Oh my are we ever excited to be sharing this!

Our 5th annual fundraiser has been finalized, and this year we are so pleased to be teaming up with the lovely folks at Wild Rice to celebrate the amazing foods British Columbia food producers have to offer. Mark your calendars for May 31 (one week before our summer season starts up!), and join us to kick off our summer season. Festivities start at 6pm on at Wild Rice, located in River Market at 810 Quayside Drive.

Like previous years, ticket holders get a meal and an adult beverage, and the very talented Chef Todd Bright has developed unique dishes just for our fundraiser that feature some of the best our vendors have to offer. We are drooling just typing this! Ticket holders may choose from:

• Barbeque pork with steamed vegetables and jasmine rice
• Mushrooms with crispy tofu on jasmine rice (vegan)
• Rockweld Farms chicken with red peppers, snow peas, and bok choy on Shanghai noodles

Wild Rice is creating a specially featured, seasonally-inspired cocktail to pair with the meals and it is included in the ticket price. (You can opt for a draft beer, highball, or specially selected red or white wine if a cocktail isn’t your thing).

As at our past fundraisers, we will feature a silent auction and 50/50 draw. We are currently seeking donations of goods and services and if you are willing to donate, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us to arrange pickup.

Tickets are just $24. We suggest buying now to avoid disappointment as we have sold out the past three years and expect to again.

Update! Tickets are now available for purchase online! Just hit up our home page, and look for the link in to top right sidebar.

If you’re interested in buying tickets, please email us at info@rcfm.ca.  We can arrange to hold tickets for you at the door. We can take payment via good old fashioned cash, or credit card using paypal. We can also mail you tickets if you’d like. They do need to be paid for in advance.

Please note this event welcomes families with kids to attend – just be aware it is likely to be loud and busy.

Please help us kick start the 2012 summer season and join us May 31 at Wild Rice.

 

Micro-Gardens Balcony-Side

It seems as if there’s a never ending struggle for space in this day and age, especially when we’re crammed in rows of apartments or condominiums. It’s hard to fully enjoy horticulture at its finest when your apartment window is fifty feet above ground, but why not bring some of the home garden right onto your balcony? Growing plants can bring colour to your outdoor space and even add some flavour to your cooking without invading on your personal space.

Oregano

I live by using oregano when I am cooking, especially in pastas or on barbequed meats. It can easily improve a meal with its aromatic scent and spicy flavour. What’s just as easy is this plant can be grown balcony-side in small pots, as long as there is ample sunlight. It’s best to start the oregano plant off inside then gradually transfer your pots outdoors. Oregano grows best when temperatures are above seven degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit), and in well-drained soil that is rich, as to help reduce the strong flavour. When planting your oregano seeds, simply cover them lightly with soil as they need some light to grow and keep the soil moist until the seeds start to spout.

After this point, your plant will not require as much water. Sprouting can take up to two weeks, and approximately five weeks after seedlings appear you can trim your plant to help it grow denser and bushier. Like most herbs, oregano tastes best before its flowers form. You can start harvesting when your plant is four to five inches tall but you can also harvest at any time in the growing period. Cut your plant stems down to the soil so that your next batch can grow more stems.

Sprinkle some of your fresh oregano on your dish closer to the end of cooking (so it does not become bitter from overheating), and you’re ready to go. Oregano can also be easily dehydrated. Just wash and pat dry your stems then put them in a paper bag or filter and keep them in a well-ventilated area out of the sun. Remove the oregano leaves from the stems when dry, store in an air-tight container and you’re ready for any emergency spice calls.

Strawberries

You can’t beat fresh fruit, and what could be fresher than picking ripe fruit right off your balcony? It’s as easy as growing strawberries right outside your door. For strawberry pots, the best types of strawberries are the ever-bearing and day-neutral varieties as they will give you regular harvests from late spring until early fall. Strawberries can be grown inside or outside, as long as they can get around six to eight hours of sunlight a day. Yes, New Westminster might not get the most sun in all of B.C., but the summer season is just around the corner.

When you start to plant, it’s important to know that strawberries need rich potting soil and good drainage to thrive. Specially designed strawberry pots like clay planters with side pouches work best. Fill your strawberry pot with soil up to the lowest pockets then insert your strawberry seeds and fill soil around them. Insert a PVC pipe drilled with holes into the centre of the pot to ensure even watering of the plants. Continue to add soil and strawberry plants until you get two inches below the pot’s rim. Add an extra few plants at the top and water thoroughly.

