"Dig In" Garden Festival
Opening Day - May 19, 9am - 2pm

Less than a month until our Summer Market Season kicks off at the East Vancouver Farmers Market - May 19. Download a list of vendors who'll be there opening day. Enjoy everything green and garden-y at our "Dig In" Garden Festival too - activities for kids, loads of plants and veggie starters for your home gardening initiatives as well as community gardening information.
Help us kick off our 13th market season in grand green style!
VENDOR LIST

Weeding Out the Good, the Bad and the Tasty
By Sarah McMillan

“A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I worked on an organic farm one summer and found it somewhat perplexing that the very pesky plants we had spent all day ripping from their roots with disgust, turned up in our carefully, lovingly constructed meals at sundown. My poor little brain had been trained all day to view these species as the enemy and now I was supposed to eat them?

I had to shift my perspective on weeds. I asked myself; what is a weed? I came to the conclusion that it is just a plant in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like all other creatures on earth, there is a purpose and a meaning for us all!

As spring is upon us and we look to getting the garden beds ready, it is weeds that tend to stare back up at us. Instead of viewing them as a blight on our soil and just plain hard work, try looking on them as your early season access to high density nutrition. They are some of the first and only seasonal greens to eat at this time, and hey, we need to pull them out anyway.

It is remarkable how nutrient dense these oft overlooked unsung heroes are. One of the reasons they are pulled out of a field of producing crops is that they are nutrient suckers, looked upon as ‘stealing’ nutrients from the plants around them. I say if they are sucking up the nutrients, isn’t that a good enough reason to throw them down the hatch and let our bodies convert them into usable nutrients leading to our good health?

Some common local weeds:

Dandelion:
Dandelions faithfully give up all their parts for useful purposes. The leaves are bitter and stimulating to the liver and kidneys, promoting detoxification. They are great in salads raw, or turned into pesto or lightly steamed. The bitter root is particularly stimulating to digestion and fabulous for initiating detoxification of the liver. It is classically dried, roasted and used as a tea. And then the flowers are easily and oft made into a sweet dandelion wine. Perfect for sipping in the garden on these lengthening spring days.

Chickweed
I like chickweed the best raw in salads. It has an interesting tangy flavour quite unique to other greens in its field (pardon the pun). I have heard if you pick chickweed while it is in flower, just before it goes to seed, it is very strengthening to the body. It is also great lightly cooked and added to soups and stews. Nutritionally it is known for cutting through mucous, dissolving cysts and assisting in weight loss.

Purselane:
Purselane’s plump, little leaves are loaded with the ever so elusive, yet essential fatty acid of the omega 3 variety. Indeed it has a higher omega 3 content than any other plant. In my nutritional opinion, if there is one thing modern humans are lacking it is this reticent nutrient. For this reason, it is best to eat raw, in order to maintain the quality of the omega 3 oils. Having said that, Purselane’s succulent leaves are also so juicy and mucilaginous that they can be used to naturally thicken soups and stews. The seeds of Purselane can also be used in place of poppy seeds.

Plantain (also known as Plantago):
Plantain is found everywhere. The next time you are in a field of grass look down and you will see its broad, green leaves, radiating from a central stem pushing through. Plantain’s leaves are the cure all for any external skin irritation such as rashes, boils, insect bites. The leaf of the plantain is anti-bacterial, astringent and anti-inflammatory. Simply chew the leaf and place it on the area of irritation.

Hopefully you find your self-irritation free, in which case you can throw the leaves into a salad. The seeds are used as a very bowel friendly fibre known as psyllium husk.

Nettle:
Can a weed get any better? It grows prolifically, survives our winters and is absolutely crammed with nutrients. Sure it may give you a light sting in its raw state, but it is a remarkable source of iron, calcium, magnesium and vitamin C, chlorophyll to name a few. Lightly steaming nettles deactivates the sting. Put the leaves in a soup, steep them in hot water for an iron charged tea. I actually ate a nettle Sag Paneer for lunch yesterday (an Indian dish traditionally made with spinach), so use it anywhere you would use leafy greens. The perfect food for vegetarians struggling to find adequate amounts of iron in their diet.

Horsetail:
Horsetail grows in this area, well, if I might say; like a weed. Have you been into a health food store lately looking for a supplement to strengthen your bones, hair skin and teeth? Chances are you will be sold a bottle of horsetail extract, and possibly for quite the price.  Horsetail is high in the mineral silica, an integral mineral for building these bodily tissues. Save yourself some money and simmer horsetail for about 20 minutes in water to make a silica rich tea.

There are many other weeds with exceptional nutritional and medicinal qualities in our area that deserve a second look. Contact your local nursery for further information or better still, come down the farmers markets (summer season opening May19th) and speak to the master gardeners available to answer your questions on local plants.

One caveat to harvesting local weeds; be aware of the area you may harvest from. Ask yourself is this a place where dogs frequent, where run-off from the roads or other pollution may infiltrate, is it an area exposed to high amounts of chemicals and pesticides? An alternative option is to source out these plants from local farmers where you know the source is clean.

Now excuse me while I layer a slab of dandelion pesto on my toast….

Vendor News

The Organic Farm Connection
Friesen Farm and Glorious Organics Co-op (formerly of Langley Organic Growers) have formed another collective and will have a new stall at the East Van Market this season.

Douglas Kennedy Images
Doug Kennedy a long time vendor of photography at the Farmers market, is part of a west side artist group called Artists in Our Midst and will be showing at 2576 West 3rd Ave on April 28th and the 29th.
More information at www.artistsinourmidst.com

Community News

Stone Soup Festival
healthy families ~ healthy community
Enjoy a great day in celebration of food and community at Stone Soup! Bring an ingredient to be added the soup and share in the tasty results!

Saturday May 12, 2007
12pm - 5pm
Napier Greenway - Britannia Community Centre
1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
stonesoupfestival@gmail.com
604-718-5800

Neighbourhood Small Grants
There is still time to get your applications in for the Neighbourhood Small Grants program. Got an idea for a neighbourhood improvement project or would you like to organize a block party or workshop in your community, here is an opportunity to receive some funding for your idea!

Here's a poster with more details.

EYA Internships
The Environmental Youth Alliance will be hiring for 6-month youth internships (age 16-29) beginning in May. Project focus will be food security and community garden development. For more details please check our website posting...
http://www.eya.ca/index.php?id=1175

Or, contact Hartley at hartley@eya.ca


Farmers Wanted
I am seeking reliable, hard working organic farmers to help me ASAP with a opportunity to develop a large organic farm in Grand Forks BC on 400 (100 growing) acres.
 
Jocelyn W. Cowie RMT, GM, CTO
Ponderosa Pines Mtn. Spa
6700 Danshin Village Road
Grand Forks BC V0H 1H5 nopain@look.ca
www.ponderosaspa.bc.ca
 
1-250-442-2547
1-800-665-3211