Local farmers and food businesses are busy working in the fields and kitchens to bring delicious food to our plates, pantries, and freezers. Whether you make a salad with greens you picked up from a farmer’s market, cook a roast from the farm down the road, or enjoy meals at restaurants sourcing ingredients from our area’s growers, you are participating in our fabulous local food system.
To highlight these valuable members in our community and give them the credit and support they deserve, join us on September 8th, 9th, 10th, 2023 for the second Local Foods Weekend! The weekend consists of different public events hosted by local farmers and food businesses. It is a 3-day celebration of the products and the people that grow, raise, sell, or prepare food in and nearby St. Lawrence County and is organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County. Every eater can play an active role in building a resilient local food system, and here’s a chance to learn more about the many farmers and food entrepreneurs involved.
Visit one or more of the 30+ events at locations across St. Lawrence County. There’s something for all interests including children’s activities, special menus, free samples, guided farm tours, workshops, open houses, and more.
Ashley Campbell of Trout and Heron in Potsdam is ready to welcome visitors to her new educational facilities with garden-centered creative children’s activities during the weekend.
When I first started as GardenShare’s Farmers Market Manager, I was initially surprised it could be a full-time job, but after just one season, I can certainly say that there is a lot more that goes into running a market than one might realize! Prior to 2022 each farmers market in St. Lawrence County was managed independently from one another, but in 2022 GardenShare took on a new role that provided shared management services to the Canton, Gouverneur and Potsdam markets. I was excited to take on the challenge of developing the new program!
GardenShare provided direct management and advisory support, which created stability between a complex network of vendors, nonprofits and community partners. In addition to the dozens of vendors, there’s a lot of behind the scenes planning and collaboration involved with each market, including advisory boards, property owners, and voting market memberships.
The Hargraves of Brandy View Farms with their abundant array of vegetables at the Potsdam Farmers Market.
St. Lawrence County is rich with extensive resources, and at the markets you can find an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables along with local goods and crafts, with something new to discover every month. Partnerships also contributed to the success and diversity week to week, which enhanced the customer’s experience and created a community destination for different types of shoppers. Whether it was an activity for the kiddos, a free fitness class, or musical entertainment, there were extra events to enjoy throughout the season. It was very rewarding to see members of the community explore the market for their first time, and watch vendors expand their operations as the markets grew and evolved each month. There was certainly a buzz surrounding the Gouverneur Farmers Market, as customer traffic more than tripled from June to September. Vendors quickly adjusted to keep up with the higher demand and increased the quantity of products they brought in for sale.
Gouverneur Farmers Market vendors on a sunny fall day in the 2022 season.
Between the three markets, there were 57 vendors and 33 nonprofits that showcased their items and services this year, with 13 vendors testing out other markets for their first time. Vendors who participated in more than one market, as a guest or applying for full-membership, expressed that having one contact was easier for their onboarding process, and communication was more efficient for their business practices.
Roisin Creedon-Carey chose to intern at Cornell Cooperative Extension to focus on sustainable agriculture practiced through community living. This is the second installment of three blog posts in her experience embracing seasonal and local eating. Find the link to her recipe at the close of the article.
In the Yurt village at the Adirondack Semester, all our veggies and meat were local. We diced carrots from North Country soils, sauteed perfectly purple eggplant, and fried ground beef for stroganoff. The students were divided into 5 cook teams to make all our meals. As the semester progressed, we ended up filling specific food niches. My cook partner and I made eggplant parmesan, stir-fries, and the Wednesday night classic of the semester was the recipe I am featuring today: Beef Stroganoff. With a few gluten-sensitive residents, two vegans, and two vegetarians this recipe lent itself to interpretation. Ultimately, we ended up with three pots of pasta: one with meat and dairy, one with meat substitutes, and one without meat, dairy, or gluten
Halfway through our fall semester, we toured three Adirondack farms and were excited to learn about sustainable agriculture from young minds. Getting our food from local farmers was fulfilling so we were eager to meet the people with dirt under their fingernails. After a Friday of woodworking and lectures, we packed our bags for an overnight at North Country Creamery in Keeseville, New York. We pitched our tents and bedded down early so we could rise with the sun to milk the cows. The philosophy at North Country Creamery is perfectly exemplified by their farm store. Left unlocked and operated on the honor system, owners Ashlee Klainhammer and Steve Googin want to provide for their immediate community before all else. Inspired by our morning milking, Bri Duggan, beef stroganoff creator, sustainable agriculture fan, and avid student decided to intern at North Country Creamery. Duggan likes this recipe because it’s a good dish for a large group and it’s easy to customize since as she says, “you can add as many veggies as you want!”
The herd moving pastures at North Country Creamery
With just enough coffee in our systems to make it to the next stop, we drove up the road to Mace Chasm Farm. As our Adirondack Semester program centers around community living, we eagerly hung onto every word Asa Thomas-Train told us about the lively nights when their farm hosts summer music events. They aren’t just partying all the time, in fact they work hard raising their own livestock, with an on-site butcher shop where they create custom sausage flavors, bone broths and more. Mace Chasm aims to be resilient and ensure that the needs of both the farm and the customers are met. We were getting accustomed to this level of care for the community and livestock. Particularly impressed, fellow Adirondack Semester student Cara Monteleone is currently learning how to butcher meat here and they say “the time and effort put into caring for the livestock shows in the product. It’s rewarding to give back to a strong community that benefits from having a resource like Mace Chasm.”
Self-serve farmstore at Mace Chasm with entrance to butcher shop
Our last stop of the day was Essex Farm, a full-diet CSA that has operated for over a decade. Co-owner Mark Kimball ran around with us as we picked raspberries with gleeful eyes and full bellies. He closed out the tour by generously offering us armloads of vegetables, dairy, and freshly ground beef. Mark’s philosophy on community stems from reciprocity and gratitude. And what did we do with this living abundance? We turned it into beef stroganoff, of course!
Much of our animal protein this semester came from 8 O’clock Ranch in DeKalb.
In a semester focused on place, sustainability, and reciprocity there was no better way to align our values than to source our food from area farmers. At this point in the semester we’ve been asked how this experience will impact our lives going forward. For some, this takes the shape of farming, others working for environmental non-profits, and some will get involved in local politics. While we’ve all been impacted differently, the sense of fulfillment we gained from home cooked meals and authentic farmers will remain a testimony to the value of passion and thoughtfulness in rooting ourselves to a place.
Here’s how we made our Beef Stroganoff on the Adirondack Semester, find recipe here.