You’re done the easy part! Now the hard part: waiting. Your plants will need continual watering during the entire growing season. Be patient though, as strawberry seeds can take a couple months to grow. When that time comes, your strawberries are ready to be picked when they’ve turned plump and red.

Tomatoes

Salads can never have enough fixings, which is why having a pot of fresh cherry tomatoes on the balcony can easily garnish a lunchtime meal. There are a variety of cherry tomatoes to choose from when wanting to grow them in small pots. Anmore Treasures, Lyana, Tiny Tim and Yellow Pygmy are some types but Early Dwarf Cherry Tomatoes are great for indoors, because they don’t need as much light as other cherry tomatoes. After you’ve picked which cherry tomatoes you want to grow, you need a pot with holes in the bottom of the pot and a layer of stones for good drainage. Pack potting soil gently into the pot, poke quarter-deep holes in the soil and fill with one or two seeds. Water the plants just enough to keep the soil moist, which can mean watering them daily.

Tomato plants should be kept in a place where they can get lots of sunlight and where it’s relatively warm. Plants will thrive in temperatures around 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit). You should keep the plants inside to begin with then when the sprouts are between four to six inches high, transfer them outside. Tomatoes can take between 55 to 85 days to ripen. When they’re firm and red they’re ready for picking for salads, salsas or pastas.

A creative alternative to planting tomatoes is Lee Valley’s upside-down tomato planter that adds design to your balcony and also protects your plants from pests.

Getting started on your outdoor micro-garden is as easy as borrowing a book from the New Westminster Public Library, such as Stephanie Donaldson’s The Container Garden that features over 40 different designs for planters, pots, boxes, baskets and tubs or Fern Richardson’s Small-space Container Garden to help get your balcony, porch or patio summer-ready.

At our recent RCFM Board Meeting, the members of the Board unanimously passed a motion to declare our market a GMO Free Zone.

We feel the expansion of GMOs into our mainstream food supply without labeling denies consumers the right to know what’s in their food and we felt it appropriate to make a statement on what our position was on this matter.

Of the three main GMO crops (canola, corn, and soy) we are only aware of GMO corn being grown in our region, and we will be monitoring the origin of any corn that appears at our Market as well as soy and canola products should a BC vendor apply that sells those.

There are some exciting developments in the struggle to achieve truth in labeling. In California,  volunteers are frantically collecting 500,000 signatures in order to force a referendum in the fall to have GMOs labeled. Polls indicate strong support for this initiative. In Guelph, Ontario, the research project to introduce a GE or “Enviro Pig” into the marketplace has been abandoned and hopefully the same fate will befall the genetically engineered salmon the company AquaBounty has been trying to get approval for.

We are joining other British Columbia communities: Powell River, Saltspring Island, Rossland, Nelson, and soon, Richmond, in making this declaration. Declaring ourselves a GMO Free Zone is more a reflection of our values than a heavy handed enforcement tool. We believe that one of the main reasons consumers are supporting farmers markets in record numbers is a lack of trust in the products being offered by conventional retail outlets. Declaring ourselves a GMO Free Zone is a commitment to the trust our customers have placed in us that we will do everything in our power to ensure the products being offered at our Market are GMO free.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Murray

President

Royal City Farmers Market Association

We’ve been getting lots of calls lately from vendors interested in applying to be a part of our market summer 2012. First, we want to say how happy we are that you’re so organized! We’re not yet organized ourselves, though and wanted to let you know what the timeline is.

Our AGM is January 26th (we hope you can come!), and we’ll be electing a new Board of Directors for the 2012 year. Once they’re elected, they’ll set the policies, fees, and other parts of the summer 2012 season. Once that’s in place, we then can prepare the application packages.

If you’re intersted in applying with us, we recommend you sign up to the Interested Vendors List. In late February or early March, we’ll be sending the list the application package once it is ready. All summer 2011 and winter 2011-2012 vendors are already added to this list.

Thank you for your interest!

This is the first thing I’ve actually made in my new apartment, and I’m happy to say it turned out great and delicious (much to my surprise).

I hadn’t tried this particular recipe for Apple Crumble before but as all of my cookbooks are hiding in a box somewhere I had to improvise. I found the recipe from allrecipes.com, it came with mixed reviews and some alterations suggested. I like the sound of it so I followed the recipe more or less exactly.

Ingredients:

• 5 Apples (buy here or here)
• 2/3 cup of maple syrup
• ½ cup of butter
• ½ cup of brown sugar
• ¾  cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• ¾ cup of rolled oats

Method:

1)   Preheat oven to 375° F.

 

 

Allie Davison is the 2011 RCFM Summer Intern, assisting us with marketing and maintaining our social media. She’s studying professional writing at Douglas College and will be working to gain experience and portfolio pieces this season. Here’s more info.

This week I was privileged enough to spend the morning and early afternoon at Glen Valley Organic Farm out on the border of Abbostford. Glen Valley Organic Farm is 50 acre certified organic farm run as a co-operative. Currently, Jeremy and Chris are the two main farmers. You may have met them or Rob, an apprentice, at the market on Thursdays. They and their families live on the property. I arrived on the property at 7:30am — this is a very early start for a self-proclaimed night owl and was anxious to see what the day would have in store for me. Read more

A few weeks ago while wandering through the farmer’s market I found the most beautiful spinach from Glen Valley Organic Farms. Green is such a magnetic colour to me, and I could not take my eyes off of the chlorophyll-rich veggies.  I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to fresh organic produce and I always end up buying more than I need for the week.  Good for the farmer and my compost but not my wallet!

As I was standing in line to pay for my treasures –eggs, strawberries, kale, lettuce, cucumbers and of course the spinach, my brain was searching for a new recipe; one that would store for awhile so that I would not have any waste and of course something that my young son would like –or at least be willing to give it a try.  I remembered reading about pesto made with spinach and I thought this sounded good.  So after purchasing the spinach, off I went in search of fresh basil.  As usual, Nature Village Farms did not disappoint me, I love their beautiful produce and I found the loveliest bunch of basil leaves; along with some sweet carrots and luscious blueberries.  I couldn’t wait to get home to wash, nibble on and store my fresh produce for the week!

I found a standard basil Pesto recipe and decided to make a few changes as most are made with pine nuts and I wanted to try almonds and sunflower seeds as both of these are rich in heart healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.  Here is the recipe I came up with:

Heart Healthy Spinach and Basil Pesto

• 2 large cloves of minced garlic
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds (soaked overnight and rinsed well)
• ¼ cup almonds (soaked overnight and rinsed well)
• ½ cup of romano or parmesan cheese
• 2 cups of fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups of fresh spinach (about ½ bunch)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Wedge of fresh lemon juice
• Celtic sea salt to taste (optional)

The night before making this recipe, soak the sunflower seeds and almonds by covering them with filtered water and adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar.  Before making this recipe, drain and rinse well.

In a food processor combine basil and spinach and pulse until finely chopped (you may have to stop the food processor a few times and use a spatula to push the greens down toward the blade).  Then add the garlic, nuts and seeds, romano cheese, lemon juice and salt (if desired) and pulse until well combined.  With the food processor running, slowly drizzle a thin stream of extra virgin olive oil through an opening in the lid; add until desired consistency.  I served this recipe on fresh sourdough bread from A Bread Affair, mixed some with whole grain pasta and used as a veggie dip!  Store tightly covered for up to a week in the fridge or in the freezer for up to 3 months.  My aunt stores her pesto in ice cube trays and then uses them as needed.  You can experiment with different oils, nuts and seeds and even herbs like mint or cilantro.  I have tried using ½ flax oil and ½ olive oil and all pumpkin seeds and this was also very tasty.  Have fun and don’t be afraid to try different combinations!

You may be wondering why soak the nuts and seeds prior to eating them?  Nuts and seeds, as well as grains, all contain something called Phytic acid which is found in the outer layer (of the nut or seed) or bran of the grain.  This layer prevents the grain, nut or seed from sprouting until it comes into contact with moisture, however when not neutralized through the process of soaking, phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract; blocking their absorption and can potentially lead to mineral deficiencies.  When we soak (in slightly acidic water) prior to eating nuts, seeds and whole grains, the phytic acid is neutralized, numerous beneficial enzymes are produced, as well as, the availability of B vitamins increases.  For example, the simple practice of soaking rolled oats overnight before cooking them the next morning greatly improves their nutritional benefits and also lessens the cooking time.  For anyone interested in whole food nutrition, recipes and food preparation methods, a wonderful resource book is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

This recipe is swimming in antioxidant rich vitamins and minerals –vitamins A, C and E, glutathione and selenium and phytonutrients that help protect us from disease.  Almonds are rich in vitamin E, calcium, and magnesium and along with the olive oil, are high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.  Calcium is needed to stimulate contractions in the heart and magnesium supports the relaxation phase.  Magnesium also calms the nerves –helping with anxiety and stress and relaxes the skeletal muscles helping to prevent cramping.  Vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant, travels through the body neutralizing free-radicals.  We generate free radicals daily as a by product of metabolism; just by being alive, breathing, eating poor quality foods, exercise and interacting with toxins and pollution –to name a few.  Free radicals are electrically-charged molecules that create damage to our cells unless neutralized by an antioxidant.  We can protect our bodies from this stress by ingesting foods high in these micronutrients.  We could also take supplements but when we eat the whole food we get the added benefit of the many amino acids, fibre, complex carbohydrates, fats and oils as well as phytonutrients not all found in a single supplement.

For example, just one quarter of a cup of sunflower seeds contains 90% of the body’s daily requirement of vitamin E and is rich in the mineral selenium.  Selenium and vitamin E are better able to carry out their antioxidant functions together and nature has conveniently packaged them together in this wonderful tasting seed!

We cannot forget about spinach as this vegetable has been hailed a ‘superfood’!  Just recently I was thumbing through the book SuperFoods, Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Mathews and discovered that it contains a vast array of phytonutrients, including “beta carotene, plant-derived omega- 3 fatty acids (only a very few vegetables contain these fatty acids), the antioxidants gluthathione, alpha lipoic acid (spinach is the best source of this amazingly potent antioxidant), vitamins C and E, polyphenols, coenzyme Q10, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin K, and the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.  It also has chlorophyll, which may be a potent anti-cancer substance.”  No wonder Popeye loved his spinach and it gave him so much strength and energy!  On a side note, just by adding a small amount of vitamin C rich lemon to this recipe, it enhances the absorption of the minerals calcium and iron.

Basil is part of the mint family and like mint is also useful for digestive complaints.  It is also an excellent source of vitamin K (helps with blood clotting), is rich in powerful antioxidant-rich phytonutrients that also have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties.  I love the strong taste of basil and look forward to this summer treat –especially raw, as the enzymes and full flavour are lost in cooking.

Finally, olive oil is both rich in vitamin E, monounsaturated fats and antioxidants.  Up to 75% of olive oil is made of oleic acid –a monounsaturated fat.  This fat is more stable than polyunsaturated vegetable oils and therefore less prone to damage.  To avoid damaged fats, when purchasing olive oil, ensure that it is good quality –extra virgin, cold pressed and stored in a dark bottle (preferably glass).

I love the Farmer’s market because the food is so fresh, and alive with goodness.  Nature is so wise and knows how to package everything together so that we receive the maximum nutritional value.  We just have to have fun and try new ways of creating tasty, nutrient-rich meals.  I love this pesto recipe and I hope that you enjoy it too!

Many Blessings of Health,

Kelly Kiss, RHN (Registered Holistic Nutritionist)

Many of you have seen this delicious archived image of New Westminster’s first Farmers’ Market, both on the web, and in the newspapers. It’s a fabulous image, and it’s one we here at RCFM are rather proud of and use on all our posters.  But do you know how we came to get it?

In 2007, a group of local citizens decided it was high time for the Royal City to have its own modern farmers’ market so they began to get organized. After all, New Westminster was home to the original outdoor market in BC. They formed a society, the Royal City Farmers’ Market Association, and the 2008 market was the first fruits of that labour.

One day, one of the founding directors came across a postcard being advertised on mega-auction site eBay. The postcard was offered for sale by a fellow in Missouri of all places, and the price was in the neighbourhood of less than $5.00.

Of course, the postcard had to be purchased! How could RCFM not have such a great piece of history?

And thus, the image we have all come to know and love:

One of these days, I’d really like to do the research and try and find this photo in our City’s archives, and duplicate the original image. Winter project, I suppose.