We have a new freezer in Around the Sound. It's new and beautiful and energy efficient and will help you see all the amazing food your neighbours bring in - lamb and beef, sausage and meat pies, pizza and samosas, fish and pheasant, and soon, very soon - Mapleton's organic ice cream.

It will, that is, when it is plugged in. And that will be as soon as Norm and John have done their Twilight Electrical magic. Just the way Brian and Jason did Central Electrical magic to make the cooler run.

We have the most amazing community! When it became clear that the freezer would not fit through the door, Ron carefully removed (and later replaced) the whole door frame. Ryan came over and helped David and the two very patient delivery men (whose names I am embarassed to say I did not ask) get this 600 pound baby in to the store. Then Lianna and Michal helped put everything back in place!

Christina brought chives and lemon balm last week, and this week rhubarb has been offered. Wally has offered to do the planting work for anyone who buys his pots and wants them planted out, and Ron and Ange are making their house available for a solar dehydrator workshop on Saturday. This is the way a community works.

For you samosa and curry fans, Laura has brought mango, apricot-date and apple-rhubarb chutneys as well as a new orange fig jam.

Fair-trade olive oil from Palestine is back in the store, alongside the Ontario cold-pressed sunflower oil and mayonnaise.

Winston has supplied us with bison burgers and medallions, and for serious burger fans, there are some amazing huge venison burgers. Winston also brought us smoked whitefish although you may not have seen it last week because one customer bought it all after tasting it at the Rocky Raccoon Cafe.

Thank you James for putting up the sign to remind customers that there is parking around back. If you come in that way you can still pick up a raised bed box and some compost, and you'll see the new bike rack courtesy of Jolley's Alternative Wheels. Thanks Shane.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7, and Saturday 10 until 4 at 972 1st Avenue West, one block north of the library.

See you there!
Anne

aroundthesoundfood.com
519-416-3663

That's what my mother used to call asparagus as she served up a big plateful as an honoured spring supper. I'll do my best to see that you have some "sparrow grass" this week.

Without a doubt, the biggest challenge in providing you with the best your neighbours make and grow is simply making the connections and arrangements.

An example. Since we had bison burgers in our first few months, there have been many requests for more local bison. One local farm is in the process of expanding their herd, and another is keeping their herd small until they acquire more land in order to retain their organic practice of providing adequate grazing land for each animal. All of their meat is spoken for. I'll keep looking for sources of local bison for you aficionados.

You might want to try venison for a change. Loin cuts are leaner than skinless chicken breasts and have less cholesterol. Our venison comes from Shalom Deer Farm out near Sauble Beach. Owners John and Tammy Kroezen and their sons Jake and Noah welcome you to drop in if you're in the area.

In the dairy section, Axel has brought us sheep yogurt as well as feta, feta with herbs in olive oil, and pecorino - all sheep cheeses. We're also carrying Millbank cheeses - havarti, gouda and mozzarella, organic Swiss and organic 2 year old cheddar. Friday we're expecting some Pinehedge organic sour cream and Harmony Organics chocolate milk (okay, I ordered this specially because my son Andrew is home - I'll admit it.)

Winston brings fresh fish on Thursday and it continues to be a favourite, but many choose frozen for future dinners - lake trout marinated in dill pesto, or filets of pickerel or rainbow trout.

Grocery staples are continuing to grow - canned organic Ontario tomatoes, peanut butter, sunflower oil, and coffee.
This week we'll add mayonnaise, cornmeal, almonds, beans,
toothpaste and deodorant. Some of these may travel a little farther than 100 miles, but they are made by small Canadian companies and that's a resource we'd like to keep renewable.

We'll be happy to search for your favourite foods, order in a special size, ask a producer about their products or save you a bread or pizza - just ask!

I'm looking for herbs, and rhubarb if anyone has them. I'd love to sell rhubarb juice - a great local substitute for lemonade and full of vitamin C!

The Metis Centre has space in their community garden if anyone is looking for a plot downtown or could help prepare the garden for planting.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4 at 972 1st Avenue West.

See you there!
Anne

aroundthesoundfood.com
519-416-3663

There are lots of reasons for having a local food store, but I'm beginning to think that the best is ...well, the food!

Every week someone comes in with some new products or ideas, and every week something new and delicious appears! If you ask me for something you particularly like, I'll try to find it, and if it's not made/grown/raised around here, I'll put out the word and it will be an opportunity for someone. Already we have two local agencies who support particular groups of people in town looking at making products for the store. It will all be in approved facilities under the watchful eye of public health, but it will be using local ingredients and providing training in gardening, food handling and cooking. How great is that?

We've brought in rice cakes for those who need something gluten-free to eat with those delicious Marketside shitake mushroom, whitefish or sun-dried tomato pates. And for a quick supper, the pates can be thinned with a little milk or stock to make a sauce for the spelt noodles or gluten-free pastas.

As requested, we've also added products like no-sugar-added strawberry jam, no-salt-added organic tomatoes, and
Margaret's wheat-free baking.

We still have local carrots and and this week, truck willing, we'll have Jerusalem artichokes, greenhouse basil and chives and some other Ontario vegetables. If things don't grow in Ontario at all,like lemons and Ted's favourite Minneola oranges, we bring them in through Pfenning's, an Ontario organic distributor.

If you need play-off snacks, we have lots of organic popcorn and tortilla chips and several local salsas. Smoked rainbow trout is Ted's favourite snack food - keeping up his strength for overtime.

For those who like to build up their homemade stock or soup supply before it gets too warm, we have turkey carcasses, backs and necks, meaty beef soupbones and pork soupbones.
Or you could just buy Brenda's - proclaimed by one customer last week as "the best I've ever had - including my own."

I'd be happy to have rhubarb, leeks, herbs and seedlings if anyone has any to sell. And of course garlic!

One last note - Chicory Common Natural Food Store and Cafe, that great sister store in Durham, is up for sale. The business and building (with a cafe, basement, receiving area, storeoom and 3 bedroom apartment)with all the equipment and fixtures for only $215,000. Ask me for the contact information if you're interested.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4, at 972 1st Avenue West. See you there!

Anne
519-416-3663
aroundthesoundfood.com

David Harper, owner of Meaford's 100 Mile Market with his wife Barbara, died on Saturday after a brief but brutal illness.

Around the Sound owes its existence to David's generous spirit. When I asked him what he thought about a store like the 100 Mile Market in Owen Sound, his first words were "Marvellous! What can we do to help?" And help they did, in every possible way - from wise and patient advice, directing suppliers and promotion my way, to all those delicious elk pepperettes.

David had the most delightful sense of humour. I still remember him at the podium at the first Field to Fork Feast a few weeks before we opened. My back was turned and he said to a packed house "Anne! Pay attention woman - I'm trying to plug your new store!"

David and Barbara together were pioneers in the local food movement. I will always be very grateful for their courageous leadership.

Our sympathy to Barbara and to David's family. A memorial and celebration of David's life will be held Sunday, May 10 at 2 p.m. at Meaford Hall, followed by a reception.

I forgot to tell Cory that all his delicious carrots were bought and eaten last week, so I didn't give him enough notice to wash some more (carrots and parsnips store much longer if you leave the dirt on them). Tomorrow morning I'm going down to pick up more carrots, but because most of you prefer to buy them washed, I'll ask Pat to help me do that before the store opens. Maybe we'll try to do it in an outside bucket so we can pour the water back on the plants out front. That Demeter-certified biodynamic soil is far too good to waste!

I've also asked the McGuires to bring more of their biodynamic compost. I should have a dozen foldable wooden raised-bed boxes too some time Thursday.

Wally has planted some of his "Grow Up" pots with a certified day neutral strawberry plant (Tribute variety) which, depending on the growing season, will bear fruit for four to eight months. These plants are dormant which means they are just bareroot stalk. He's offering a free package of six plants with every pot sold. Otherwise the price will be $6.00 per package of six.

Back on the inside of the store, Brenda's made some delicious Italian meatballs all ready for one of our full range of pastas and a new organic Canadian pasta sauce that will arrive Friday. I'm hoping we'll have a local sauce after the tomato harvest this year!

If you've got the barbecue out, the steaks and chops are waiting - lamb, beef, pork, elk and venison. Besides the Pickle Guy's unbeatable Ol' Smokey and Citrus sauces, we have one bottle of Uncle Richard's maple barbecue sauce (more coming after syrup bottling is over). A new Raspberry Ginger barbecue sauce arrived Saturday from Trudy's Country Kitchen in Chatsworth and we followed the advice on the label and had it on grilled duck breast Saturday night. Yummmmm.

As if Kelsey's bread and sticky buns on Saturday, Laura's cranberry ginger oat squares, Trudy's cookies and brownies, Margaret's gluten-free dark chocolate cupcakes, Brenda's tarts and Barbara's pies were not enough, we'll soon add new delights from two more local bakers to the wide range at Around the Sound. Each baker brings something new to our table, and we are delighted to be able to support this amazing array of talent at Around the Sound.

Watch for the average age of the "staff" at Around the Sound to drop over the next few weeks and months. I am so excited that some of the most talented young people around have offered to help out around the store this summer. We'll be rearranging the back room for all the promised fruits of Grey County gardens, adding maps and pictures of the wonderful people who produce your food and where they do it, and offering some classes and talks and tastings in the store and around the community. On that note, you can buy a set of plans for a solar dehydrator at the store, and for an extra few dollars attend a workshop to get you started.

Around the Sound is at 972 1st Avenue West (same street as the library) and is open 10 until 7 Thursday and Friday (6:30 tomorrow - bookkeeping class for me) and Saturday 10 until 4. See you there!

Anne
Around the Sound Local Food Market
519-416-FOOD (3663)
aroundthesoundfood.com

What an interesting week we've had around the Sound. The Council gave WalMart a polite but firm "no thank you" to their expansion plans and the Sun Times invited everyone to share their vision of the city.
Is it just me, or are these hopeful signs?
My apologies to all those who came to shop on Saturday and were shut out of the street when it was closed for a Legion parade. My particular apologies to the woman who'd waited so patiently for the amazing cinnamon buns she'd heard about, only to leave empty-handed when our baker was stuck "behind the barricades". Please come back - a package of cinnamon buns will be waiting for you with my compliments. The city has promised they will find a way to assure advance notice of these things in future, and I will give everyone the heads up.
All the more reason to shop Thursday, of course, besides the best choice of vegetables and pies and Winston's fresh fish.
Speaking of vegetables, with any luck we will have living Boston lettuce and/or arugula this week, as well as some organic carrots from the Saugeen River CSA right close to home and creme de lite carrots from Pfennigs Organics. Local organic garlic is still here.
We have added some Millbank cheeses - cheddar and Gouda - to our selection, along with the delicious local pecarino and feta (sheep) and chevre (goat).
Life conspired against some of the meat pies this week, but Brenda brought chicken noodle, lamb dizi and beef barley soups AND some lamb shanks for the first lucky customers. Bill Twaddle said a Meaford chef shared his lamb shanks recipe - a bottle of Guinness and five hours at 200 degrees. That leaves five bottles in the six pack to entertain your friends while you wait.
Robin from Rocky Raccoon supplied me well with samosas, so there will be plenty for everyone, and as an added surprise he brought hand stretched naan bread - frozen in packages of eight.
A few other new products grace our shelves. Fair trade organic teas, green and breakfast blend, and spices - ginger slices, cinnamon and black pepper. Cherry, grape and tomato juices at new prices. And Ontario-made granola bars.
We've added some non-foods too. A Canadian dish soap - Bio-Green. Small Farm magazine. This month they have great tips on growing tomatoes and an article I hope someone will find inspiring on running a local food distribution business (we need one!).
Test out Angela's natural herbal skin healing salves - Nature's Gold - locally made with organic herbs and no chemicals.
And don't forget to look at our poster walls - concerts (The Nylons' only local show this year), courses, cooking classes - someone has a farmhouse for rent and someone else is looking for a WWOOFer - Willing Worker On an Organic Farm. Bring in your own notices.

