Fresh Sheet: May 15th

Pretzel (left), Puppets On A String (centre), Dolphin Lady (right)

The first market day of the season always brings with it tremendous excitement, and this season is no exception! We're hosting Puppets on a String... entertainers that are always huge hits with children. Wee ones can 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. 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! And Edmonton Public Librairies will be on site giving out free library cards. There will also be an incredible...

Truck Rally

Be sure to make Wednesdays, Dinner At the Market Night 

for you, your family, friends & neighbours this week and every week!

Our Grand Opener will see us hosting a terrific line-up of food trucks! All the rage on the North American Foodie Scene, some of our food trucks bring unique fusion cuisines and gourmet twists on comfort foods to our market. Expect to try delicious things like:

• a wonderful Greek gluten free option: lemon roasted potatoes topped with slow roasted lamb shoulder is gluten free from Theo at the Little Village Food Truck
• the ever-famous Mac & Cheese or Smoked Beef and Roasted Veg Salad (featuring beef from Red Tractor Meats and veggies from Riverbend Gardens) at Bully Food Truck
• a Coconut Bacon BLT Wrap served on a flour tortilla, with coconut bacon, home made roasted garlic mayo, fresh lettuce, tomato and shredded carrot at Sailin' On

Sometimes the list of vendors on our website can be a tad confusing. Some only come part time, some vendors are there all the time, and some miss just one market in the entire season. On Tuesdays during market season you can check here, on the blog, to see who's coming to market this week....

Here's Who Will Be At Our Market This Week!!!

For information on these vendors, 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:
Expressions by Lori (custom fit women's clothing)
Farmstead Bath & Body (cold process soap, lotions, lip balm, scrubs, bath melts, bombs, bubble bars)
Jewels by Amy (crystal & silver jewellery)

Orange Avocado (silver)
Tea Garden (tea cup bird feeders)

Traveling Author, Lynn Link

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 corn tortillas)
Inked Cakes (sweet breads & loaves, brownies, bars & squares... formerly Robert's Loaves from Alberta Beach)
Prairie Mill Bread (organic, preservative-free bread)
Sweet Stuff Cakes (cupcakes)

Food Trucks:

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)
La Poutine (gourmet poutines... it's not 100% sure that they can come opening day)
Little Village Food Truck (Greek street food)
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)

Meat & Dairy:

Butchers' Bus (Sausage, smokies, pepperoni, pork or turkey jerky)
Food Direct (fish)
Greenstein Farms (lamb)
Red Tractor Family Farm (fresh, frozen meat) 
Sunworks Organic Farm (chicken, beef, prepared sausages)

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 (authentic mexican tortillas)
Fruits of Sherbrooke (jams, jellies & condiments)
Good Morning Honey (packaged honey in various sizes, beeswax candles, beeswax, lip balm, night cream)
The Maple Farm (organic maple syrup)
The Mallow Fellow (gourmet marshmallows in 20 flavours)
The Maple Farm (maple syrup)
Melodi's Kitchen (Turkish food)
Phil's Fudge Factory (Fudge, fudge dipped apples)
Simply Supper (burgers, ribs & ready to go meals)
Theo's Greek Kouzina (prepared Greek food)

A Few Reminders:

• If you are new to farmers' market shopping and want to read a few tips, check out this old blog post, Farmers' Market Shopping Tips. 
• Remember, because food is served at our market, only service dogs are permitted. This is in compliance with Alberta Food Safety Protocol. So please leave your dogs at home.

• The market is now located directly on the corner of 23rd Ave and Leger Road, across from the Leger Bus Station and across from the Terwillegar Recreation Centre. It is no longer tucked around the side of the Rec Centre in the overflow parking area.
• There is PLENTY of parking. Be sure to follow Leger Road past the market. There are overflow parking lots located all along that road. You just might have to park a bit far away and then hike in to the market. Better yet, ride your bikes to the market or walk there!
• There is no ATM on site (though one is available inside the rec centre). Please bring cash with you for your purchases.
• We are still looking for a few volunteers... feel like being a Sign Angel? We would love a few people to babysit SWEFM signs and put them up in their neighbourhoods the evening before the market, and remove them the morning after the market. This will save us a lot of time, driving around & putting them in place. Contact our market manager, if you can help, or come and see us at the Southwest Edmonton Far,ers' Market Info Tent at the entrance to the market.
• Have a blast! Community Farmers' Markets are a terrific place to meet up with friends, families and neighbours. They're fun, vibrant places where connections can be made and where the community spirit comes alive!

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Farmers’ Market Shopping Tips

So how do you “do a farmers' market” well? Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Ours is an outdoor market. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. A good friend of mine says, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad dressing.” So stop complaining or making excuses, grab your
Canadian spirit, put on your raincoat or slap on the sunscreen, and get to the market! There are wonderful things waiting there for you.

• Always bring lots of small bills and change. You will be paying at each individual farmer or artisan's stand. Most weeks there is an ATM on site, but it dispenses only $20 or $50 bills.

