Behind The Scenes News

Opening Day is May 14th!

With ONE month to go, things are shaping up behind the scenes to make this season, the 4th for our community market, a terrific success. We have a few new things in the works to tell you about... so here's your sneak peak!

Our New Market Manager!

Meet Carley Jane Stanton. She is our market manager for the 2014 season. Passionate about her city, she is a strong advocate of eating local, shopping at farmers'  markets and studying and promoting urban community gardens. As a result, she is fast becoming a fixture on Edmonton's food scene and is eager to help us continue to build our market into the vibrant, successful scene you've come to know and love.

Our Sprouts Kids' Club

More details will follow closer to opening day, but we are really excited about our new kids' program, called Sprouts, sponsored by Dr. Darcy Dietz of Towne Square Orthodontics. 


Designed to help children, ages 4 through 12, see and experience the value of healthy and nutritious eating, it will help your kids develop great habits around shopping local and eating fresh, seasonal and local fruits and vegetables. 

You know how hard it is to get your kids to embrace healthy eating with so many cartoon-decorated products available at the local grocery store shelves, right at their height! This program is designed to empower kids to make their own choices about healthy foods, to get them to try new fruit and vegetables and experiment with healthy eating., and to get them to create a habit of shopping local and eating nutritionally mindfully. Parents, we've got your back!

As this is a pilot program, we are opening it up to a limited number of children. Be sure to stop by with your children at our SWEFM tent on opening day to sign up! 

Plant A Row, Grow A Row for Edmonton's Food Bank

Come out opening day, May 14, to learn about Plant A Row, Grow A Row and our partnership with Edmonton's Food Bank. This is your chance to help put good quality, nutrient dense fresh foods into the cold storage rooms of the food bank. They will be onsite collecting food, toiletry and cash donations, along with any plastic shopping bags or empty egg cartons that you may have. momstown will be on hand doing a free, garden themed kids' craft to help get you started, so be sure to stop by our Community Tent to participate!

What's at the Market This Year?

Be prepared to see the food trucks you love (old favourites and some new faces) and the concessions that have those tasty indulgences that tempt market goers, young and old!

There will be entertaining buskers (from balloon making to face painting to music).

We will have lots of terrific food vendors (from fresh vegetables and fruits through to take-away meals).

Each week you will see beautiful artisanal goods (from jewellery through to artisanal soaps and handcrafted home decor items). And in the spring, there will be beautiful hanging baskets and food plants ready for your garden plots and pots.

With more and more people wanting to see us develop the food side of our market, this season you will see baked goods like you wouldn't believe (from breads and cookies through to sweet pastries and cupcakes).

On site you will find unique food treats, from gourmet marshmallows and treats-to-go-on-a-stick through to decadent chocolate bars and truffles. 

There will even be locally roasted coffee this year! To drink, you will also find some other unique offerings, like healthy and fresh pressed-juice sodas, fresh squeezed lemonade and the ever-popular Italian sodas.

Lastly, we are really developing our market to accommodate the appetites of people with food allergies, specific dietary preferences, and food intolerances. Expect to see vegetarian, vegan, low-fat, nut-free, gluten-free and many ethnic food choices available.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign!

For those friends and neighbours who have said, "we didn't know there was a farmers' market here!" there will be no missing it this season! We have invested in lots of new signage to put up on site and in the surrounding neighbourhoods. If you would like to be a Sign Angel, please let us know and we'll give you a sign to put out every Wednesday during market season. We could really use your help!

The countdown is on to opening day... see you at the market!

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Follow this link to read up on the profiles of trucks at our market: http://www.swefm.ca/food-trucks--concessions.html
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Food Trucks at our Market This Season

Anchoring one end of our market is the bright orange Bully Food truck.

Food trucks are one of the trendiest things on the foodie landscape, and if last year at our market is any indication, they are a definite draw, pulling people together to experience a vibrant local food scene. 

