It's a Wrap! PARGAR Food Bank Results

SWEFM's First Annual Harvest Festival: Featuring the Plant-A-Row, Grow-A-Row Collection for the Food Bank

The 2013 season marked our first year partnering with Edmonton's Food Bank to deliver fresh, nutrient-dense fruit and produce to those in need of assistance and sustenance in our city. And by all accounts, it was a terrific first start!

A cold day, the numbers of market shoppers were low, but those that did come out certainly contributed wonderful fresh harvest produce, in some cases from their own gardens, and in many cases purchased from the beautiful produce on display at vendors' booths throughout the market. Starting with a bucket of potatoes from my own garden (that began as swefm market veggies from some of Dargatz Family Farm's potatoes that sprouted on me in the spring), brought to market at set up time, the table soon heaved with a rainbow of colourful produce.

Over 650lbs of food was donated to the food bank!

If you missed past articles about our exciting partnership, you
can read up on them here:

A Tour of the Food Bank
Plant-A-Row, Grow-A-Row: What Do I Plant?
Plant A Row, Grow A Row: A Unique Partnership

Fresh Sheet: October 2nd Market (Last market of 2013!)

Servus GumBall Give-Away, Game! Servus, a sponsor of the Market had a fantastic idea for the last market of the season. They will bring their GumBall machine - the cost is $1 a go, with ALL proceeds going to the United Way Campaign. How it works: Each color of gumball corresponds to a prize and the more valuable the prize, the fewer gumballs of that color there are. PRIZES include: SunWorks sausage, Ada's Soap Shop vegan bar of soap, Riverbend Garden Vegetables, Moonshine Doughnuts, organic chocolate bars, tickets to the Citadel, AND MORE...

Moonshine Doughnuts is making up delicious doughnuts for the market - that just happen to be dairy and egg free. Their doughnut varieties are constantly changing...and this week's doughnut 4-pack is certainly for the chocolate lover. This week's flavours: Lime Margarita, Blackberry Earl Grey, Double Chocolate & Cocoa Mocha. Also available in Gluten Free.

 
 
Morrie's Hand Crafts will make his final appearance at the market selling his wonderful selection of handcrafted, corian bowels, word art AND wood-branch key or coat racks. Corian is a durable substance, mainly used in building counter tops. It looks akin to marble and comes in many colours. It's never to early to think about the perfect christmas gift - Morries, has you covered. 

Squashes...Squashes...SQUASHES! Winter Squash season is one of my favourite food seasons of the year! Oh the variety: from bumpy to smooth, from orange to yellow and green. Winter Squashes can be pureed, steamed, baked, roasted, sauteed! Add squash to vegetarian lasagna, fill gnocci with them, make soup, or serve roasted with butter, maple syrup and cinnamon. Use them in muffins and cookies or add to curries. So much to do with this highly versatily and nutritious vegetable. And they keep, so load up on your farm-fresh, local Winter Squash from RiverBend Gardens, Dargatz Family Farm and Holden Colony. 



momstown will be back at the info tent doing a craft with young children who come to our market, so be sure to stop by and make a craft. This week is a super fun activity: TISSUE PAPER PUMPKINS

Remember, if you see something on the lists below that you especially want to seek out, stop by the info tent. There we have a large map of the site that shows where vendors are located and we have volunteers who can direct you to help you find those treasured items.

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The BC fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of gorgeous fruit. This week expect to see:

• Apples (Galas, Macs, Pink Ladies)
• Asian Pears!
• Dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice 
• BlackBerries
• Blueberries
• Cherries (dark cherries)
• Concord grapes (the seedless wine grapes, small & dark & ever so flavour-filled) AND Green Grapes.
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears (Bosc and Bartlett)
• Plums (many, many, kinds!)
• Raspberries
• Saskatoons (fresh saskatoons are no longer available, but frozen ones are)
• Strawberries
• Watermellons 

As for veggies... they are now officially pouring in from the fields! Expect to see

