By Sophia Gambino
There is nowhere better to get produce in upstate New York than your local farmers markets. When you’re out grocery shopping, you might not always know where your food comes from. Thanks to farmers markets in the North Country, locals know exactly where their food is sourced and are often talking to the grower when they buy it.
Pray’s Farmer’s Market
As I walked into Pray’s Farmers Market, I was greeted with smiles and kindness from all the workers. Looking around, I was surrounded by pallets of fresh produce and homemade goods. The smell of the bakery was as inviting as Kaitlyn Doorey, manager of the family run business.
Plattsburgh shoppers appreciate year-round fresh food from Pray’s Market, a family business that began in 1965, and has since become a resource for local schools, communities and businesses.
“We have a wholesale side as well… a lot of local restaurants buy their produce from us,” Doorey said.
These restaurants include Anthony’s Restaurant and Bistro, Twisted Carrot, Arnies, The Dogfather food cart and Adirondack Food Therapy.
The majority of produce and goods at Pray’s comes from the Hudson Valley area, as well as Albany and Canada.
“I just love the seasonal aspect of it. You know, you get really nice stuff in the summer, and you get seasonal fruits and veggies, and this is actually my favorite time, the fall,” Doorey said.
Produce from Plattsburgh-area farmers is more plentiful in the summer when the season is good for growing. Local products include Parker Family maple syrup, Wilson’s honey, Gonyo Farms jams, jellies, and grass-fed beef, Oscar’s Smokehouse meats and Giroux Eggs.
Juniper Hill Farm
Food grown locally is fresher, with fewer preservatives and more nutrients that benefit the consumer. Lindell Scott from Juniper Hill Farm, pointed out a quote on the back of his register, “Don’t let California feed New York.”
Scott, who is originally from Jamaica, started the Upstate New York farm in 2007. The farm, by the Boquet River in Wadhams, flourishes with 100 acres of cultivated land.
World Hunger Relief explains that buying from local farmers is a healthy way to support your local economy. Produce from grocery chains are often imported from distant places and aren’t fresh by the time they make it to the shelves in your hometown. Grocery-bought produce may also have pesticides that local farmers don’t use or need.
In this way, communities and local farmers build off each other, Scott said.
“This community benefits a lot from the market… so they’re sure they’re getting fresh fruit and vegetables. Not like coming from the places where they have to sit two days in a truck, and then when they’re going on the shelf it’s already gone four-five days stale. They’re benefitted from getting fresh foods,” he said.
Having a local farmers market community benefits consumers in the area, who are paying for food that supports the local economy and people.
It is a priority for local farmers to get their food from the garden to the market as quickly as possible.
“What we reap yesterday, we sell today. What we bring back home, it either goes to the pigs, or donate,” Scott said as he handed me a bunch of carrots, fresh from the field.
Uneaten food does not have to be wasted. Pray’s, like Juniper Hill, values reducing waste, Doorey said.
“This is another one of my favorite things about this place, we have a zero waste policy. Sometimes we open up a box and there’s gonna be a little bruise on one apple or there’s a little spot on a pepper or cucumber or something like that, and we package it, and these things we call dollar bags. We have a table in the back and you can just cut out the bad part, or some people like to give it to their chickens or their pigs if they go bad for farm animals or anything like that. Yeah, I love that,” she said.
Local farmers practice sustainability in a way that benefits the community and the environment. Sustainable Agriculture Network states that organic farming and crop rotation are good practices. Supporting local food systems also reduces your carbon footprint, as the produce has traveled a shorter distance to reach your kitchen.
But farming isn’t easy. This summer’s prolonged drought — with little to no rain July through August — stressed growing operations, Doorey said.
“Farmers are taking a really big hit recently. Farmers are the backbone of what we eat every single day,” she said.
Supporting local farmers is beneficial for you, your community and the environment.
