Went to the farmer's market in Orangeville on Saturday with my mom. I need to teach her how to shop the market properly. She stands in the middle of the whole affair, spies out the things she needs, bee-lines to the assorted booths in the most efficient trajectory, and skedaddles out of there. That simply won't do. The market is all about the tastes, textures and smells. It's about hearing where frost still lingers, and what a hard time your meat providers had lambing out this spring. Its about making the meaningful connections, and hearing exactly how your dinner ended up on the table, from planting/conception, to harvest, whether it be honey extractors or butcher knives. It's not just about assuming that the food is local because, well, it came from the market, but knowing and truly appreciating the people who make your belly full. It's thanksgiving every Saturday. And I savour it. As a first market experience for the season, I have to say I'm very disappointed with being dragged through it military style. I did however manage to get a few words in edgewise to a sweet lass who's new this year and selling yogurt, cheese and ice cream, all made with sheep's milk. Dairy products in general have been sorely lacking at our market, she was certainly a fresh face in the crowd. I bought a sharp cheese called egweda ecru that is reminiscent of a really old cheddar from her. I also snatched up a bottle of raw honey, and managed to slow mom down enough so she could hear the explanation of raw versus liquid honey, and I could tell her why I prefer the raw.
When we got home I realized that we had apples going wrinkly in the fruit bowl, past their prime bananas a-plenty in the fridge, and fresh rhubarb growing up tall and crisp in the garden. What's a poor girl to do, study? With all that going on around me? Heck no. I made an apple rhubarb crisp, and since mom and I were butting heads over who made the better banana muffins, and we had a plethora of nice brown mushy ones, we decided to each bake a batch of our favorites and see what the family thought was best. Mine won, hands down. Wasn't a fair fight. Mine have chocolate chips and walnuts.
All this foodie adventuring was finished by noon however, and I spent the afternoon studying. Didn't feel too guilty about it. After all, some mornings last week I hardly woke up before noon.
Sunday we took the Pathfinders on a hike. We followed the bruce trail from Hockley road at 2nd line, then took the Glen Cross, and Tom East side trails on the way back, for a total of 11.5 km. The trail was breathtaking, and awe inspiring. There were giant moss covered rocks, and piles of fieldstone tossed aside by farmers. Open meadows and dense forests. Tiny sandy banked streams, and raging rocky rivers with wooden bridges. Coniferous forest, deciduous forest, and everything in between. An ascent so steep it was aided by a cable, and stiles for crossing fence lines. It never ceases to amaze me what a wonderful, diverse landscape we have in Dufferin county. (is that part of the trail in Dufferin? I think so.) We stopped at about half way and ate a lunch of pancakes with chocolate chips and bananas and turkey bacon. The girls kept exclaiming at how fresh the air smelled, how beautiful the view was, and how nice it was that we weren't overheating as we hiked along. I think the weather might have hit a high of 10 degrees all day, and drizzled almost the whole time, but we were properly dressed for it, and it actually felt refreshing. We are definitely planning on doing more hiking in the future. Pictures to come I promise. I found a digital camera I haven't touched in about a year and took the pics with that. Now I just have to find the uploader cord.
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