After placing your order, it is so fun to visit with friends and other food truck aficionados while waiting in the pick up line for your fresh food to be prepared, taking in the atmosphere of the market, listening to musical buskers, and watching children swarm all over the inflatable slide. There's really nothing quite like dinner up at the market with friends and family on a warm summer night.

Food trucks have picked up quite a local following:

Yellowbird Food Truck is a brightly coloured fixture at our
market, serving up delicious Japanese-fusion style food
and delicious Italian sodas.

• There is an Eat St. app that you can download for free on iTunes that links your current location to the nearest food truck so that you can, on a whim, get your fix of gourmet comfort food. 

• There is the wildly popular Food Network show of the same name, Eat St. which is actually a Canadian show that features food trucks, that shares their recipes, that interviews their chefs, that tells their stories and that shares the chefs' inspirations with its viewers. 

• And food trucks are popping up all over the place, with Calgary and Edmonton hosting some of the hottest food truck scenes in Canada. This year in Edmonton, like last, there are a number of new food trucks on the scene.

Wendy, serving Bully's food to a customer at SWEFM
last season.

Essentially gourmet kitchens on wheels, food trucks usually offer up comfort food, cooked fast and fresh on site, often using locally-sourced ingredients. 

With our old view of food trucks as hot dog, hamburger & fries stands and carnival fare, they have made us redefine our notion of what a food truck can and should be. Take a look and see what I mean...

Bully Truck (gourmet comfort food). 

Wendy & Dean will be back, using food sourced from local vendors who are at our market, making wonderful things and sumptuous food offerings like Mac & Cheese, Poutine with Sausage Gravy, Turkey Burgers, Fresh Vegetable Salad topped with Smoked Meat and Black Garlic Aeoli, and Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Yum! Wendy and Dean make a point of using food sourced from local farms and producers when they can, enhancing the "local" nature of the delicious food they serve. You can find their bright orange truck, located next to the children's slide area at the market. Wendy is the kind, warm and friendly face who greets you at the truck window.

She shares, "I am Dean’s wife; you can call me executive wife… lol. I met Dean over 20 yrs ago when we worked in a hotel together. We flirted for a while until he eventually asked me out for coffee. The rest is history. Dean has worked in large hotels in this city for years and when he finally decided he no longer wanted to work for the man, we agreed to buy a food truck and my daughter Janaya worked with him for the fall of 2012. When it came to 2013 I had to make the decision to leave my guaranteed paycheque job to work with him, or let him experience his adventure on his own. Well.... I took the plunge and quit work for the unknown. Who would have known it was the best decision I ever made. Sure the hours can be long and the sleep is scarce, but it's a job with huge rewards that allow us the satisfaction of serving some of Edmonton finest foodies. Here is to another decade of happy customers."

Yellow Bird Food Truck

Yellow Bird's Yakinaku Wrap

(Japanese fusion cuisine). 

Ayumi and Masa will be back again, serving up delicious rice bowls, yakiniku wraps (a Japanese take on a Philly Cheesesteak with sesame dressing, shreds of daikon, sautéed red peppers, and generous shavings of beef seasoned with soy sauce, garlic & brown sugar). Their bright red food trailer can be found in the centre of the market, next to the ATM machine. 

Their foods are light, healthy and delicately seasoned, making for a wonderful evening dinner. Complete with wooden chop sticks (or forks and knives if you prefer), you can have an authentic eating experience. Top it off with one of their Italian sodas over ice and you have the mixings for a delicious food truck meal.

Wraps served with mild or "heck hot" sauce and curry chips
 are a popular item at Sailin' On's food truck.

Sailin' On (vegan food) 

Mike & Garret will be back at our market this year, serving up their popular veagan takes on fun foods like tacos and B.L.T.s. People rave about their Seitan Reuben sandwiches and curry chips. 

They started off on the food truck path years ago, with an annual event on the front steps of their home in Garneau, where they made vegan corndogs for their friends and passers by. This event became quite popular, and so, after much preparation & research, they took the leap last year from making their immensely popular vegan corn dogs to expanding their menu and jumping into the Edmonton food truck scene, "bringing vegan street food to the masses." 

