Grown and Made with Love and Care

The Sosnickis are coming this week, with veggies and perogies, including Jessie’s fabulous sounding new variety: Sweet Potato!!!

We are happy to report that Monforte Dairy is back with a good selection of cheese.

Bobby from Kawartha Broom Company has been burning the midnight oil making all kinds of new items: perfectly designed cobweb brooms (boy, do I need one of those!), super-cute kids’ brooms and mops, re-designed Porcupine Cake Testers for the bakers in your life, charming wee crumb whisks, holiday decorations, and his piece de resistance, The Great Canadian Sunset Broom.

ChocoSol’s Merry Mint and Christmas Cranberry Holiday Bars are sure to fly off the shelves, so don’t delay!

Carole Ferrari of MotherDough is an exceptionally modest person, but when she describes her Pandolce Basso (Genovese Christmas Cake) it becomes obvious that she is an exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable baker. She mills the flour for this impressive cake herself as well as candying the organic citrus peel. Take her humble advice and eat it toasted. I just did, and it’s a beautiful thing!

I haven’t had a taste of Patti Robinson’s Rye Gingerbread Loaf yet, but (strictly as part of my market duties, of course) I plan to eat quite a lot of it soon.

So much thought and care has gone into All Sorts Acres’ kits and crafts: quill pens a year in the making, beautifully boxed drawing charcoal made on the farm, kits so you can try your hand at felting or weaving, and Jennifer’s own creations. What lovely things! In case you haven’t noticed yet, All Sorts Acres is supplying the market with products from two farms close to theirs: trout from Springhill Farm, and grass-fed beef from Echo Valley Ranch.

We are delighted to have Urban Harvest back. We’ve missed you, Colette.

Thorpe’s Organic Produce is done for the year, and this is Kooner Farms’ last week. Thanks Ted and Indy! Fortunately, Sundance Harvest is back with baby greens and more herb salts, and Aldergrove will fill in the gaps.

When Fraser and I were corresponding about the details of Aldergrove’s participation in the online market, I thought I could hear a gulp over email when I suggested that a drop-off at 8:30 am would fit nicely into our tight morning schedule. Would all go smoothly?

Silly me for wondering. Fraser rolled in precisely on time, with everything immaculately in order, counted, packed and labelled. There was even a bin marked ‘Extras’ with a couple of each item and a stack of bags inside, just in case. So happy to have another outstanding producer on our All-Star Team!

Speaking of All-Stars, for the first time ever, we are offering 5 varieties of Holiday Boxes stuffed with our Greatest Hits. Make someone merry with one of these fabulous assortments! Special thanks to Aanastasia Myers for her work on this project.

Wishing you well,
Anne Freeman and the Market Crew

P.S. Heidrun Gabel-Koepff has been carefully feeding the sourdough starter since March to keep it alive in the hope of starting the Park Baking program again. But with the new restrictions and then the renovation, staff have decided it would be better to give the starter as a gift to the community. Heidrun will fill mason jars and distribute these to community members who want them at the depot on Thursday. On the little label will be instructions to feed the sourdough starter as well as the recipe for the Rye Sourdough Bread the Park Bakers always made. Let’s keep this life going! If you are particularly eager to get some starter, send us an email and we will try to save you a jar.