Dear market friends,
Those of you who bought tomato plants from Colette Murphy and from Angelos Kapelaris in the spring will be having fun with your many-hued tomatoes this week. In case you didn't grow your own, or if you did, in case you want to eat something other than tomatoes, I have more details than usual about what's at the market this Thursday:
From Jessie Sosnicki:
"Ben will be coming with lots of spanish onions that are sizing up beautifully that my sister Amber and I harvested today. As well, lots of Roma tomatoes (get ready to make sauce soon!), beets, kohlrabi, of course potatoes (lots of beautiful Red Potatoes this week), broccoli are a selection we should have plenty of for market tomorrow. Coming really soon - Sweet corn! Ben and I have decided not to taste one cob of corn this year until ours is ready. I'm eyeballing it constantly! It's looking really well, and Ben's planted lots for this year."
From Greenfields:
"The bounty of the summer has arrived. Lots and lots of our own produce to choose from (for details see list below). New from our fields are fresh bunched Spanish Onions as well as Red Tropea Onions, these elongated red bulbs are much valued in the Mediterranean cooking of France and Italy. Thanks to all who came out to our roadside stand, which is becoming increasingly busy. To check it out go to our web site and click on 'Red Barn Troll.' "
What's ready at Greenfields this week:
BABY LEEKS; BASIL; BEANS, green/yellow; BEANS, Roma; BEETS, CHIOGGA; BEETS Golden; BEETS, Red; BROCCOLI; CABBAGE, Green; CABBAGE, Red; CARROTS; CARROTS, Juice; CHARD; CILANTRO; COLLARDS; CUCUMBERS, Greenhouse; DANDELLION GREENS; DILL; GARLIC; GREEN ONIONS; KALE, Black; KALE, Green; LETTUCE MIX; MIXED GREENS; ONIONS, Red Tropea; ONIONS, Spanish; PARSLEY, Curley & Italian; ZUCCHINI. Greenfields will also have some imported fruits and some produce from elsewhere in Ontario.
Five park staff, and Anne Freeman, the market manager, and I visited two farms this past Monday -- first Angelos Kapelaris (Country Meadows) north of Aurora, then way back over to the Guelph line to see Alvaro and Rodrigo and Melanie of Plan B (and their many workers/friends). The visits were REALLY interesting. Angelos has 6 acres, mostly for his goats -- a lively, nosy bunch -- and we sat on his porch with him and ate our picnic lunch (left-over Friday night supper), which he supplemented with his delicious olives and cheeses. Angelos' tomatoes have the same problem as we later saw at Plan B -- big green tomatoes, with nary a red one. At both those places it's been too cool for the tomatoes to turn colour.
Plan B is 'way bigger than we thought --acres and acres (35? more?) with long curving rows of chard, arugula, beans, peppers, onions, beets, and on and on. The soil is an unusual, rich colour -- light chocolate?-- maybe because it has limestone in it. There is a camping section for folks who come to spend some time picking and weeding, and there are very long greenhouses full of more plants. If you listen to Alvaro for a few minutes, standing there in the field explaining about the soil and the way everything fits together, it's hard not to just move into one of the tents on Plan B's farm.
After our tour we sat on the front steps of Plan B and swapped our left-over zucchini chocolate cake from Friday night supper for sweet pieces of watermelon that Alvaro picks up from a Mennonite farmer south of Plan B. No doubt he will be bringing more of those melons this week, hopefully also some of the perfect arugula we were admiring in the field, and leeks, and garlic, and beets, and onions, and many other things he and Rodrigo told me but I can't remember.
John Ferrari will be bringing his blueberries, and Laura Sabourin e-mailed that she will be bringing fruit as well. Maria of Oh Soy will be back with her sweets, and David Pritchard will be bringing extra coffee, because he'll be away for TWO weeks after this, and some of us would grow weak and pale if we ran out of his coffee. As for our park bread -- hopefully none of the bread will be black this week, as Jesse Archibald and Jenny Cook have promised to tame the ovens. It's Jenny's last baking before she leaves for school in Calgary (she'll be doing a masters in Environmental Studies and then maybe she'll come back and fix a few of Toronto's environmental troubles, such as trash).
Our hot dog cart will be serving hot dogs with the best Sauerkraut outside of Germany, made by Heidi, my mother. Heidi will be there in person to listen to her grandson play (he's the keyboard player in the Jazzberries, the young band we've had at the market a few times, who are coming back tomorrow with a bunch of new songs they've learned recently). So if you like the Sauerkraut, I'm sure my mother would be willing to share her recipe, also her recipe for German potato salad, which she recently made using Sosnicki's potatoes -- she said they're the best potatoes she's had outside of Germany.
Last but not least: the fundraising to get us out of the hole we got into with summer staff wage debts has been going REALLY well. We have about another $1000 to raise (out of $7000). We've topped $3000 in direct donations, and about $3000 was raised through park food in the last two weeks. So when you eat your potato pizza tomorrow or your hot dog, you'll be doing your bit too. AND you can sit to eat at one of the picnic tables that families painted last Saturday, under the friendly direction of Michelle Webb. There are 13 freshly painted tables to choose from. Some park!
See you at the market!