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Weekly Market Notes Library

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Weekly Market Notes for May 06, 2010

Hello Market Friends:

We can't wait any longer! This beautiful Thursday we will be fully outdoors, in our summer arrangement. It's going to be a grand season. Lots of delicious, green (and yellow) news:

Sosnickis' contribution: "We've had a few muggy days, some thunderstorms and have managed to continue seasonal field plantings in between the bouts of rain we welcomed. The farm is awash in a sea of yellow dandelions and the apple tree blossoms are beautiful lining the long farm driveway. One more week before we begin to cut heads of crisp lettuce from the greenhouse - the one we didn't even heat!! We will be bringing a bevy of long pink spicy 'Ostergruss' Radish, mild round Radish, lots of Green Garlic, fresh Spinach and Leeks from the field, Potatoes & Cabbage still and coolers full of Perogies and Sauerkraut! Our truck will also carry Plants and will be loaded with heavy bags of compost, so amend those gardens and get ready for what Ben and I think is going to be a great growing year!" Jess & Ben

Blythe from Growing Spaces writes: "We've taken great advantage of the abundance of dandelions on the farm this year with dandelion jelly! We'll have it for sampling at our booth for those who have not yet tried this yummy jelly. You'll be shocked at how good it is! As well, we've made another batch of our autumn chutney that we can't seem to stop eating with cheddar cheese sandwiches!"

The Greenfields report: "We have been extremely lucky with the weather so far this season. Now we are hoping for rain! (what real farmer doesn't complain about the weather at least a little bit) We just field harvested the following for Dufferin: Radicchio, Purple Kale, our first Spring Lettuce Mix, a few bunches of Cilantro, lots of Asparagus and Dandelion (endive). We'll have the last of the Sunchokes this week but our Beets are still going strong. Also from Ontario we'll be bringing Cucumbers, Watercress, Shiitakes, Bok Choy, Yams and some nice Apples. Broccoli and Romaine are looking especially good this week. Looking forward to seeing everyone outside." Lorenz

[Editor's note: The Greenfields gang should be on Global news at 6 & 11, talking about the early harvest. Nice to have TV stars at our market....]

Welcome back to Plan B this week, with lots of their own fresh salad mix, local greenhouse cukes, tomatoes and basil, Ontario apples and more.

Bob Felhazi's helper Helga just has a small car, but she packs a lot of good stuff into it: asparagus, lettuce, spinach, radishes are the main items on this week's list.

Linda from Country Meadows writes: "We are in the middle of a huge wind & rain storm so I am keeping my fingers crossed my green houses stay put. Assuming nothing gets blown away, we will have a great selection of herbs (including Basil & Dill), lots of tomato plants of varying sizes, some with tomatoes, many varieties of heritage lettuce, and of course Alpine Strawberries. I was planning to send some field lettuce but getting out to pick lettuce in this weather is not an option right now.
Last week we had the first hatching of our heritage Bronze turkeys, I need a suit of armour to go into the turkey house, the mothers are real nasty mamas, and their bites sure hurt."

Updates from Tim Clement: "At long last, I will be spinning up a seasonal favourite crêpe...asparagus with fresh made Hollandaise sauce! For the first time I will be introducing a gluten free all buckwheat crêpe batter along with my customary red fife wheat crêpe, in response to several customers who follow a gluten free diet and those who are celiac. (Buckwheat, despite its name, is not a type of wheat and is not even a cereal grain! It is gluten free and therefore safe for a gluten intolerant baby. It is very rare for anyone to develop any type of sensitivity to buckwheat. Buckwheat flour is also known as beechwheat, kasha or saracen corn). Other choices will include our classic portabello mushroom, organic spinach and free-run grain-fed chicken breast crêpes."

Meg from Forbes Wild Foods says their table will be very full, with lots of wild leeks and fiddleheads. Get 'em while you can, it's a magical, short season.

Beretta Specials for the Month of May are Blade Steak, Big Boy Hot Dogs, and Liver Steak, and on special for May 6 only: Extra lean ground beef : 1 pkg for $9.00, 2 pkgs for $ 15.00, 3 pkgs for $20.00

Mathieu from Chocosol writes: "We've made a fresh batch of Local mint drinking Xocolatl pucks! Try making these rounds into a liter of ice cold chocolate drink at home simply by blending thickly with hot water, then adding ice to create a refreshing dark chocolate drink. Once you have your hot concentrate you can start customizing your chocolate drinks with other wholesome goodies and sweetener as desired. I like mine Ice-cold and DARK! Some people like to mellow it with milk (vegan or sheepy from Best Baa I recommend). Come sample a cup at the market tomorrow as we'll be serving it up (pay what you want when you bring your own reusable). Xocolatl pucks come in 4 flavours and go for $5 Each, 3 for $10, 7 for $20. We will also have 2 varieties of raw chocolates for sale including a fresh batch of Raw Hemp chocolate made with fresh hempseed from Peterborough! Lastly I'd like to mention a new addition to the team, Illian! Come meet our newest ChocoSolista! Illian's enthusiasm and passion for good clean organic food speaks for itself, and he's loving discovering all the great community of customers and vendors of Dufferin Grove's Farmers' Market."

Don't forget: this is the last week for expert knife and tool sharpening by Exact Edge. We have been so pleased with Denzil's work on the knives we've brought so far, that I plan to arrive at the market dangerously loaded with the rest of our favourite kitchen and garden equipment. It's very satisfying working with sharp tools.

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

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