Printer friendly version | help

Weekly Market Notes Library

< July 23-2009 | Notes Library | August 6-2009 >

Weekly Market Notes for July 30, 2009

Hello Market Friends:

Looks like we have the lucky day of the week this time. We hope you'll join us to enjoy the lovely weather and stock up for long-weekend feasting. There will be park bread and a snack bar (hurray) and the park cooks are excited to put July's abundance to good use in the return of Friday night supper!

Many of you are dedicated fans of the wonderful fresh and smoked fish which the Akiwenzies bring to our market, and we're really missing them. For the past several weeks, they have had to stop fishing and shut down their facilities in order to make (costly) improvements required by Federal inspectors. For small producers, in the season when they usually earn most of their living, this is very challenging. Andrew, Natasha and their three boys are working hard to complete all the requirements and get back to fishing as quickly as possible, but we'd like to offer them some support in the meantime, as a thank you for their important contributions to our market. To this end, Chef Dan DeMatteis, who has done a lot of great cooking for Jamie Kennedy and is a longtime friend of the park, will be preparing a delicious item for this week's market (available alongside the park food), with proceeds going directly to the Akiwenzies. Thanks to Underground Organics, Greenfields and Ewenity Dairy for helping out with farm-fresh ingredients.

We encourage extra donations, and if you are unable to come to the market but would like to make one, please write to me (market@dufferinpark.ca) for instructions.

Feast of Fields will have more of summer's sweetest harvests, and Laura Sabourin sends a suggestion that your yogurt containers are great for carrying home fragile fruits.

Sosnickis' news: "Well, again this year the excess rain is devastating for some crops. There are signs of blight in the tomatoes and the potato beetles, who always move in when plants are stressing, seem to be everywhere! We will have tomatoes this year wherever we can find them out there, but not the yield we need to make the crop profitable, especially after months of labour raising them from seed and weeding like crazy. We have discovered growing tomatoes in our greenhouses will go mainstream for us in years to come - those plants, flavour of the tomatoes and appearance are absolutely amazing! Along with the bad comes the good. We have not had to irrigate, so crops such as our onions, beets, carrots and cabbage are beautiful! Even our extensive potato crop is doing well! They had sized up before the beetles managed to turn all the foliage into 'stem sticks'. Along with those crops, Ben will also have cucumbers, zucchini, chard, basil, broccoli & lots of fresh green beans." Jessie

Urban Harvest will be at the market with perennials (always time to plant) and seeds that can still be planted. We will also have our Earthly Paradise Body Care including fresh batches of Rose Cream, Calendula Moisturizer and Skin Repair. See you there. Think Sunshine!!

"Looks like it is going to be a nice long weekend, great for backyard grilling. Include Beretta Organics Grass-only Ny Striploins or ground beef (perfect for burgers) in your plans. Come look through our coolers for the perfect sausages: my favorite, Wine and Garlic or how about Spicy beef? If Baby Back Ribs are your thing, come and get yours! See you there," Carly

Meg at Forbes Wild Foods sends this news: "I am very excited to announce that wild mushroom season has begun! We just received our first batch of fresh wild Chanterelles, and fresh wild Lobster mushrooms, which we’ll be bringing to sell at the market. These mushrooms are coming from around North Bay, Ontario, and there are only a few pounds to start, but don’t worry if you can’t make it, we should have many more in the coming weeks. Looking forward to the bountiful mushroom months ahead!"

Greenfields' report: DANDELION GREENS are here! Their bitter flavor makes them an excellent addition to salads, or they can be steamed or sautéed just like spinach. And so healthy for you too, being very rich in iron, calcium, and vitamins K and A. LETTUCE is back, including both GREEN LEAF and RED BATAVIAN (which is similar to a romaine). We will have 3 types of BEETS again, RED, CHIOGGA and GOLDEN. As well we’ll be bringing GARLIC, ROUND and TORPEDO CABBAGE, BLACK and GREEN KALE, CHARD, and ITALIAN and CURLY PARSLEY. Lesley

There will be tasty options for dinner in the park if you're planning to stay and enjoy Clay & Paper Theatre's production of "Between Sea & Sky" at 7:00 pm.

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

hosted by parkcommons.ca | powered by pmwiki-2.2.83. Content last modified on July 30, 2009, at 01:28 AM EST