Dear market friends,

Our first hot market day. We'll set up the sprinkler.

From market manager Anne Freeman:

"My Grandfather always ate the first leaf lettuce with vinegar and a sprinkling of sugar. If that doesn't suit you, this is the week to get out every favourite salad dressing recipe and eat greens every night, because Ben Sosnicki and Ted Thorpe will be bringing in the best lettuce you could wish for, to add to the already fine selections of mixed greens from Greenfields and Plan B. Kate Williamson will pay her first-market-of-the-month visit with dog delicacies."

From Plan B Organics:

"Those of you who are already dreaming of the wonderful meals of summer will be glad to know that the good folks at Plan B(and many other farms!) got in late tonight from planting beans, zucchini, squash, cucumber, melons and more. Alvaro will be loading up the van with the early crops for market:lots of baby field spinach(the first cutting), salad mix, mint, chives, oregano and garlic. He'll also be bringing plenty of local apples, cider, beets and mushrooms, along with some imported fruits, including pineapple, grapefruit, oranges, kumquats, wonderful bananas and mangoes."

From Jonathan Forbes:

"I've got fresh wild leeks but this will be the end of leeks for the year. I'll also have some more wild pheasant back mushrooms. I also have a few more 1 liter bottles of organic no.3 dark maple syrup. And the usual assortment of wild mushrooms, veggies and fruits."

From Ute Zell of Stonehenge Farms

"I'll be bringing goat, elk, and budffalo burgers and sausages (frozen). Also fresh lamb and wild boar sausages, plus other fresh goat and lamb pieces. Also chicken pieces. (Next week we'll try to catch another boar and a few weeks after that we'll have the boar bacon again.)

I'll also be bringing milk, cheese, and frozen and smoked Georgian Bay fish."

From Ted Thorpe:

"I'm coming back to the market because I have my first crops now: different lettuces, also bok choy and tat soi, beets, and oregano. The first local strawberries will be ready in two or three weeks."

From Lorenz of Greenfields:

"Early Thursday morning we'll be cutting the first lettuce mix of the season for the Dufferin Market. Also a first for our spring planted Spinach, it's melt in your mouth tender right now. There'll be more of our Asparagus, Rhubarb, Chives, Dandelion Greens and a few bunches of dark green Komazuna (Mustard Greens) this week. Local Button and Shiitake Mushrooms and all the other regular items. Lots of fruit this week: Strawberries, Bananas, more of those wonderful Asian Pears, Oranges, Grapefruit, Melons and on special we'll have Mangos and Gala Apples. Avocados are back, purple Garlic is in, so are Purple Carrots and the list goes on...See you at the market, Marcus, Megan, Momi."

From Colette Murphy:

"I will be there with bells on. We are sold out of some tomato plants and the rest are going fast but will have a few Caspian Pink and Cosmonot Volkov and Red Pear just for this market. My wonderful seed saver Kim said we can spare that many from those we had put aside for seed saving. Lots of lovely native plants and herbs too. Don't forget that you can still plant many seed varieties."

The park bakers are not planning to burn any bread this week.They're getting used to the changes in the oven temperatures that come from running the ovens four days a week again (Wednesday and Sunday pizza days are back). Those oven bricks hold the heat in so deep, when the ovens are lit more often -- it's easy to be tricked. In addition to the usual breads this week there will be bread with green olives (from Angelos) and chipotl peppers.

Park baker and staff Daniel Malloy had his last day working as the pastry roller at the Queen of Tarts on Roncesvalles today. He'll now return full time to the park, since this week is the first park supper -- on Sunday at 6.30, after our first-ever folk festival (www.dufferinpark.ca/arts), a wonderful festival of local bands (most of them park friends too) put together by Laura Repo. After this Sunday, the suppers will go back to being on Fridays, weather permitting: www.dufferinpark.ca/oven. Park cook and staff Amy Withers returned today from three weeks in Spain and Germany, with lots of new ideas. And on Friday, the yurt (which Doctors Without Borders workers Michelle Oser and Ian Small brought over from Uzbekistan three years ago) will be put up again.

Might as well move into the park for June. But even if you don't, See you at the market.

Market web page:www.dufferinpark.ca/market

Park phone number: 416 392-0913.

Photo of bread for sale at the market by Wallie Seto