Last but not least,thank you to the Prentices from WinMar for the shopping bags. After I admired her bag one day when she was shopping, Jacinda sent in a whole box for our customers to share. Another reason to shop early this week - there are still 25 left.
I'll be closing at 6:30 this Thursday and the next two to take a bookkeeping course, but otherwise Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursdays and Fridays from 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4.
972 1st Avenue West, Owen Sound
519-416-3663
aroundthesoundfood.com
See you there!
Anne

Remember there's a parking lot out back - come around and see the back deck and the new, easy-open back door (thank you Glenn!)
Beside the deck is a new product from Dave and Irene McGuire in Clarksburg - biologically active compost. Did you know there are more organisms in one cubic centimetre of soil than there are people on this planet?? Think about that for a minute. The McGuire's are very excited about their certified organic compost, and they'd love to tell you about it. Come in and take a brochure from the table in the back room, and pick up a free Edible Toronto magazine and some recipes while you're there.
If you haven't been in for a while, you'll see we've knocked down my office and made a big bright room ready for the plant and produce season.
A big thank you to my friend Ron for the beautiful new children's area and the best sign ever! We're looking for child-sized food packages to fill the shelves, so please add to our collection.
I'm bringing in quality Ontario vegetables as much as I can - access is pretty limited for the little guy (that would be me) this time of year. Thanks to Brad for finding us the Ontario sweet potatoes and English cucumbers. The lettuce and basil don't seem to have held up lately, so if you've bought anything with which you were disappointed, please let me know and I will give you a replacement or refund. This applies to everything in the store - we want you to be happy with your purchases at Around the Sound.
If there's something you would like that isn't here when you visit, I'd be happy to put it aside for you and call you when I have it. (Rainbow eggs, until the "girls" decide they're in the mood to lay, may be the exception!)
Look for more treats in the front of the store. New soups from Brenda, venison from Shalom Farm, and wheat-free baking from MarJenny's are in the freezers. On Friday I'll be getting more samosas from Rocky Raccoon. Try them with Laura's thai dipping sauce or her apple rhubarb chutney.
Friday is also the day when the 2009 vintage maple syrup from Uncle Richard's will be in the store.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4.
972 1st Avenue West, Owen Sound - same street as the library. 519-416-3663 aroundthesoundfood.com
See you there!
Anne

What a day. Once again my admiration for farmers and all those who produce, process and deliver our delicious local food knows no bounds.
Before six I was on the road to Arthur to meet Brad, a former Paisley market gardener who now chooses and delivers produce for a dozen or more Good Food Box programs. He'd been at the food terminal at 3 a.m., finding us Ontario produce on one of the most expensive weeks of the food year.
He found us cucumbers, peppers, Yukon gold potatoes, Campari tomatoes, Boston lettuce and more of those yummy Ontario sweet potatoes - but only as many as would fit in my Corolla, so come early.
Then I picked up that delicious goat chevre and yogurt from Katie at River's Edge dairy, somewhere between milking and getting her kids (that's children) to the school bus.
From there to Mount Forest for some hot cross buns (they likely won't even last until the doors open Thursday!) at the Village Bakery which is closing its doors on Saturday for good. The bakers want to sleep in for a few years, and they deserve it.
On to Ayton to get organic apple cider vinegar from Filsinger's, stopping to admire one of the prettiest orchards I've seen in early morning winter sunshine.
Next I visited Johannes's dairy farm, and picked up that famous Saugeen Country yogurt that was served to President Obama in Ottawa. That's where I got stuck in the snow, but an ever-resourceful farmhand was able to pull me out with the tractor. (The Corolla we're talking about, he likely could have got just me out without the tractor.)
One last stop at the Williamsford Pie Company where Laura had been up since pre-dawn to start all the Easter baking, but she hadn't forgotten our cranberry ginger oat squares.
We had one of her roasted veggie pizzas with the thin whole wheat crusts for dinner ....mmmm. Put one in your freezer if you're having extra kids for the weekend.
Two of my favourite women farmers arrived from Forsyth Farms and Over the Moon with lamb and grass-fed beef, so noone needs to go hungry at your house.
Ask for your favourite meats now in enviromentally friendly freezer wrap and skip the plastic.
Don't forget to buy your tickets for the Nylons/Elizabeth May event on May 16th. They'd make a great thank you gift if someone else is cooking the holiday dinner.
Around the Sound will be closed Good Friday, so stock up Thursday, 10 until 7, or early on Saturday. We'll be open until 4. Fresh bread is almost always in by 10:30 each day.
972 1st Avenue West
519-416-3662
aroundthesoundfood.com

