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Weekly Market Notes Library

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Weekly Market Notes for October 16, 2008

Hello Market Friends:

This market falls on World Food Day, and there's a lot going on. While our news is usually about what's going to be good to eat, here's some info. on food-related events both local and international:

The University of Toronto has a big food discussion day planned for Friday the 17th. To learn more or take part, go to globalequity.ca and click on "Food on Fire".

Planet in Focus, Toronto's environmental film festival, runs from Wednesday the 22nd through Sunday the 26th. This year, it's called "Spotlight: Food, the Big Picture". There are films about bread, fish, milk, and potatoes--and a whole lot more.

Farther from home, the third Terra Madre international Slow Food gathering in support of small-scale, traditional, and sustainable food production takes place in Turin from October 23-27, and several of our vendors are getting ready to participate: Colette Murphy and Pablo Reilly of Urban Harvest, Andrew and Natasha Akiwenzie of Akiwenzie's Fish & More, Michael Sacco of Chocosol, and Paula Vopni of Funguy/Mycosource are all delegates. Pretty special bunch of producers we work with! Stock up on all you need from Colette and Andrew, as they'll be absent from the 2 following markets (possibly 3 for Andrew). Mathieu and Bruno will keep the home fires burning for Chocosol and FunGuy Farms.

More about what's coming:

"Lots of wonderful vegetables from Greenfields this week including Purple and Romanesco Cauliflower, Broccoli, Celery Root and Fennel. New this week to the table are lovely Purple Carrots which make a striking addition to any vegetable dish. We also have our super sweet bunched Carrots and Juicing Carrots, which have the same great taste as our bunched Carrots but just aren't as pretty. They're also excellent for snacking or making soup and are available in 3 litre baskets or 10 lb bags. We have a great Cabbage selection at the moment that includes Red, Green, Savoy and Nappa. Not to forget our Chiogga Beets, Black and Daikon Radish, Red and White Onions, Leeks and Green and Rainbow Kale. Grate up some Beets, Radish, Carrots and Celery Root together for a tasty salad. See you soon," Mark and Lesley

The beautiful days of flowers are over for this year, but Shane and Julia of Underground Organics will bring fresh fall veggies.

From the Sosnickis: "Beautiful warm sun! We have been busy cutting and storing bins and bins of cabbage, and it was hot! All our fall crops are doing well, especially our Asian Greens. Log onto sosnickiorganicproduce.blogspot.com for a great recipe with pictures for "Asian Greens Pan Fry Lunch" that includes our Tatsoi, Bok Choy and Swiss chard too. Also look for the first of our perogies tomorrow along with beets with fresh tops, carrots, leeks, potatoes, spinach, salad mixes, lots of peppers still, cabbages and other yummy stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting during this busy day!"

Beyond the hours that the market is open, there's all the time of prep, driving, setup, packup and getting home for the vendors. Extra delays can make for a truly exhausting day. Jessie shared this story with me last week, of a day that could have ended badly:

"Last night, pulling out of the park, we totally hit that piece of metal and blew the front tire on the rental market truck. Pulled over right away and who came to our rescue within a minute? John, the honey man. He had a jack, popped off the blown tire, drove Ben to a service station to buy a new tire and put the new one on with equipment he had with him! In less than 1 hour we were back on the road going home. We owe him great thanks and he simply said all he wanted was "friendship". He jokes with Ben all the time when he comes to our cash box to exchange a $20 bill for smaller bills and coins and always says: "Benny, you saved my life!". So last night Ben said the same thing back to him and we all laughed! One thing for sure, as soon as I start making perogies, he's getting a ton for his family for one heck of a feast on us!"

The email was titled "HONEY MAN ROCKS!" Couldn't put it any better.

See you at the market!

Anne

p.s. Congratulations to Serena Fletcher of Berettas' on the arrival of her daughter Mina, born at home on October 12th. Serena can't wait to bring Mina to the market, so we may get to see her very soon!

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