Dear market friends,

This e-mail is long because I sent out an e-mail to all the farmers saying "please write to me," and a lot of them did.

First, from market manager Anne Freeman:

"We are on weather watch at the market these days, looking ahead to that perfect moment when the ground has dried up enough and the grass has grown in enough and the leaves are open enough to launch the full outdoor market season. This week, there will still be a combination-market, with many vendors inside, and some hardy ones along the west side of the rinkhouse. Coffee beans, chocolate, and wonderful teas will all be back, and Kate of Best Friend Bites will make her monthly visit to supply the dog shoppers."

From Ute Zell of Stonehenge farms:

"I'll have fresh wild boar, lots of fish including pickerel, the usual cheeses and sheep's milk yoghurt and milk, and lots of frozen meat including chicken parts."

The park bakers, Daniel Malloy and Matt Leitold, will have the following breads: pumpkin seed, multi-grain, sourdough olive, sourdough raisin, sourdough kimmel, sourdough rye, Italian rosemary, corn bread, and those delicious 25% whole wheat baguettes they now know how to bake, plus cinnamon buns. The park pizza will include nettle pizza (picked at the little tree nursery -- can't get more local than that), and there will be good soup, and gnocchi with garlic and nettles.

From Alvaro Venturelli of Plan B:

"From our farm we'll be bringing lots of our own baby salad mix with spinach, red russian kale mizuna arugula chickweed red salad bowl and freckled romaine letttuce japanese mustard, plus several other tasty native wild harvested greens. Also, separate bags of baby arugula. Cilantro, greek oregano mints and chives are sweet. Other local goodies will include delicious shiitake and maitake mushrooms Lots of apples plus squash potatoes carrots beets onions garlic too. We'll have a bit of apple cider and frozen strawberries. From farther away, there'll be lots to round out your meals including citrus kale, red leaf lettuce, Broccoli Bananas, mangoes avocadoes and ginger. We're heading out to pick some wild fiddleheads this evening and hope to have a few left after we eat dinner, to bring to the market. It's nice to live in the country! The salad mix is all first cut out of our double dug raised soil beds in the greenhouse and will be cut fresh on thursday morning for Dufferin Grove only!".

From David Pritchard:

"This week Birds and Beans will be represented by Beata of Whole World Trading - so keep looking if you have trouble finding the "Coffee Guy" Also, people from all over Ontario are finding out what the Dufferin Grove market customers have known for months - that our Plantations™ Arriba Heirloom varietal chocolate is great - see page 28 of the Early Summer issue of the LCBO's "Food & Drink" magazine."

From Colette Murphy:

"Urban Harvest will be at the market with seeds and amendments. Next week will kick off the plant season for us at the market. If people are chomping at the bit, the big plant event will take place at Field to Table on Saturday from 10-2pm. check out their web site at www.foodshare.net We will have lots of vegies and native plants and perennial herbs.

Perhaps we will pop a few plants in on Thursday just for a little treat."

From Lorenz Eppinger of Greenfields Farm:

"Despite the unseasonably cold weather we are quite buisy at the farm. Day old turkeys and chickens just arrived, the first planting of spinach and peas is up and of course a greenhouse full of transplants are in need of tender care. Not to mention numerous fields that await planting.This week we'll have our own Chives, freshly dug Sunchokes along with local Watercress, Boston Lettuce, Shiiatke Mushrooms, Carrots, Onions, Beets and Potatoes (red, yellow and russett). We also got very nice greens this week: Kale, Chard, Collards, Parsley, Red Leaf and Romaine Lettuce. From T & D Wiley Farms, a smaller US farm that is well known for their quality and political activism, we have sweet Sugar Snap Peas and bunched Red Spring Onions. Also look out for Tomatoes, Radishes, Zucchini, Red Peppers, Garlic, Ginger, Celery Root, Yams and Turnips.

Nice fruit this week: Winesap Apples from BC, Bananas, ripe and delicious fresh Strawberries (2.75/quart), best ever Bartlett Pears (fresh harvest), Oranges, Grapefruit, Mangos and Lemons.

And from Jessie Sosnicki, who won't be coming yet, a progress report:

"Despite the cold rainy weather lately, our greenhouse plants (tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, beets, broccoli, cabbage etc,etc.) are holding their own, and waiting for planting time! In the field, the spinach is up, and scratching the surface I saw a little carrot sprout today! With the overcast, we don't have to water the greenhouses frequently, meaning we have time to dedicate to other farm projects: fixing up the 'ol bunkhouse soon to be occupied by workers, brushing the horses who are mass shedding, cleaning out the grading barn, sorting trays, bins you name it!"

It's supposed to be warmer and sunny for market day, and then a bit warmer every day until it's hot and the tulips are wide open and the leaves all grow to full size in ten minutes -- Toronto's Big Bang version of Spring. So --

See you at the market.