See you there
Anne

Thanks again to Brenda Forsyth and Joanna for their delicious lamb samples last week. There are lamb steaks in the freezer (the olive oil marinade looks a little odd when frozen, but trust me, if you cook it slowly it will be just as good as Brenda's!) Look for that yummy lamb dizi soup too. I'll post Brenda's recipe along with Ian's amazing parsnip soup recipes on the website as soon as Emma teaches me how.

Also in the meat/soup department, Sean has naturally-raised turkey carcasses available for soup - meaty backs but legs, wings and breasts removed.

At Around the Sound, we want to provide customers with good value in high quality food while supporting local sustainable agriculture and building community. Is that too much to ask?
I hope we can keep the conversation open and learn more about the food we're eating and the people who produce it.

For example, Noreen is coming tomorrow with carrots freshly dug from her garden near Ayton. She's been gardening longer than I've been alive, and she knows that carrots build sugar through the winter and these are soooo sweet and carroty! She's also bringing garlic, and so are the Cowans from Allenford, but the Ontario garlic won't be around much longer and it will be July before we see the new crop so stock up.

We try to carry Ontario produce - greenhouse and storage - as much as we can. Watch for boston lettuce and basil this week! Dehydration keeps local products available too, and we have dried apples and garlic (watch for mushrooms soon!) plus instructions are available for a solar dehydrator. I know we're all so ready for the asparagus and leeks, but let's keep working together for local cold storage and freezers for those months between harvests.

A few reminders for the next few weeks:

We'll be open regular hours next Thursday and Saturday - closed Good Friday. I'll take orders for Forsyth's lamb for Easter - pick up Thursday or Saturday.

Tickets are on sale at Around the Sound for The Nylons in concert at the Collingwood Music Festival on Saturday, May 16 in support of the Georgian Bay Earth Days Celebrations (ask me more about their work).
Special guest, Elizabeth May, will join the Nylons for an evening of song and dialogue celebrating planet earth.

Around the Sound is open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4 at 972 1st Avenue West.
aroundthesoundfood.com
519-416-3663

See you there!
Anne

It certainly did not feel like spring today, but I know it must be coming. Regardless of the weather, Brenda Forsyth will be coming on Saturday to let you sample barbecued marinated leg of lamb. I especially recommend this for those who a) want to show a housemate that lamb IS delicious, b) would like to speak to the farmer/amazing cook (she of the meat pies and soup you've been sighing over all winter)and c) are considering lamb for Easter and want cooking advice. Brenda will be taking orders for larger cuts.

If this puts you in the barbecue mood, there are elk and beef burgers, pork chops, sausage of several kinds and marinated trout. Uncle Richard and the Pickle Guy both have great barbecue sauces for those who like to gild their lilies.

For those who are of the Michael Pollan school of thought - "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" - we have a good Ontario variety this week. Close to home we have organic onions and shallots from Meaford (the same ones chef Michael Stadtlander buys), organic carrots from Williamsford and Ayton, garlic from Allenford while it lasts, and local blue fingerling potatoes (at least my fingers are crossed for these, pun intended). We also have Ontario organic cabbage, beets and red potatoes, and Ontario parsnips, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and Ontario greenhouse cucumbers and red peppers.

For those customers who have made special requests, yes we now have a gluten-free baker, smaller pieces of pecorino cheese, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, bee pollen, goat yogurt, lamb kidneys and stewing goat. Soon we'll have the Pickle Guy's Goop and more of Robin's chutneys. Feel free to ask for anything else we might be able to find for you in the region.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday 10 to 7 and Saturday 10 to 4 at 972 1st Avenue West, Owen Sound. We're looking forward to seeing you there.

Anne

aroundthesoundfood.com
519-416-3663