Stroll through the Pleasantville Farmers Market to mark the seasons and micro-seasons. The sea of gleaming heritage and cherry tomatoes in wooden pints and mounds of soft, blushing peaches among the market’s 55 vendors are shining proof that it’s late summer in the lower Hudson Valley.
On a recent late August morning, arugula, beets, scallions, and cucumbers, plus berries, cantaloupe, and plums weighed the tables down as visitors lined up to fill their canvas totes. Regulars also expect cool, sweet paletas, fragrant chicken momos, iced waffles, fruity strudels, oozing goat cheese, fanciful mushrooms, plump pies sparkling with sugar, and nut-butter varieties to make you stop and make sure you read that label right. Ethically raised beef and sustainably fished scallops and sole wait on ice to be picked for Westchester home kitchens.
This is peak season for freshly harvested produce from our region’s farms. And area residents know it: 2,200 to 3,000 visit the market during this time, says Steven Bates, executive director of market operations.
Launched in 1997, the market has won in the farmers’ market category for Westchester Magazine’s Best of Westchester Awards for 11 consecutive years, and 2024 was no exception. Operated by nonprofit organization Foodchester Inc. on behalf of the Village of Pleasantville, the market is dedicated to healthy communities, sustainable food systems, and local economic development.
“We consider ourselves a cook’s market. We want to be as strong of a supporter of home cooks as possible, with a good selection at every price point, so that no matter where they are on the economic ladder, they can find good ingredients,” Bates says.
Vendors accept different forms of payment, including cash, credit, SNAP and EBT benefits, and payment apps such as Venmo. A helpful partnership with Northwell Health also enables market customers to double their SNAP/EBT dollars up to $40. For those without cash who want to buy something from a cash-only vendor, customers can swipe their cards at the manager’s tent to buy Market Bucks — special coins that cash-only vendors accept. That eliminates the hassle of an ATM trip plus extra fees.
There’s another key factor in the Pleasantville Farmers Market success: It holds regional farmers and food artisans accountable.
Some farmers’ markets, not necessarily in Westchester, have overlooked vendors trying to pass off produce as locally or regionally grown, when it was purchased wholesale or from a broker, retailer, or other middleman and shipped from far-flung countries.
“We’ll photograph everything on the table and then three days later show up on the farm and say ‘Where was this grown?’ — or at the maker’s kitchen,” Bates says. “These spot checks maintain our integrity, and really, we learn so much more this way.”
Bates is one of three paid staff members. There are also about 25 volunteer board members and adult community volunteers, plus about 30 volunteers in the market intern program from school grades eight through 12.
The volunteer-driven market feeds visitors from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. from April through December and 9:30 a.m. to noon January through March. Since the first winter market season launched in 2013, Pleasantville Farmers Market has been a weekly venue year-round for 11 years, rarely missing a scheduled week due to weather, and remaining open weekly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bates says.
On October 5, local home bakers will bring their finest apple pies to the market for the annual apple pie contest. The champions will bring home a canvas tote stuffed with donated products, a medal, and bragging rights for the next 12 months. And market shoppers can taste the competing pies, as all the pies are sold by the slice when the contest concludes.
There’s also a full calendar of the market’s live music series, children’s activities, and many collaborations and special events to benefit charities and good causes. The market sends a weekly email newsletter to subscribers.
Jennifer Odom of Pocantico Hills ordered fresh pickle pops from Pickle Licious with her daughter, Gray, 8, on a recent sunny Saturday.
“We come almost every weekend. It gets you out,” Odom says. “I get our bread for the week, and we get a paleta, or this pickle-on-a-stick, or the goat chocolate milk from Chaseholm [Farm] Creamery. We know them by name. And we love the pesto guy.”
These are the stories of four of our many favorite farmers and makers who provide us with regionally and thoughtfully cultivated food we love. We think you will love their food, too.
Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse
Milford, NJ
For a hearty hunk of roasted-garlic-stuffed bread or moist biscuits dotted with chunks of apple or cheese, stop by this booth. Or really, the wheels of American farmstand cheese are more than enough reason to pause, sample, and request a wedge to take home. Bobolink is a regenerative and sustainable family farm, selling 100% grass-fed raw cow’s milk cheeses and wood-fired heritage grain breads at its Pleasantville booth.
Nina and Jonathan White founded Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse on leased land in 2002 to prove that it was possible to make small-scale regenerative farming a viable and vibrant option for landowners in the Northeast. The couple moved to the current Milford location in 2010, where the fields had been in a conventional crop rotation for years. In 2018, Bobolink joined in an international farmstead cheese contest in Lyon, France, winning the silver medal for its cider-washed Amram cheese. All of it is from this area: The must-have breads use the products of local grain growers.
