The North End Masonville Friday Market

Sara Griffin from Green Door Gardens – Organically Grown Heirloom Tomato Plants, Herbs, Preserves and Herb Mixes In case you have not been yet, the Friday North End Farmer”s Market is back into swing for the year. It has been up and running since May 7th and will run every Friday from now until October 8th, it is open from 8 am – 2 pm and is located in the Masonville Parking lot. Yesterday I went over with my friend and work colleague Carolyn who wanted to buy some worms that are available there from Annelid Cycle. The worms are special warm blooded critters that are said to be excellent in helping with your compost pile. I will find out some more about how this works and post here a bit later because it looks pretty cool! Some things I saw at the market: Andy Devries is there from Concreations – he sells concrete statues and little gnomes to watch over your garden. Dolway Organics (who are a real favourite of mine) and sell at Covent Garden Market on Saturdays are there, so I was happy to see there are now two places that I can buy produce from them. Bayfield Berry Farms is there with their meat pies, berry pies, preserves, veggies, breads and all kinds of other goodies. There is a local cheese vendor there selling fresh curds and white cheddar and he has samples! Bacon Acre's Product List Sharon Kodde from Bacon Acre Farms is there. Bacon Acre (don”t you love that name?!) sell all cuts of pork and I will highlight these guys for a bit later as I was invited out to the farm. I will report back as I know quite a few of you have emailed me in the past looking for places to get meat through the year. Joyce Farms is there, they have a variety of vegetables that they grow on their own and they also bring in a lot from other local farmers as well. Right now they are bringing in some greenhouse grown peppers from Leamington for those of you (like me) who cannot wait! There were many other vendors there, I just did not get all of their names and I know there are many more vendors to come as the season picks up. I saw mounds of asparagus, I spied purple white and green varieties of the little green soldiers. Strawberries are fully going now, although perhaps as I was late in visiting the market, as I only saw a few pints for sale. You can still get plenty of rhubarb and there is a lovely woman there named Sara Griffin who is selling Heirloom tomato plants for you to plant at home. Sara runs a business called Green Door Gardens which provides Heirloom tomato plants, herbs, preserves and herb mixes. Sara says because of the rain, many people are a little behind on planting this year. It is still not too late as the plants are a really good size. Sara will be there next Friday if you want to try your luck at growing your own this year. Market season is well on, and I can”t tell you how happy I am to get right back to it! See you there.  Read More

Regal, Rock”in Asparagus

Regal Rock''in Asparagus | Photo: Kelly Hunt Want to feel like a King for a day? How about a Queen? Well, it is as easy as picking up some local, Ontario grown asparagus. Yes, that”s right people, for a limited time (or until the crop runs dry) you too can be royalty! You see, King Louis XIV of France enjoyed asparagus very much and considered it quite the delicacy. He decided to have special greenhouses built to produce a year-round supply. That led to asparagus being called “The Food of Kings.” In the 16th century, asparagus gained popularity in France and England, from there the early colonists brought it to America. Take a close look at your asparagus and you will see that it is much different from anything else that grows in the garden, it looks, well.. different. The name asparagus is derived from Greek language – Asparagos meaning sprout or shoot, and the vegetable belongs to the lily family. I personally think that it”s most amazing claim to fame is how quickly it sprouts – asparagus can grow up to 7 inches in one day! Asparagus is chock-full of vitamins and has many nutritious claims to fame. You can read about some of them in my May, 2008 post here. So where can you find this trail to glory,royalty and deliciousness? Here are some places myself and some other Asparagus Agents have spotted the tiny green soldiers: London Covent Garden Farmers Market (Eco-logic and Dolway had it) London Covent Market (inside) Havaris Family and Doris Family Produce were carrying local asparagus – there was even a purple variety for sale Adelaide Street Farms (Adelaide Street North past Medway Rd.) Turners Farm Market on Hwy.2 Megens Berry Farm 6km north of St. Mary”s on east side of Hwy 7 & 19,which is 2km north of Wildwood Conservation Area entrance I have not been out to Trails End, or Western Fair Market there may be some out there as well. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you to check the BRAND NEW FRIDAY FARMERS MARKET for asparagus. It is slated to open this Friday at Masonville Mall. Northwest Corner of Fanshawe & Richmond.  Read More

Agent Asparagus

Asparagus Shoot Photo: istockphoto.com Agent Asparagus Reporting: Local asparagus was spotted for sale at the side of the road on Highway 2 going towards Woodstock on Friday evening. I was driving too fast to get the name of the farm – it may have been Turners? Forgive me for the vagueness, I was on my way to “Angling Outfitters” before they closed (side note here for any fisherman/woman out there – that place is awesome… shop for lures, waders, any gear you can think of, till” your heart”s content!). Sorry! Back to the asparagus. It was located in a farm building on left side of road, between Thamesford and Woodstock. Not very much help for a London locavore, but still – it was a verified sighting. There is local asparagus all around us – it is only a few days away from being on our plates – do not be tempted – I repeat, do not be tempted by the South of the border green crap they are selling in the grocery store – you will be disappointed! Please report any asparagus sightings in the comments. Much appreciated! Kelly  Read More

