The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Fresh Produce

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.