September 22 - Peaches and Apples Galore!

 We had another week of excellent farm market weather, though the wind at QEII was a bit of a hurdle and caused us to ditch our wall for the sake of our tent not turning into a kite and blowing away!  We changed the layout of the stall so that customers shop around the outside and we can restock and sell from the inside-- Good until a rainy day, when we'll want a space for our customers to shelter from the rain.  Fingers crossed we make it through a few more Fridays not having to worry about that!
 The apples have been great so far this year.  We currently have Gravenstein, Sunrise, Ginger Gold, Paula Red, Zestar, Ribson, and McIntosh.  This weekend we also had some organic Honeycrisp, which are stunning and worth every penny at $3.50/lb.   The organic apples ripen a week ahead of non-organic, says farmer Ted Hutten via Andrew.  I tried a Ribson on Saturday and it was close to a Cox's Orange Pippen, which I love for their complex, straightforward tartness.  Sunrise are a crowd favourite, sweet and juicy-crunchy, closest to a honeycrisp.  Gravenstein are mouthwatering with great texture and tartness, and loved by Nova Scotians-- This apple is not one I was very familiar with prior to living here.  I snagged a Ginger Gold on my way to check out the peaches in storage the other night and was pleasantly surprised with it's sweetness and crunch-- Yellow apples never seem to be the first to appeal to me when I am looking for a snack, but this one is worth a try!  Chantal tried all the apples at market the other day and picked Zestar as her favourite-- She said it was sweet and had a nice texture.  Some recent research tells me that it doesn't brown when cut and so this apple is also a great choice for salads, and holds it's shape when cooked (unlike the Gravenstein, which is touted the best apple for pies, which depends if you like your pie chunky or melty-apple style, with Gravenstein delivering the latter).  Paula Red, which I always identify by their rich blush of lipstick-red, are an early ripening version of the classic McIntosh-- which Mac lovers tell me have a tartness, that I can't seem to get due to not liking the texture of Macs.  They have a softer, less dense texture than other apples-- and Mac lovers are dedicated, die hard Mac lovers, so it's good that there's an apple for everyone's taste!
 This week we start picking some of the later apples, like Jonagold and ever-sought-after Honeycrisp, and so those will hit the Seaport market this Saturday and hopefully Hammonds Plains Farmer's Market (Thursdays, temporarily at 1215 Hammonds Plains Road 2:30 - 6:30 PM) and the QEII Market (Fridays from 10 - 2 in the VG courtyard) later this week.

 This past weekend at Seaport John sampled our wonderful peaches and we offered a special deal on the 3L baskets ($4.00).  I'm still amazed at the number of customers who ask where the peaches are from.  Just like everything in our bountiful stall, they are from Nova Scotia!  Peaches have been phenomenal this year, and the other night after market Andrew showed me how many we have in storage-- Four coolers, some stacked to the top with these fuzzy treats, just waiting for a good home in someone's crisp, pie, bbq, or belly!

Our new spot at the Hammonds Plains market is a great temporary home, and the folks at the church have been welcoming and accommodating for us.  Since we inevitably create some fruit and veggie debris, we are set up in the small tiled area in the front of the building.  It works great for us and we hope that our customers will continue to find our "musical chair market" as we relocate here until the construction is done at our regular spot on Kearney Lake Road.  It's unfortunate that we have had to move the market yet again due to the construction, however our loyal customers in the community have been very supportive and seem willing to follow us wherever we need to go to make things work.  For now, we're at the Wesleyan Cornerstone Church on Hammonds Plains Road/Gatehouse Run, and it's working great for us.