Craving fresh, local product? Our local farmers markets are bursting at the seams with locally grown produce from Alberta Farms.
In this issue’s Market Report, we dive deeper into Innisfail Growers and explore Quebec classics.
Photo Credit (Hero image): Innisfail Growers
Photo Credit (Inline images): Susan Turnbull
INNISFAIL GROWERS
Innisfail Growers wants you to know where your food comes from, and to make it easier to access freshly grown produce and locally made products.
Five family farms (Edgar, Jungle, