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Weekly Market Notes Library

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Weekly Market Notes for October 28, 2010

Hello Market Friends:

I've got many current favourites among the market flavours of fall, from starters to dessert:

• Alli's Cornbread, with a slice of Angelos' ricotta and a spoonful of Growing Spaces Hot Pepper Jelly;
  
• Ben's butternut squash, cubed and tossed with a bit of oil and generous amounts of Shane's finely chopped thyme and sage, then roasted in a hot oven;
  
• Ted's Asian greens or Greenfields' Romanescu broccoli sauteed with plenty of garlic;
  
• for my daughter, Berettas' chicken drumsticks with Dufferin Park Bakers' Rosemary bread to catch all the sauce;
  
• DeFloured's sweets (how to choose?) with Bousfields'/Plan B fresh apple cider...and I could go on and on....
  

How about you? Send along a favourite combo or market-based recipe and we'll be happy to share it.
Some good stories from the vendors this week:

From Linda Kapelaris of Country Meadows: "As you know we breed heritage turkeys. Well this year when Rare Breeds Canada did their "heritage turkey census" we were recognized as being the most successful breeder in Canada of the very rare Ridley Bronze turkeys. This is a great honour for us considering we are just into our 3rd year of breeding these magnificent birds. At the time of the summer count there were less than 100 known Ridley breeding females in all of Canada. I have had a very interesting and "educational" summer to say the least. I found out the hard way that turkeys are extraordinary and ferocious mothers. There's an old saying "having a monkey on one's back"; can't say I've had a monkey on my back but I sure had an angry mother turkey on my back and it is not a pleasant experience! Heritage turkeys are extremely intelligent. I've been outsmarted by a bunch of teenage turkeys. The parent turkeys no longer like the teenage turkeys (many people can probably relate to that) so I have to keep the teenagers separated from the adults. Well just when I think "I have you penned in now you little monsters", boom, they just leap straight up about 8 feet onto a roof or tree, and escape. Even that G8 Fence would be no match for these boys and girls!! Of course not all of the young turkeys will be kept for breeding, so some will become Christmas turkeys. A few lucky customers will get to have a certified organic heritage turkey that was "the bird of choice" at celebratory feasts in North America for centuries."

Sosnickis' news: "We've got our garlic planted, sweet potatoes almost cured, cold storage filling up....and no cold weather! We still have not had a killing frost. Lots of rain so slipping and sliding harvesting cabbage! We have a beautiful little patch of "well, they might make it before winter" vegetables that certainly did and will arrive at Dufferin this week. Baby lettuces, tender baby Kale, bunches of the cool radishes that look like carrots (ostergruss & white dream!), along with brussel sprouts, sweeter sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, pie pumpkins, potatoes, onions, cabbage & a sea of peppers! Still sweetest reds, yellows, greens, oranges & hots!" Jessie & Ben

Due to very high winds in their area which necessitated pulling their fishing nets out of the water, the Akiwenzies will not be down this time.

Attention All Bakers: Colette (Urban Harvest) will be bringing CIPM flours--Spelt, Rye and Red Fife--excellent local and organic products grown and milled near Tweed, Ontario.

And to All Cooks (and home barbers, fix-it-uppers, gardeners): last week for expert sharpening of all your tools by Exact Edge.

October from Beretta:

• Lamb: Loin or Shoulder Chops, Racks, Stewing and Ground
• Beretta Little Bellies Nitrite Free Children's Products : Chicken or Beef: Little Runts (Wieners) and Mini Burgers
• 'Naturally Raised' Chicken Drumsticks (5 lb bag)
  Last week for these specials::
• Steaks: T-Bones, New York Strips & Rib Eyes
• Pork: Tenderloin and Baby Back Ribs

A tale from Tim: "I would like to introduce a group of impressive young people. Ryan Storm is the author of a blog in which he reviews restaurants around the city. He and his friends have been some of my best and most loyal customers for the past two summers, here at the Dufferin Grove Market, and Saturday mornings at the Evergreen/Brick Works market. Having just turned 9 years old, he has an impressive, diverse and articulate palette. In his blog Ryan declares, "I am not your average 8 year old eater, so, please do not suggest McDonald’s, because I would rather starve than go there!" He obviously commands a great deal of influence among his family and friends, as they trust him with the assignment of ordering custom made crêpes for each of them, which include atypical ingredients such as roasted garlic and caramelized onions, etc, that most kids would abhor. Ryan always makes a point of being my first customer every week at both markets, so come at 3pm sharp if you would like to meet Ryan and his crew!
During these times, when most children opt for fast food, it is very refreshing to meet a group of kids with such enthusiasm for local, organic, nutritious foods. You could say it gives me a glimmer of hope for the future of humanity! Here is a link to Ryan's blog - called Ry's Ratings: rysratings.wordpress.com Enjoy and Bon Appetit!" Tim Clément, Clément's Crêpes

Another Ryan, Ryan Reynolds, a realtor and neighbourhood resident, will be giving away free carving pumpkins (as long as they last) at market time. You'll find him at the north end of the park.

Last week I told you we'd be moving to a google group shortly to send out the market news. After some exchanges with market friend and cob builder Georgie Donais, and a bit more thought and research, we have an easier plan. We're going to use 'MailChimp' to reach you, and you don't need to worry about anything other than watching out for a new sender and a different look in the coming weeks. More on that soon....

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

P.S. NFB Mediatheque (150 John St.) is holding a free screening of the documentary The World According to Monsanto on Wednesday November 3rd at 7pm. The film tackles the topic of the production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by the Monsanto corporation in recent years. The screening will be followed by a discussion on the topic of biotechnology and genetically modified foods.

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