With this being the long weekend in Canada to celebrate the National Holiday of "Canada Day," and with summer being in full swing now, my sister and I decided to take another trip up the Valley on Saturday to hit some of the better Farm Markets here in the area in which we live.
I had not done one of these since last October when my brother was down visiting from Ottawa and then we basically had only gone to the one farm market as well as Jonny's Cookhouse in Berwick for lunch.
I thought it was about time to do another one, with all of the local produce which is now starting to come into season. We thought we would also visit a few new markets that we hadn't visited before!
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to farm markets in the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, which is where we live. They are really nice markets however and I thought you might enjoy seeing what I picked up. Boy oh boy, I spent a bomb yesterday. Its a good thing I only do this every now and then!
Of course the best part is getting to do it with my sister!
The first place we hit was Hennigar's Farm Market in Greenwich. This is just outside of the University town of Wolfville. I lives in Wolfville many years ago, and in face went to Uni there. This is also where my oldest son was born.
With this being the long weekend, it was really crowded yesterday. Loads of people were there for the homemade ice cream and the crazy golf.
We had a quick boo around. I didn't really pick up anything vegetable wise here as most of the veggies were from away. I was looking for local stuff. I can get lots of imported fruit and veg at my supermarket.
I did pick up some delicious Oat Cakes ($4.99), Chew Ginger Cookies ($4.99), two rolls of hard candy that sounded nice (Root Beer and Butterscotch, $1.99 each) and a dozen organic free range eggs ($6.79).
We did have a good look around however and will probably make our way back up again near to the autumn when more produce is available. Total spend $21.35.
Next we hit the Noggin's Corner Farm Market, which was just a wee bit down the road towards the Western part of the valley where we live. This was our first visit to this market and it won't be our last.
Here is a bit about the market from their site:
A century before Canada became a country, the Bishop family founded what would become one of the oldest farms along the banks of the Cornwallis River ( Chijekwtook ) in present-day Greenwich, Nova Scotia. Today, Noggins Corner Farm has retained that spirit of hospitality and incorporated the best practices in agriculture, technology, and customer service. Stop by our Farm Market for delicious seasonal produce or come pick-your-own apples or pumpkins and stay for our amazing Family Fun area and Corn Maze.
I have to say I was most impressed about their market and we have already spoken about going back a bit later in the season. It was clean, the staff was friendly and everything was really well appointed and taken care of. It is a bit early in the season for fresh veg and fruit, except for strawberries and a few early things, but here is what I bought there!
They had a whole shelf of these Savoury Favorites Maple spice blends. I love Maple anything. I wouldn't be Canadian if I didn't. It is grilling season and I thought these would come in handy. (They also had some recipe cards. I picked up the Mild Curry Maple Pepper, Garlic Maple Pepper and Original Maple Pepper. Each was $6.75 which is pretty reasonable when it comes to the cost of seasonings, herbs and spices here in Canada.
I picked up a couple of the recipe cards as well, because, why not!
I had been going to get a small punnet of these tomatoes at the first farm market, but I didn't. I am glad I waited as the ones at Noggin's looked a lot fresher. I love trying different kinds of tomatoes. When I lived in the U.K. I used to have a crate of tomatoes delivered to my house from the Isle of Wight about once a month. Boy but they were some good. No such thing here.
Anyways, I picked up this punnet of delicious looking tomatoes. They were $6.50, so not cheap but I am going to really enjoy them.
I got a bag of Speerville Rolled Oats for eating and baking. Organic certified, and Canadian grown and produced in New Brunswick. I like to support Canadian producers whenever I can. All organic and grown in the Maritimes, which is even better!
I got a 910g bag for $5.50 which I thought was a very fair price for organic oats.
Bread is a weakness of mine. Were it not for potatoes, pasta, and bread I could happily eat low carb. I have had the Olive Sourdough Levain before and ate the whole thing in 2 days. It was delicious. ($6.25)
I also got a Square 7 Grain bread ($6.25). It is delicious. I had some with butter with my dinner last night. You can pay almost that much for a nasty loaf of bread that is filled with loads of preservatives in the grocery store these days.
Pepito ($5.25). I love Pepito. I wish I could find a recipe to try making my own. This is like a brioche/puff pastry dough, filled with custard and loads of chocolate chips. A delicious indulgence on my part.
A small jar of Atlantic Mustard Mill, East Coast Hot Dog pickles, stone milled gourmet mustard. ($8.50) Now this was expensive, but a little goes a long way and it is gourmet. I love their mustards. I have tried several different kinds, including the curry mustard. I had not seen this one before and cannot wait to enjoy it on a hot dog! Produced on Prince Edward Island.
You don't often see unpasteurized honey in the grocery stores here. I love honey. Cosman and Whidden Honey is produced locally in Greenwich, Nova Scotia. I picked up a jar of the creamed. ($8.50)
English Banger Sausages, produced by Martock Glen Farm and Butchery in Windsor, Nova Scotia. As soon as I saw the word English Banger, I had to have them. I wonder how they will compare to the ones I was used to buying in the U.K. British Sausage is some of the best in the world. I will let you know! Only three ingredients. Pork, salt and spices. Sounds good!
Four really meaty sausages ($15.74) Definitely not cheap. But you are paying over $11 for five nasty sausages at the shops, so I don't reckon that is much more for quality and traceable meat.
Altogether I spent $82.74. So I didn't get out of there cheaply, but I did buy some pretty quality looking stuff. Watch this space!
We did enjoy this farm shop and we will be going back. We were already discussing it this morning.
The last farm market we went to was Nicholl's Farms Farm Market, which was quite close to where we live, maybe about 35 minutes away. They just took over an older farm market the other side of Aylesford. They also operate a You Pick. I have to say I was very impressed with them as well. They are a vast improvement on the farm that was operating it before.
I picked up some fresh yellow and green beans (early season) ($4.25 each) and some lovely looking new potatoes. ($5.75) I love boiled new potatoes.
Like I said, it is really early in the season and so not a lot is really being picked yet. I saw some really nice looking young carrots, but I can only eat so much by myself so I skipped them. Lots of peas as well, but I have always found that fresh peas are expensive for what you get.
Of course we could not be that far up the Valley without going to The Running Man. It is like a Costco outlet. We always pop in when we are up that way. Our nearest Costco is in the City and we never get up that far. So I reckon we go to the Running Man about ever 2 months or so, and we have our favorite things we pick up.
They had a huge box of battered chicken balls, for $24.90
I love chicken balls and we never get to go for Chinese food here as there are no decent Chinese restaurants where we live. Its all disgusting. (Sorry but not sorry)
I gave half the box to my sister as I know my dad LOVES sweet and sour chicken balls. There were four large bags in the box. I kept two for myself.
When do you ever go to Costco and come away without having picked up something really naughty. I am no Saint. I couldn't resist these S'Mores Clusters. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Milk Chocolate. Kettle cooked caramel. Grahams. Marshmallows. $16.99 I will be rationing them as I am not supposed to be eating stuff like this. What can I say? We were hungry by the time we hit the Costco and I was game for anything. True to form we both ate one in the car. Oh boy, some yummy!
This was something new that I had not seen before. I love chicken breast fillets. I love tempura. The two together . . . well, I knew I wanted to try them. Something that I can easily cook in the air fryer. I am not too fussed about BBQ sauce with chicken fingers. I would rather have ranch dressing or sweet and sour, but then, I did not buy these for the sauce! $23.49 for 1.2 kg (almost 3 pounds)
We had been waiting for them to get these Nonni's Limoncello Biscottini back in stock. We had been waiting months and months. They are SERIOUSLY delicious. We finally struck gold and got the last two bags of them! How could we resist. $15.99
I will be rationing them as well, lol. NOT!
Sabatasso's Pizza Singles. I always get a box of these when I go to Costco. They are so yummy. You can cook them in the Microwave, but I always do them in the oven. Individually wrapped also. Cindy got a box as well. Dan loves them.
12 mini pizzas, two kinds, for $21.99
Stonemill Kitchens Homestyle Red Potato Salad. They have usually run out of this potato salad when we are there. I love it. Most commercially prepared potato salads are not very nice. This one is fabulously tasty! Creamy and filled with big chunks of potatoes. There is pickle in there as well as celery and you can definitely taste the mustard. This does not disappoint and is almost as good as homemade.
2.3kg/5 pounds $11.49
With the tax and everything I spent $121.61. I always spend over a hundred dollars when I go to the Running Man. I never, or very rarely get out of there having spent less. It would be even worse if we went to an actual Costco.
My UK husband is the only person I know who could go into Costco for a Rotisserie Chicken and come out with nothing but a Rotisserie Chicken.
Last but not least we stopped at Giant Tiger. I wanted to get some of the Sprague Pea Soup. I love that version. Its almost as good as homemade. My father likes the Habitant Pea Soup, but the Sprague is a bazillion times better.
Here is what I bought. Of course. More than just pea soup.
A bottle of the Dawn EZ-Squeeze Dish Detergent in the Green Apple scent for $3.77
I had never seen this scent of dish soap before. I don't know what is wrong with dish soap these days but Dawn is the only one that stands up to washing dishes. All the other kinds that I used to swear by are substandard in comparison. I think they must have changed their formulas or something. In the UK I always used Fairy, here I use Dawn.
Gourmet Fingerling Potatoes. I usually don't buy produce in Giant Tiger. I do buy my cat litter there as it is cheaper and sometimes cat treats. I have been known to buy some t-shirts and night clothes there. I got the room darkening curtains for my dad's bedroom there, but generally speaking I try to avoid buying too much in stores that sell a lot of cheap Chinese tat. I know. I just abhor Chinese tat and it is difficult these days to find stuff not made in China.
Anyways, I saw these potatoes and they smelled alright and were produced in Canada and so I ought a bag. I have always wanted to try fingerling potatoes. $1 1/2 pounds for $2.97
I did get the pea soup and I got a can of minestrone as well. They were on offer for 2 for $5. They are usually $3.97 each. I saved a bit there. I would have gotten four of the pea soup, but they only had three left. I threw in the minestrone to make up the fourth. So $10 for four cans of soup.
Who would have ever thought that you would be paying these kinds of prices for tinned soup. I remember when I first got married you could get six for a dollar.
I also got two cases of Diet Coke, the 750ml bottles, six to a case. They were only $5 plus deposit. Where I usually get them they are 2 for $14 plus deposit. So I saved myself a bit there.
Altogether at Giant Tiger I spent $44.85 including the tax. I did buy a medicine item, which I have not mentioned for $10.77. Aren't medicines expensive? I can't get over it.
Anyways, overall I did spend a bit of money yesterday, but I got some really great things and I got to spend the day with my sister. Always a bonus!
I hope you enjoyed seeing what I bought. If you like this kind of thing let me know and I will try to do them a bit more often! I have always been a grocery store tourist. I have to visit the grocery store wherever I travel. I just find the different products available to be very interesting. I used to love going over to Calais in France and shopping at the Carrefour.
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