On their website, they proclaim, "Gripping hard to their punk rock roots and DIY work ethic, they built a truck, tested and re-tested their menu through pop-up and special events, learned to look good in hairnets and rocked plenty of tight jams along the way." Check out their particular flavour, style and the creative take that they bring both to the food that they prepare and to the atmosphere of our market. You're sure to be surprised, delighted and satisfied... 

Knosh's Coronation Chicken Sandwich

Knosh Food Truck (British comfort food). 

New to our market this year, Stuart is excited to bring his take on traditional "Brit Foods" to us. 

Some of his regular menu items are a Yorkshire Pudding with Braised Beef and Rosemary Gravy, Pulled Pork Belly Sandwich with Purple Cabbage and Beet Slaw, Pork and Apple Burger with Brie and Carmelized Onions, and Irving Farms English Bacon Sandwich with Fig Jam and Grilled Tomato (their take on a BLT), Cornish Pasties, Steak and Kidney Pie, and Corn Beef Hash with English Pancakes and a Poached Egg. 

He uses local producers when he can. He also has an in-house made Ginger Beer that is very popular. And for those who feel British to their very toes, even on our hot, sunny Edmonton summer days, there is Earl Grey Iced Tea and Fresh Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Preserves. Yum!

With a wide array of toppings, La Poutine
Food truck is sure to meet your craving.

La Poutine (many versions of a traditional Quebecois comfort food favourite: fries, gravy, cheese & toppings). 

La Poutine will be a regular at our market this season. La Poutine was created by an Edmontonian and a Quebecois who have enjoyed poutine from east to west. They have fused their two worlds together in one comfort food item to deliver a terrific taste sensation. Their fries are hand-cut from fresh russet potatoes and fried twice in canola oil that is free of trans fats and low in saturated fat. 

They offer both traditional gravy and beef gravy. The traditional gravy is vegan and is considered Quebec-style while their beef gravy is thicker, darker, and considered western Canada-style. Their cheese curds are locally made and are so fresh they “squeak.” And their dipping sauces are made in-house from real mayonnaise and sour cream. By offering traditional poutine and many other unique poutine creations, La Poutine has something for everyone. 

Insights Into The Food Truck Scene...

Listening to CBC's interview of the Food Network's James Cunningham, producer of Eat St. gave me fascinating insight into the food truck world. A successful Food Network show that tours around North America, Eat St. films and interviews the chefs behind popular food trucks. (To hear the interview, go to http://www.cbc.ca/albertaatnoon/ and scroll down to April 12, 2013 at the 16:30 minute mark). He was in Calgary, filming one of their food trucks there. Though it is a Canadian show, Eat St. does most of its filming States-side, partially due to the fact that there are far more trucks down south where the population is substantially more numerous and the climate allows for trucks to be open for far longer seasons than it does in Canada. However, we Canadians are a resilient bunch, and are coming out to support food tucks, hand over fist! So we have a definite presence on the North American truck scene map.

Wendy & Dean of Bully Food Truck

Cunningham made some really interesting points in his radio interview. He stressed that the chefs who rent or own and operate these trucks had to be a bit crazy and super passionate about food to run a food truck, as it is a lot of work. And he likened what is happening now, on the food truck scene, to what he called a Food Truck Revolution. Food trucks are a phenomenon that have absolutely exploded onto the street scene because of two serendipitous things occurring in North America a couple of years ago.

First, there was the down turn in the North American economy. 

Often, he pointed out, the people behind the gourmet food trucks are 5 star chefs. during the economic downturn, some were out of work (and, he added almost sheepishly, some were simply office workers who desperately wanted out from behind their desk to do what they love) but they still wanted to be gainfully employed in the culinary arts in which they were trained and were passionate. They were nervous to roll the dice and open up their own restaurant in the height of a recession. So these chefs rented or invested in trucks, hit the pavement and took their inspiration to the street to do what they loved.

Sailin' On will be back once a month with their popular vegan fare.

There is a flip side to this point as well. With the downturn in the economy, especially in the United States, many people were no longer going to expensive 5 star restaurants. But they still had a passion and a desire to be eating gourmet food.  So these people began turning to more expensive, but gourmet, street food as a replacement for eating out in fine dining restaurants.

The second thing was the social media explosion that has occurred in our society

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest are all the rage and have the possibility to make things popular, to make things go "viral," and to get news out almost instantaneously. Food truck chefs can tweet out their information throughout the day. And their customers can retweet or "like" that info out once again to their friends, who "like" or tweet it to theirs, and so on. When it comes to food trucks, this can include menu items, their location for that day, and what is hot & popular on a given day. As a result, food trucks have their fanatical followers, and lineups at the trucks can be insane. James Cunningham likened it to a gourmet flash mob where there's an energy and an enthusiasm in the line up & the air is a-buzz with excited "What are you getting? What did you get? What's good here?" chatter.

Knosh Food Truck serves up traditional Brit Food

The success and popularity of the food truck phenomenon has made another important thing happen. Cities like Edmonton and Calgary are recognizing what a great thing having a vibrant food truck scene is for the atmosphere and profitability of their cites, and they are giving parking spots to the food trucks along with their licences in prime, downtown locations. 

The chefs in these trucks are beholden only to themselves and this creates a unique opportunity to blend influences from their upbringing and fuse them with their own unique style in preparing comfort foods. The gourmet result is a surprisingly delicious and inspiring fusion cuisine. A carte blanche, if you will, to do what they want & to bring their inspiration to the street.

Edmonton's food truck scene has taken off this year with some new trucks hitting the pavement and setting up on our streets.  

Sailin' On's popular Green Chili Sauces.

There aren't many opportunities in Edmonton to see multiple food trucks gathered together in one place. Our city seems to licence them in a way that attaches them to a particular street corner or location that is isolated from other trucks. Other than What The Truck! events, and some special downtown & summer festivals, rarely do you see them collected together en masse. Our market will feature 4 food trucks throughout the season It is a really cool "must-try" experience. 

Come out and see what all the fuss is about. 

Make Wednesday night Dinner-At-The-Market Night 

for your family and friends. See you there!

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Follow this link to read up on the profiles of trucks at our market: http://www.swefm.ca/food-trucks--concessions.html
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Recipes: Bee Pollen & Lemon Cider Vinaigrette & Honey Strawberry Jam

A book that I enjoy popping into from time to time is Jonny Bowden's The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why. I first heard the author interviewed on CBC radio and what he had to say intrigued me, so I went out & picked up his book. His conversational style, his method of selecting the foods that made the cut into the book, his discussion of the politics of food science and his steadfast belief that we are misguided in North America when we define the "perfect diet" in terms of fat, protein and carbohydrates, was enlightening, engaging and has influenced my thinking around nutrition profoundly. And, well... chocolate makes his list (of course what he means is more like the straight cocoa that you could add to chilli con carne to enhance its flavours and not a decadent chocolate bar with its fat and sugar partners, but I'll take the silver lining wherever I can get it!)....
Bee Pollen is one of nature's amazing miracles. A true superfood. And it's one of the specialty foods that made the cut and got into Bowden's book. On its own, it definitely has floral undertones, it tastes tangy and it can have a wee bit of crunch. Put a granule on the tip of your tongue and see what it does....

Bee pollen is gathered by the worker honeybees and brought back to the hive where it is mixed with enzymes, nectar or honey, fungi and bacteria and packed and pounded, using the head of the worker bee, into the brood cells of the hive. The resulting granules look like very fine pea gravel, not unlike the stones used in the bottom of fish tanks.

