Vegan Practically

My title pretty much sums up how I feel about farmers’ markets when they have the local grown seasonal veggies that have just been picked fresh from the ground.

I love the way summer markets reflect the natural rhythm of local produce. Back in June I had freshly picked Ontario strawberries from Heeman’s, a local market and garden centre known for its strawberries. Then when July came along and I visited my parents, my mother made me a vegan coffee cake with fresh rhubarb from their garden. Whenever we had salad, the lettuce came from the containers my father had planted on their southwest-facing upper deck.

It was a treat being able to eat fresh-picked yummies from my parents’ garden, but when I’m home, as I have been most of the summer, I need to go to the markets. Besides my mint, chives, basil, and gerber daisies (which I don’t eat), there’s nothing else growing on my 23rd floor balcony this year. I’m lucky enough to have a Saturday Farmers’ Market just down the block. And a slightly larger one at the Western Fairgrounds that’s year round. Year round is great, but it’s the seasonal summer stuff I’m talking about today.

The carrots are sweeter. The beets are more luscious. The beans are snappier. We’re soon to have peaches from the Niagara region. And that late summer corn that is tender and juicy and sweet hardly even needs to be cooked — so delicious. Corn-cooking hack: instead of immersing it in a big pot of water, just bring about a couple of inches of water to boil in your pot, put your corn in and put the lid on. It cooks in the steam within 5-10 minutes.

Overlapping with the corn, we’ll have more tomatoes than we know what to do with soon. There’ll be bushels of them at the farmers’ market’s stalls, right beside the local red peppers. And of course, the apples.

We have a relatively short growing season here, and not everything grows. But when fruit and veggies in season show up on the weekends at our markets, they’re delicious treats to be savoured.

Bring on the fresh tomatoes.