BAKED
AND CANNED GOODS
Summer fruits
are still with us, they’ve simply been transformed into jams and
jellies, fruit pies and fruit loaves. What follows is a sampling
of the kinds of baked and canned goods currently available at the
market most Saturdays until Christmas.
The aroma of
hot apple cider drifts onto the sidewalk at King Street where
Guy Gariepy sells Elaine’s homemade jams and jellies.
Spiked with cinnamon, cloves and allspice, the hot cider draws people
in on a cold day. Guy said that favourite jams are Peach Mango and
Ginger Pear; and that students really like Elaine’s Hot Red Pepper
Jelly that goes well with blue cheese and crackers.
Gerda
Mainz and her husband Ziggy have a double stall with
a wide selection of home-baked loaves: lemon, cranberry, banana,
butter pecan, carrot, and lemon poppyseed. Gerda also makes her
own fudge, butter tarts, macaroons and traditional cookies of chocolate
chip, peanut butter, oatmeal nut and raisins. She grows her own
gooseberries and red and black currants. The rest of the fruit that
goes into her jams is locally bought. In addition to Hot Pepper
Jelly, Gerda makes Wild Elderberry, Wild Grape, Blackberry and Gooseberry
jams. She owns a beer nut machine and processes her own beer nuts.
Gerda also sells candy and stresses that, unlike everything else,
the candy is bought because "candy-making is government controlled".
Peter
Carr does all his own baking using fresh or fresh-frozen fruit.
He’s been coming to market for ten years and each year is better
than the last. Along with traditional fruit pies, Peter sells fruit
loaves that resemble pound cakes. He makes five kinds of bread:
white, raisin, whole wheat, multi-grain, and oat
with sunflower
seeds. He keeps a stock of cookies on hand to offer to the children
that stop by. At this time of year he has light and dark Christmas
cake.
Dot
Stevenson of Prince Edward County explains that she started
making jam because she didn’t want to waste anything. "It started
with our own strawberries and then it just grew." Now she makes
jams from homegrown fruits (raspberry, gooseberry, black and red
currants, blackberry, rhubarb, apple, sweet and sour cherries) and
supplements with wild blueberries and purchased peaches. All her
jams are sugar-reduced by one third so the berry flavour is stronger.
Dot also makes sugar-free jams for diabetics. Frank, her
husband, planted a lot of tomatoes and thus was born her Orchard
Chili Sauce made of tomatoes, peaches, pears, plums, apples, celery,
onion, garlic and peppers. Dot also makes regular chili sauce, relishes,
pickles and spiced crab apples.
Robert Henderson,
featured in our September newsletter, also makes a wide variety
of award-winning jams, jellies and marmalades.
Corinna,
of Nikita Herbs and Preserves, can be found at the market from Easter
weekend till October. Corinna makes herb vinegars and exotic jams,
jellies and preserves.
Joyce Olsen
and Robert Garven make jams, jellies and preserved fruits from
recipes handed down by Joyce’s grandmother.
The Wolfe Island Bakery
will return next Spring with delicious sweet and savoury baked goods!
MEET MARKET
VENDOR: RUTH MILLER
At Ruth
Miller’s stall, Knee Deep in June, you’re sure to find food that
tastes good, looks good, and is good for you. "Our specialty
is organically grown salads," said Ruth, "And we like
to stress freshness, quality, and diversity." Salad ingredients
vary depending on what’s available: a bag might contain different
lettuces, spinach, baby bok choys, arugula, mizuna, baby oriental
mustards and herbs. All the salad greens are hand-picked, hand-washed
and spun. It’s a labour intensive business but also a labour of
love. Ruth’s two daughters, Ann and Cathy, were both working as
nurses when they made the decision to start the business five years
ago. "The decision was based on quality of life, " said
Ann. Ruth was ready to retire from nursing and she offered to go
to market while her daughters worked on the farm. "She’s a
natural people person and very creative. I think she enjoys it,"
said Ann.
Cathy works
full-time on the garden while Ann works part-time there and part-time
as a nurse. The first years were difficult and there was a huge
learning curve. They discovered that a large organic garden is different
from a family garden because you have more bugs. Since they use
no sprays, herbicides or pesticides, they researched the rotation
of crops and the grouping of plants to repel bugs and keep the soil
healthy. "We manually squash some bugs, for example, the tomato
hornworms that defoliate tomato plants; or we put a white cloth
over the greens to keep the bugs off but allow the sun and rain
to get in. We also attract beneficials such as ladybugs and wasps
that eat the pests."
The Millers
have an acre under cultivation with raised and sunken beds. The
family home is situated on 40 acres east of Gananoque. "We
like to grow organic foods and unusual produce that can’t be found
in grocery stores." In addition to salad greens, the Millers
have filet beans, ground cherries, herbs, lavender, hardneck garlic,
summer squash, eggplants, peppers, sweet potatoes, broccoli and
heirloom tomatoes. The heirlooms are black, purple, persimmon, and
brandy wine, an old standby that’s very sweet. "They taste
better and they’re hard to come by because they are not as productive
as the new hybrids."
Another
unusual product is edible flower petals that local chefs buy for
garnishes. There are cholendula petals, clary, viola, borage, impatiens
and nasturtium. Basil is their major herb and they grow a lot of
lavender that is turned into sachets and lavender sugar cookies.
They also make herbal vinegars and unusual jellies such as Queen
Anne’s Lace and Dandelion. "The Dandelion jelly actually tastes
like honey, " said Ann. "The work is fun. We do it because
we love it, " said Ruth.
Please join
us in extending our heartfelt sympathy to Ruth Miller and family
on the tragic loss of Jeff Griffin, aged 18, who died on November
3rd, 2001, in a car accident.
Kingston Market News
Published
by
Kingston Public
Market Vendors’ Association
KPMVA newsletter
group
Titia Posthuma;
Margie Potter;
Hank-John Reinink;
Dianne Wilson
Editor &
Writer
Donna James
How to Contact
Us
In person at
the Market
E-mail the Editor:
[email protected]
Write to: T. Posthuma,
RR #2, Maberly, On, K0H 2B0
Kingston Market
News appears bi-weekly from April to October with one issue in both
November
and December.
Market website
www.geocities.com/kingstonmarket
Email the Webmaster:
[email protected]
WATCH FOR
THE NEXT
KINGSTON MARKET
NEWS
DECEMBER 1,
2001
QUESTIONNAIRE
RESPONSES
I’d like to
respond to the October questionnaires about the Market and Parking
Solutions.
Items that
are not available that I’d like to see
I'd like to
see more "exotic" locally grown produce: ground cherries, certain
mushrooms etc. Any chance of being able to buy wild strawberries?
What I like
most about the market
I like best
about the market the quality and choice of freshly grown produce,
availability of organic items, ability to buy wild-growing fruits
and vegetables, chatting with my favourite vendors and particularly
the loving hands of people who have grown produce and clearly have
established a personal relationship with it. I love to see in their
touch that they are part of, and feel part of, a whole universe
of living things.
What I like
least about the market
I like least
the hucksterism evident in some retailers not really producers)
who erect flossy stalls and offer such wonderful local items as
lemons, oranges etc. The number of producers and creators should
greatly outweigh that of retailers and sales folk. I like the availability
of items like bread and sausages if made locally and I don’t object
to diversity. But it is the fresh produce that makes the market
and it should never become another bazaar.
Market Suggestions
Whenever possible,
the place of origin of all items should be revealed. The Ottawa
market has no problem doing this.
Each Saturday,
a municipal Councillor might be available at a table or stall to
discuss people's concerns.
Parking Suggestions
It would be
nice to create -- and police!!! – a short term parking area, say
for 5-minutes. This would enable one to purchase items too awkward
or heavy to lug around, leave them with the vendor(s), pick up one's
car from the parking garage and collect one's purchases by car.
Prominent signs
should be displayed, indicating the nearest parking garages. Parking
stamps might be offered to individuals who spend a certain amount
at market. This might be hard to administer but it could be managed.
If an organization like Friends of the Market were created, its
members might assist with some of these schemes.
But the principal
attraction and purpose of the market is to sell fresh produce, flowers,
herbs, honey, etc, by people who grow and make it and know their
secrets and nature.
John Meisel
, Kingston
What I like
most about the market is the availability of farm produce and homegrown
and home-prepared foods. I’d like to see a requirement that the
arts and crafts offered for sale be home-produced as opposed to
being products of industry.
