Wanderlust and Words

SMAK Ukrainian Store has moved from its previous location on 22nd Street West. They’re now located in a brand-new building on 34th Street, just west of Idylwyld Drive (#30 – 1301 Idylwyld Drive). The store is open from 9 am to 7 pm, Monday through Saturday . SMAK's website says that they provide parcel delivery to the Ukraine. The store has a good selection of canned and frozen goods, not to mention biscuits and candies. I bought a jar of eggplant spread and wish I’d picked up a package of the blueberry or cherry perogies. Another customer pointed out to me that the prices are very reasonable. SMAK Ukrainian Store no longer has a coffee shop or fresh baked goods. You can follow SMAK on Facebook .   See also: 2015 post for more photos Toffee flavoured sweetened condensed milk

Horchata Mexicana La Taqueria Mexicana , Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, will be serving horchata throughout the summer months. Fruit & Spice & Everything Nice D.A.M.N. Fine Foods are now selling their spicy fruit preserves at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. International Coffee Culture Interested in learning more about coffee culture in cities around the world? Then you may want to subscribe to Drift magazine . Contact Daryl Grunau, Vector Coffee Company , to be part of a bulk order. Composting Workshops Saskatoon’s Compost Coaches are offering a free hour-long workshop on different composting options, including trench composting, mulching, vermicompost and bokashi fermentation at 7 pm , July 14 , at the Cliff Wright Library. You can build a compost tumbler at 6 pm , July 20 , or a vermicomposting bin at 10 am , July 23 , at the Saskatoon Food Bank ’s Garden Patch. Composting – Take Your Pick From lasagna compost to vermicompost, find out which method will work bes...

A friend and I took a road trip out to Osler this week to visit FG Market Ltd . It’s a big, brand-new store stocking a wide range of fresh, frozen, and canned foods; wine and spirits; baked goods; beauty products; and candy. They specialize in local food so we found fruit wines, liqueurs, and spirits from all corners of the province as well as Koko Patisserie baked goods from Regina, home baking, and lots of home-canned jams and pickles. There’s a really large selection of flavoured oils and vinegars, a large freezer full of meat products, and lots of Homestead ice cream. The market offers a daily lunch special, but if you’re vegetarian you may want to head for the ice cream sandwiches (very tasty!). FG Market is definitely worth a visit. There’s lots to choose from and many products that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

The artistry of Tim Yoder, Peasant's Pick, Saskatoon Farmers' Market Food Justice and Traditional Foods Networking Gathering, June 28  CHEP Good Food Inc. and Wanuskewin Heritage Park are hosting a Food Justice and Traditional Foods Networking Gathering at 8:30 am , June 28. Guest speaker Sandra Walker will share a presentation on ethnobotany and Indigenous survival foods. RSVP by June 23 . Our Farm, July 2 Our Farm will be back in St. Joseph’s parking lot at the corner of Broadway and 8th at 8 am , July 2. They’ll be selling their vegetables there every Saturday until the end of September . Hort Week, July 2-9  Check out the wide array of courses on offer during Hort Week – from Backyard Veg Gardening to Drinking Your Garden and Keeping Bees in an Urban Setting . Julianna's lovely smile, Those Girls at the Market Fresh Pizza Dough Earth Bound Bakery sells fresh pizza dough every day they're open.  Guide to India Pale Ales  Ever wondered...

June 18 may be your last chance to purchase these gorgeous dahlias from Mistik Acres Market Scoops I visited the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market twice this week (blame my addiction to BC cherries!). It was great to see so many customers and so many producers selling fabulous local products. Here are just a few of my finds: First zucchini of the season from Kaleidoscope Gardens (planted in the ground with high plastic tunnels to retain the sun’s heat) First outdoor-grown spinach from Belle Plaine Peasant's Pick is back: Tim's vegetable displays are a work of art First BC cherries (from Sukh and Sonu Singh’s orchard in Oliver ) - so good and Sukh says the next ripening variety tastes even better Cinnamon-glazed sunflower seeds from Name Your Nuts Fit Fuel In A Jar , a new vendor, selling breakfasts and salads in a jar that will keep for up to a week in a refrigerator Kaleidoscope Gardens Coming soon! Clare Pearson, Prairie Sun Orchard , says they should...

The Night Oven Bakery Community Farmers Market, June 14 The Community Farmers Market of Saskatoon is anticipating a 2016 start-up date of Tuesday, June 14th. The locations and days/hours are the same as last year. Tuesdays and Fridays will be in the parking lot at London Drugs on 8th Street. Thursdays will be in the parking lot at Peavey Mart on 51st Street. Hours are 9 am - 4 pm . Composting Workshop, June 23 Saskatoon’s Compost Coaches are offering a free hour-long workshop on different composting options , including trench composting, mulching, vermicompost, and bokashi fermentation at 7 pm , June 23, at the Rusty MacDonald Library . Summer in the Loire Valley, June 30 Celebrate summer in the Loire Valley on June 3 at a wine tasting event sponsored by Doug Reichel Wine Marketing, Co-op Wine Spirits Beer, and Boffin’s. The five French-inspired food stations will be accompanied by wines from Domaine Joseph Mellot . The rhubarb pinwheel croissants are delicious! ...

If you care about local food and supporting local food producers – or if you’re planning to visit the Okanagan – you should definitely read Food Artisans of the Okanagan: Your Guide to the Best Locally Crafted Fare by Jennifer Cockrall-King (published by Touchwood Editions ). Jennifer has sought out the farmers, bakers, brewers, chefs, and all the other individuals who are producing and selling locally crafted, organic or near-organic fare in the Okanagan. The book is divided into four sections for the North Okanagan, Central Okanagan, South Okanagan, and the Similkameen and provides a one- or two-page introduction to each individual and their products. The book takes you off the beaten track with mouth-watering descriptions of products that can only be found locally, from beer and honey to cheese and chocolates. The only thing it doesn’t cover is wine, referring readers instead to John Schreiner’s Okanagan Wine Tour Guide 2014 . Travel Guide My first response to this boo...