From The Farm to The Forks

You might not always stop to think about it, but every day you connect with the farm. The salad you munch on, the bread you butter and the meat you eat all has been produced with care on farms across Manitoba! Not only that, but many of the things you use every day also come from a farm; your clothes, crayons and even candles! Agriculture is key when it comes to all of our lives. That`s why you need to come and discover Ag in the City this weekend.

Come see this two-day event in the Centre Court of The Forks Market on March 20-21. Talk to farmers and ag industry people to help you understand how food gets from the field to your fork, come see a food fight put on by The University of Manitoba, and learn to make cinnamon buns with local wheat from Tall Grass Prairie!! There is so much more to discover, so click here for a full schedule of events.

Here's some fun farm facts:

• 1 in 8 Canadian jobs are in ag and agri-food 
• Agriculture employs over 2.1 Million Canadians
• 98% of farms are family farms
• The world will need 60% more food by 2050 
• Canada is the #1 world producer of canola, #2 world exporter of malting barley, and produces more than 700 varieties of cheese.

Fun facts by: agriculturemorethanever.ca

And if that weren't enough- check out what farming means on the Peterson family farm.

Farewell Farmers' Market

Last Sunday was a beautiful, perfect day to end off our outdoor Farmers’ Market season.

Vendors gathered in a circle around a campfire set-up, and visitors picked up produce, preserves and delicious baking and simply enjoyed the atmosphere.

All in all, The Forks hosted over 50 different vendors since the market began in May, with up to 32 showing up every week – rain or shine – to sell locally grown and raised food and handmade treats and goodies to visitors on our site.

Dorothy Freund from Red Poll Farms and Dean and Sara Wall from Zhoda Family Farms were very pleased at the turn-out each week – even despite many of our Sundays being not so sunny.

They enjoyed the laid-back clientele and noticed lots of tourists – and were eager to share some knowledge about what delicious items grow in Manitoba.

 Sara said she met folks who’d never tried rosehip or Saskatoon berries, and didn’t know those things grow in Manitoba. She says it’s always fun to share what she’s foraged with people and send them home with something new.

Overall, we had some very happy vendors who are ready and raring to come back next year, and make The Forks Farmers’ Market one of the most plentiful in town.

Until then, we will be hosting indoor markets featuring produce, jams, infusions, baking and alpaca wool products (for the chilly days that are surely upon us!) once per month on Oct. 25 and Nov. 25.

Thank you for supporting our inaugural Farmers’ Market!

Farmers Market at The Forks

Farmer’s Market season is upon us, and we can tell how anxious people are to fill their fridges and fruit bowls with some homegrown, homemade, unique goodness.

We been holding our Farmers Market each Sunday since mid-May, and people have been coming out – despite a few raindrops here and there – to delve into our vendors’ offerings.

Since it’s early in the season, many of the products on the tables have included jellies, jams, pickles and preserves, baked goods, and handmade jewellery and other pretty things.

Perennial plants and potted herbs are perfect reminders that summer is in fact on its way, and with that, the promise of delicious locally-grown produce like carrots, kale, peas, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, swiss chard, cauliflower, squash, beets, gourds and radishes.

Here are just some of the vendors we’re excited to have in our Farmer’s Market ranks:

Beach Glass – Linda Haugen

Like the name would indicate, Linda makes beautiful jewellery out of bits of weathered beach glass, washed up on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. 

Flora & Farmer

This gal offers variety of eclectic jam flavours – think strawberry beet & vanilla, strawberry, ginger & orange, or my personal favourite, maple, ginger & blueberry, which I think would be just as good on a slice of multigrain in the morning as it would be a pork tenderloin marinade for dinner. Bonus: no sugar added.

Generation Green

One of our favourite vendors from inside The Forks Market gets outside for the Farmer’s Market. They’re selling all kinds of local favourite food items like birch syrup, the award-winning Jamore blueberry jam by the makers of Thrive Bars, and bee pollen. Who knew our honey bees could provide us with sweet, sweet honey, AND a huge B-vitamin kick in the form of pollen?

Anandha

What’s going to shake up your hot dog at your next backyard BBQ? Beet ketchup, that’s what. This guy knows his beets – he sells everything from beet juice, to beet puree, shredded beets, beet bread, and yes, beet ketchup.

Freshly Baked Bread

Signy Christianson bakes beautiful white and whole-wheat bread, hotdog and hamburger buns, dinner rolls, cinnamon-raisin bread, and croutons as well as some delectable sweet treats like Nanaimo bars, butter tarts, lemon tarts and matrimonial bars.

Farmery

You’ve probably seen this orange-labeled beer at the LC and in restaurants, but maybe you haven’t tried it yet. It’s brewed right here in Russell, MB and the Farmery guys will be hanging out at our Farmer’s Market with samples and stories about becoming brew masters. Come say hi!

Loved Shorts

You will love these shorts. These girls are experts at making old jeans into the perfect pair of cut-offs, and jazzing them up so your perfect pair of shorts is totally unique.

The Bannock Factory

Bannock in a Box? Ok! These guys make delicious bannock, freeze it, box it up, and make it easy as 1-2-3 for you to have a bannock breakfast or side dish anytime you want! Just heat it up for 45-seconds in the microwave and it’s bannock time.

Wildfire Farms

Serving up all cuts of locally and sustainably raised pork and beef, including tenderloin, rib eye, roasts, ground beef, sausage, soup bones and lard, as well as free-roaming chickens, ready for you to take home and fire up on the BBQ.

See you Sundays at The Forks in the Plaza Parking Lot from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. for Farmer’s Market goodness all season-long!