Bowden asserts that bee pollen is jam packed with nutrition because it is "loaded with vitamins and contains almost all known minerals, trace elements, enzymes, and amino acids. It actually has more amino acids and vitamins than any other amino acid-containing product like beef, eggs, or cheese." Bee pollen contains:

• digestive enzymes from the bees
• 18 amino acids
• DNA and RNA
• vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and B12 (it's one of the few non-meat sources of B12)
• niacin
• pantothenic acid
• folic acid
• vitamins C, D, E and K
• choline
• inositol
• rutin and other bioflavonoids that have significant antioxidant properties
• calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc
• 10 types of enzymes
• coenzymes
• hard to get trace elements like silicon, molybdenum, boron and sulphur

Bee pollen can be purchased at the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market at Good Morning, Honey where it comes in three sizes. Jill Provencal, that beautiful smiling face that is always behind the honey booth, has developed a recipe for us to try. She has also included a recipe for rhubarb-strawberry honey jam (and she sells jars of this jam at her stall).

Just one word of caution: bee pollen should not be used by people with pollen allergies. I have a bee/wasp sting allergy, and have used bee pollen for years, sprinkling it on salads, with no side effects. But that is the only way I have ever used it, so I was quite excited when Jill accepted the challenge of coming up with a recipe for us to try at home... a recipe that takes away its crunch!

Bee Pollen & Lemon cider vinaigrette
ingredients
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon ground mustard
1½ tablespoon bee pollen
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon ground pepper
1 dash sea salt
instructions
Add all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the bee pollen dissolve. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!!! Drizzle over your salad and enjoy!

Jill suggests that if you don’t like using bee pollen, you could take that out and make the 2 teaspoons of honey into 1-2 tablespoons of raw, unpasteurized honey. And if the vinegar just isn’t your thing, increase the lemon juice to 1/3 of a cup and add 2 tbsp of water.

a thought...
When you work with the granules of bee pollen in this recipe, just imagine the way in which each granule was head-butted into its unique shape by the determination, perseverance and actions of a single worker bee. What an amazing image.

rhubarb-Strawberry honey jam

Rhubarb is still available at Dargatz Family Farm and at Riverbend Gardens at our market. Strawberries were still available at AIG and Red Apple last week.

ingredients

3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2" to 1" pieces 

1/2 cup water 

2 cups fresh strawberries, cut into half 

2 tbsps. lemon juice 

3/4 cup honey 

1 pouch liquid pectin (85 ml size)

instructions
Place 4 clean 250 or 236 ml jars, on a rack, in a boiling water canner, and fill with water. Cover and boil hard for 10 minutes to sterilize the jars.

Boil the discs for the lids for 5 minutes to soften the sealing compound on their rims. Keep the jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use. 

In a non reactive pan, combine the rhubarb and the water. Bring the rhubarb to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender. Add the strawberries and the lemon juice. Cover and allow to simmer until the mixture is soft (about 5 - 10 minutes). Add the honey, and bring to a boil. Stir constantly to avoid sticking. Add the pectin and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and skim off foam, if necessary.

Ladle the hot rhubarb jam into the jars and leave 1/4 inch at the top for headspace. Wipe jar rim if necessary with a clean cloth, apply the hot sealing disc, and screw lids until lids are fingertip tight. Place jar back in canner. Repeat for remaining jam. Cover the canner, and return water to a rolling boil. 

Process the jars - boil the filled jars for 10 minutes, or as per manufacturer's instructions, and then remove jars. Cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. Store in a cool, dark place.

After opening, jam must be stored in the refrigerator. Makes approx. 4 jars. (250 ml. size) of DELICIOUS STRAWBERRY RHUBARB JAM!

