"Make It A Fresh Day"

Vernon Farmers Market

Most communities have farmers markets these days, bringing in produce from far away places.  What makes Vernon's Farmers Market so special is that Vernon is surrounded by  agricultural land.  With rich soil, hot sun and generous irrigation, our farmers produce some of the best food grown anywhere. We don't have a 100 miles diet around here, it is more like a 10 km diet!

The market starts up in mid April, about the same time asparagus spears and spinach have popped out of the rich soil  reaching to the warm  spring sun. Soon there is fresh herbs, peas, lettuce, radishes, zucchini, turnips and rhubarb, and by June the local cherries and berries arrive along with most every other vegetable known to man.
This is the start of the parade of fabulous Okanagan fruit with apricots, peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, melons and apples to follow. The produce stands are heaped full, a rainbow of fresh colours: heritage tomatoes, peppers and beets of hues from green to purple, red, yellow and orange.  Local vendors pick their produce the night before or very early in the morning, often arriving by 6 to set up in the coolness of the morning.

I love visiting the market. It is held from 8 to 1 Monday and Thursdays until the end of October.   We often bike there, amble along the rows of vendors, checking out produce, art and jewelry, tasting samples of homemade salsas and dips, baked goods, nuts and cheese.  We always stop for a coffee, enjoy some music, watch the buskers and visit with friends.  Various groups of entertainers come and go but Don Monty is always there, strumming his guitar and raising his white cowboy hat to those who pass by.  He gives much of the loose change that is tossed in his hat  to others he deems less fortunate.

I have my favourite vendors.  The broccoli and spinach from  Zelaneys Farms is amazing; heads of lettuce from Good 'n Plenty are huge and beans from Grandview Melons are always young and crisp.   But I often check the smaller booths who lovingly display small tidy bunches of their garden bounty.

I buy most of my fruit from Bella Vista Orchard but usually just visit their orchard, only a short walk from my home. I often buy handmade meat pies from Real Deal Australian Meat Pies and spicy samosas from the Samosa Lady. I've tried the chicken from Sterling Springs and lamb from Vale Farms. The Gouda cheese from Triple Island Cheese is great. And for a special treat I'll order a chocolate almond crepe from Crepe Bistro and watch, salivating, as Olivier Petit, "master crepeman" , prepares the delicacy in his mobile creperie.

 I've started my Christmas shopping, buying a gorgeous handmade purse from Susan's Satchels and I'm eyeing some socks from Tocino Alpacas.  Last year I bought a beautiful hand crafted silver necklace from Lucho's Art Jewelry.  And I usually stop in to see my good friend Mary Tremayne, an artist and potter who has been a vendor at the market from its beginning in 1978.

The market is full of fresh flowers, with bundles of big bright sun flowers but I am partial to the multi-colour roses and Gerber daisies from Lavington Roses. My last fresh roses last two weeks!

However there is often something new or different to experience.  This week I tasted some roasted almonds from Go Left Nuts and came home with packages of the Cara-Sel (almonds with caramel and sea salt) and the Sweet-Heat, (almonds  with Ancho chili).  But my best find this time was at Okanagan Garlic.

"I spread a clove on toast, like jam every morning",  Bill Campbell told me as he explained the distinct and unique flavours of the different varieties of garlic he grows and sells.  "Spanish Roja is best for salads, you eat it raw."  And apparently it is mild enough to spread on bread, quite a contrast to the garlic I had brought to him from my own garden.  He told me I have grown Yugoslavian garlic.  "On a scale of 1 to 5, it is a 5, very strong and pungent and good for marinates on roasted beef or lamb."  I happily leave with 6 huge cloves of Spanish Roja.  Some will make it into salads this winter and some will be planted in my garden  so I will have my own to harvest next summer.