Codrington Farmers' Market

Andrew Vokes has been an integral part of the Codrington Farmers' Market since the beginning. Vokes Farms is a small farm producing seasonal vegetables, and year round microgreens and ferments using organic, permaculture, and ecologically sound practices. Our mission is to produce nutrient dense food while maintaining and improving soil and the immediate ecology. Vokes Farms is located on Old Wooler Road between Wooler and Codrington Ontario. Before the Market opens this... season, don't hesitate to contact Andrew for tasty ferments and fresh sprouts and microgreens. [email protected] 613-475-0910 www.facebook.com/Vokes-Farms-361438877780334 See more

Forks Up to celebrate Canada’s agriculture industry today! Considering the importance of farming in Canada, it is surprising that our official Agriculture Day only started in 2016. It was launched as a day of celebration for farmers, and they truly deserve to be celebrated! The truth is, celebrating and promoting agriculture is the reason we have Farmers’ Markets. ... Today, February 23, 2021, brings special attention to our agricultural industry and the pride we share in growing food. Organizers are encouraging everyone to mark the day in their own way, with special emphasis on making noise on social media. Pictures, recipes, comments, and endorsements are all welcome. We’re proud of our Canadian farmers who produce among the safest, high-quality food that feeds our country and the world. For more information, celebration ideas and social engagement tools visit the #CdnAgDay website.

This stormy day is perfect to introduce one of our vendors with such a warm personality: meet Dot and her gourmet sauces! Saucy Dotty's Original sauce has a very nice balance of sweet & spicy, with its molasses base giving it the silky smooth sweetness that everyone loves. The small amount of chilli sauce that is included in the recipe gives the sauce an extra kick it is highly addictive! It didn’t take long for Dot to sell out of her first batch, and after the success ...of the Original sauce, Saucy Dotty’s Sweet was developed. It has the same great taste as the Original, but without the extra spice. In 2018, after many requests from fans of Saucy Dotty’s Gourmet Sauce, Sweet Heat (originally called Extreme Heat) was developed. Sweet Heat is great for those who love hot sauce, but don’t want the long lasting effects of the heat. The delicious sauce gives you the quick blast of heat you want, without it lingering. It is absolutely delicious in a stir-fry, or on chicken wings! With a simple change to the brand of Worcestershire Sauce used in the recipe, all sauces currently in production are now also GLUTEN FREE! In 2020, Dot opened her very own production facility right here in Brighton. All three sauces are also available to purchase at her retail store, located at 8 Loyalist Drive, Unit 1. Put It Where You Want It is our tagline, because our sauce is so versatile. Check out a few of our recipe ideas on our website. Also be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for some more cooking inspiration! https://www.saucydottys.com/ https://www.facebook.com/saucydottys https://www.instagram.com/saucydottys See more

We are pleased to re-introduce you to one of our vendors who joined us during the 2020 tumultuous season: Robin's Nest Farm And Amanda Twigg. Robin’s Nest Farm is a family farm in Meyersburg, raising beef, pork, chicken, and turkey. Our philosophy doesn’t involve any of the latest buzz words. We simply believe in responsibly raised livestock. We feel that it’s our duty as farmers to provide the best care possible for our animals, and the environment. We want to continue to... pass this land, and our passion for farming, on to the next generations. That’s only possible if we do our best to care for it today! We come from a long line of farmers on both sides of the family. My Aunt and Uncle began farming here over 40 years ago. My parents, John and Cathy, built their house next door in the early ‘80’s and joined the farming enterprise. I was very blessed to be able to grow up as a farm kid in such a wonderful community, so my husband, Jonathan, and I decided we wanted to raise our kids here too. We bought our house, just around the corner from my parents, in 2013. Now, Colby (11) and Lyla (8) get to experience farm kid life too. We strive to produce meat of the highest quality, at fair prices. After all, we’re not just proudly offering our products to our customers; this is the food we feed our own family as well. We offer individual cuts of beef and pork, whole chickens and turkeys, and mixed packages including a variety of cuts. We partnered with our friends at Arcadia Farms to offer a Thanksgiving Dinner in a box last fall, and we’re hoping to partner with them again this year to offer a local alternative to meal kits. Stay tuned for more info! Check out our website to learn a little more about our farm and view a full list of products. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram . We have big plans for a farm store down the road, but for now, orders can be placed by phone, email, or through our website, and we can arrange for curbside pick-up. Thanks so much for choosing to support your local farmers. Looking forward to seeing you at the market this year! www.robinsnestfarm.ca facebook.com/robinsnestfarm19 instagram.com/robinsnestfarm19/ See more

While we wait for Opening Day, let us introduce you to our vendors. Century Game Park have been with the Codrington Farmers' Market since 2016 and they bring a unique product to our Market. Please meet Rod and Elaine Potter. Century Game Park is a diversified family farm now consisting of bison & elk for breeding stock, and meat production. Since 1837 the farm known as the Potter family farm was a traditional mixed family farm, by generation to generation. Today this small... family farm continues to produce and market, naturally raised bison & elk meat products directly to our clients. We have associated with the best family-run, local and provincially inspected abattoir in this area, to provide the best quality cuts available. Our products are burgers, roasts, steaks, sausages, pepperettes, and salami, another nice ready-to-eat treat! Our products are unique and wholesome, avoiding the use of hormones and pesticides on our lands and animals, and take vested interest in our customers and clients who wish to enjoy our products at their table. We are entering our 35th year in the bison & elk meat industry; we are proud of our products and look forward to tell you more about them at the Market. We hope to be able to open this summer for farm tours. In the meantime, you can contact us by phone or email. We can prepare your order and have it ready for a safe curbside pickup at our farm gate. And we have joined www.virtualfarmersmarket.ca/ for deliveries in the GTA. See you soon! Rod & Elaine Potter 460 Concession Rd 2 West -Warkworth, ON - K0K 3K0 705-924-3019 www.centurygamepark.com [email protected] See more

Happy and Sad Faces about the Codrington Farmers’ Market As our 2020 season comes to a close tomorrow (Oct. 25), we are processing our mixed emotions: pleased that we were able to start and end our Market season on the prescribed dates - in one fashion or another; grateful that we could provide a venue for vendors to sell, and shoppers to buy, LOCAL products - ever more important this year; and, relieved that we were able to navigate the many regulations imposed by authoritie...s to manage the COVID-19 challenges. However, there is sadness and disappointment too: we missed having some of our regular vendors who could not join us this year; it was not the same without live music; we knew customers missed the free coffee and food sampling; we were sorry some of our regular customers opted (for good reasons) not to come out on Sunday mornings; and, we wish the Library had been able to open, the Fire Department could have joined us, and special events could have happened. We want to thank our amazing vendors, including the new ones who joined us this year. Thanks also to the artisans, new and familiar, who add another dimension to our market. There would not have been a Market at all if not for our customers new and ongoing. We truly appreciate your loyalty and support, and hope your experiences were favourable. Please stop by one more time and stock up, chat with the vendors, and know that you make a difference.

Masks are definitely going to be with us for a while, so you might want to take advantage of this special deal. Our mask makers/sellers, Brighton COVID Rescue, have decided to offer, for one day only - at our Market (Sunday October 25) - Buy 1, get 1 Free! So that’s 2 masks for $5.00. They have adult, teen, and children’s selections, so come out to the Market on Sunday (our last day) and stock up. We would like to thank Bettina and her crew for joining us every week so that our customers could pick up masks so conveniently. Of course, we also thank them for taking on this immense project. Many masks have been donated to hospitals, nursing homes, and more. They use the money from Market mask sales to purchase material so they can keep sewing and donating. Sew amazing!

Ooh, we have a treat for you from Lofty Butter. By the way, if you aren’t on their mailing list, you should be. There are lots of exciting things happening in their business in the coming months, and the best way to find out is to be on their newsletter distribution list. Go to their website and become a subscriber: www.loftybutter.ca (bottom of Home page). Back to the treat. Here’s a recipe from Lofty Butter for TESSA-APPROVED Buttermilk Banana Muffins. We’ll be pic...king up buttermilk at the market on Sunday so we can give them a try, but since Sunday (the 25th) will be the last market day, we thought we should give you a heads-up so you can purchase this amazing buttermilk too. BUTTERMILK BANANA MUFFINS 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup Lofty Buttermilk 2 ripe bananas, mashed 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp Lofty Butter, melted and cooled 3/4 cup chocolate chips or nuts Makes 12 large muffins. Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature. Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 12-muffin pan. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl (or just in the liquid measuring cup that you put your buttermilk in), whisk together the wet ingredients. Add wet ingredient to dry and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 15 - 17 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

Well, we are winding down. We’re open tomorrow (Oct. 18) and next Sunday, the 25th, and then we’re done! No inside Christmas markets this year, unfortunately. This would be a good year to give Christmas gifts of food and Market Gift Certificates both always popular. We’ll have frozen meat, lots of harvest vegetables, maple syrup, Dotty’s gourmet sauce, Anne’s crabapple juice and jelly, delightful baked goods, Lofty Butter products, and so much more Dan’s book about the ...sinking of the Speedy would be a welcome gift too, along with Harry’s hand-made wooden toys. Tomorrow (18th) we will be joined by a new vendor, who has written a number of children’s books and will be selling them. Also, if you haven’t met Courtney yet, she has lovely macramé creations that are very much in vogue these days. Linden’s Gourmet sells excellent homemade mustard and other condiments. So, think about making up Christmas gift baskets of LOCAL home-made, and home-grown, and home-written products, along with a few Gift Certificates that never expire. The recipients will love you - even more! The Market continues to be open from 10 1; we are still selling masks; COVID protocols are followed.

There’s an apple for that! Apples are a big deal in Northumberland County for both consumers and growers. Our apple seller, Margaret APPLEBY, is also a consultant for the local apple industry. She tells us that our County has a couple of advantages: the moderating impact of Lake Ontario, reducing the risks of frost during spring blossom time and fall harvests; and the ideal sandy loam soil, providing good drainage and nutrients. Northumberland County grows at least 24 vari...eties of apples. . 3 most popular traditional varieties: Mac, Empire, and Cortland . 3 most popular new varieties: Ambrosia, Gala, and Honeycrisp . 3 popular kinds often not found in grocery stores but available at Farmers’ Markets: Northern Spy, Russet and Snow This Sunday Margaret will be offering Empire and Idared for sure, and hopefully Cortland, Northern spy, Snow and Russett. If you’d like to read more about local apples, Ontario Apple Growers have a good website: http://onapples.com/ontario-apple-varieties

Can’t miss the opportunity to observe, appreciate, and salute Ontario Agriculture Week October 5 11. How lucky we are to live in this region of amazing food products. We all know how much Ontario farmers and food producers need your support now more than ever. Here are 4 easy steps to show your love for local food: . Visit Farmers’ Markets and Farm Gates in your community . Make delicious recipes with fresh, local ingredients . Look for the Foodland Ontario logo when... you shop . Ask for local ingredients at restaurants and shops At Codrington Farmers’ Market we have seen a very strong effort by shoppers to buy local products and support our vendors especially this year. We truly appreciate it, and thank all of you.

We’d like to introduce you to Harry, an occasional vendor at our Market. Harry is 91 (!!) but has the energy of someone much younger. He creates wonderful wooden toys, all made with love and care in his basement workshop. In his working years, Harry was employed in maintenance and he is a jack of all trades - but just wasn’t able to take the rocking chair approach to retirement afterwards. He started making toys about 20 years ago, and has always been a wood guy building houses, and small pieces of furniture. Harry will be at the Market for the rest of this month, so please stop by his booth and see what toys - not made in China - are like. His favourite creation: the car carrier.

Last Sunday, shoppers were invited to fill out a ballot for a chance to win a number of Gift Certificates, and the grand prize of a basket filled with products donated by our vendors. The basket was won by a Brighton resident, long-time Market shopper, and person who "almost never wins anything." So we're very happy that Linda Valyear's name was drawn. She was thrilled to accept the basket and overwhelmed with the loot. Congratulations, Linda!

New Meat Vendor We are delighted to welcome the Twigg Family for our final four Sundays. Located in Campbellford, they will be bringing frozen beef, pork, and chicken products. Be sure to ask about their Thanksgiving Dinner in a Box.

We had a mini-Applefest celebration last Sunday, to salute what happens in Brighton in normal years. It was a gorgeous day, and that worked out well for shoppers and belly dancers. Local photographer, Fletch, snapped many shots showing many of our vendors in red and capturing the bliss of the day. You’ll notice a picture of our beautiful gift basket, which was awarded to a lucky draw winner. More on that in another post, but we do thank our generous vendors and two council members for contributing to the basket and additional awards of Gift Certificates.

We are very fortunate to have the Skoba family Honey for You as our honey vendors. They have been with us since we opened in 2015, so anyone who has visited our Market at all will be familiar with Larysa and Yan. Their farm is located just around the corner from the Market. In addition to varieties of honey, they also bring honeycomb, propolis, candles, and more. Thanks, Larysa and Yan, for your continued loyalty and great service to our customers.

One happy farm family at the Market today - the Nelsons. And such a nice display too. There will still be lots of pumpkins and harvest vegetables next week. Hope the weather is as wonderful as it was today.

Just as the actual (Brighton) Applefest always had a great variety of crafts and gifts to choose from, so will our market tomorrow. Harry will be there with hand-made toys (very reasonably priced), plus Janne with her warm head and neck wear. We have mentioned that Grace is bringing her wool products for the first time, and we are looking forward to chatting with her. Krista has beautiful jewellery, and the Brighton Art Group will have a great display. There’s a new artisa...n joining us: Heather, bringing stuffed pumpkins. See pictures. Rounding out the roster are the great food and beverage vendors including Honeycrisp and other apples, plus a new vendor selling homemade condiments (mustard, salsa, etc.). Dan Buchanan will be happy to chat with you about his new, fascinating history book (the sinking of the Speedy). Oh, did we mention the Belly Dancers? They have really lucked into amazing weather for the end of September which means they won’t be wearing toques and parkas. Bonus! You probably know we are offering a beautiful market gift basket for a draw for our shoppers. Just fill out a ballot and your name could be selected. Not only will we draw for the basket, but there are other amazing prizes as well, including a Gift Certificate for The Gables Restaurant in Brighton. Come on out and celebrate a mini Applefest. If you can wear red, you would be sending a message of support to the many people who are missing this special annual Brighton event.

NEW ARTISAN You will enjoy stopping at Grace’s spot this Sunday and seeing her beautiful wool products. Some are ready to wear; others are ready for your creative ideas. Grace raises sheep a bit north of Codrington, and has found many ways to make use of sheep wool. She would love to talk to you about Shepherd’s Hill activities. If Christmas shopping is in your plans, or just rewarding yourself for all you have been through lately, this is the place to visit.

Well, here’s something worth remembering and marking: this coming weekend would have been Applefest in Brighton. Yes, it’s sad that we won’t be seeing 15,000 people mingling on Main Street, at the Car Show, in the Children’s Village, and packing restaurants and parks - one more cancelled event that impacts the livelihood of shopkeepers, vendors, and tourism operators in general. However, the Applefest Committee is creative and resilient, and making the effort to bring joy ...to locals in whatever way they can. They are encouraging residents to decorate their homes, and submit photos to be judged for great prizes. Check their website: [email protected] and their Facebook page to see what else is going on. Oh, here’s an Applefest event happening at our Market this coming Sunday (27th) to celebrate the memory. We have a basketful of market goodies to award to a lucky winner. Just come and fill out a ballot (free) and the draw will take place at 1:00. Thanks to generous donations from local supporters, we will also draw for additional Market gift certificates and more. You can show your true Applefest colours by wearing red!

We’re not sure how many more of these perfect Sundays are in store for us through the end of October, so it might be wise to take advantage now, and visit our Market while the sun shines. Stock up on Vitamin D at the same time. The fall harvest is in full swing, and our produce vendors have everything you need to face the months ahead. You’ll probably be looking for maple syrup and honey for your tea, and butter, cider, baked goods, and, and, and. there is much more, so plea...se stop by. Although Brighton Applefest has been officially cancelled for 2020, we are recognizing its importance on Sept. 27. Our generous vendors have contributed goods and gift certificates to create a wonderful prize basket. Visitors can fill out a ballot (no charge) to win this loot. Draw takes place at 1:00. That’s on Sept. 27. Watch this space for more information.

New Artisan We’re happy to welcome Janne tomorrow (Sept. 20) with her hand-made creations. She’s bringing combination hat/neck-warmers that are very practical and attractive made with a blend of yarns and antique buttons. She also makes cowels, which can be worn around the neck, or pulled over the head for extra warmth on the ears and neck. These cooler temperatures are making us think about keeping warm. Wasn’t it just last week we were trying to keep cool? Janne’s other specialties are Sassy Sacs one of a kind totes, and The Lace Garden (see picture). Please look for Janne on the west side under a canopy.

Another Sunday, another challenge: Rain! The forecasters are often wrong, and we are hoping they are this weekend. It may or may not rain during market hours. Our intrepid vendors will be present, of course, rain or not. You will find lots and lots of produce (this is the very best time of the year for it), plus all the other enticements we have. ... One of our favourite musicians, Sharon Graham, has offered to bring her piano and play for us. That will not happen if it rains, so we shall just have to wait and see and hopefully, hear. If not this week, then soon. Harry’s Hots has some challenges when it rains. So, to simplify things just this week they will only be offering chili and pulled pork. That sure sounds great to these ears! You can find them just to the right of where they usually are inside the garage door of the shelter. A reminder: the mask sellers will be in their usual spot, and will again be offering a special back-to-school deal: 5 masks for $20. We are happy to report that Dan Buchanan will be joining us every week with his new book about the sinking of the Speedy. It’s a great read a page-turner which is not usually said about a history book. It will be a great market day, weather notwithstanding. Just dig out your slickers, boots, and umbrella and head to The Cod. If you need help taking your purchases to your vehicle, just ask any vendor. Sunday, 10 1.