A Lamp Burning Bright

Happy Diwali! Tonight, to celebrate India’s “festival of lights”, many people around the world will decorate their homes with oil lamps or tea-light candles to re-enact the homecoming of Rama, as told in the epic Ramayana. Diwali is a joyous time that coincides perfectly with October’s shorter days and cooler nights. Our market is something of a warm, cheery lamp too, drawing many people – farmers, other food producers and marketgoers – to the comfort and abundance of the harvest. So here is the latest from our vendors on the hearty fall flavours they’ll bring tomorrow. You’ll want to load up on these goodies to keep your two inner lamps (your stomach and your spirit!) burning bright on chilly fall nights.

The Sosnicki Organic Produce contribution: “It’s a great time on the farm! Fall harvest is in full swing as we mass dig, mass cut and start squirreling all our crops away for winter. We’re gearing up to plant all our garlic as well. Ben will be bringing a great variety of veggies again tomorrow including our Sweet Red Peppers, Cauliflower, Broccoli, bunched Beets, bunched Carrots, Kale, gorgeous Red and Green Cabbages, Onions, Garlic, Fingerlings and Yukon Spuds! **Early tidbit: I’m in the process of gearing up to do my perogies, cabbage rolls and sauerkraut for winter sales before baby #4 arrives! I will send word in a couple weeks once I start producing with my crew of awesome seasoned ladies (91-year old Anne is bored and wants a ‘job’ LOL) so I will blog the info soon and take orders from all my Dufferin customers well before the holidays hit. Perogies for all! Everything will be certified organic with vegan options as well. Stay tuned!” — Jessie, Ben & crew

 

The Everdale list: “Happy Market day, everybody! This week, your friendly purveyors of pristine produce proudly present the following items for your belly’s consideration: arugula, red beets, rainbow beets, bok choi, broccoli, napa cabbage, orange carrots, rainbow carrots, celeriac, rainbow chard, cilantro, collards, fennel, gai lan (chinese broccoli), dino kale, green kale, purple kale, kohlrabi, leeks green onions, red onion, yellow onion, shallots, parsnips, parsley, sweet peppers, radish, radicchio, salad mix, spinach, tomatoes, storage turnip, hakurei turnip, acorn winter squash, blue hubbard winter squash, black futzu winter squash, buttercup winter squash, butternut winter squash, delicata winter squash, musque de provence winter squash, red kuri (hubbard) winter squash, pie pumpkins, spaghetti winter squash, and sweet dumpling winter squash. Winter spinach is transplanted as of today (as demonstrated by Farmer Melad)! Looking forward to bringing you tasty greens in the middle of a blizzard!” — Wolf Chrapko

 

Exciting news from All Sorts Acre: Jennifer Osborn will have fresh sheep milk next week! Jennifer has been working to get the milk pasteurized in a CFIA approved milk plant to be sure it would meet any and all public health requirements. This is the first time she brings it. Many people who cannot drink cow’s milk find sheep milk a delicious and easily digestible alternative.

Ted Thorpe is hoping people will take him up on the offer to CARVE PUMPKINS at the market this week and next! Ted also says he has huge quantities of beautiful arugula, mizuna, kale and mustard greens.

The latest from Forbes Wild Foods: “We will have fresh Ontario persimmons, Ontario sweet chestnuts, hazelnuts, heartnuts, beautiful chanterelles.”
Jonathan

… and an ‘offsite’ item of interest: Don’t miss out on the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, this week until Sunday (October 19-22), and check out the many interesting screenings and talks!

See you on the rink!
— Chang Liu* for Anne Freeman

 

 

Vendors This Week:

Ali Harris: rotis, sandwiches, salads, cold drinks
All Sorts Acre: lamb, wool, shepherd’s pies, sheep milk ice cream
Bees Universe: honey, eggs, bee products
Chocosol: chocolate, coffee, tamales, drinks
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo: gluten-free baking
Country Meadows: cheese, eggs, olives, oil
Culture City: fermented foods, condiments
DeFloured: gluten-free baking
Dufferin Park Bakers: wood-fired oven breads & pizzas, salads, snacks
Everdale: fresh organic produce
Forbes Wild Foods: blueberries, mushrooms & other wild foods
Island Oysters: shucking fresh Canadian oysters
Kind Organics: sprouts, salad mixes, teas
Knuckle Down Farm: fresh organic vegetables
Marvellous Edibles: pastured poultry, meats, organic vegetables
Mnandi Pies (3rd week of each month) Zimbabwean-style hand pies
Monforte Dairy: cheeses of many kinds
Pine River: fresh organic vegetables
Shared Harvest: fresh organic vegetables, herbs
Sosnicki Organic Produce: fresh organic vegetables
Southbrook Vineyards: organic Ontario wines
Stas: French fries, grilled grass-fed & organic meats
Tapioca Toronto: Brazilian style crepes
Ted Thorpe: fresh produce
Urban Harvest: body care, seeds

*As guest-writer this week, I’d like to offer my own little Diwali lamp: a poem. Apricot season may be gone… but the tastes of summer will warm us throughout the winter!

Apricot Tree, Marchmount Road

For lack of a disciple,
you were dropping
bushels of wisdom all over the sidewalk
in great pulpy explosions.

The owners were away for the summer… not to blame.

Years later, a shriveled shaman in Costa Rica told me
he felt like an ancient orange tree groaning under its very last bumper crop
of sweetness
that nobody cared to taste anymore: no apprentice had come to sit with him
in his twilight.

The young are leaving… not to blame, not to blame.

When I remember
the desperately generous fragrance
of apricots filling a hot deserted Toronto street,

I wonder whose teachings it was that I gathered,
washed,
preserved
and savoured in winter.