Great resource for eating local

I have been in kind of a funk about the weather lately, so I have not been making it out to the farms too much. But where I have been, is to alot of garden centres as I attempt to get my garden ready…I was thinking about drafting up a post about planting your own garden, grow your own local, kind of deal – but it needs some more serious time alotted to get it just right – so I will at a later date. I will tell you this – I know for sure that you can find asparagus, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, fiddleheads and even arugula right now, it”s out there – and its waiting to be eaten. If you have been procrastinating and have not been to a garden centre yet, you will be as surprised as I was to see that there are many more veggies available this year to grow in containers or in garden beds right at home – a heck of a lot more varieties than I remember seeing last year. I even heard that you can buy seedling heirloom tomatoe plants at the covent garden market on saturdays right now. What I do want to let you all know about is this great resource – every wednesday in the Londoner, there is a columnist – Christine Scheer that writes a column about eating with the seasons. Her section is always intelligent,with a delicious twist – apparently she was a chef for a number of years in london and she now grows and cooks local food and shares her adventures as well as her wonderful recipes in our local paper. I have been trying to add the links to her stories to this blog so that they are easier to find,but the latest one (on arugula!) can be read right here: http://www.thelondoner.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1056235&auth=Christine+Scheer happy eating xo  Read More

Naked Asparagus Frittata

this photo has gone missing Ok, I admit it..I have been ogling delicious looking foodie- obsessed web sites out there for a quite some time now. Some blogs just plain amaze me, they manage to make food that tastes really good as well as capture original, magazine quality pictures. I just find it fascinating. In homage to these wonderful sites, you can see that I have tried my hand at making my asparagus say “cheese” for the camera. Asparagus is an amazing thing, I have eaten it 3 days in a row now and I just am not getting tired of it. I believe that it is best all by itself grilled up with some butter, salt and pepper and then some fresh parmesan for the top – but here I have whipped up a little frittata to get you inspired. Ontario asparagus won”t be around forever, it is at the peak of its taste perfection right now, and it is also a very versatile veg – so go on out and get some already! It should be noted, if you are buying it in the grocery store,make sure it is local. Apparently the Ontario crop got hit by a very wicked frost about a week and half ago and alot of our green spear-headed friends were damaged beyond saving. Kelly”s Basic Asparagus Frittta 5 organic eggs 2 tblsp olive oil or butter 2 tblsp water 1 small red onion 5 medium sized ontario grown mushrooms half bunch of ontario asparagus 1/4 cup parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste preheat oven to 350 Crack all the eggs into a bowl and beat. Add water and beat lighty again. Chop up the mushrooms,onions and your asparagus into bite sized pieces. Heat oil in pan (make sure to use pan that can go into oven after). Add onions, until they start to get transparent, add asparagus, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute until tender (about 5 min). Add your eggs, just cook without moving around too much, lift sides of egg and let juices run under bottom of egg to cook mostly. Add parmesan cheese on top. Once the bottom of the frittata is set and not runny anymore, pop it into oven to finish it off for about 8-1o minutes, check often as not to burn. Dee-lish!  Read More

Asparagus has arrived!

Asparagus Shoot Photo: istockphoto.com Let the garden gods bless aspargus. I know that many of you out there reading this happy little blog happen to live in London Ontario or perhaps, the surrounding areas. Well, we all know how long and miserable it seemed that this winter was for us. I know, I know, every winter seems long and cold and never ending in Canada, but this one – seemed to drag on an eternity, am I right? So to my glee, yes glee – driving into work just last week – I see the the most exciting spring happening, well.. just happening. Yes it is true, the glorious little green spears of the proud asparagus plant are emerging out of the fields, poking their brave and pointed noggins out to say “hello, we are here,yes,we are delicious, and we are ready to be eaten.” I am having a couple friends over for dinner this Saturday and I am going to pop into Mark”s Adelaide Street Farm (adelaide street north) and buy some of those fresh green, aspargus. I am not quite sure what I will do with them just yet, I promise to keep you posted – although, I do believe that it was Julia Child that once said the best way to cook asparagus was just with a little butter and some salt et voila. The below interesting facts have been provided by the Michigan Asparagus Board http://www.asparagus.org/ Did you know? Asparagus is a member of the Lily family. Asparagus spears grow from a crown that is planted about a foot deep in sandy soils. Under ideal conditions, an asparagus spear can grow 10″ in a 24-hour period. Each crown will send spears up for about 6-7 weeks during the spring and early summer. The outdoor temperature determines how much time will be between each picking…early in the season, there may be 4-5 days between pickings and as the days and nights get warmer, a particular field may have to be picked every 24 hours. After harvesting is done the spears grow into ferns, which produce red berries and the food and nutrients necessary for a healthy and productive crop the next season. An asparagus planting is usually not harvested for the first 3 years after the crowns are planted allowing the crown to develop a strong fibrous root system. A well cared for asparagus planting will generally produce for about 15 years without being replanted. The larger the diameter, the better the quality! Asparagus is a nutrient-dense food which in high in Folic Acid and is a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin. Asparagus has No Fat, contains No Cholesterol and is low in Sodium. And.. Yes it does make your pee smell funny, but who cares!? This last fact was of course not on the Michigan asparagus web site, but added by yours truly. In fact, there is a reason for this smell, and not every one of us has the pleasure of producing it, just in case you are one of those people who has to know.. well anyways.. I”ll just cut to the chase, here it is : http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/skinny-on/asparagus.html Now go eat some local asparagus already, it beats the pants off any of that shipped in stuff some of you may have subjected yourselves to over this long winter.  Read More