Summer Survival: Pleasantville Farmer’s Market signs on to Fresh Nation

The Pleasantville Farmer’s Market recently announced that they have signed on with Fresh Nation to provide same-day home delivery on Saturday’s from its vendors. For those of you not familiar with Fresh Nation, it is an online farmer’s market that offers home delivery of the fresh produce, fish, organic meats, baked goods, and prepared foods from the same local farms and suppliers that you see at your favorite farmers market. Whether you market in Pleasantville, Chappaqua, Mount Kisco or at the John Jay Farmers market in Bedford you will recognize the names associated with Fresh Nation.

The Fresh Nation online buying platform was created by local food champion and direct to consumer retailing entrepreneur Tony Lee. A former board member of Abacus Direct before it was sold to DoubleClick in 2000, Tony is also a farmer’s market fan. He started one of his own at the Danbury Fair Mall in 2011 and then lent his technology expertise to the local farm movement by building the free online buying platform, Fresh Nation, to connect consumers directly with their favorite local farms.

A Peapod for locavores

Fresh Nation is essentially a Peapod for locavores. You can spot buy or subscribe and have fresh produce, meat, dairy or bread boxes delivered to your door every week.  The online market lists the items that are available each week. After you enter your order, a personal shopper goes to the market, selects your items and delivers them to your door.

In the event that an item you ordered is not available at the market they will call you to recommend a substitute. Or you can opt to have the personal shopper automatically sub out a similar item for you. (Golden beets for purple beets; yellow peach for white peach, etc.)

There’s a list of standard substitutions on the site that you would be agreeing to if you opt for their automatic substitution service, along with a list of items that are never substituted. Meats, dairy, bread, baked goods and prepared foods are never subbed out without your consent. If you’re not home when they deliver they will drop off your box at your door but they recommend that you leave a cooler with thermal packs inside.  Need to edit or cancel an order or interrupt a regular subscription order? Just notify them by noon the day before.

The site is easy to navigate and you can shop by product, vendor or food category. They list 31 vendors that participate in their program though not all have products available each week.

What to buy

This week they listed the following vendors who are ready to ship through Fresh Nation:

Produce: Do-Re-Me Farms (Orange County, NY) and Newgate Farms (Windsor, CT) listed over 60 items of produce including tomatoes, potatoes, beets, apples, strawberries, broccoli, asparagus, squash, pea sprouts, bok choy, cippolini, fennel, lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, and a wide variety of herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley and more.

Mushrooms:  Madura Farms offers a variety of produce and eggs but they are best known for their “fancy” mushrooms including enoki, crimini, king oyster, maitake, piopinni, portabello, white beech, and shitake.

Enoki mushrooms from Madura Farms

Meats: Kiernan Farm (Gardiner, NY) raises 100% grass-fed beef on their 140-acre farm. Their cattle are free range and do not receive antibiotics, hormones or by-products. Their meats are naturally dry-aged. They list 36 items of beef products including all steak cuts, burgers, hot dogs, short ribs, jerky, roasts, sausage, pepperoni, organ meats, and long bones for dogs.  They also carry 27 pork products such as bacon, chops, loin roast, ham, sausage, ribs, shanks, and ground pork.

Bread and baked goods:  Meredith’s Bread is also ready to serve your Fresh Nation personal shopper with 49 items of home-made, preservative free bread, baked goods and jams including 4 varieties of baguettes (peasant bread, 7-grain, rosemary & olive) 13 varieties of loaf and bread rounds (from unbleached white bread, sourdough, and multi-grain to oatmeal walnut raisin bread), and an appetizing assortment of pies, cookies, brownies, biscotti, quiche and jams. Dutch Desserts offers 9 varieties of fruit, chocolate and pecan tarts.

Dutch Desserts peach raspberry tart

Pickles: It wouldn’t be a farmers’ market without pickles and Pickle Licious is one of the best know. They also sell olives, olive tapenade and paste, artichokes, hot pepper mix, sun dried tomatoes and paste, sauerkraut, hummus and giardinara.

Other vendors that participate in the Fresh Nation market include: Amazing Real Life Food Co. (cheese), Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse (cheese & bread), Bombay Emerald Chutney Co, Campanella’s Poultry Farm, Cowberry Crossing Farm (produce), Guyank Brand (hot sauces), Healing Home Foods (granolas, crackers, chips), Hudson River Apiaries (honey), Mead Orchards, The Peanut Principle (organic nuts and seeds), Pika’s Farm Table (quiche, soups, potpies), Pura Vida Fisheries, Pure Mountain Olive Oil, Red Barn Bakery, Spice Revolution, Spoonful of Sugar (allergy friendly baked goods), and Yellow Bell Farm (free range, antibiotics/hormone free chicken and eggs).

Fresh Nation Mission

Pickle Licious

Fresh Nation’s defined mission is to “build a healthier nation, where local vendors thrive and families enjoy the freshest, healthiest foods … that comes from sustainable sources.” Not all vendors are certified organic but all show a commitment to sustainable and humane practices including using local and organic ingredients or practicing a variety of natural, free range, hormone/antibiotics free, biodynamic or organic farming or fishing methods. Most baked goods vendors offer vegan and gluten free options. If you cannot get out to your local farmers’ market, Fresh Nation’s convenient home delivery service is a great way to maintain your locavorean lifestyle.

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