The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Farmers Market

Pleasantville Farmers Market: Turning the Fun Back On

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The Pleasantville Farmers Market is getting its mojo back, with a rich slate of music, kids, culinary, and other events right around the corner.

“We spent the last two years trying to stay open and keep everyone safe,” says Peter Rogovin, president of the community nonprofit Foodchester, which operates the Market. “Many people saw us as the safest way to shop: outdoors, socially distanced, masked, with food direct from farms so minimally handled. We even implemented an online shopping platform to get people in and out quickly and with contactless payment.” 

Now, with the kind of cautious optimism that is appropriate in these times, Rogovin continues, “This spring is a great time to restart the amazing programming and culinary events that helped PFM become a place where so many in the area start their weekend.”  

The market’s live music series will showcase the area’s abundant creative talent to provide a fun and vibrant atmosphere. With 21 dates in total, the music series will start on Memorial Day Weekend (May 28) and will go every Saturday until October 15. 

“Live music and top-notch food–what a fantastic combination,” says Stuart Vance, leader of the Music Committee. “Look out for some very special programs this year.” The market’s music area is located near popular vendors selling pretzels, ice pops, tea and coffee, and more, and there’s a comfortable seating area for the shoppers to enjoy.

Planting a Farmer’s Market… One Neighborhood at a Time

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PHOTOS BY Donna Mueller Photography

Amidst a brisk March wind, vendors at the Down-to-Earth Farmer’s Market in Ossining greet regulars by name, showcase new products and make tailored recommendations. One of the few Farmer’s Markets open outdoors year-round, rain or shine, the rapport between customers and vendors is apparent.

Miriam Haas, the market’s founder, walks around, shopping and chatting with people. In the late 1980s,, Haas and a group of women ran a food co-op but wished there was fresh produce more locally available.

After researching local farms and working with the Ossining Chamber of Commerce, the first Farmer’s Market was finally launched. In 1991, on a small patch of lawn in the downtown area in Ossining; two farmers set out their wares and the Down-to-Earth Farmer’s Market opened for business!

The second year there were three vendors, and by year five, Hass received an award from the Chamber of Commerce for bringing people and economic development to the downtown area.

Once their own local market was thriving, Hass began to bring farmer’s markets to other nearby towns such as Pleasantville, Hastings, Piermont, Tarrytown and Bronxville, to name a few. Soon ever more towns began reaching out to Haas to help them start their own markets.

“Community markets revitalize downtown areas. People meet and discuss recipes. It’s a very friendly environment,” Haas says. This is evident as she smiles, nods hellos and waves to people while we chat.

Soon communities from outside Westchester County reached out to her and she helped found three markets in Manhattan: Hudson Yards, Chelsea and Morningside Park as well as two each in Brooklyn and Queens. In total she has founded around 14 farmer’s markets. “I guess I’m like the Johnny Appleseed of farmer’s markets,” she jokes.

Dakotah Russo, Director of Marketing for the Down-to-Earth Farmer’s Market, notes that more recently the growth of farmer’s markets trend nationwide has slowed. “There was a time when everyone wanted one in their town,” she notes. “Many towns now have one and the need is not as great.” Still, the markets that are already out there do very well. “Our vendors respond to what people around here want. Different towns want different products. It’s not a bazaar. It is tailored to what people are buying”, Russo reports.

Beauty of Outdoors

Being outdoors year-round is a big draw as people maintain their shopping routines without driving to a different location. They tried holding the market indoors at one point, but vendors preferred to be outside despite variable weather. It is easy for people to pull up and shop.

During the winter months they still have vegetables, pasteurized meats and fish among other other staples, such as pickle and bread stands. There is often live music in the winter as well. During the summer months, harvests are bigger and the vendor mix expands with upwards of twenty vendors.

The market’s summer season officially kicks off May 11th. The hours are 8:30-1:00. There are café tables, live music or a DJ, and the atmosphere is festive. After 28 years, the Down-to-Earth Market continues to grow and thrive. For information and recipes, please visit their website: downtoearthmarkets.com

What’s New This Season at Local Farmers Markets

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A cocoa/cauliflower brownie from the SweetHearth Bake Shop, a new gluten-free vendor at the Chappaqua Farmers Market

Now that the weather is finally more like a velvet glove than an iron fist, many residents of the Castles and beyond truly look forward to enjoying nature’s benevolence at one of our area’s farmers markets.

At press time, local market directors spoke to us about a variety of new offerings planned to expand and improve upon what’s available this year.

Chappaqua Farmers Market, Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the train station. Pascale Le Draoule, market director, said there will be even more of a focus on certified organic growers this year. “We actually had five produce vendors and one of our conventional produce vendors was not doing very well and decided to leave. We saw that as a very strong message,” La Draoule said. New vendors include Sun Sprout Farm, a certified organic grower from New York’s black dirt country and Caradonna Farms, an orchard with “a dizzying array of fruits.”

Shoppers can also look forward to Dacha Fermented Veggies and SweetHearth Bake Shop, “a new gluten-free baker who does very interesting things, using cauliflower and local fruits and vegetables. She’s very creative and everything she makes is beautiful.” The Carbon Chocolate Workshop will also be new to the market, offering organic chocolate, and Temima’s Bakery from Pound Ridge also. “There will be a lot more gluten-free at the market this year, a lot more fruit, more certified organic,” Rosseau said. “We always have cool activities for kids.” Also expect cooking demos on-site.

Children watch an entertainer perform at the Pleasantville Farmers Market
PHOTO BY CHAD DAVID KRAUS PHOTOGRAPHY

Ossining Farmers Market, Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the parking lot at Spring and Main. Community members will have more prepared food options this year at Ossining’s market, Dacotah Rosseau, marketing and communications manager, said, and more space to enjoy them too in an expanded, umbrella-shaded seating area. “People can buy a meal to take home or eat right here,” Rosseau said.