Recipe from Jill Provencal of Good Morning, Honey
Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee & Jill Provencal

Fresh Sheet: May 29th

Garden Festival

Another market day is just around the corner and it's a special one! It's our Annual Garden Festival! You will find lots of fun filled, informative and delicious things to do at this week's market. Here are the highlights:

This is our annual kick off for Plant A Row, Grow A Row, our partnership with Edmonton's Food Bank that is designed to collect fresh fruits and veggies and deliver them to the food bank in the fall. It is our opportunity to make a difference in a really important way, contributing "real food" to the Food Bank's storage vaults: food that is fresh, nutrient dense and ever-so-healthy! To find out more about this important initiative, read these old blog posts:

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

The Edmonton Food Bank and its volunteers will be onsite collecting donations of:

• Sealed Bags of Rice
• Empty Egg Cartons
• Boxed, Canned & Bagged non-perishable Food Donations
• Any used shopping bags

Help us Grow A Stack of egg cartons at the SWEFM Info Tent for Edmonton's Food Bank... how tall can we make it??? The food bank is always in need of empty egg cartons.

Help us Fill our Wheelbarrow to overflowing with sealed bags of rice for the food bank. Rice is something simple, nourishing & easy to store that many food bank clients would love to see in their hampers regularly. A familiar staple the world over, our food bank doesn't see enough to meet its demand. Please consider bringing a bag of rice to our Garden Festival event... after all, a grain of rice is a "seed!" There are many ways to GROW a donation!

Servus Credit Union will be holding a penny drive, collecting old pennies that we can no longer use here in Canada, converting them into "real" cash and donating the proceeds to Edmonton's Food Bank. They have actually been collecting them for the food bank for the past 2 weeks at their local Rabbit Hill Rd. & 23rd Ave. branch! WIN BIG! Swap your old pennies for a draw ballot: you could win market bucks to use at your next visit to the market!

Our veggie growers will have plants ready for your gardens and hanging baskets all set to beautify your front porches, balconies and backyard decks. Most importantly, there will be little vegetable plants ready to put in your gardens and patio pots for Plant A Row, Grow A Row.

A number of organizations will be on site to answer any questions you might have and to help you take your gardening to the next level. 

Master Gardeners will be on site in our Community Tent... ask them any questions you have about gardening! They will have the answers! At the same time, they have a children's craft for your kids to do to help them participate in Plant A Row, Grow A Row. Stop by and have them make a newspaper pot and plant a seed or a seed potato for the food bank. Then take it home, plop it directly into a pot or your garden and.. voilà!... your kids are growing a donation!

Master Composter will also be at our market this year, teaching us all how to compost our kitchen and yard waste easily, efficiently and effectively. Stop by their booth to see for yourself how easy it can be to turn your garbage into valuable, nutrient-dense goodness for your garden!

Sustainable Food Edmonton focuses on ways to make our local food resources support our community, lessening our dependence on food trucked and shipped in from afar. Eating local food decreases the environmental cost of our food system, and increases the nutrient density of our food... find out more by stopping at their booth.

Here's what else you can expect to find at your community market this week.

For The Kids

Baring 25km/h winds (or greater... keep your fingers crossed!), kids can come and have a blast on the giant inflatable slide! It's 16 feet wide, 30 feet long and 22 feet high!! Just think how much energy your kids will expend racing up and down this slide... and how well they'll sleep at night! Rides will be $1 each, or $5 for unlimited slides. Remember that the slide will only be set up if, by noon Wednesday, the winds are & are forecasted to be 25km/hour or less.

Once again, wee ones can be transformed into butterflies and tigers when they get their faces painted with wonderfully creative and vivid designs by The Dolphin Lady that will be sure to spark their imaginations and instil a little wonderment into their lives... her hair has been blue, her hair has been pink... who knows what crazy colour it'll be this week! Pretzel will be there as well, creating amazing balloon figures in fabulous designs and colours as only he can, sure to amaze the inner child in all of us!

For Your Kitchen

Fresh veggies are finally trickling in... expect to see rhubarb for sure, and possibly spinach, this week! Dargatz Family Farms, The Holden Colony and Riverbend Gardens will have their over-wintered potatoes, carrots and squashes on hand. And you'll find herb plants, ready for your kitchen garden. There will be farm-fresh eggs as well. And of course, Good Morning Honey will have their bee-made products on hand. 