• Acorn Squash
• Broccoli
• Beans... yellow & green & purple, field & hothouse long (incredibly, the purple beans change colour when you steam them or plop them in boiling water, going from purple to green... the second they're green, they're done!)
• Beets (red, purple, golden & striped candy cane)
  
• Butternut squashes
• Cabbages (green & purple, round and conical)
• Carrots, classic orange as well as purple.
• Cauliflower (white, purple, yellow and the wonderfully whimsical Romanesco)
• Corn - sweet corn 
• Cucumbers, field & hothouse, small pickling, small snacking, long English, round yellow, and large field cukes
• Eggplants (long purple & yellow and small green oriental)
• Fava Beans
• Fennel 
• Garlic
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Kale
• Kohlrabi (purple & green)
• Lettuces (romaine, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce)
• Leeks
• Onions (large field onions, red onions, small spring onions, chives)
• Pattypan Squashes (mini yellow or green squashes, great for sautéing)
• Peppers (small & large orange, yellow, red & green bell peppers, sweet thin-walled long red cubanelle peppers, red spicy chiles, mildly spicy green jalepeños, hot banana peppers, extremely hot wee little orange habeñeros)
• Potatoes (golden, white, purple, red)... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Pie Pumpkins
• Fresh garlic
• Spaghetti Squash
• Swiss chard (it comes in three colours: rhubarb red, peppermint stick pink and golden yellow)
• Summer Squashes (Zucchini and yellow summer squashes)
• Tomatoes, field & hothouse (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras, heirloom varieties, Romas, Big Uglies, etc.) 
• Winter Squash! Many varieties.

PLUS…

• The Mallow Fellow is done for the season.
• Delectable gourmet chocolate bars, truffles,  chocolate dipped marshmallows, cocoa covered almonds and pecan clusters from Violet Chocolates. 
• A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon buns, cinnamon breads, pies, muffins, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, bagels, homemade cookies, cakes & other finger-licking good baked treats throughout the market
• Unbelievably authentic & delicious French style croissants (with chocolate inside, or with real raspberries)
• Brioche with raisins & coconut palm sugar crumble or with orange blossom and a hint of anise or Gruyere and rosemary
• A wide assortment of flavours of banana bread
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, lamb) 
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles (cucumber pickles, dill pickles, pickled eggs, pickled beets)
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey & bee pollen (Want to know more about bee pollen? Click here.)
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!) They're packed on dry ice at the market, so they easily make the trip home without melting.
• Greek dips (humus, tzatziki, spicy feta & red pepper) and specialty Greek food items, like  Sagnaki (lightly breaded baked cheese, delicious served warm).
• Turkish Foods (from savoury pastries and dinner items to sweet dessert treats) will not be available.
• Korean Foods (green onion cakes, kimchi, bulgogi as ready to go meals )
• Indian Foods (naan & butter chicken as ready to go meals, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Packages of spices ready for appetizer dips or wine slushes
• AAA Alberta Beef Jerky
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Sweet treats like cookies, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Kettle Popcorn

 

• Specialty soap (Ada's Soap)
• Jewellery this week (necklaces, earrings,  from Capiluv)
• Adorable Gift Tags and hair pins, from Capiluv.
• Bath & body items (lip balms, bath bombs, body creams)
• Corian Bowels, Wooden Coat Racks & word Art (Morrie's Hand Crafts)
• the ATM will be in the centre of the market, beside Yellowbird Food Truck, should you need access to a banking machine 

• Due to the onset of chillier weather the slide will not be at the market till summer 2014.
• The balloon busker will be at the market, creating lively, fun designs out of his rainbow of coloured balloons. 
• The Dolphin Lady facepainter will be at the market, creating incredible works of art on wee little faces
• momstown will be at the SWEFM Info tent doing crafts with the kids that they're sure to enjoy, free of charge. 
• And as always, there are plenty of curbs and rocks to balance on along the avenue of trees that goes down the centre of our market!
  

 Come on out to the market for dinner. The food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun, pierogies & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

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Contributed by Melisa Zapisocky