Private: Blog & Recipes Archive

Real food needs real time! A question I was asked at market this past weekend was: “Where’s the rest of the veg? The peppers, tomatoes, etc.!”

Answer: It’s coming, friends! Real food needs to be planted at the right time, the right growing conditions, and a good farmer who knows when it’s ready to be harvested and enjoyed. There’s A LOT happening behind the scenes to get that food to your forks. Patience is hard – but seeing fresh food come out of the ground is so exciting! And we all know that fresh tastes best😋 Asparagus is now here and we’ll start seeing more veg soon as well.

Always, always ask your farmer about in-season food: they know best because they do the work👩‍🌾💪 Which fresh veg or fruit are you waiting for? I can’t wait to get my hands on some fresh beets and cauliflower (send me patience!).

Did you know that asparagus is usually grown from crowns? They’re pictured to the left. This is an asparagus crown that Ray had at market this last weekend for sale. Trenches are dug and the crowns are laid inside and spread out like in this picture:

The crowns are actually one year old plants and are covered with soil and compost as they grow. Asparagus isn’t harvested in the first couple of years but it’s a perennial so after that, asparagus plants will produce spears for about 10 years or more! In Spring, plants will produce spears a few times. Weather, soil, and other factors affect their production speed and season length. Ray was saying on Saturday that he had once harvested asparagus spears in the morning and could do so again later in the day! It doesn’t usually go this quickly but how exciting!

Check out this field of fresh asparagus! What’s your favourite way to eat this sweet veg?

Here are a few things to keep an eye out for this weekend!

Elgin Harvest will be introducing two new pizzas to her menu – a rhubarb pizza and an asparagus pizza! We cannot wait to see what she does with those flavours!

The Wandering Bee has just seen some ranunculus come up! They are hoping enough are ready for market this weekend but the next couple of days will tell!

Entangled Roots will also have more seedlings, including a variety of delicious, heirloom tomato seedlings!

Orchard Hill Farm will have even more asparagus! The next couple of weeks are going to be prime time! Get it while it’s here and soooo sweet. Janssens and Thames River Melons will also have asparagus!

Helm Baked now has dairy free and gluten free brownies! The perfect balance between fudgy and cakey, these brownies are moist, rich, and delicious.

Pillitteri Estates Winery now has their Team Canada Wines at market! They are the official wine provider of our Olympic Team. One dollar from every bottle goes to our athletes.

AND DON’T FORGET: everything else! What’s on your shopping list for this weekend?

Did you know that last year at this time, we were preparing for our first Outdoor Market of 2020? We opened for the first time after the pandemic began in March, on May 16th! We started with only 7 vendors on that weekend: two bakers, four produce farmers, and a hot sauce vendor.

It’s hard to believe how much growth we’ve seen since that weekend. We are so blessed to have such wonderful vendors who found ways to bring their products to you safely in a time when no one really knew what was happening. We were eventually able to bring live music back, have sliders available, and even have some small special occasion events. Remembering where we were at one year ago gives me a lot of hope that we can have those things again! In the meantime, we’ll continue doing our part to keep our community safe, and munch on lots of fresh, local food. See you Saturday!

This is the list, folks! See who you can find at the Farmers’ Market this Saturday, May 15th! Click on their names to find information on pre-orders and to learn more about their farms and businesses!

• Greystead Gardens, fresh produce
• Janssens Farm Fresh Produce, fresh produce
• Orchard Hill Farm, fresh produce
• Sungold Market Garden, fresh produce
• Thames River Melons, fresh produce
• Entangled Roots, seedlings
• Blanbrook Bison Farm, bison products
• Den Besten’s Rainbow Trout Farm, fresh smoked trout products, and fresh eggs
• Carver’s Natural Farm, chicken and pork products
• Wandering Bee Flowers, fresh cut flowers
• Lynch Maple Farm, maple syrup and products
• Morsels, fresh baked goods
• The Whole Grain Hearth, fresh baked goods
• La Houlette de Vie, fresh baked goods
• Helm Baked, gluten free baked goods
• Harvest Moon Trading Co., preserves, granola, mustards, and more
• Pillitteri Estates Winery, VQA Ontario Wines
• Elgin Harvest, woodfired pizzas, frozen for your convenience
• London Brewing Co-Operative, organic craft beer
• Arise ‘N Go, popped water lily seeds

Check out their websites for more information about their products and to see what’s in season/currently available!