THE MARKET IS AT PEAK

This Saturday will be sunny and colorful at the Pleasantville Farmers Market, with a harvest of pumpkins, sweet potatoes, Brussels spouts, apples, parsnips and many other great fall items. Lead Sponsor Phelps Memorial Hospital Center will visit and host a pumpkin carving demo by Jessica Manfro (her creation will be raffled to a lucky recipient after 11am). Kids will get to create their own apple tart with Jean-Jacques. Singer/songwriter guitarist Melissa Frabotta returns to perform her terrific blend of popular and original tunes. Pleasanville Community Garden will visit to highlight their first, very successful season. All in all, the Market is at peak this Saturday. Be sure to stop by and celebrate a really nice fall day among friends. And remember to use the Market’s interactive map to review all vendors in attendance this Saturday.

Pumpkin Carving Demo At Phelps Culinary Tent
Market Lead Sponsor Phelps Memorial Hospital Center will visit to highlight their many services and involvement in the local community. They’re also the sponsor of culinary and health programs at the Market, including Saturday’s decorative pumpkin carving demo by Jessica Manfro. Jessica, Head Coach and Manager of CrossFit Mount Kisco, visits the Market each fall to show how she creates carved pumpkins for local businesses like The Kittle House, Umami, Peter Pratt’s, Harvest on the Hudson, Half Moon, and many more. Come by the Phelps Culinary Tent between 9:30 - 11:30 to watch Jessica at work. And to buy a raffle ticket to see if you can win the artful pumpkin, and maybe a free month at CrossFit too!

Pleasantville Community Garden Is In
Stop by the Pleasantville Community Garden’s tent Saturday. Learn more about the Garden, and how they have delivered over 750 pounds of fresh produce to the local food pantry in 4 months! And find out about new programs, including our Pleasantville Farmers Market/Food Pantry delivery program, and ways you can help the Garden continue to succeed.

Conant Reports Strawberry Jam Is Going, Going....
And probably gone by the end of Saturday. Conant will offer the last batch of this season’s local Strawberry Jam (shown below). Hand-picked, pesticide-free berries, flash frozen the day of picking, the resulting jam is deep red and intensely flavored. Limit of two jars per person. Also reaching a conclusion are supplies of Local Red Raspberry Jam and a Late Harvest Peach Jam. Stock up Saturday and be pretty pleased about it come this winter.

Phelps Health Tip: Sweet Potatoes Are Relaxing
“Sweet potatoes are a good source of magnesium, which is the relaxation and anti-stress mineral. Magnesium is also necessary for healthy artery, blood, bone, heart and nerve function, yet experts estimate that approximately 80% of the population may be deficient in this important mineral.” -That’s a pretty stressful stat! Returning to a relaxing sweet potato theme, here is an interesting recipe:

Sweet Potato & Kale Soup
This easy and delicious recipe comes from Delia Herrin’s blog Cooking Unites, and reflects her family’s culinary roots in Valencia, Spain. Do you know Delia? Of course you do --she is present at the Market every Saturday with her husband Matthew Marks providing specialty coffee as Forty Weight Coffee Roasters. This seasonal recipe makes use of the fresh sweet potatoes available through vendors Cowberry Crossing Farm and Madura Farms, and the sweet onions, carrots, and kale or turnip greens throughout the Market. Spice Revolution is in as well, in case you’re out of ground red pepper, cayenne or interesting salts. This sweet potato soup does sound like a very relaxing way to get one’s magnesium. To look over the recipe (pictured below) click here.

Another Relaxing Way to Enjoy Sweet Potatoes
Cowberry Crossing Farm has offered a favorite recipe for No-Crust Sweet Potato Pie. The recipe comes with a neat summary of the confusion between sweet potatoes and yams. To review the recipe click here.

Speaking Of Pies
2014 Apple Pie Contest winners Lisa Maniscalco (Two Crust Pie), Isabel Rachlin (One Crust Tart), and Etai Nunberg (Junior Chef, Two Crust Pie) now have something to brag about! Thanks to all the participants who entered a dessert, volunteers who pitched in during challenging weather, judges who carefully reviewed submissions, vendors who generously donated items for prize baskets, and Lead Sponsor Phelps Memorial Hospital Center which sponsors our culinary programming. To see some images of last week’s event click here.

Fall Soup From Pickle Licious
Pickle Licious also shared an interesting soup with us this week called Seljanka Pickled Soup. It’s a traditional Eastern European soup, and uses a number of ingredients available at the Market. Stop by Pickle Licious for a pint of pickles, Stefan’s Pure Blends for kielbasa, and gather the remaining vegetables from our farms. Just make sure you have sour cream in the fridge before you start cooking.

Cooking Pumpkin With Spicy Chutney
Bombay Emerald Chutney Company will be cooking pumpkin with their delicious savory chutneys Saturday. Be sure to stop by their tent to taste a sample.

Final Week: Spooktacular Halloween Costume Swap
The Pleasantville Recycles annual costume swap will be busy this Saturday. Stop by the Memorial Plaza Gazebo to swap a gently used costume, or to simply select a costume to keep (no trade required). Leftover costumes in good condition will be donated to Blythedale Children’s Hospital.

Saturday’s Kids Event Is The Last In A Great Season
Our Kids Events and Market Sprouts rewards program kicked off last May with Marco the Magician. It wraps up with Jean-Jacques’ apple tart activity this Saturday (9:30 - 11:00). We want to thank all the terrific kids and their families for attending this year’s weekly programs. Event hosts always leave stating how much fun it has been to work with our kids. We’ll get underway soon crafting another great line-up of activities for next year.

Where To Park?
Get to Know the “Hidden Parking Lots of Pville” There are 7 parking lots within a few blocks of the Market. Get to know them all by clicking here to download a parking map.