BY BARBARA ARNSTEIN
For the first time, an Indoor Winter Market was held by the Olean Area Farmers Market. It is located at 3809 Old State Road in Allegany, NY, at the Canticle Farm North Market and is open every other Saturday from 11am-2pm. The remaining dates are: April 19th and May 3rd. The vendors there every week include: Canticle Farm, Country Honey, Winey Shepherds, Rolling Scones Baking Company, Mindfully Holistic, Mascho Homestead Farms, West Hollow Bakery and Farm. ARR Farm (selling only chicken) and Brookside Maple Farm are alternates. ARR stands for “Alterity Regenerative Ranching”.
Canticle Farm is hosting the market, and offering vegetables. It is a non-profit farm, ministry-sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany (FSA), and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that uses Certified Naturally Grown methods. One hundred percent of Winey Shepherd’s agricultural products are sourced from New York State farms. It makes fruit and honey wines. The Rolling Scones Baking Company specializes in vegan and gluten-free baked goods. Mindfully Holistic sells organic herbal teas, black teas and coffee. The newest blend is called “Lemon Pound Cake”, and there are new basket-style infusers. The products sold by Country Honey include raw, unfiltered honey and beeswax candles. Brookside Maple Farm in Centerville, NY sells maple syrup, maple sugar, maple cream and maple roasted nuts. The items available from the West Hollow Bakery and Farm include English muffins, focaccia and brioche.
Mascho Homestead Farms sells Grass-Finished Angus Beef and Pasture-Raised Pork individual cuts of meat. All the meats are frozen and sold from the freezers in their Farmers Market trailer, and conform to the USDA regulations. Additionally, they weigh and sell from a NYS Weights and Measures Certified Scale. James and Danelle Mascho stated, “We practice ‘above Organic’ farming methods as well as Sustainable & Regenerative farming practices as we are a pasture-based farm operation. Not many customers know that Organic Certification allows a slew of chemicals to be applied to the land and animals to be raised in confinement. That is why we never pursued this, as we do not agree with the standard. We do not ever apply herbicides, pesticides, chemicals, antibiotics, or routine vaccines to lands we own or manage, or animals we raise. Our animals are raised on pastures as they are intended to live. We started our farm operation twenty-five years ago at fifty-five acres and have grown to over three hundred acres and two farms. Plus, we rent and maintain another five hundred acres.”
They continued, “We take pride in providing all our customers with animals that all have been born and raised on our farm, from start to finish. We know the entire life cycle of each animal butchered. We also sell one-quarter, one-half, or whole animals at a cost savings to customers that want to fill their freezer. This is done with advance notice and per the customers cutting instructions.”
For more information about the market, go to facebook.com/olean.farmers.market