By Peter Lyons Hall
This is the third season for Greenwood Lake’s Lakeside Farmers Market, the once upstart farmers market that began at the foot of Windermere Ave. at Waterfront Park, but then graduated last year to Winstanley Park, farther north on the same road but in the middle the Village and across from Chase Bank where there is a lot more visibility and foot traffic.
As a result of the relocation of the market and an aggressive marketing effort that included the introduction of the Market Bucks program and the integration of the Community Composting program, in collaboration with Grow Local Greenwood Lake, Lakeside Farmers Market was the recipient of a $22,000 NY State Grant that its committee had applied for last year. NY State only distributed only six of these grants statewide to qualifying farmers markets. It has now embarked on a program to continue growing its vendors by carefully inviting new exhibitors that feature a delicious selection of prepared foods and artisan products, like Hudson Valley Pantry, Flower & Dough, and Hillery Farms.
Flower & Dough [thefloweranddough.com] offers a visually stunning array of freshly baked loaves of bread with ornate designs in the crust, and owner, Megan Leyden’s, flower arrangements are equally gorgeous. Hudson Valley Pantry’s owner, Jonathan, creates small batches of tasty sauces and preserves from many of the same farmers that he meets at local farmers markets. His salsa and BBQ sauces, for example, are made from many of the vegetables that nearby farmer, Jeff Bialis (J&A Farm) sells to consumers. And Hillery farms honey (available in 1, 2, and 5-lb jars) are among some of the best values in the region for local honey. Hillery Farms also offers grass-fed beef, pastured pork, free range poultry, and fresh eggs as well.
One of Lakeside’s success story is its Market Bucks program, a $5 supplemental certificate that enables the recipient to redeem it for $5 worth of fresh and/or prepared foods from participating vendors at the Lakeside Farmers Market each week until the end of October. “The Market Bucks program enables a wider audience to be able to participate in local farmers markets in Greenwood Lake,” explained Karen Wintrow, Lakeside Market Manager, who has involved the Greenwood Lake Food Pantry, the Greenwood Lake Senior Citizens Center, and the Arthur Finnegan American Legion Post 1443 in its distribution network.
Meanwhile, the Community Composting Program continues to expand. “When food scraps rot,” according to the Food Revolution Network, “they release methane, a greenhouse gas that traps 84 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Many of our landfills turn into huge, steaming piles of methane-emitting organic waste, which seriously compromises any plans to reverse our ever-intensifying global climate chaos.”
When consumers decide to toss moist food scraps into their garbage pail, they end up in incinerators, however, requiring additional energy to keep the temperatures high enough to fully incinerate all the trash. But this causes a vicious cycle: the higher temperatures also contribute to the release of more toxins into the air. And if you happen to live nearby one of these incinerators, you are more likely to be affected by health issues that you are accidentally ingesting. The Lakeside Farmers Market offers a free community composting program that accepts containers of food scraps from residents and neighbors. It’s a free weekly drop-off that contributes to the development of rich soil nutrients and reduces the methane composition of landfills.
To learn more about Lakeside Farmers Market, click on VillageofGreenwoodLake.org/lakeside-farmers-market, available every Saturday, from 9AM to1PM, now until the end of October.
Photo credits: Peter Lyons Hall