Ric Kidman,
Kingston
Editor’s
Note: There is a requirement that all crafts be juried and produced
by the vendor. However, there is no requirement that all farm produce
be homegrown.
LETTERS
In the last
issue we printed a letter from Dorothy Davis suggesting that the
names and locations of all vendors be posted on their stalls. The
KPMVA will discuss this, and other suggestions, over the winter.
We welcome your
comments. Write to the KPMVA c/o Titia Posthuma, RR #2, Maberly,
On, K0H 2B0; or e-mail Donna James, [email protected]. Include
your name and phone number. Letters may be edited for brevity and
clarity
The
Winner Is...
Congratulations
to Naomi Prashad, lucky winner of the market’s first free
draw held October 27th. Naomi is a Queen’s student who
was overjoyed to receive a commemorative market bag filled with
homemade food and crafts. "It was a blessing," she said.
"I was in the middle of exams and wanted to go to market that
day to buy eggs and apples, but I was just too busy and stressed.
So when I got the phone call saying I’d won the draw, well, it was
exactly what I needed that day!"
The market bag
contained jams, preserves, maple syrup, honey, eggs and pickled
eggs, a ceramic mug, slippers, coasters, a hand-painted bird-house,
fudge, children’s overalls, salad dressing, relishes, a garlic braid,
a cheese ball with salsa, opal basil vinegar, wild elderberry jelly
and lavender sachets, as well as coupons for market produce and
baked goods.
Dianne Wilson,
Chair of the KPMVA, thanked all vendors who donated gifts and said
their participation was wonderful. "Everyone seemed very happy
to give the products that they worked so hard to create. The true
spirit of the market shone through in their generosity and the faces
of the people giving were as happy as the one receiving."
WINDING
DOWN FOR WINTER
With the end
of the growing season upon us, the market has been thinning out
over the past few weeks and so we compiled this update on who will
be at the market from now until Spring.
Ruth Miller,
Knee Deep in June (see profile): Saturdays
till Christmas; maybe three times a week when fresh boughs and seasonal
greenery is ready.
Guy Gariepy (see
What’s In Season): three times a week all
winter; jams, jellies, maple syrup, honey, cider and apples.
Lisa Davis
and Marilyn Moss, Simple Country Pleasures: three times a week
(weather permitting) until Christmas; wreathes and seasonal decorations,
jams and produce. Will return before Easter with spring bulbs and
perennials.
Betty
Berghout, Betty’s Byre: three times a week (weather permitting)
until Christmas; will return first week of March with spring flowers.
Hank-John
and Janet Reinink: every Saturday all winter with fresh, free-run
brown eggs. Hens are fed an all grain diet with no animal by-products,
antibiotics or growth hormones. Will return end of May with mixed
greens, spinach and snow peas.
Dianne
Wilson: every Saturday till Christmas; honey, dried flowers,
and beeswax hand cream that is also sold at Tara’s in winter; will
return in March.
Frank Stevenson
(see What’s In Season);
all Saturdays till Christmas; jams, chili sauce, pickles.
Peter Carr,
Brewer’s Mills Bakery (see What’s In Season):
Saturdays till Christmas; pies, cookies, breads, Christmas cake;
return in March.
Gerda and
Ziggy Mainz (see What’s In Season):
every Saturday till mid-December; fresh and dried Christmas arrangements;
home-baked loaves, cookies, macaroons, butter tarts, fudge, and
jams.
Robert Henderson:
(profiled in September) every
Saturday till Christmas; jams, jellies, and preserves; will return
in March with maple syrup.
Irisa and
Doug Roche: three times a week till the snow comes; cut flowers,
plants and produce.
John Osborne:
three times a week till Christmas; plants, produce and baked
goods.
Al Van Eyndthoven:(profiled
in October) Saturdays till
Christmas (weather permitting); sausages, hams, bacon and Dutch
Gouda cheeses.
Market Craftspeople
The season for
craftspeople at the market ended in October and their indoor winter
season has begun. They will return to market in late Spring. Meanwhile,
you’ll find many market crafters and producers of jams at Kingston’s
annual craft events:
November 16-18
"Creativity"
at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
December 14-16
"Craft
Creations" at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
December 1-31
"Festival
of Lights" at Fort Henry