Sunset View Farm, a nose-to-tail operation, will offer grilled meats and rotisserie chickens.  “We’ve got a really neat bakery out of New York City,” Rosseau added. Called Kouklet, the microbakery will offer sweet and savory Brazilian pastries. There will also be a new olive oil company, BulI, that sells estate-grown unfiltered extra virgin olive oil from Italy. The market also usually features music and occasionally hosts kids’ activities.

Produce sold at Muscoot Farms Sunday market

Pleasantville Farmers Market, Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Memorial Plaza next to the train station (closed for Pleasantville Day, Saturday, May 19). New this year in early June is Morgiewicz Produce, a fourth-generation family farm from Goshen that will offer Asian greens, calaloo, kohlrabi, lettuces and more. There are more than 65 events planned, from music to magic to talks and a book signing. Stuart Vance, vice-chair of Foodchester, which runs the market, said: “Shoppers appreciate the market’s entertaining, positive vibe.”

If Saturday slips away without an uplifting morning trip to the market, the Muscoot Farmers Market at 51 Route 100 in Katonah, located on the Albert B. Delbello Muscoot Farm, is open on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. starting May 14. Any kids in tow will love the chance to see the historic farm’s many animals, and currently 30 vendors are showcased on the market’s website.

Shoppers at the Ossining Famers Market

Inch by Inch “Kid Foodie’s” Memories of the Farmers Market

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Inch by inch, row by row, I’m gonna make this garden grow/ Gonna hoe it deep and low, gonna make this fertile ground/ Inch by inch, row by row, please bless these seeds I sow/ Please keep them safe below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down.

We sang this song sitting “criss-cross applesauce” in the Roaring Brook Elementary School gym at our monthly assemblies.

I can clearly remember our music teacher Mr. Dupont patiently teaching us the lyrics and hand motions to this classic Pete Seeger song. And we were taught well, because this is one of the earliest and fondest memories I have of growing up in Chappaqua.

Reflecting on my childhood now as a graduating high school senior, I find that it was these small moments (or “watermelon seeds” as we called them in second-grade English) that helped shape me into the person I am today. I am the result of dutiful nurturing by the many caring people that I have encountered over the years, and the lessons that they have imparted. However, there is group of people that has had the most impact of all: the community at the Chappaqua Farmers Market.

I have always loved learning about and experimenting with food and nature. On hot summer days, I can remember romping around the yard collecting ingredients for a stew “cooked” on my front porch. A mixture of uprooted dandelions, onion grass, baby pinecones, wild raspberries, rock salt, and cherry tomatoes “boiled” with an angled hand mirror transformed into hearty soup fit for only my younger brother’s (unwilling) consumption. Now, as a proud locavore and avid cook, I look back to this game as my early years of experimentation. Years later, in 2010, the Chappaqua Farmers Market first set up tents on the Bell Middle school lawn. One Saturday morning, my mother brought me to visit the market and I was instantly enchanted. The vibrant bounty of produce and prepared foods was magical, and the experience enhanced by the caring community atmosphere. I knew I needed to be part of it somehow, and in an initiative to get kids involved in market promotion to increase attendance of all ages, I was named Spokeskid of the market.

Every Saturday for the next three years, “Kid Foodie,” my on-camera personality, would interview a different vendor about their produce and process. Kathy the fishmonger let me taste a raw oyster, Demetra the olive oil woman taught me about optimal olive oil acidity levels, and Emily the cheese lady taught me about the the benefits of probiotic bacteria.

Suddenly, food was no longer confined to the edges of a plate–peanut butter, strawberry jelly, whole wheat bread–all the ingredients to my favorite lunch meal had a fascinating origin and a corresponding scientific explanation.

Along with the education I received from the Market, what I still enjoy most about coming to the Farmers Market are the people. After weeks of greeting the same faces, I am on a friendly first-name basis with almost all the farmers and vendors. We have nicknames for each other, we ask about each other’s families–those special relationships somehow make the fresh heirloom tomatoes taste all the more sweet.

And after a long and taxing school or work week, the Farmers Market is the place where everyone can relax, reconnect, and rebalance their lives. Neighbors can chat over lunch, families can play in the grass, and new friends can be made while waiting on line. The adage, “food brings people together,” really does ring true in our small town.

As I begin to transition into the next season of my life, I have learned not to be afraid to ask questions, to try new things, and, most importantly, to water and feed special relationships.

As ready as I am to move on and begin this new stage, I will miss Chappaqua for the kind teachers, mentors, friends, and peers that have helped me grow, inch-by-inch.

Chappaqua Farmers Market

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Photo by Carolyn Simpson
Photo by Carolyn Simpson

Chappaqua Farmers Market celebrates its 5th Season with shoppers from all over Westchester discovering our gem of a market. CFM is committed to bringing locally raised and produced foods to the community, creating a connection between shoppers and small­ scale food producers in the Lower Hudson Valley. Every Saturday morning, CFM brings a sophisticated vendor mix, Provencal vibe, stress-­free parking to the shady, promenade location right in front of the historic Chappaqua Train Station.

Vendors and farmers are located within approximately a 200-­mile radius of CFM, to lessen negative environmental impact while ensuring fresh products. The market offers farm-­fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, dairy, bread and prepared foods, accompanied by live music, children’s activities, cooking demos, and philanthropy events. CFM relishes the opportunity to act as a de facto “town square” by offering a venue for community groups, entertainment, and serendipitous meetings, and by drawing residents and visitors to downtown Chappaqua.