Read All About It!

Here we go! This week the market will expand by leaps and bounds. We have lots more of our summer vendors returning, so there will be many choices for dinner in the park. We have several special guests and events to announce too, so please read on, and don’t forget to check our Summer Events Calendar to see what is coming up soon!

Stas will be back at the grill, cooking up tasty pastured meats and French fries.

TC’s Tibetan Momos is returning biweekly, with both meat and vegetable-filled delicious dumplings.

We’re looking forward to seeing what baker extraordinaire Patti Robinson has up her sleeve (and on her table) this season. Robinson Bread will be with us every other week now.

Windswept Cider will be coming too, with beautiful ciders crafted from apples grown up Meaford way.

All this and Island Oysters too! Jason Kun will be shucking them fresh, bringing a little of the sea to happy landlubbers.

Marvellous Edibles is back, so you can restock on items for the BBQ as well as all their other goodies.

Sosnicki Organic Produce, however, will be absent. Jessie writes: “Ben‘s going to have to skip Dufferin this one week. Field work continues to be a bit hectic. But, it will be for a good cause: he’s hoping to plant close to 6 acres of sweet corn *and the good stuff* on Thursday! He’ll be back on the 31st, and Ben says there is –maybe–a possibility of strawberries making an appearance on June 7 –just maybe–!!

We have a special guest for you to meet: Tara of Catalyst Community Herbals will be in attendance with organically grown herbs and remedies made from them. Tara grows near  Wyebridge, and uses fresh, in-season, traditional Éireannach//Irish herbs in her products, which she sells on a sliding scale.

This is the week Slow Food Toronto is coming with heirloom varieties of The Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash) and tomato plants. Stop by and learn about this great chance to grow this summer and help to preserve biodiversity.

After reading this long list, here is something special to finish with, a tribute written by a longtime fan and market regular:

Breaking bread: why I love the Dufferin Park Bakers 
By Chang Liu

For me, Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market is synonymous with the aromatic stacks of fresh bread that the Park Bakers make on-site in their outdoor wood-burning ovens.
It’s hard to explain the magic of their way of making bread, but it keeps me coming back week after week, year after year.
It’s not just the breads made from certified organic ingredients at prices that even someone of humble means can afford, though that is something of a miracle in our increasingly overpriced and privatized city.
It’s not just the gorgeous diversity of breads: sourdoughs, Italian loaves, artisan 6-grains, rosemary flecked loaves, not to mention wood-fired pizzas and sticky-good cinnamon rolls.
It’s not just the joy of being able – of having the choice – to support a non-commercial artisan baking tradition: loaves worked with care, infused with the fragrance of wood fire, and sold by Park staff that have become like family.
And it’s not just the sum of the ingredients that go into their breads. It is much more than that.
When I break the Park Bakers’ bread and savour it alone or with a friend or loved one, I am tasting and absorbing – incorporating, in the true, older sense – a tradition that stretches back millennia. It is community, connection and compassion. All three are precious to me.
As the world goes crazy around us and food loses its power to nourish the soul as well as the body, the Dufferin Park Bakers become more and more important to me, as I think they are to so many other Dufferin market-goers. Let’s keep them baking!

Thanks Chang, and thank you Heidrun and Michael and all the long line of bakers who baked before them and –we hope–will bake in the future.
See you at the market!
Anne Freeman

 

Vendors this week:

• Ali Harris: rotis, fritters, sandwiches, drinks
• Bees Universe: honey, bee products, eggs, knife-sharpening
  
• Catalyst Community Herbals (visiting vendor): traditional herbal remedies
• ChocoSol: chocolate and chocolate beverages, coffee
• Country Meadows: olives, oil, eggs, cheese
  
• Culture City: fermented condiments and preserves, tempeh
  
• DeFloured: savoury and sweet gluten-free baking
  
• Dufferin Park Bakers: wood-fired oven breads, salads, snacks
  
• Earth & City: salads, snacks and beverages
• Everdale: certified organic produce
• Forbes Wild Foods: wild leeks, fiddleheads, maple syrup, dried mushrooms
  
• Fressy Bessie: organic popsicles made from fruits and veggies
• Island Oysters: fresh-shucked Canadian oysters
• Kind Organics: sprouts, salad mixes, teas, microgreens
• Marvellous Edibles: pastured meats, organic vegetables & prepared foods
• Monforte Dairy: cheeses from many milks
• Pine River Organic Farm: asparagus and other produce
• Plan B: local and imported organic produce
• Robinson Bread: sourdough breads made from freshly-milled grains
• Spade & Spoon: rhubarb, pickles, jams, maple syrup
  
• Stas: grilled pastured meats and french fries
• Tapioca Toronto: Brazilian style gluten-free crepes with market fillings
  
• TC’s Tibetan Momos: vegetarian or meat dumplings
• Ted Thorpe: greens, greens, greens
• Urban Harvest: seeds, garden amendments, body care
• Vasile Florin: walnuts, walnut oil, sunflower oil, dried fruits from Moldova
• Waymac Mushrooms: oyster and shiitake mushrooms
• Windswept Cider: local organic hard ciders