Subtitled: Yes, Virginia, it is possible to eat local in upstate New York in January. It just takes a little extra legwork.
The small town farmer's markets are all closed up until May. But there are two indoor markets open year round within an hour and a half drive of us. Today we chose to make a field trip to one of them, located in the Salvation Army building in Saratoga Springs. It was one of those cold pewter gray days, when the snow showers fall like white brushstrokes and you would probably rather stay inside and admire them as if the day really were a painting. But walking into the market was like stepping into the warm hug of your grandmother.
The Salvation Army building was full of people and music -- live Irish music, played by a trio in the back of the large meeting room. There was a woman spinning wool on an old-fashioned spinning wheel and offering her hand-dyed, hand-spun, homegrown yarn for sale; a woman selling handmade soap, a beekeeper in a white plastic hat selling honey and candles, a molded beeswax St. Ambrose keeping him company, a baker selling bread and pies, a woman selling a dozen different kinds of jam she'd put up herself. And then there were the farm stands.
In upstate New York in January, this is what we bought:
- leeks
- golden beets (very sweet)
- cabbage
- carrots -- orange, rainbow, and purple
- onions
- garlic
- apples (Gala and Empire -- but there were many varieties to choose from)
- apple cider
- spaghetti squash
- radishes
- arugala
- celeriac
- kohlrabi
- daikon radish
- pink turnips
- rutabaga
- hard raw milk cheese
- creme fraiche (for a treat)
- blueberry honey syrup
- a molded beeswax candle
- pear jelly
- nectarine jelly (I couldn't resist)
A few pictures of the produce:
Cabbage, kohlrabi, rutabaga, daikon radish, carrots in view
Rainbow carrots...
Leeks, radishes, and golden beets
Products also available that I did not buy:
- potatoes in various rainbow shades (we still have our own)
- pork and beef cuts (again, have those in the freezer)
- cow's milk feta, other cheeses
- other greens, including spinach
- hydroponic tomatoes
- greenhouse grown herbs, such as basil
- various kinds of beets
- shallots
- various winter squashes
- white turnips
- red onions
- honey
- eggs
Most of the other shoppers were not, of course, buying for large families. So the vendors were not used to anyone walking in and buying bags of their stuff. LOL Everyone was very friendly, though, and the kids managed quite a few free samples. The apple man gave Farmerboy his own Gala apple to eat while I picked out a bagful of apples and munched my own samples. After we finished shopping, we walked over to a nearby restaurant for lunch, then walked from there to Borders to pick out some books. We got home about dinnertime, so a complicated dinner was out; we ate leftovers (homemade pizza, meatloaf, sandwiches) and put together a quick salad with the arugula and radishes:
Dressed simply with olive oil, cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, it was delicious.