My apologies, yet again, to anyone who did not receive the newsletter last week. The program sends them in batches, and for reasons unknown it sometimes gets bored and quits without giving me any opportunity to finish the job. My web provider is discontinuing this service, but I'll have a replacement up and running by next week so you'll get all the news.

Everything is rolling along towards spring. The bees are hungry and happy to see the sun. The maple syrup is not flowing well yet, but the upcoming weather may change that. Lambs and kids are being born, which means local sheep and goat milk will flow and yogurt and cheese will be more plentiful. Chickens are laying more and getting outside for green sprouts and bugs. Rainbow eggs are in the store - the last supply before Easter.

Speaking of which, we will be open WEDNESDAY and Thursday next week from 10 until 7, and of course closed Good Friday, and open Saturday 9 to 5. We'll have such a good time on Wednesday that we will want to be open every Wednesday from now on, so we will.

Our new hours, effective Wednesday, April 7, will be
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 to 7
Saturday, 9 to 5

And on Wednesday, April 7 we'll be celebrating at the Farm Dinner, hearing "News from the Family Farm" from the National Farmers' Union. Grey Granite Club in Owen Sound, 6 p.m. tickets $20 at fine local food stores (like ours).

One day my threat that there will be no more local garlic until July will come true, but not yet. Kelda made a great salad with our beautiful Ontario greenhouse cucumbers, fresh garlic, olive oil and vinegar. I ordered another two cases of the big fat Ontario greenhouse tomatoes too - they'd make a great addition along with some chopped red onions. Try this as a side to Sara's spaghetti bake, Tex-Mex or Mac and Cheese, or with GrassRoots new smoked pork chops or Gord Brown's garlic sausages.

Ned is promising treats from The Dhabba again this week - samosas, curries, soups. He's been really busy since the article in the Sun Times and we're delighted for him.

Laura's bringing more Irish soda bread from the Williamsford Pie Company this week - we sold out early last week. She's also bringing more of her thin crust pizzas ready to bake. I particularly like the roast veggie. We'll have an assortment of Williamsford tarts to remind you to order Easter pies.

Another great dessert choice is Trudy's apple crumble - look in the black freezer. Sara's peach crisp and strawberry rhubarb crisps will be back too on Friday.

This Saturday Kurt Hick from Waymore Natural Services http://www.freewebs.com/waymorenaturalservices/ will be in the store beginning at noon. Come and hear about his natural garden products and bring your questions.

The beautiful quilt hanging in the store was lovingly hand-stitched by Phyllis Britton. It is a fundraiser for Sheatre, and we have tickets for the draw.

One last word - congratulations to Monica for her years shepherding Chicory Common in Durham, and all the very best to Kathleen as she takes over such a great community store.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is at 685 6th Street East at the 7th Avenue lights. We are open this week Thursday and Friday, 10 until 7 and Saturday 9 to 5 (see above for upcoming hours). Walk or bike or take the bus and we'll give you a "wooden buck" for your next visit. If you're driving, remember you can park by the non-pumping gas pumps or around back or on 7th Avenue most of the day.

Call us at 519-370-2333 and we'll set aside your favourites, deliver in the neighbourhood, get you in touch with a producer or answer your questions.

See you soon.
Anne
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
My blog is on www.myowensound.com

One of the most popular products at Around the Sound is fish in every form. In their season we have fresh pickerel, perch, rainbow trout and whitefish. Laketrout marinated in pesto and dill. Smoked whitefish or peppered rainbow trout. Marketside's whitefish pate and Winston's new chowders and soups. You are a very appreciative audience, and very obedient. When I told you the fresh fish came in on Thursday, you came on Thursday - and last week you bought every single piece of fish in the store, fresh, frozen or smoked. Winston prepares our fish in a federally-approved plant just outside Owen Sound and he does a beautiful job. People all over Ontario have discovered him, and his suppliers and delivery people are challenged to keep up with the demand. So we will be patient and appreciative and Winston will continue to do his very best to bring us his best.

Last week we got a new fish product, but please don't eat it! "Fish in a bag" - a glycerine soap with a surprise inside - joins our clean line, along with some scented soaps for adults. Look for Jane Ezby's soaps for children and adults with natural colourings, alongside her beeswax products - tapers, votives, tealights and birthday candles.

Trudy has been working hard in her kitchen all winter. In addition to her baking, she's brought back her popular salsa verde and habanjero pepper jelly, and new products - apple pie filling (try a spoonful baked into an oatmeal muffin) and apple butter.

Kelsey's bread continues to be the most anticipated delivery of the day, and we're adding some new baking too. Laura, from the Williamsford Pie Company, arrived last week with a staple of our downtown store - cranberry ginger oat squares from Rose Murray's "Taste of Canada" cookbook. She also brought frozen pizzas ready to take home and bake, and beginning this week she will be delivering Irish Soda bread and lemon buttermilk tarts each Thursday. If you want to order pies, she'll be happy to bring them any Thursday to Around the Sound.

Vitold, owner of the very popular and dearly missed Idyll Cafe in Markdale, is now baking full-time, and he will be bringing us his famous chocolate chip oatmeal spelt cookies, bagels, soft kamut pitas, hot cross buns and more beginning next week. Look for samples this week!

In the meat department look for smoked pork chops, black forest hams, side, back and peameal bacon and summer sausage from Sean at GrassRoots, and organic whole turkeys from Matthew and Janice Dick. The food from these and other local farms, all members of the National Farmers Union Grey County, will be featured at the three-course Farm Dinner, Wednesday, April 7 at the Grey Granite Club in Owen Sound. Tickets are $20 and available from Around the Sound or GrassRoots or the 100 Mile Market in Meaford.

It's hard not to think of the gardens these days. Be careful of your soil - it's tempting in this lovely weather to dig too soon. But get ready for your planters and boxes with natural soil amendments and compost from Kurt Hick at Waymore Natural Services www.freewebs.com/waymorenatralservices
His products will be available at Around the Sound beginning this week.

The week of Easter Around the Sound will be open Wednesday, Thursday, from 10 until 7 and Saturday 9 to 5 (closed Good Friday) Beginning in April we will be open every Wednesday.

This week, Around the Sound Local Food Market will be open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 9 to 5. Look for familiar faces at the Around the Sound booth at the free Health Fair at the Bayshore Community Centre this Saturday 10 until 3 (free skating 11-12).

Call ahead to reserve bread or anything else that tickles your tastebuds.

See you soon!
Anne

Around the Sound Local Food Market
685 6th Street East, Owen Sound
519-370-2333
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
read us at www.myowensound.ca

The sap has begun to flow and Dick and Gayl at Uncle Richards are working away to make sure we'll have maple syrup all year. But they took time to send us freshly bottled syrup - 750 ml. and litre bottles. The O'Briens also sell maple syrup making equipment, and I have now learned that the pointy thing that sticks into the tree is called a spile. Just a million more things left to learn.

Pastas and noodles are popular choices at Around the Sound. The Amish noodles are made from GrassRoots organic spelt, as are the Maria's spelt fettucines and rotinis, handmade from old family recipes. We recently added soba noodles - a buckwheat/wheat blend, made by a Montrealer who studied soba in Japan. They were given the stamp of approval by one of our customers with plenty of Japanese soba experience.

If tomato sauce is your favourite, the Pickle Guy makes it in both mild and zesty, but remember that Ken's idea of mild is zestier than most. We have Canadian organic sauces in portobello mushroom, garden vegetable and roasted garlic. Marketside pates - shitake mushroom, whitefish and sundried tomato - can all be thinned with stock or light cream to make delicious creamy sauces. And we've added their ZiipAstii. This is how they describe it on the label "Roasted peppers with heat. Use as a marinade, mix with stock or light cream for a robust entree sauce. It's spreadable, cheesable, sauceable".

I'm not sure cheesable is an actual adjective, but we have lots you can try. We have a new organic raw milk parmesan, and Axel's raw milk sheep cheese. Herbed chevre and cream cheese are spreadable, monterey jack and mozzarella are meltable, and old cheddars and peppercorn pecorino have bite.

On the returning favourites list this week: raw honey from Chatsworth Honey, cranberry-apple and raspberry-apple sparkling ciders from Finch Haven Orchards in Clarksburg, and sliced organic all-beef summer sausage from GrassRoots in Desboro.

What to do with root vegetables this week? Drizzle beets and parsnips with Palestinian olive oil or Canolive oil, sprinkle with local herb mix from Saugeen River CSA and roast with fresh garlic. Or mash equal parts of steamed carrots, turnip, sweet potatoes and parsnips with a mix of olive oil and organic butter.

What do you make with your favourite Around the Sound food? Send us your recipe or idea - we'll print it out and put it next to the ingredients for others to enjoy.

Spring is coming! Put your feet up with a cup of Around the Sound blend or new Winter Fairy tea and a ginger snapper and flip through the seed catalogues. And plan to plant a little extra for our store or kitchen.

Around the Sound is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7 and Saturday 9 until 5. See you there!
Anne

Around the Sound Local Food Market
685 6th Street East at the 7th Avenue lights.
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
519-370-2333
Read our blog at www.myowensound.com

I'm off Thursday and Friday to an exciting conference in Kitchener called Bring Food Home. www.bringfoodhome.com
I'm especially looking forward to hearing Joel Salutin, the American farmer who popularized saladbar beef, pastured pork and happy chickens.

Kelda is in Alberta celebrating her mother's birthday and attending a friend's senior recital, so please be patient and kind with the very generous people who are minding the store in our absence (thank you Ron, Brad, Jon, Nancys, Lloyd and Susan).

The freezer is full of Brenda's delicious soups including lentil and new Italian chicken noodle. Did I mention that her turkey pie has a little scoop of stuffing under the crust, and that Marketside's Magnetewan relish is a perfect touch with the lamb pie? Mother Hen fruit sorbets, Trudy's apple crisp and Soundview ready to bake apple pies are in that freezer too.

The snow should be off the barbecue this week, so check the red freezer for GrassRoots beef striploin, and look on the shelf above the other display freezer for the grilling oil. We always have Ontario potatoes, and this week you can also choose Ontario organic potatoes. And of course, remember the garlic.

We always try to find new products when customers ask - this Friday we'll be filling the requests for organic tomato juice, organic dates, and raw milk parmesan.

Every week more people ask for gluten-free options and are delighted with the range of treats MarJenny's has in the freezer. We also have gf waffles, New Moon's Mackies cookies,Dawn's gf mixes, and a new gf mannicotti in the freezer. Many of Maria's rotinis are made from gluten-free flours like buckwheat, chickpea and green pea - delicious alternatives even for the wheat-eater.

All sorts of local celebrations of International Women's Day next week - March 8 - breakfast with Mayor Ruth Lovell at Inn on the Bay sponsored by the Women's Centre (more information at 519-376-0755) and Elizabeth Manley will speak at the CAW Centre in Port Elgin in the evening (376-1560)- March 10 at 7 p.m. Women in the Arts with artists and a silent auction hosted by the Zonta Club at St. Mary's Parish Hall (519-794-2350)

AND mark your calendar for a great all local farm dinner at the Grey Granite Club on April 7 hosted by the National Farmers Union, Grey County - limited tickets will be available at Around the Sound, 100 Mile Market and GrassRoots.

I taped a commercial for CFOS, and it plays right after a vintage Bosco ad to celebrate their 70th anniversary. Crazy!

Around the Sound Local Food Market is open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4. We're loving our bright new store at 685 6th Street East at the 7th Avenue lights.

See you there!
Anne

519-370-2333
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
Look for my blog and other interesting stuff at www.myowensound.ca

I know this is only supposed to be a weekly newsletter, but so many wonderful things poured in to the store today that I cannot wait for next week to tell you.

First the furnace man arrived, and although the gas company has yet to give us the requisite fuel, hope is on the horizon - maybe next week? All I can say is, the produce is happy.

As soon as we opened, Winston brought us fresh pickerel and rainbow trot and six new seafood soups using local fish in the stock. There are shrimp and lobster bisques, smoked salmon chowder, Manhattan and New England Clam chowders and seafood gumbo.

Next Ned's soups arrived from the Dhabba - the previously extolled Ukranian chicken borscht and a vegan gingered carrot.

Then Richard arrived from Windy Hill, refilling our hot cereals and popular bread mixes, and Finch Haven Orchards replenished our sparkling apple-raspberry and apple-cranberry ciders.

Next came Claire with dozens of the beautiful rainbow eggs laid by her rare and heritage hens.

Last but far from least, in came Axel with his lovely sheep cheeses and some new lamb sausage with red wine and spices. He also brought some of Matthew Dick's organic turkeys, as celebrated in my Orange Crate column this week.

And one last omission from my cheese list yesterday - we have Ontario organic 2% cottage cheese, and will soon (possibly Saturday) have locally made quark - the firmer eastern European type - as requested by a thoughtful man for his in-laws who appear to have lived long and healthy lives on a steady diet of the stuff.

See you Around the Sound soon.
Anne

Around the Sound Local Food Market
685 6th Street East
519-370-2333
aroundthesoundfood.com

If you've been inspired by the young athletes of the Olympics to get out and skate or ski or snowshoe, Around the Sound has some great food to take along with you for your lunch and snacks.

Kelsey's breads or ciabatta buns for carbs - have you tried the seedy oat bread yet? Marg makes gluten-free alternatives too. For proteins, GrassRoots is now bringing us Black Forest ham and of course their amazing all-beef summer sausage. Axel's already-baked lamb pies make a hearty lunch or supper - try it with Marketside's Magnetewan relish.

Smoked fish is a delicious and elegant carry-along, perhaps with some goat chevre or Wooldrift cream cheese. The variety of cheeses has never been better - this week the popular organic cheddar with sundried tomatoes and garlic will be back, and there is a buttery gouda for gentler palates. Remember your fruit and veggies - there will be Ontario cucumbers, fresh-dug carrots and local apples again this week.

For snacking through the day, look for cheese curds, hemp hearts, trail mix, organic almonds, fair-trade chocolate or Ontario peanuts. And remember the drinks - ginger and lemongrass or cranberry orange sodas are really refreshing and fair-trade hot chocolate with chili is our newest hot treat.

When you get home, there are lots of delicious suppers to warm you up. Maybe start with soup - take some of Brenda's chicken noodle out of the freezer in the morning. Ned has been bringing us fresh soup from The Dhabba - he made a Ukranian chicken borscht last week that brought a Polish customer to joyful tears. Fish is a quick choice - check the freezer for more choices - pickerel,whitefish, rainbow and lake trout. And Ken's Wow Wasabi (in the cooler) is still first choice of condiment at our house.

If you can wait an hour, or have someone to put it on so the house smells sooo good when you come in, one of Brenda's turkey pies or Sara's chicken lasagna's is sure to do the trick.

Check the blackboard at the front and the list by the freezer for new additions all the time at Around the Sound. We're open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4, at 685 6th Street East at the lights at 7th Avenue.

See you there.
Anne

519-370-2333
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
Check out my blog and interesting local articles at www.myowensound.ca

One of the few things missing from the new store (besides the heat of course, but we're kind of getting used to that) is a mail box. Our lovely letter carrier kindly saves our mail for the days when we're open and we happily offer her whatever we're sampling, but the post office really wants us to get a mailbox. So we bought a rural post box, complete with the red flag, and as soon as we can find someone with a post and a drill, we're going to put it out front. It will give me the proper attachment for my National Farmers Union sign.

The National Farmers Union, Grey County, gave me practical and moral support in starting Around the Sound. I became a member because the NFU shares my vision "to encourage vibrant rural communities, environmentally sustainable practices and the production of safe, wholesome food."

They support family farms because, in their words, "The family farm is the cornerstone of the system that provides safe, nutritious food to Canadians. City people, as well as farmers, have a stake in it. The National Farmers Union is unique among farm organization in working for people's interests against corporate control of our food system."
You can read more on their website www.nfuontario.ca and watch for their local "Farm Dinner" in early April.

Forsyth Farms is one of the family farms who supply us - with beautiful cuts of lamb, Berkshire pork sausages, homemade stock and soup, chicken and meat pies in family size and individual pods.

Axel Meister of Wooldrift Farms is also an NFU member. The first farmer in North America to commercially milk sheep, Axel has a hard time keeping up with demand for his products at Around the Sound. He brings us yogurt, feta - plain and in olive oil and herbs, pecorino cheese both plain and peppercorn, cream cheese and raw milk cheese.

This week we'll be getting local carrots - fresh dug from under the snow in Chatsworth area. So sweet! Apples are still in good supply from Soundview Orchards and we still have some local garlic and shallots. The rest of our produce is from Ontario - potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes, cabbage and parsnips from storage and greenhouse cucumbers. We'll see tomatoes soon too. If we encourage them, local market gardeners may be able to supply us with winter treats like Belgian endive by this time next year.

The Ontario Natural Food Co-op delivers this Friday, so look for organic dried apricots, almond milk, Mapleton's yogurt and Harmony Organics brie again this week, supplies allowing.

Some customers have expressed an interest in the film "Food Inc." Liam Lacey of the Globe and Mail called it "The most effective environmental documentary since An Inconvenient Truth." We have a copy at the store you can borrow if you like. I just don't recommend eating while you watch it.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is at 685 6th Street East at the lights at 7th Avenue - look for our beautiful new sign - thank you Terry and Matthew!
We are open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4 (or 5, no promises).

See you there!
Anne

www.aroundthesoundfood.com
(and a new blog on www.myowensound.ca)
519-370-2333

Eggs, eggs and more eggs. We carry eggs from four local farms. GrassRoots Organics in Desboro and Beckers Organics in Paisley, Grey Maple Farms in Georgian Bluffs, and Skeffling Farm in Clavering. All the farms allow their hens free run of the barn and as much access to the outdoors as they wish. As soon as the weather warms up a little, the hens will be happy to get out and scratch for worms and the first green shoots. Each farm has its own individual feeding program from standard feed mill chicken feed to omega-3 rich flax to home-grown kale and cabbage. Claire at Skeffling Farm raises rare and heritage birds, and their eggs range from a pastel greeny-blue to a rich mahogany. Our farmers set the price of their eggs, and our customers choose their favourite.

February 16 is Mardi Gras - Pancake Tuesday! We carry multigrain and regular pancake mixes from GrassRoots, and maple syrup, maple jelly and maple butter come from Uncle Richard's in Priceville. Gord and Nancy Brown in Chatsworth bring us pork sausages, and Sean at GrassRoots brings us sausages and bacon.

Last week Ned from The Dhabba on 2nd Avenue sent us samosas ready to heat and eat. This week he's adding homemade soup in single servings to the lunch menu. Watch for new offerings every week.

And for dinner? We have some beautiful fish from Winston - our family had lake trout tonight. Someone told me they used Meredith's Ginger Syrup as a marinade for rainbow trout. Mmmmm. Winston also brings us duck - whole, legs and breasts, with skin or without. I love the boneless breast quickly pan-fried with garlic, then thinly sliced on a bed of white and wild rice.

And yes, thanks to Arrandale Garlic and GrassRoots, local garlic will have one last hurrah in Around the Sound this week. Roast some with your beets, carrots and parsnips drizzled in olive oil to accompany an elk pepper steak or a roast chicken.

Remember to call ahead if you want us to set aside your favourite bread or Kelsey's world famous maple walnut cinnamon buns (available only on Saturdays).

Around the Sound is now enjoying its sunny space at 685 6th Street East at the lights at 7th Avenue.
We're open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 5 (I know I say 4, but people keep shopping until 5!)

See you there!
Anne
519-370-2333
aroundthesoundfood.com

It's much warmer already, outside and in.

This week we're highlighting some stand-out flavours at Around the Sound. Karen and Paul at Marketside have brought us their red pepper ziipastii preserve, and famous antipasto.
Or try their Magnetewan relish on one of our tortieres.

Sean is having a special on his pork ribs - $2.50 a pound, and there are barbecue sauces from mild to WOW to accompany them. Sara is refilling our freezer with her Incredible Edibles, including new Tex Mexx - seasoned ground beef with corn and salsa topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar. Ned, from The Dhabba, will have his samosas in our store soon - maybe even this weekend.

In those warm countries where cocoa grows, they add chili and spice to bring out the flavour. New Moon Kitchen has sent us Spicy Love Bites with just such a combination, and we've ordered in hot chocolate mix with chili and spice from Cocoa Camino at a customer's suggestion.

In the cold and spicy department, our organic Mapleton's Ginger ice cream is back this week. How do you think it would go with Sara's Bumble Berry Crisp?

Look in the cooler for creamy lemon curd - a little goes a long way.

Just a caution - we sold out of bread Friday and Saturday last week, so just call and we'll set aside a loaf or two of your favourite.

Thanks for asking about the kitchen. We're working on it - nothing a plumber, an electrician and a carpenter or two can't finish and we're looking for some funding to pay those trades. I know you're keen for cooking classes and community kitchens and I'm really excited about the possibilities.

Around the Sound is now at 685 6th Street East at the first lights east of the Y. We're open Thursday and Friday 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4.

See you soon!
Anne
519-370-2333
aroundthesoundfood.com

Thanks to the clouds of painters, packers, cleaners, problem-solvers, folks with tools and others with ideas, we are now in our beautiful new home at 685 6th Street East, at the south-west corner of 7th Avenue and looking forward to seeing you this week. We especially want to thank the Fentons who stood on ladders in the freezing wind in a futile attempt to make our new sign fit over a bizzare old sign, and then retrieved our old sign so we could light up for opening day.

"Annie's Store" the children's area, has a beautiful corner by the windows. Baking and treats have a bigger table, and the new freezer makes it easier to find elk, lamb, pork, chicken, frozen fish and beef. There are new shelves for your favorite flours, cereals, jams and condiments, and there is lots of space to add more, so just tell us what you'd like us to source for you.

Trusting that good health has returned to Kelsey's household, we'll have fresh bread tomorrow. Just call if you want us to put any aside for you.

New products will continue to come in weekly. This week we have a local raw milk sheep cheese - this batch is three months old and they're aging more for the coming months.

Ontario peanuts, grown in what was once tobacco land, were a big hit over Christmas. As requested, we have the redskins in larger bags, as well as both smooth and crunchy Ontario peanut butter.

All your favourite New Moon cookies are in stock - Goldies, Bite Me, Mo-Mints and Ginger Snappers. They've also sent spicy double-chocolate "Love Bites". Those, along with the beautiful photo cards by Christy Muddle and the chocolate truffles by Brenda Waters should remind you that Valentine's Day will come sooner than you think.

Two exciting events! Transition Towns - a conversation with your neighbours about resilient communities at the Downtown Bookstore, Sunday January 31 from 2 until 4 - All welcome!

And the first ever tango gathering in Owen Sound, Thursday February 4th at the Farmers' Market 7 until 9 - beginners more than welcome, with or without a partner.

Around the Sound Local Food Market is now at 685 6th Street East, at the lights where the airplane used to be on top of the old Kirk's service station.

We're open Thursdays and Fridays 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4.

See you soon!
Anne