Thursday, September 10, 2009

Can you 'can'?

Last week at the market was a record-day! We had 38 vendors at the market. Wow! Thank you for coming out in droves.
It was one of those days where I couldn't tell what time it was as there wasn't a lull at any point in the day. Our vendors were busy right up til closing time. The beautiful weather combined with a shift in our schedules - back to school, back to work, back to cooler, shorter days- kept everyone close to home.

Our canning display this weekend will give you a starting point - the basics of canning and preserves. We will have a mini display set up inside the building with a quick reference sheet for you to take home. Several of our vendors have their canned goods for sale and sample.

McSmiths Organics are bringing cases of pickled beets and some for sampling too. Kim McCarvell of Green Leaf Pastry will be sampling her 'Sugar Plum Fairy Jam'. She also has a special on her organic Italian Antipasto & handcrafted organic Sundried tomatoe and Herb Focaccia bread. Purchase these together for $7.25 (a savings of $1.25) - you might want to see her first as she has sold out on the bread for the last two weeks before 10am!

If canning isn't for you, there are plenty of preserves at the market for you take home, ready-made!

Gredig's Orchards are returning with two varieties of apples - the cider is not ready yet but possibly next week. And some of you may be planners and thinking about a season coming up that includes sparkling lights and wrapped gifts - Carole Smith is returning with her beautiful handmade miniature christmas trees.
Look for a new vendor - TipToes Body Care, a local business with natural skin care products for Baby & Mama and special products for Seniors. They will be located indoors.

This will be the last week of the season for some vendors. Birdman on the Marsh with his handcrafted birdhouses will be done for the season. Birdhouses make awesome gifts for the hard to buy for person on your list - you can never have too many (in my opinion) and they keep on giving year round.

Have you heard about Doors Open Ontario? This province wide program is sponsored by the Ontario Heritage Trust and has several participating communities opening their doors to heritage sites for a self-guided tour of history and heritage. St. Thomas is new to the venue this year with our dates of October 17 & 18th. The St. Thomas Horton Farmers market is on the venue for Oct. 17th. It will be business-as-usual that day with market hours from 8am to noon but then the building will remain open until 4pm for participating tourists. Please visit the Doors Open booth at the market for more detailed information and other sites in St. Thomas.

One other record high this past weekend - the Horton Breakfast Sandwich Combo! Sandy Lyle and the combo team (his family) were hopping last week, making over 140 sandwiches in 3 short hours. I did my share of keeping them busy by having two! I am up at 5am so for me its one for breakfast and one for lunch!

And the winners are..... last week Sears St.Thomas had a booth at the market handing out the Christmas Wish Book and signing folks up for a free draw. I have drawn the names and made the calls - Christmas every week for me I keep saying. And the customer appreciation draw is always a highlight of my week. Congratulations to all our lucky winners - see me on Saturday to collect your prize!

We have been dicussing a 'Friends of the Market' idea in our meetings. This would be an informal group of volunteers who would like to help out with the market in any capacity. There are always little things that need to be done that can contribute in larger-than-life ways. If this might be of interest to you please see me at the market or email me.


I could keep writing as there is always so much to talk about when it comes to the market. Someone asked me last week how much coffee I had - what? Was I chatting too fast to keep up? This is not a bad thing - the growth and support of the market in the past 3 years has been amazing! I have jokingly mentioned that we might need a support group for the months of Nov-April to keep everyone connected in the off-season - also not such a bad idea!

See you soon,

Cheers,

Tricia Herbert
Market Manager

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