WM: Why do you trek to Pleasantville to sell your food?
“The market is carefully curated, and the management is proactive and always thinking about how to make things better for the farmers,” says Nina White. Also, White’s mother taught at Pleasantville schools in the 1960s, and she taught at a ballet school in the 1990s.
“When I started farming, Pleasantville seemed like the right place for our products, and we were right,” she says. “It’s a community that appreciates quality, and that’s what we’re all about.”
Related: New Band Pleasantville Is Making Waves in Westchester
Pickle Licious
Teaneck, NJ
To get properly pickled, you go to Pickle Licious, which was established more than 25 years ago by Robyn Brown Samra, known as “The Pickle Lady.” Formerly a struggling waitress, Samra started selling pickles at flea markets in the tristate area, expanding to retail shelves and farmers markets, including a brick-and-mortar shop in Teaneck. Earlier in 2024, Samra retired, and these days you’ll find Flor Cruz, Francisco Gomez, and family behind the booths, operating more than 20 farmers’ market appearances across New York and New Jersey.
Pickle Licious has been featured on the Rachael Ray Show, on MTV and CNN, and in the New York Times and New York Magazine. It was voted “Best Pickles” by the Jewish Standard newspaper for at least eight consecutive years. Customers have a dizzying 60-plus pickle-y product lineup to choose from. Besides sweet, sour, spicy, dill, and all the combinations you can think of, the company also sells relish, olives, peppadews, sweet red peppers, and roasted garlic.
Plus, it’s a family affair. Recently, Cruz’s son, Joshua, helped in handing out their most popular item in Pleasantville: the new pickle, often served on a stick like a popsicle. “It’s mild and crunchy,” Cruz notes.
We love:
The spicy and the sweet pickle chips, the new pickle (on a stick, of course), and the roasted garlic please the tastes of all our family members, ages four to 45. But we have so much more to try.
Little Seed Gardens
Chatham, NY
Founded in 1995, this 100-acre family farm run by Willy Denner, Claudia Kenny, and daughter May Denner is committed to sustainable, certified organic farming that builds biological diversity for healthy crops and healthy people by NOFA-NY and the REAL Organic Project. They use regenerative practices including no or low till, cover crop-based fertility, crop rotations, rotational grazing, composting, and companion planting. In late August at the Pleasantville Farmers Market, customers can choose from heritage tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (like GinFiz and CubaLibre) cherry tomatoes, fresh flowers, arugula, spinach, salad mix, watermelon, eggplant, summer squash, and fresh herbs among more fruits and vegetables, changing with the season each week.
Why do you trek to Pleasantville to sell your food?
The farm is 110 miles — one way — from the Pleasantville Farmers Market, but Little Seed has been making the trek for 16 years. “We’ve done farmers’ markets from Troy [near Albany] down to Manhattan, and this is the only one we still do,” Willy Denner says. “Our customers here are very devoted. They come no matter what.” That consistency is key in knowing how much and what to plant and harvest, to appropriately adjust the costs of picking, packing, and selling.
“A consistent customer base is critical to our viability,” he says. That benefit, plus the friendly fellow vendors and a conscientious market staff keep this family returning Saturday after Saturday, year after year.
Sikkim Hut
Queens, NY
Pillowy, savory, and doused in the sauce of your choosing, the momo is the Himalayan answer to your dumpling cravings. Originating with a food cart in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens, Sikkim Hut: The Taste of Himalaya hand-crafts momos for the Pleasantville Farmers Market (and Ramsey Farmers Market in New Jersey) in an entrepreneur space in Long Island City.
Choose among the ground beef or ground chicken, both flavored with scallions, onions, ginger, and soy sauce. Or for more Buddhist authenticity, go for the vegetable momo, with cabbage, carrots, onions, green peas, ginger, and scallions. Also, select one (or all three) of the dipping sauces: a bright, herby parsley sauce; mild, slightly creamy tomato-based sauce; and a spicy chili sauce.
Co-owned by Dendup Sherpa and Dawa Tsamchut, this traveling momo house uses recipes that reflect Himalayan and South Indian regions, with ingredients sourced from regional farms. Sikkim Hut used be called Himalayan Deli for about a year or so when it was run by Sherpa’s brother. “It’s our traditional food that we grew up eating,” Sherpa says. “The best part is seeing people love our momos.”
We love:
We alternate between the beef and chicken momos, but we request all three sauces because we want to taste every possible combination. These sauces distinguish the momo from other kinds of Asian dumplings, so dipping your momo in at least one of the sauces is a must!
