Mató & Maple Syrup » markets

KEG CSA Week 3

alexandra — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:30:48 +0000

Starting today, I’ll post a picture of each week’s share, linking to anything I post about what I cooked with it.

This week my small share included:

rhubarb
green onions
radishes
strawberries
eggs
shelling peas

I added to that:

ground lamb
asian greens
garlic scapes
tomato salsa
raspberry jam

And they have become, so far:

Rhubarb & Strawberry custard pie
Lamb & bulgur patties (aka Kofta) served with tomato salsa
Braised radishes with goat’s milk butter, parsley, green onions, and sea salt

Farmers’ Market in Toronto

alexandra — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:02:11 +0000

Came across today this very cool map of the markets in the Toronto area:

View Toronto Farmers Markets 2010 in a larger map
But I can see it is missing the one I go to, which is at University College on Wednesday afternoons. It hasn’t officially re-started yet, but Kawartha Ecological Growers sets up besides Hart House on those days.

Last of the winter share

alexandra — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:47:24 +0000

As I mentioned a number of times here, I subscribed to the Kawartha Ecological Growers CSA about six weeks ago. This past week I picked my last share of the winter crop and I’m now getting ready for the long wait (about six weeks) for the beginning of the summer share.

This week I got: carrots, two kinds of potatoes, eggs from an amish farm, dandelion greens, green onions, wild leeks, garlic greens, broccoli sprouts, carrots & cabbage coleslaw, sausage, radishes, and some fun items – fiddleheads and popping corn on the cob!

A zoom on some of the items:

Putting my share to good use

alexandra — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:52:39 +0000

I picked up my share from KEG this afternoon and in it I got carrots, potatoes, sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes), lentil sprouts (from 5 different kinds of lentils!), lettuce, salad greens, wild leeks, and green onions. With my share, I also get a $20 credit that I can use to buy anything else from the table. I chose eggs from an Amish farm, sausages, and blueberry jam. So tonight for dinner we had bangers and mash and nearly everything on that plate was from my share: I roasted two of the sausages in the oven sprinkled with some of the wild leek and green onions. I made some nice and fluffy mashed potatoes with this week’s potatoes and served it all alongside a very colourful if simple salad of lettuce, lentil sprouts and grapefruit. Link here to pictures of my shares.

Subscribing to a CSA

alexandra — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:23:28 +0000

CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture. We all know that the best produce is grown locally in small farms that grow a diversity of produce. One of the greatest challenges facing farmers of such idyllic places is selling their food. Managing a farm is hard work and if a tomato doesn’t make it to someone’s table in five days, that tomato is gone. One of the creative ways around this problem is for farmers to sell their produce before harvest to guarantee their sales. The way it works is that customers buy a share of the farm’s production at the beginning of the season and from then on, the farmer delivers a basket of fresh produce every week. There are several options around Toronto but I finally found one that caught my eye. The Kawartha Ecological Growers is not one farm but rather a cooperative of over twenty small farms in the Kawarthas, a fertile area north of Toronto. Having so many farmers to draw from means also that the risk of crop failure is reduced. But what I really like about KEG is not only the variety of produce but also the extras they bring out each week – flours, jams, beans, meats, and the nicest eggs you’ll fine anywhere. So I stopped by to drop off my cheque last week to get the last three of the winter share and today I picked up my bounty. This is what I came home with:

Click on the picture to see the notes on flickr.

The eggs were the highlight for me. They are from Araucana chickens, a heritage breed I first read about last summer in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.Unlike your regular brown or white eggs, the Araucana eggs are a striking light blue/green shade. Very photogenic:

Since I had a bit of tomato sauce leftover in the fridge, I made a simple dinner with the fresh eggs noodles and a salad with the greens, radish, sprouts, grated beets, and sunflower seeds. So comforting.

Click on the image to see the rest of the pictures

This week’s bounty from the market

alexandra — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:23:24 +0000

Last week I tried the tomato sauce from Loffredo Farms and I was blown away. It was SO tasty. I bought another jar this week and ordered a box of 12 for next week. I’ll save them for the cold winter months when we have no more tomatoes around…

Summer saturday

alexandra — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:29:43 +0000

It’s September and the farmers’ market was at its most colourful. The harvest is in and the variety of produce was phenomenal. We brought home:

sweet peppers (yellow, green, red & purple)
corn
shallots
fresh garlic
basil
melons (yellow watermelon & cantaloupe)
purple & yellow carrots
tomatillo (ok, this one was from Kensington, but still)
heirloom tomatoes
salad greens from Kind Organics
tomato sauce & pickled eggplants from Loffredo Fruit Farms
eggplants
red plums
Italian prunes

Stay tuned for what I’ve done with those…

Local produce

alexandra — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:35:16 +0000

I couldn’t go to the farmers’ market this morning so I limited my shopping to the organic produce shop where I get most of my fruits & veggies as well as bulk food at Kensington Market. The store works with many local farmers and it’s a great place to stop for really fresh local produce any time. In fact, one of the farmers works there on saturdays and over the years we have gotten to know Dwayne. The large zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, basil, and corn on the picture are his and he has invited us many times to visit his farm in the Niagara region. We might just take him up on it some day! This is what I picked today; every single item – including the honey and kefir – are produced in Ontario, not too far away.

This week’s find

alexandra — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:47:10 +0000

St Andrew’s Farmers’ Market

alexandra — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:01:37 +0000

There is no shortage of farmers’ markets in Toronto. But despite my interest in fresh, local produce, I haven’t been able to find one that is both conveniently located for me and on a day that I can go. At the beginning of the summer I thought I could go to the farmers’ market at Riverdale Farm, which meets on Tuesdays from 3-7 pm and is only a 5 min bike ride from where I live. I could come home early from campus and go there. Unfortunately, by the time I found out about it, I was schedule to teach a course every tuesday and thursday from 5-7pm. So there goes that farmers’ market at least until August. I’ve heard lots about the one on Duffering Grove, but again, it meets on Thursdays from 3-7 pm. The last couple of weeks I heard of markets that seem more promising. One is near King & Spadina and meets on Saturday mornings from 8-1. We always go to Kensington Market on saturday mornings so this market seems on our way. There’s also one on Borden & Bloor on Wednesday evenings that sounds promising.

So to St Andrew’s Farmers’ Market we went this morning. There was a huge rain storm before we left Kensington, so I wondered how the farmers weather the storm under their open tents. No need to worry; they were still there when we arrived around 11 AM. This is the first year for this particular market so it’s not as well known as the others and people are still discovering it. Although there are only a few vendors, I am quite happy with what I was able to buy.

From top to bottom: black & yellow bell peppers, fresh whole wheat pasta, oat bread, raspberry pear jam, eggplant in olive oil, fava beans, red new potatoes, cherries, garlic scapes, and heirloom tomatoes.

Added to the whole wheat couscous, chickpeas, tofu, lemons, limes, and Pinehedge kefir I got at 4 Life, at Kensington Market, we are all set for the next few days.

More pictures of the market:

Links:

Blog TO lists of the best farmers’ markets in Toronto

Toronto Farmers’ Market Network