A Feat and a Feast!

It’s still May, but what a selection! The local items that will be on our tables represent an impressive accomplishment by our farmers, and add up to a spring smorgasbord for us.

Everdale is back, earlier than expected, and most welcome! Kyle Warren wrote to say they’ll be bringing arugula, spinach, salad mix, spicy salad mix, spring radish, salad turnips, baby collards, cilantro, asparagus, storage roots and some bunches of baby carrots! Possibly some baby kale and green onion, too. How’s that for a deluxe spring produce list?

Here’s another beauty, from Sosnicki Organic Produce: “We’ll have bunches of beautiful White Turnips and fresh Beets with beautiful big edible tops! Also more Salad Mix, Carrots and Potatoes!” Cheers, Jessie, Ben & crew

Knuckle Down Farm news: “This will be the last week for spicy salad mix for a while as we wait for the next planting in the field to get a little rain, but never fear, we have been cultivating some lettuce to get us through ’till then!”

More asparagus from Marvellous Edibles this time, and Pine River will be in with theirs, too.

We had to bid a fond farewell to Jacob and Erica of Brixton Grill, who really enjoyed being part of the market, but have decided to pursue other passions. Last week, Jacob kindly gave us a lot of his supplies and equipment, so we shared things round among the vendors and offered some to the organizers of a big picnic for new Syrian-Torontonians coming up in the park this weekend.

Fortunately, Nadia Surita of Hungry Vegan decided to move her business from Chatham to our neighbourhood, and when she came as a guest vendor last fall, people enjoyed her food so much that we’ve invited her to take Brixton Grill’s place. She’ll be joining us starting this week, with a local-organic focused menu that will tickle everybody’s tastebuds.

LATE-BREAKING NEWS: It’s a shame, refrigerator breakdown has forced Hungry Vegan to cancel today, so we’ll meet Nadia next week.

Spade & Spoon has lots of ruby red rhubarb. Last weekend my friend Linda, a country gardener, handed me a piece of her very delicious rhubarb cake. Her recipe card is worn to the point you can hardly read it, but I copied it to share with those of you who like old-fashioned favourites.

Linda’s Rhubarb Cake
Preheat the oven to 350, and grease a 13 x 9 inch pan.
Chop 2 cups rhubarb into fine pieces.
Beat together 1/2 cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla.
Mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp soda, and 1 tsp baking powder.
Measure a cup of milk, and add it to the beaten egg and sugar mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the flour mixture. Add the rhubarb last.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bake for 50-60 minutes.

A few other highlights for this time:

Head to Best Baa for the ice cream season opener! Chocolate, Vanilla and Maple, $3/cup.

Bring out your dull ones, ‘The Knife Guy’ (Mike Fohr) will be in attendance.

Heavenly lilac bouquets are coming from Floralora Flowers’ Prince Edward County farm. Aahhh, life is sweet when that fragrance is in the air….

See you at the market!
Anne Freeman

P.S. Sneak preview for next week: Another popular guest vendor will be taking part on a regular basis beginning June 2nd.
“Life in Homemade specializes in gluten-free & dairy-free comfort food.Most gluten-free breads have been likened to cardboard. Gluten is the much relied-upon ingredient that gives bread its elasticity, airiness and much-loved softness. Our loaves and other bread products deliver on the promise of delicious gluten-free items with true bread texture. Say hello once more to all things bread!
Our specialty dishes draw on Jamaican recipes and flavours. We also use Asian, South-Asian, Italian, Mediterranean and Canadian flavour profiles. We highly recommend pre-ordering for market day! We will have ordering sheets at our booth and customers can order on our website with the discount code DUFFERINFM to ensure you receive your order tax-free.”

Here are the vendors we expect:
Akiwenzies
Ali Harris
Bees Universe
Best Baa
Chocosol
Country Meadows
Culture City
DeFloured
Dufferin Park Bakers
Earth & City
Evelyn’s Crackers
Floralora Flowers
Forbes Wild Foods
Hungry Vegan (NEW this week!)
JK Fries
Kind Organics
Knuckle Down Farm
Marvellous Edibles
Mike Fohr, aka the Knife Guy
Pine River Organic Farm
Plan B
Sosnicki Organic Produce
Spade & Spoon
Tapioca Gourmet
Thorpe’s Organic Produce
Urban Harvest
VQA Wines: Tawse Winery
Waymac
Ying Ying Soy Food

There’s parking available on the north edge of the park, across from the high school.

As much as possible, please bring your own shopping bags and containers to reduce waste.