What Season Is It, Anyway?

Hello Market Friends:

When Clay and Paper Theatre’s David Anderson arrived a little late to pick up his order, he said, “Until an hour ago, it was Wednesday!” Know the feeling? Well, the big thaw we’re getting suddenly makes some of this week’s photographs look out of season, but I want to share them with you before snowy shots really go out of style! Up top, the frosty splendour of the Canadian Organic Seed Company Farm, captured by Christine Halbot.

Christine also managed to get a couple of pictures of their guest from the Arctic this week, and sent them along with a few owl facts:

• Snowy owls don’t perch in high places to look out for food (bear in mind, there are no high trees in the arctic), but this one seems to like the view from the barn roof.

• The arctic is mostly daylight during the summer months, so snowies are not nocturnal like other owls.

• They conserve their energy by flying as little as possible when threatened, just enough to get away.  Slow-moving humans aren’t much of a threat.

• They develop their all-white plumage as they age; this one is about 2 years old.

A note from Jessie Sosnicki: “Sadly, we are done for now….That time has come where we have to take a break from Dufferin and hit the greenhouses!”

Over at Plan B, there’s a lot of work to be done in the greenhouses too, and unfortunately, Alvaro and Rodrigo have both had back injuries. Look who turned up to pitch in, with a positively Appalachian beard! It’s a Dufferin Superstar of years gone by, Kevin Hamilton!

Kevin was photographed by long-time market friend Lisa Logan, who also sent this great shot of her pooch in the snowy sunshine for all our dog lovers out there. Thanks Lisa!

A temporary problem at Kawartha Broom Co.:“The shaft of one of our pieces of broom equipment broke. This machine is over 100 years old so I guess it was a question of time. Our machinist couldn’t fix it. We have a backup machine at Bobby’s dad’s place in Pennsylvania but because of COVID we can’t go there to pick it up…so it will take us a month or two to resolve our equipment situation.”

Fortunately, though, Mary and Bobby have a pretty good stockpile at our market depot, so you can still purchase beautiful brooms until they are fully operational again.

The enthusiasm for the market’s Purim project has been amazing! Over $2,000 was contributed, and many farmers and vendors generously donated food to add. Huge thanks to Sarah Brodbar-Nemzer and Matt Watt for the tremendous energy they put into organizing this project! Sarah wrote a moving article about the experience which you can read here.

You can still buy market credits for people experiencing food insecurity here.

It won’t be around much longer, so run, don’t walk to get some of Reyes Farms’ exquisitely delicious Pear Cider.

Have you tried Derrick Greenly’s (Summergreen) Mushroom Mix, packed with elegant oysters and other fine fungi?  He promises to bring us more shrubs and trees soon, too!

Tony from Magic Oven says “Thanks for the huge welcome.” I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to try more of their scrumptious foods, and I won’t forget to order chutney this week!

We have a very conscientious and hard-working crew working at our depot, but we manage to have a lot of fun as we get your goodies to you. Here’s Sam McCarron-Sweeney laughing at the cold.

Whatever the weather, we’re better together. Thanks for being part of the market!

Anne & the Market Crew