The Wednesday market will start next week, 25 June. Hours will be 10am-2pm. Vendors will be limited (similar to the Sunday market), but more vendors will come as the summer progresses.
You should also be able to expect cherries at the market on 5 July. Now it’s officially summer!
I will be away for about 10 days, but you can expect more posts at the beginning of July. Have a good month!
Our Father’s Day get-together tonight featured traditional BBQ fare to take advantage of the lovely weather. It was also virtually all locally-grown. Just like Dad!
The menu featured:
Shish kebabs
I cut up a boneless pork leg roast and marinated the chunks in garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, and dried oregano for a couple hours, then threaded them onto (pre-soaked in water) skewers. For the vegetable ones, I coated the red, green, and yellow pepper chunks (from one of each colour) and halved mushrooms (cut up about 8 or so) in olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and pepper and let them sit for half an hour or so before threading them onto their own skewers (doing them separately ensures you don’t end up with raw meat or undercooked vegetables). At the appointed time, salt them, then hand them to your father to grill (over charcoal, of course) so you can sit down and have a beer.
Served 6 adults and 2 children
The One True Potato Salad
I am highly unbending in my personal rules for potato salad:
- The potatoes must be slightly mashed, not cut into large chunks.
- They must not be mashed so vigorously that they turn into mashed potatoes.
- New potatoes may retain their skins; otherwise they must be peeled.
- There must not be too much mayonnaise. I cannot abide gloppy potato salad.
- Dill and chives are mandatory, although radishes are optional.
- Celery, cucumber, green onion, and hard-boiled egg are also essential.
Boil the potatoes in salted water. When tender, drain and crush them gently with the potato masher, finishing with a fork to re-fluff them. Salt & pepper the potatoes and add a few spoonfuls of Miracle Whip (I know, I know, but I’m afraid it’s just not potato salad without Miracle Whip) and gently blend (don’t overwork the potatoes). Add the chopped cucumber, celery, hard-boiled egg, chives, dill, and radishes. The quantities really depend on how big a batch you’re making, but you want the vegetables to feature fairly prominently. Make sure you make enough so that you have some for lunch tomorrow; it gets better overnight.
After gently mixing, taste again. You might need to add a bit more Miracle Whip at this point, but don’t go overboard, lest your lovely potato salad suddenly morphs into Mayonnaise Glop. You want just a slight tang in every bite. Add final salt and pepper to taste. I threw the remaining pickled radishes from our pre-dinner nibbles on top of ours before serving, and very nice they were too.
The Buena Vista Community Association is hosting an environmentally-themed day in the park this Saturday. Local groups (like the Saskatchewan Environmental Society) will be on hand to show us what is happening in our city and what is possible in our neighbourhood. There will be a BBQ, local musicians, lawn bowling, kids art, games, and more!
Everyone is welcome for this fun free day out. See you there!
BVCA Green Day in the Park
Date: Saturday, 14 June 2008
Time: 10am-3pm
Location: Buena Vista Park (Victoria Avenue between 5th & 7th St E)
(photo: Canadian Design Resources)
The Saskatchewan Party has posted a request for ideas on how to spend the government’s oil and gas windfall on their party web site.
This is a great opportunity for voters to tell them exactly what their priorities are and how they want them to spend the money. For starters, how about restoring a tiny fraction of it to Station 20 West and invest in sustainable energy and food production?
Here’s my wish list:
We are at a crossroads here and have such an opportunity to make a difference in the province’s future. We need to spend this money wisely and preserve the ecosystem to ensure that today’s children not only have a means of supporting themselves, but also a safe and stable environment in which to live.
The environment is my number one voting issue. We have to make serious progress in the next decade. If we don’t prevent catastrophic climate change, nothing else will matter.
Vert-à-Go has a Facebook group, which is open to any and all who would like to join!
You may also be interested in:
Saskatchewan Permaculture Enthusiasts and Skill-Share group
and
What’s new this week: spinach, radishes
Eagle Creek Colony’s stand is now up and running!
Grandora’s lettuce is now finished and will not return until October. Wally’s Market Garden continues to have sprouts and mesclun-style greens, and spinach is available from a number of vendors.
Continuing: asparagus, jerusalem artichoke, rhubarb, green onion, yellow onion, potatoes, carrots, beets, sweet & hot peppers, cucumbers, chive, tomatoes, herbs (and more that I’ve likely forgotten)
(right: Gnome Suzuki. Admit it. You want one. Bad.)
The other night we had someone from the Saskatchewan Environmental Society come to the door about their Pesticide Reduction Project, which has had great success over the past two years. The SES has surveyed over 400 Saskatoon residents, and almost 80% of those surveyed have agreed to try going pesticide-free for this growing season. Approximately two-thirds of all those surveyed also agreed with the idea of implementing a bylaw to eliminate the use of cosmetic pesticides (similar to what has recently been enacted in Ontario).
We have already eliminated the use of pesticides in our gardens and were happy to put up one of their Pesticide-Free signs in the front garden (from the Canadian Cancer Society, who, along with everyone else here, classifies insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, and fumigants under the banner of ‘pesticides’). The SES is still looking for volunteers to help with the 2008 Pesticide Reduction Project:
We need lots of volunteers to help with our door to door surveys. Yes, this means knocking on doors and asking people about their pesticide use and attitudes about pesticides. Overall, doing these surveys has been a very positive experience. It is a great way to get out and meet your fellow citizens, to discuss important environmental issues with them and to make your city a safer and healthier place to live. If you are interested in helping out, please contact the SES office at 665-1915.
The SES also has a great bunch of information sheets about how to maintain healthy lawns and gardens without the use of harmful chemicals here.
If you’ve taken the plunge and gone pesticide-free in your green spaces, you might want to show off your handiwork by entering the David Suzuki Digs My Garden contest. Send in a photo or video of your garden, and you could win prizes–including a chance for Gnome Suzuki to pay a visit. By signing up, you’ll also get tips on growing your garden ‘drug-free’, and find out how to take action to ban pesticide use in your home province. I’ll definitely be entering our newly remodelled front garden!
What with the sunshine and bit of rain we’ve had this week, the pots of lettuce that I put in earlier in May are now going completely mad. I’m going to have to start thinning them out (the picture on the right was taken after I deforested one of them for supper). I plan to eat my way through the middle to make space to sow some of my heritage Strela Green lettuce seeds (a ‘very ornamental’ variety dating prior to the 16th century, according to Salt Spring Seeds). This way, I’ll have different lettuces maturing at different times and don’t have to worry about pathetic plant pot syndrome.
Although my gardens are now planted, obviously there isn’t an awful lot coming out of them into the kitchen just yet, apart from the lettuce, chives, and herbs. As fresh and delicious as these things are, they still need to be fleshed out a bit with some other ingredients. But a couple of days ago I discovered a small bag of beets from the farmers’ market that really needed to be used up (they were hiding under another, larger bag of beets). I also still had the rest of the Canadian chevre left over from the tarts I made for the shower a couple weeks ago. A quick google of ‘beets goat cheese’ turned up this amazing salad from Donna at All Recipes, which I adapted slightly (not having any frozen orange juice concentrate to hand). You could proudly serve this as an appetiser at a posh dinner party.
A May-December salad (yes, I know it’s June)
- 4 small beets, quartered
- 3 big tablespoons chopped walnuts
- 1-2Tb maple syrup
- baby salad greens
- goat cheese
Dressing:
- 1Tb balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- leftover beet cooking liquid (optional)
Put the beets in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20-30 minutes. Drain and cool, then cut in to bite-sized chunks, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
While the beets are cooking, gently toast the walnuts in a dry skillet, then drizzle over with maple syrup. Stir until evenly coated, then remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
Whisk together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make the dressing (I added a generous splash of the beet cooking liquid, but it wouldn’t be necessary).
Divide the greens onto two plates and evenly sprinkle over with the candied walnuts. Place the beets on top, top with crumbled goat cheese, and drizzle over with the dressing (you’ll probably have some left over for another salad tomorrow). Prepare to say ‘wow’!
(serves 2)
Barack Obama now seems to be all-but-confirmed as the Democrat presidential candidate. Why should we care in Canada? Because the US produces a disproportionate amount of the world’s CO2 emissions*, and is therefore poised to make or break the global fight against climate change.
This is it, folks. If we don’t take care of it in the next decade, we’re not going to get a second chance.
Here are the links to Obama’s plan for:
* For all our smugness, Canadians produce only a fraction fewer CO2 emissions than Americans (in 2004, Americans produced 20.4 tonnes, Canadians produced 20.0, the UK produced 9.79 and the people of Chad produced 0.01). Our population is much smaller, but we have absolutely no right to moral superiority. We need to change our behaviour now.
Food news
