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Weekly Market Notes Library

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Weekly Market Notes for April 12, 2012

Hello Market Friends:

Each year, we watch the maple trees in the park to help us plan when 'the big move' to our all-outdoor summer market will be. We wait until the delicate yellow flower bundles drop and the leaves come out, a pretty good sign that the weather has settled and the ground is dry enough. You see, once the week comes when our big gang of vendors makes the move, running back indoors is a recipe for chaos. This year, all signs are uncharacteristically early. It's already very dry, and the maple flowers are at least three weeks early, but we're not so sure anything has settled just yet. Keep an eye on the leaves and the rain if you want to know where the market will be; I'm predicting first week of May for the official start of the outdoor season. In the meantime, some vendors will be in or out depending on the day.

Here's the vendor news:

Blythe (Growing Spaces) had a flat on the way to market last week, but she'll be back with jams and pickles and syrup and other good things.

Country Meadows news: "Last week, the demand for our "Dufferin Grove Salad Bowl Combo" was so great, I am sending along some more this week, but limited amounts. If you haven't got one yet, in each 4 cell pack there's a Black Kale (aka Dinosaur kale), a Russian Red Kale, a Red Romaine Lettuce, and a very deep Red Leaf Lettuce (all are heirloom varieties) and all are cold tolerant so they are ready for the garden or large planter. I chose this combination for 2 reasons, first, they are all deep colored vegetables so are high in anti-oxidants, they will produce a super nutritious salad, plus they can take the cold this time of year. For all the customers who missed out on our amazing heritage turkey eggs last week, there will be some of those again tomorrow. Also there will be a good selection of herbs." Linda Kapelaris

[Editor's note: Talk about gorgeous colour and flavour combinations! I can't resist these wonderful healthy plants. The herbs I bought a couple of weeks ago have taken off in their pot outside the back door, and I'm already planning what to bring home next so we can include tastes in every meal.]

"Ben and Toshimi will have plenty more Spinach for everyone! We are glad everyone is enjoying these early field greens! Cabbages, Celeriac, Field Leeks, Sweet Corn and Sauerkraut aplenty too! " Jessie Sosnicki

Thanks to Lucy Tishkina of the park staff for sending along the link to a YouTube video of chefs Jamie Kennedy and Scott Vivian visiting Andrew Akiwenzie at Dufferin a few weeks ago, it's a very nice one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBpW0SvQNE&feature=relmfu

"Andrew and the fish should be down tomorrow. Working on the smoked and just waiting for the fresh to come in this afternoon. See you tomorrow and hoping for some more of that nice spring like weather to return." Natasha Akiwenzie

Ted told me last time that he should be cutting arugula for us this week. Wake up those taste buds!

Last weekend, we enjoyed a lovely gift of quail eggs from John of Bees Universe. He'll gradually have more to offer week by week. John tells me they are especially nutritious eaten raw, but we tried all variations. You can always rely on market folks for good advice: Colette (Urban Harvest) suggested eating them hard-boiled, with homemade mayonnaise and chives (yum), and Nicole (Best Baa) told me to plunge the hot boiled eggs right into cold water and then shake them inside a jar to make them easy to peel. Because I couldn't bear to crack them all, my daughters blew the insides out of several and we're still admiring their speckles and spots. But they also make the cutest fried eggs you've ever seen.

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

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