•Bring large cloth shopping bags or baskets. Not only are they better for the environment, they will save multiple trips to your car to unload, and they generally pack better than plastic bags do. 

• Some people find that old baby strollers make good shopping carts. They fold up nicely in the trunk. 
If you use wire folding cart, what I always call a “granny” cart, put in a box or liner or your produce will work through the wire squares.

• Some people find that fanny packs are the best way to hold onto money and keys. You don't have to worry about setting a purse or a wallet down and you have both hands free to shop and carry bags. I have awesome shopping baskets with a zippered pockets on the side that work perfectly for me.

• Make sure you know where your car keys are. The number one lost and found item is a set of car keys. Nine times out of ten they are buried in one of your produce bags, but it’s best to know where they are so you don’t rifle through your bags, damaging the items that you worked so hard to select and collect. Should you misplace your keys, check out our community tent on site for our lost and found.

• When you first arrive, walk through the entire market and look at all the offerings before you buy. Take in the beauty, the atmosphere… then notice the selection and the quality. There can be differences in prices for the same produce type and there can be quite a range in quality.


• Bargaining is not well received. Remember that these are the growers and creators of the things you see before you. Do not insult them. They worked very hard to sell their items at the best possible price.

• Most of the produce is vine or tree ripened. This means it can be delicate to the touch and easily damaged. Please be careful handling the fresh produce and other delicate items.

• If the vendor is not too busy, don’t hesitate to ask questions about recipes or growing methods or how something was crafted, created or inspired. You might even get to know each other's name, swap a few stories, and build a meaningful connection.

• Have patience with the vendors. They are not polished sales or marketing people: they are farmers and individual producers or artisans. Some were up late picking and irrigating, packaging and preparing, and then up early to load and drive the truck several hours to market.

• If you smile at and appreciate them, you will find them smiling back and appreciating you in return. That is what farmers' markets are really about:

• -       Smiles and mutual appreciation.
• -       Families growing food for families.
• -       Communities supporting communities.
• -       People connecting with each other.
• -       And our wallets supporting the local economy.

   Do you have any smart market shopping tips to share? If so, I'd love to know what they are. Please comment.

Some of these points are borrowed and adapted from the Sacramento California Farmers' Market.

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Colour... It's SO Important!

Here's a few tips for making the most of your edible purchases at the market:

Zebra tomatoes are my favourite tomatoes. Their flavour is incredibly
intense, and they have such an amazing chewiness to them.

1. I always try to remember variety when cooking for my family: to provide them with as much nutrition in the foods they eat as I possibly can. Variety is the best way I know to ensure that they are getting the micro and macro nutrients that they need to stay healthy, to think well, to have bodies that are ready to embrace the activities that they love to do, and to sleep well at night. Really, it equips them to make the most out of life. Yup, variety is key. No supplements are needed. Just ensure that they are getting variety in their diets, and food in the form in which we were meant to eat it... fresh and satisfying (as opposed to packaged and processed)... and you will be doing them a gigantic favour! An easy way to do this is to shop at farmers' markets... and when you are there, make sure that you buy a lot of differently coloured items.

Purple Beans, when picked young and slender, are one of my favourite vegetables.

2. The brighter, the deeper, the more intense the colour of the fruit or vegetable, the more of a nutritional punch it packs (cauliflower is an exception to this rule). Think of the deep oranges of sweet carrots or miniscule jabeñero peppers or golden beets, the vivid reds of tomatoes ripened on the vine or apples sun-kissed on the tree, the rainbow of colours in a bag of hot house peppers, the intense green of a jalepeno pepper, and the startling deep purples of a red cabbage or a traditional beet. Add intense colour to your meals, and your salads and the foods you set on your table will look far more beautiful.

Romanesco Broccoli always makes me think of
the landscapes in Dr. Suess illustrations!

3. Colour can very easily add surprise and delight, visually, to your meals. Try out purple potatoes and purple beans. Green and dark red Zebra striped heirloom tomatoes... or even chocolate coloured tomatoes! There are so many fun foods to try. Try the light green, Dr. Suess-looking romanesco broccolis that have such queer, conical shapes to them. Go for a taste adventure. Make meal times an exploration to delight the senses. The farmers' market season is a brief one, so try some of the unique and unusual things there and have fun while you can.

Purple potatoes taste the same as red potatoes. They just look far more fun!

4. Don't peel your apples or pears, your carrots, cucumbers or potatoes. Often, the best nutrients are in the skins and peels. Just wash them carefully and use or serve. When you shop at a farmers' market, the produce you buy has been freshly picked, so their skins are not tough and hardened by excessive exposure to the air or by being picked before they are truly ripe, and they are not dipped in protective waxes to ensure that they last longer through the shipping and packaging process that happens in our large grocery chain stores. So shop at the market, wash up the fruits & veggies that you purchase there, taste the difference on your tongue and feel the difference in your mouth that a fruit or vegetable, eaten fresh picked and untainted, can make on your palate.

Habenero peppers are wee little things, no larger than a small
radish, and pack more heat than any pepper I know! Don't be
fooled: these are like little bombs in your kitchen!

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee