Dear market friends,

Although winter's back (which is good, from the point of view of the rink -- perfect ice), the bounty of global organic agriculture will turn the rink house into a harvest festival again for market day. And there's still local produce as well. Ted Thorpe is coming once again, with plenty of his unwashed, firm, sweet carrots, as well as cabbage and potatoes. Ben Sosnicki will have a cooler of the best Ukrainian perogies east of Brantford, and huge cabbages, onions, and potatoes.

Plan B Organics:

"Of local foods, we'll be bringing garlic onion potatoes squash of many types shiitakes & button mushrooms frozen strawberries and lots of fresh apples in too. Imported are baby bok choy collards kale(black) chard italian parsley broccoli lemons & limes oranges grapefruit kiwi banana mangoes avocadoes A few other goodies will likely make it into the van... but that's all for now folks."

From Greenfields:

"Lots of local spring greens again this week. The usual selection of local root crops, shiitake mushrooms and squash. Finally back in are Celeriac, Leeks and Yams. Tomatoes look and taste great and are on sale, we'll have lots of them. Both Kale and Swiss Chard look better than in a long time and are on special for $ 1.50 this week. Lemons are beautiful this week and triple their normal size, but still at a low price. Lots of pears, oranges, grapefruit and kiwis as well. Finally a week when it won't be expensive to make all your produce purchases from the organic aisle !

On a different note, our web site has been rebuilt: http://greenfieldsfarm.ca."

Ute Zell (Stonehenge) called to say they finally caught the wild boar. When Tom drove down the hill with the truck and trailer to pick it up, the ground was so slippery with ice rain that he couldn't make it back up the road. He stopped halfway up the hill and then truck and trailer slowly slid back down in three big loops and came to a stop in the ditch. Ute, driving home from town, saw the town's garbage truck in the ditch on its side. She managed to get behind the sander truck until it, too, slid into the ditch.

Eventually the ice rain turned into ordinary rain and then that gave way to sun and the road dried up and they pulled the truck out with the tractor. Then the boar was taken to the butcher. So Ute will have fresh wild boar this week, as well as chicken parts and cheese and dairy, and of course frozen ducks and Georgian Bay fish (frozen fillets and smoked).

But that's the worst ice rain, Ute said, that they've seen in those parts since they bought the farm.

Everyone else will be there tomorrow as well...

See you at the market!

P.s. in case you missed the Modigliani at the Art Gallery last month, you can have a guided tour of St.Anne's Church this weekend and next, and see all the Group of Seven frescoes, stained glass, and other beautiful adornments. It's a lot cheaper ($5 donation toward the church restoration), it's a National Historic Site, and it's right around the corner -- Gladstone, south of College, north of Dundas. Pictures and times: www.dufferinpark.ca/neighbourhood