, and concolor fir trees are naturally grown.

Something’s Brewing, photo courtesy of Beth Trattel

Beth Trattel has been a foodie for a few decades. She worked at restaurants since she was 19, and ran “Something’s Brewing” coffee shop in Greenwich.

Now she does her own roasting. “Beans are extremely fresh, sustainably sourced; roasted and flavored in small batches. She’s offering ‘Gift Bags’ with toffee and two sampler bags of coffee. “The chocolate-nut toffee recipe is tweaked by adding maple syrup from Slate Valley Farms”.

Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, photo by Pattie Garrett

Mary Jane Pelzer, Saratoga Suds ‘n’ Stuff, is a third-generation soap maker. She’s created natural, homemade, handmade soap in small batches for 40 years.

Her basic body bars come in a variety of “flavors” with natural essential oils for “good clean fun.” For holidays her soaps include winter-woods trees, snowmen soaps-on-a-rope. Children (and adults) will enjoy cupcake soaps and ducklings floating on soap.

Feathered Antler, photo by Pattie Garrett

Gretchen Tisch’s life-time creativity is inspired by exploring the outdoors. Her handmade Feathered Antler products include stationery, jewelry, hand-knit scarves and hats, and clothing decorated with hand-painted antlers, moose, and trees.

Her unique pet portraits are created from owners’ photographs. Gretchen said, “I can still take orders in time for Christmas”. She’s also offering hand-painted mugs and wooden Christmas tree ornaments.

Zoe Burghard Ceramics, photo by Pattie Garrett

Zoe Burghard learned to be a potter at Earthworks in New York City. Later, like many other market vendors she concluded, “I’ve learned by doing.” From the City, she and her family moved to Saratoga because they liked the different pace.

Today her functional and Raku pottery is all wheel thrown and all one of a kind. The functional includes vases, jewelry holders, cups, spoon rests, salt and pepper shakers and clever bowls. Raku pottery originated in Japan, and Zoe’s is beautifully decorative.

Terri Smith from the Weaving Tree Studio said they offer a variety of gifts, such as snowmen socks stuffed with rice, glittery glass, hand-painted bottles with battery operated lights. She said her most popular gifts are egg crates, decorated with amusing phrases.

Big Breath Wellness makes jewelry, skin care, natural aroma therapy, and other gifts. Tierney Carey said their jewelry is “wearable art” with many stones from Columbia. They offer “Mommy, Daddy, and Me” jewelry sets. For “making holiday magic” they have handmade dream catchers, crowns and wands.

Tierney and partner, Yadira Roman, offer gift baskets with three themes: empress relaxation, blue goddess self-love, and sleepy witch self-care. This Saturday they’re featuring special baskets for $20.

A new chapter for the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is moving indoors for the winter. This change takes place every November, but this year is different. The market has a new locale, and a new start and finish time. It will be chaotic – and exciting.

Saratoga Apple, photo courtesy of Eric Jenks

The market’s new winter locale is at the Wilton Mall, Saturdays, from 9:30-1:30 p.m. Through the end of April, the market will stretch from the Department of Motor Vehicles location to the Bath & Body Works store. Vendors will intermingle with mall retailers in a space that offers convenient parking, bus service, free Internet, and warmth.

Market staff have been preparing for the move for about two months.

Still, they know the change will mean adjustments – for customers and vendors alike.

Gomez Veggie Ville, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

“We’re farmers,” says market association president Beth Trattel, with a laugh. “We’re used to being outdoors, around hay, animals, live plants.”

The mall has a decidedly different feel from the outdoor pavilions at High Rock and even the historic Lincoln Baths Building where the winter market took place in recent years. However, market director Emily Meagher notes, the mall and the market also pair together well.

Malls throughout America have been repurposing themselves as community gathering sites as consumer shopping habits continue to shift more toward online retailing. Likewise, farmers’ markets strive to bring the community spirit that accompanies them into locales where customers and vendors are protected from cold winter weather.

Mrs. London’s, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

When the market opens this Saturday, much will be familiar, notes Meagher. The opening bell ringer will walk through the area of the mall that the market will use, clanging away. Musicians will perform; hot coffee and prepared foods will be waiting; cans will be available for the collection of home compost, and Friends of the Market volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and assist customers. Most of the market’s longtime farmers will be offering their goods, along with a handful of newcomers.

Still, Trattel says, “we know this is a big adjustment for our regular customers, who we value quite deeply. We’re looking forward to working together to create something new.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is now 9:30 a.m-1:30 p.m. at the Wilton Mall. CDTA routes 450 (Schenectady-Wilton) and 452 (Skidmore College-Wilton) offer regular Saturday bus service with many stops in Saratoga Springs (see cdta.org/routes- and-schedules). Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.