Volunteers for Animals had a few pets at the Farmers' Market at Batavia Downs this morning (they'll be there for another hour).
It was oh-so-tempting to take one of these puppies home, especially the black-furred guy up front in this picture. While I leaned down, he came over, jumped on my lap, licked my face and whispered in my ear, "I want to be Pachuco's brother."
Alas, we have no room for another dog, but perhaps you do.
The Genesee Country Farmer’s Market is celebrating fall on October 9 with a visit from the Volunteers for Animals adoption van and Upstate Niagara Milk. Visitors to the market can stop by the VFA booth from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. for information about adopting a pet.
Applications will be available for pet adoptions. If anyone is interested in adopting a pet, “they can complete the application and then follow up at the shelter,” according to Volunteers for Animals’ Wendy Castleman.
Weather will be a deciding factor in what type of animals will be at the market. “If the weather is bad or too cold, cats will not be crazy about an outdoor event,” Castleman said.
Since the number of pets changes daily, Castleman hopes to bring several kittens and a few dogs. Photos of all shelter animals will be posted so visitors can see every pet that is available for adoption. Additionally, raffle tickets to the Volunteers for Animals annual Fur Ball will be for sale as well as VFA t-shirts.
The Upstate Farms events truck will be handing out free samples of their newest flavor, Buffalo Bills Birthday Cake, in celebration of the Bills' 50th Season. Dubbed “cake in a bottle”, there is a limited supply of this specialty milk.
Other samples that will be available at the market include their popular line of “Intense” milks in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. The Intense chocolate variety is made with imported cocoas, real sugar, and fresh milk. Vanilla and Strawberry use “the finest vanilla and strawberry flavors to provide a delicious and nutritious beverage with an intense taste,” according to Upstate Farms representatives. Samples will be available from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
As always, visitors to the market can stop by the Niagara Wine Trail for free samples of local wine. MarJim Manor and Niagara Landing Winery will have offer taste-tests of their popular labels.
According to farmer’s market manager, Patty Hawley, “Now is the perfect time to stock up for holiday celebrations or gift-giving by picking up a few bottles of local wine.” Other vendors at the market include Christ Farms (produce), Renko Meats (handmade sausage/jerky), Flower Fields (fresh & dried flowers), Perl’s Maple Farms (Maple Syrup products), Schwab’s Bakery (baked goods), S & T Christ Farms, (produce), Fenton Farms (produce), Schwab Farms (produce), Librock Meats (all-natural beef), Partyka Farms (produce), Sanger Farms (produce), Genesee Valley Coffee (specialty coffe & tea), and Halat Farms (produce).
The Genesee Country Farmer’s Market is open from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays until October 30. For more information contact Paul Fenton at 585.356.2358 or Patty Hawley at 585.343.3329.
The following information is from the Farmer’s Market Federation of New York:
Beginning in 2001, the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Farmers' Market Federation of New York partnered for a pilot project to test wireless handheld Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) terminals for use in open-air farmers' markets. The pilot proved that the wireless technology, although in its infancy, was effective in capturing food stamp sales at farmers' markets in urban settings. The pilot also documented the need for farmers to accept food stamp benefits at farmers' markets, due to customer demand for their products.
As demand for wireless service grew and as the technology evolved, the farmers' market wireless EBT project continued to expand to new cities and more farmers. In 2005, the pilot changed focus from providing terminal access to individual farmers to providing terminal access to market managers.
Under this new paradigm, markets are authorized under FNS to be food stamp agents. They are able to "sell" EBT tokens (specially designed wooden tokens) that can be used with any vendor in the market selling food stamp eligible products. Farmers are able to accept the tokens, same as cash, but with no change back, and then redeem them with the market manager at day's end. Additionally, farmers markets can choose to accept debit and credit transactions on their market’s wireless EBT terminals.
The goal of the program is to increase the demand for locally grown fresh foods at farmers markets among food stamp customers, increase the usage of food stamp benefits at farmers markets and change dietary habits of food stamp customers to include more fresh fruits and vegetables from local growers by helping to change shopping habits over time.
Check with your local farmer's market to see if they participate in this program. For more information on New York's Farmers' Market Wireless EBT Program contact Diane Eggert at (315) 637-4690.
