Local peppers

I loved the colour of these peppers at the Greenmarket!

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Stroh violin

I was at the Greenmarket on Sunday and the Penny Jar band were playing.  It was quite warm (over 90F) and the chairs were set up on the lawn of City Hall, under the trees.  So the band were facing opposite of the usual configuration, giving me a look behind the scenes, as it were.  And I saw this!

This is a Stroh violin.  It's an amplified violin, but the amplification is... mechanical rather than electrical.  It was invented by John Matthias Augustus Stroh in 1899, before the microphone.  You can hear a pretty good example at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkO5y-To3H0.  Now that we have microphones, there aren't that many Stroh violins in circulation.  I was very happy to see it.  Alas, the A string broke (normal wear and tear) and the violinist wasn't able to play the full range of notes.  But she did play it for me!  Nice.

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Marcus Ruggiero

This is Marcus Ruggiero.  Marcus is a local musician, born right here in Schenectady.  He has a very easy to listen to voice and writes a lot of his own stuff.  His web site has full tracks - check him out!  I got to listen to him at last week's Winter Market, in Key Hall.  The acoustics aren't the best there, but he was set up great.  Bought one of his CDs - Face It.  Love to support local musicians!

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Apple harvest

From last week's Greenmarket.  Maynard Farms has an assortment of apples grown right here in the Hudson Valley.  I'd like to bake a pie with each variety and do a tasting!

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Halloween parade

Yesterday was the last outdoor day for the season for the Schenectady Greenmarket.  Next week, the vendors get to move indoors at Proctors.  Since Halloween is so close, the Greenmarket held the first annual Halloween parade.  There were about a dozen of us who dressed up and walked up and down the market place.  And at the end, we each got an apple!

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Greenmarket from afar

I don't often get to the far end of Jay Street, but we were driving downtown and I found myself looking at the Greenmarket from the other side.  Snapped this one through the windshield.  I was the passenger, so it was quite safe!

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Balloon twisting

A talented young lady called Flutterbug has been at the Greenmarket for the past few weeks, and she's a master (mistress?) balloon twister.  Last week she made a spider for us that was quite realistic.  This week, she settled on a Jack O'Lantern.  Watching her work was as magical as receiving the finished product.

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Seasonal food

For me, one of the best things about the Schenectady Greenmarket is that it is a showcase for local farms.  Local farmers grow food that thrives in our area, our climate, our seasons.  I have to confess a weakness for seasonal cuisine.  I look forward to the tomatoes ripe off the vine, apples fresh from the orchard - oh, those apples!  Apples that have been stored are a faint shadow of these magnificent fruits that are available now.

This is a display from last week's market, with Indian Corn on the left, ornamental gourds behind that,  a green, speckled swan gourd and white pumpkin on the right.  These are all considered ornamental by most people here, but they are all edible and unlike apples, store well too. 

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Peppers!

Peppers at the Greenmarket.  I couldn't resist these wonderful colours.

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Quincy Farm

This is Cara from Quincy Farm.  She sets up a stand at the Schenectady Greenmarket every Sunday in the summer.  She's passionate about being a farmer, and it shows.  I love talking with her, getting ideas about what to try next.  My latest new thing was salad turnips - I never heard of these before.  They were REALLY good grated and added to a slaw.  Thanks for the idea Cara - it's a winner!

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This post is on auto-pilot.

Music at the Greenmarket

These are some of the Anonymous Fig Leafs, a local band from right here in Schenectady.  I really liked their music; low key but they still had plenty of energy on a hot day.

Kudos to the Greenmarket people for giving local musicians a venue!

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Greenmarket crowd

It was hot last Sunday, unseasonably so for early June.  Most everyone went to the Greenmarket in shorts except for the woman in red.

The Greenmarket is getting bigger and bigger, which is very good to see.  Our downtown can use the foot traffic.  The building in the background is the Main Post Office.

One of the regular vendors, Susie made some rhubarb pickles.  I have been eating rhubarb all my life - more often than not broken off the plant and eaten raw.  Most people find them too tart that way and probably the most common way to use rhubarb is as the companion ingredient in strawberry-rhubarb pie.  That's really, really tasty!  Anyway, I tried Susie's rhubarb pickles and I fell in love with them.  She uses cloves and a little hot pepper, and they came out tasting like my Mum's pickled onions, which I loved as a boy.

This was a fantastic Greenmarket trip for me!

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It was this big!

This one loves to talk.  He's chatting with Susie about her geese.  Or about a turtle he saw.  Or about almost anything imaginable!  This is the Winter Market, held in the Proctor's building downtown.  It's held indoors during the winter months.  It was a good sized crowd last Sunday.

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Theme Day - Open Air Market

I'm getting braver. Photographs of people. Well, sort of. I was hot so I knelt down for a moment and this image simply appeared. It's from the Schenectady Greenmarket. I love going here; everyone is so nice, even when the weather is hot and sticky. It's high season for green vegetables, but the crafters are out in force, too. I love to be able to buy local products and support local artisans and farmers.

For the first of the month, the City Daily Photo community agrees on a theme and we (mostly) post photos interpreting that theme. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants It's a lot of fun, and we get to see some wonderful photos and read lovely stories from all over the world.

Downtown emu

Yesterday was the last outdoor Greenmarket (farmer's market) downtown. Next week, the Greenmarket moves indoors. We had two special guests - George and Grace, a pair of emus from Cooper's Ark Farm were here. And they were quite popular, too as you can see from the smile reflected in the cell phone...

Shelving Rock

This photo is over a week old. Not last Sunday, but the Sunday before that, I walked downtown to the Greenmarket. It's a gathering (for lack of a better word) of local farmers and food makers (jam, jelly, honey, muesli - that sort of thing). I got some local cheese (yum!), a bottle of Hudson-Chatham Winery's 2007 Riesling (dry, but fruity - the folks there are very happy to let you try a sample) and some muesli from the very nice lady from Mu Mu Muesli (another case where the sample sells the food!)

I probably bought more stuff but it's all eaten by now, so I can't remember it all. One thing I do remember is the music: a pair of musicians were set up under a canopy and they played some really great music. They call themselves Shelving Rock and I spent the better part of an hour in the front row listening to them. Bought a CD, too. They're very free-form, which is all too rare these days. Sometimes I couldn't tell who was riffing off of who. Too cool! Best of luck in everything you do, guys, and thanks for playing for us!

Cheddar cauliflower

We saw this at the local Greenmarket / Farmer's market and the 7 year-old wouldn't leave without getting one. I took this in natural light - it's really this colour!

The internet tells me that an orange cauliflower was discovered in the Bradford Marsh in Canada in 1970, then cross bred to make it tastier. Well kudos for that, farmers of Canada - it looks great and tastes good too!

Greenmarket

Every Sunday during the summer, the city hosts a Greenmarket. I think that's the right word - several streets are blocked off and vendors come to sell local meat, cheese, vegetables and even crafts. There was a man playing guitar - very nice all around. A brief sprinkle passed by, but it was mostly dry all day. This is a great event to have in our city. I like eating local food and supporting local farmers.