All Over Albany

Checking out the Schenectady Greenmarket

A trip to the first Sunday of this season's Winter Market at the new Schenectady Greenmarket with the kids turned out to be way more fun than I expected it to be.

We turned the clocks back and were off our normal schedules, the kids were still wired from Halloween -- would there be enough there to hold everyone's interest until I could be rescued by naptime?

The Schenectady Greenmarket opens at 10; we got there around 11:15 and the place was already busy. Our first stop was Our Daily Bread, which was almost cleaned out (this seemed to be the only example of that). We missed out on the cheddar jalapeno, cranberry pecan sourdough, and French country bread, so we settled for s'mores cookies for the kids and hamantaschen for me. Not a bad substitute as far as I was concerned.

There was a ton of stuff to sample, from Dancing Ewe Farm's fresh ricotta (I loved it but two thumbs down from the kids) to Saratoga Peanut Butter Company's Monkey Boy (banana and raisin peanut butter), to Pixie's Preserves -- their apple crisp preserves taste like jarred apple crisp -- to Dutch Desserts' chocolate tart.

There were more than half a dozen vendors in the open area where The Muddy Cup is at Proctor's Arcade, then in the downstairs part, there were about a dozen more. The upstairs was wines, bread, cheeses, and handicrafts (Glassy Beads jewelry and Tough Traveler bags and baby carriers), plus a cooking demo set-up for Hollywood Brown Derby executive chef Andrew Ottati. Downstairs we found a full complement of fresh fruits and vegetables from more vendors, plus lots of baked goods (pies, tarts, cookies, turnovers, and organic bars), fresh cuts of meat (beef, chicken, and pork), and cider. Cornell Cooperative Extension also had an arts and crafts table for the kids and a fruit and vegetable tossing game.

There was certainly enough to see and do to make it well worth a trip to Schenectady. The commitment to small farms and locally-grown food notwithstanding, I don't think there were any fruits or vegetables that I couldn't have bought at my local grocery store; it's the prepared things, like the preserves and baked goods, and stuff for the kids to do that made it a nice family outing that would keep me going back.

We'll probably go a few more times over the winter; if I lived in Schenectady I'd probably go way more often than that.

We left after about an hour and half with an equal measure of veggies and treats and none of us were too cranky. You might want to bring your own reusable bag to hold your purchases; most vendors did have plastic or paper bags but it was just easier to toss everything into one carryall.

The local expert presentation, the kids activity, and the live music will be different from week to week. And there's still room for more vendors; there were a lot of food vendors but a lot less than I expected in the way of handmade goods. At least we can make more trips throughout the winter and it won't be all "been there, done that."

Besides, I have to get more of those apple crisp preserves; our jar will surely be gone by week's end.