A friend introduced me to the term "locavore" a couple of weeks ago. It stuck with me because being a bit of "locavore" was something my wife and I were already mostly doing without knowing there was a word for it or that it was a trend. The furthest thing from our mind was the environmental benefits. We just think locally produced bread, meat, milk and veggies taste better and last longer.
This week, McClatchy/Tribune news service has a story out on locavores. You can read it here.
Last month, Lenae Weichel embarked on an ambitious dietary experiment: to feed her family for a year with food produced within 100 miles of her Rockford, Ill., home.
Inspired by a Vancouver couple who wrote a book on their ‘‘100-mile diet,’’ she joined a community-supported agriculture program, visited her local farmers market and started growing fruits and vegetables in her backyard.
Weichel, 33, is an extreme example of a vibrant movement of ‘‘locavores,’’ or consumers who try to shorten the distance between their food and its origin, largely from a desire to eat fresher produce, support their local farmers and reduce the carbon pollution associated with transporting goods. Only a few set 100 miles as a strict limit; others might just seek produce from the Midwest. But eating locally grown food, an idea once limited to hard-core environmentalists, is gaining traction among mainstream consumers. Already the movement has inspired a slew of books, prompted restaurants to use local food as a selling point and established ‘‘locavore’’ as the Word of the Year for 2007, according to the Oxford American Dictionary.
So, if you're a locavore in Genesee County, where do you go for produce, milk, bread and meat? The Batavian would like to find out more about these businesses. What other locally produced goods and crafts do you prefer to buy from local merchants?
From the Daily News (Friday):
For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.
I'm a firm believer in buying local produce — when possible. When your green beans come from down the street, you know they're fresh, plus you can support your local growers.
Last summer, I spent a morning with Sharon Nagle of Firefly Farm in Canandaigua. Sharon grows organic vegetables and some fruit. She's a connoisseur of soil conservation and building up the right kind of nutrients, getting the most out of the earth while putting the most back in. She let me taste one of her tomatoes, off the vine. It was a life-changing experience. I never knew a tomato could taste so good.
So, when I read this morning that the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County is putting together a local produce guide, I simply had to share the information. Right now, they're looking for growers to add to the list.
We are looking for those of you who sell locally grown products (produce, plants, honey, maple, meat, fiber, eggs, etc.) directly to the consumer.
If you have a road side stand, U-pick operation, farm market, nursery, etc. please contact us. We need your Business name, address, phone number, season/hours of operation, and a list of products.
We plan on having this list available to the public on our website, as well as possibly producing a Buy Local brochure.
Call (585) 343-3040 ext.126 for more information, or send an e-mail to Jan Beglinger at jmb374 (at) cornell (dot) edu.
Not homeless for long, the Genesee Country Farmers Market signed a contract with Batavia Downs to set up shop in its parking lot for the summer season. The market was told by Kmart a couple weeks ago that it could no longer use its parking lot, which had been home for the farmers for about a decade.
Offers to host the market poured in from all over the community — and some towns nearby.
"We were probably offered every parking lot in Batavia," says Paul Fenton, the market's director. "We had a ton of input on this. The community support was tremendous."
In the end, Batavia Downs, at 8315 Park Road, offered the market the best deal — proximity to the old site and a vigorous promotional backer. The market will be open from 8:00am to 5:00pm starting June 10 and closing for the season on October 31.
Says Fenton: "You'll see a lot more promotional stuff, a lot more giveaways. We're going to double our giveaways. And the Downs will help us with a few of those things."
Call (585) 343-9491 for more information.
Who needs Kmart when you've got downtown?
Twenty or so vendors of the now homeless Gensee Country Farmers Market may already have a new place to sell their fruits and vegetables: downtown Batavia. An offer to the vendors to join the Batavia Public Market came only a few hours after the Daily News reported that Kmart booted the county farmers from its parking lot after a 10-year commitment.
"We'd love to have them," said Don Burkel, downtown economic developer. More vendors mean more buyers, he said, "and we've got room for more."
Burkel heads up the fledgling downtown market that opens for its second summer season in June at the Center and School streets parking lot (across from O'Lacey's Irish pub).
Any vendors interested in setting up shop downtown should call Burkel at (585) 344-0900 and request space.
The Batavia Public Market will be held every Saturday from 9:00am to 2:00pm starting June 28, and runs through October 11.
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