How many more weeks of ‘winter’?

I couldn’t decide what the groundhog’s vote was on Tuesday, but I did spot snowdrops in bloom this week, and I’m curious to hear the farmers’ predictions about what this not-really-winter will mean for their 2016 crops. The rock-bottom Canadian dollar may cause more shoppers who’ve depended on imports to seek out local growers this year, and it’s about time; someone just told me that production of a single California almond requires a gallon of water, an example of other costs that go along with some of the long-distance foods Canadians have taken for granted for the past few decades.

Fortunately, our local growers are still bringing in a good range of storage items along with really delicious cold-weather greens, and you can dine just fine on foods grown close to home.

To help out with that, Pine River returns! Farmer Bob Felhazi‘s loyal helper Helga keeps telling me she’s too old to be working, but then she tells me she’s thankful she can do it. Please thank her for coming. It will be so nice to have their potatoes, squash and carrots, and fresh spinach from the greenhouse, too.

We’re happy to have Spade & Spoon back. What’s toast without a little jam, a sandwich without a good pickle, or mac & cheese without Blythe‘s superior version of ketchup? Soup, syrup and ferments as well!

More fresh wild mushrooms on the Forbes Wild Foods table, along with nuts, preserves, and foraged delights to discover.

Bees Universe is moving into the rinkhouse with their honey and related products and farm-fresh eggs, and Shared Harvest will be in the garage, with root vegetables, ferments, herbs and pierogies.

ChocoSol is pleased to introduce 4 beautiful new Valentine’s bars: Luscious Coconut, Sinfully Raw Vanilla, Darkness, and 5 Chili. “Share the love of body, mind and soil with our ethically and ecologically made chocolate.”

We’ll have a special feature at next week’s market: mushroom logs from visiting vendor Ivan Chan of Eden in Season:
“Enjoy years of homegrown mushrooms from your own gourmet shiitake or oyster mushroom logs. Ribbon-wrapped for a unique Valentine’s Day gift for that foodie or nature lover. Reserve your mushroom log before Tuesday Feb 9th and we’ll make sure the log will be set aside for you as a limited number of these hefty hardwoods will be on display. Find more information at http://edeninseason.ca/for-sale/mushroom-logs and enter ‘Dufferin Grove’ for a special discount. Not recommended for condo dwellers.”

It’s week 10 of our Loyal Eaters program, so if you are a card holder with perfect attendance, you’ll get that lucky 10th stamp! Then what happens? On your next visit, you can trade in your card for ten Dufferin Market Bucks to spend anywhere in the market, and a voucher for a bag of Kind Greens. [Early-birds note: quantities of some types of greens are limited right now, so there won’t be as many choices in the Rewards Basket right away as there will when the sun gets a little stronger. Hang onto your voucher for a few weeks if you want a broader selection.] Your name will be entered in the gift basket draw, which will take place at the end of March. Special Bonus: if you are enjoying collecting weekly stamps too much to quit, you can collect your rewards and keep right on going. Anyone who achieves a full card of stamps will get entered in the draw twice!

See you at the market!
Anne Freeman

P.S. The Canadian Organic Growers 10th annual one-day Toronto conference, featuring great speakers on an interesting range of topics and a delicious organic lunch, is coming up on February 20th, at the U of T Conference Centre. Early-bird registration discount before February 10th! Find out more at cogtoronto.org.

Here are the vendors we expect this week.
(Rinkhouse = North end, Garage = South end)
Ali Harris RINKHOUSE
Bees Universe RINKHOUSE
Chocosol GARAGE
Country Meadows RINKHOUSE
Culture City GARAGE
DeFloured OUTSIDE
Dufferin Park Bakers RINKHOUSE
Forbes Wild Foods RINKHOUSE
Kind Organics RINKHOUSE
Marvellous Edibles Farm RINKHOUSE
Pine River Organic Farm RINKHOUSE
Shared Harvest Community Farm GARAGE
Spade & Spoon RINKHOUSE
Ted Thorpe GARAGE
Ying Ying Soy Food RINKHOUSE