There are other staples available as well, such as... fresh bread at Prairie Mill Bakery or gluten free bread at Celebrate, Gluten Free. There are wonderfully buttery croissants & crunchy arlettes at Raspberry Cocoa for your breakfast or for your afternoon/after dinner tea. And decadent cupcakes at Sweet Stuff. There are intriguing homemade icecreasm at Back To Basics. And there are prepared jams, jellies and savoury sauces at Fruits of Sherbrooke.

Do you have a hankering for something Mediterranean (think Italy, Greece & Turkey)? There are pre-made items like dips at Theo's Greek Kuzina and Turkish food at Melodi's Kitchen. There are pastas... both regular and gluten-free at Back To Basics.

How about something Indian or Thai? Mini Kitchen will be here each week from now on selling frozen Indian and Thai food, prepared for your home table with favourites like butter chicken, coconut chicken and naan bread for dipping.

There's plenty of fresh produce available from our local greenhouses! TR Greenhouses and The Holden Colony will have cucumbers (large, long English and small sized, great for snacking & packing in lunches for the kids), tomatoes (including small, sweet tomatoes on the vine and my personal favourite... the incredibly chewy, meaty & unbelievably flavour filled zebra tomatoes) and peppers (sweet & hot).

Plenty of options are available for meat for your weekday meals, from whole chickens, lamb, cuts of beef and bison through to prepared sausages, deli meats and jerkies. Be sure to check out what is available this week... and remember, vendors like Greenstein Farm (lamb), Red Tractor Meats and Sunworks Family Farm all accept pre-orders which make your market shopping very simple.

Just go to our website (http://www.swefm.ca/meat-vendors.html), find their profile (in alphabetical order on our list) and click on their links to connect to their websites to place your order. Then, show up on wednesday and make your last stop at their booths, pick up and pay for your order, and head straight home to your fridges and freezers. There are also frozen fish items and bottled sauces to enhance your fishy meals at Food Direct.

For Your Wednesday Night "Dinner at the Market"

The food trucks are back again! Once again, expect to find delicious comfort food from the food trucks, those gourmet kitchens on wheels. Bully will be back, serving great, inventive foods that feature meat, bread, fruit  & veggie vendors at our market. Sailin' On will be back this week, and we'll have a new food truck with Big City Sandwich on site, introducing us to one more take on the whole food truck scene. Little Village will be on hiatus one more market, returning next week.  Fat Franks will be on hand serving hot dogs and cooked smokies & sausages. Desserts can always be found at Pink Kernel (ice cream, mini donuts, cotton candy), Sweet Stuff (cupcakes), Phil's Fudge, and soft icecream cones at The Butchers' Bus.

This Week's Line-Up

For information on these vendors, and the ones listed below, be sure to go to our website Browse Vendors By Category. There you will find excellent descriptions & eye catching photos of the vendors that come to our market & the products that they bring. Browse by category to find out more about the personalities behind the creations, the produce & the food items, and to find out what each vendor will be bringing to market. Please note that not all vendors you see here will be at EVERY market as some come part time (like when their items are in season, or once or twice a month, etc.).

You will be amazed when you see the wealth of creativity, the level of inspiration and the amazing quality of goods that will be at the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market... your neighbourhood market where communities, artisans and farmers all come together .... this season.

Artisans & Crafts People:
Ada's Soap Shop (natural products that do not irritate eczema: olive oil soap, soap shapes)
Expressions by Lori (custom fit women's clothing)
Hemperial Fidelis (soaps, lotions, natural bug spray (body/bath stuff), soy candles, 1/4" twine, raw hemp, hemp seeds, organic and pressed hemp oil)
Mod Shop Tots (Crocheted children's items, booties, cotton hats, hair accessories)
Orange Avocado (jewellery)
Jewels by Amy (crystal & silver jewellery)
Traveling Author, Lynn Link 
Vicki Sather Design (Hats, lampshades, pillowcase covers)

Baked Goods:

Celebrate Gluten Free (gluten free; flax bread, cheese buns & bread, multi grain bread, banana & lemon loaves, cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon buns, brownies)

El Mercado Tortillas (2 types of authentic Mexican corn tortillas)

Inked Cakes (sweet breads & loaves, brownies, bars & squares... formerly Robert's Loaves from Alberta Beach)

Moonshine Doughnuts (gourmet doughnuts in various flavours... formerly Heritage Baked Goods)
Prairie Mill Bread (organic, preservative-free bread)

Raspberry & Cocoa (Tea cakes, puff pastry, croissant, green tea)
Sweet Stuff Cakes (cupcakes)

Meat & Dairy:

Butchers' Bus (Sausage, smokies, pepperoni, pork or turkey jerky) 
Food Direct (fish)

Greenstein Farms (lamb, biweekly)

Red Tractor Family Farm (fresh, frozen meat) 
Sunworks Organic Farm (chicken, beef, prepared sausages)

Food Trucks & Concessions:
Big City Sandwich 
Bully Food Truck (gourmet comfort foods like mac & cheese, poutine, turkey burger, salad, pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich) 
Fat Franks (gourmet hot dogs, smokies & drinks) 
Original Canadian Kettle Popcorn (kettle corn, cotton candy, soft drinks) 
The Pink Kernel (mini donuts, cotton candy, shaved ice, kettle corn, lemonade, water, yo yo balloons)
Sailin' On (Vegan)

Fruits And Vegetables:

*** Note... many of our vegetable producers will be bringing plant starts, stored potatoes and garden plants to the first few market days until their produce is ready. Only greenhouse operators will have fresh vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, long beans and cucumbers at the early season markets. Fruit vendors do not start coming until mid June.

Dargatz Family Farm (produce, bedding plants, eggs, pickles)
Holden Colony (vegetables, pickles, salsa, garlic powder)

Riverbend Gardens (vegetables)
TR Greenhouses (veggies, jellies & salt)

Prepared Foods:

Back to Basics (frozen lasagna using fresh pasta including gluten free and vegetarian versions, homemade soup, homemade ice-cream & icecream sandwiches)

El Mercado Tortillas (2 types of corn tortillas) 

Fruits of Sherbrooke (jams, jellies & condiments)

Good Morning Honey (packaged honey in various sizes, beeswax candles, beeswax, lip balm, night cream)
The Mallow Fellow (gourmet marshmallows in 20 flavours)

Melodi's Kitchen (Turkish food)
Mini Kitchen (frozen, prepared Thai & Indian Food)

Phil's Fudge Factory (Fudge, fudge dipped apples)

Simply Supper (burgers, ribs & ready to go meals)

Theo's Greek Kouzina (prepared Greek food... like amazing tzatziki, humus & red pepper feta dips!!)

A Few Reminders:

Don't forget that the market has moved slightly to a new location... no longer hidden to the west of the rec centre, you will find the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market in the first parking lot, bordered by 23rd Avenue on its south side. Look for the signs, inflatable slide, flags and tents... you can't miss it.

Remember that there is always overflow parking to the west of the Terwillegar Recreation Centre, just follow the signs. Many of the parking lots between the west doors of the rec centre (down the arena hallway) and the Catholic High School (Mother Mary Margaret) are often virtually vacant.

Please drive slowly when visiting the Farmers' Market. Leger Road and the parking lots surrounding the Terwillegar Recreation Centre will have lots of people on foot at market time. There are 2 crosswalks that lead to the market location. Please be mindful of our traffic patrol volunteers.

Volunteers will be on site doing everything from answering questions, manning the Community & Info Tents, entertaining kids and directing traffic to schlepping things and directing people within the rec centre itself. Please be sure to give them a smile and thank them for helping to make our market such a community driven, friendly & inspired place to be.

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
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Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee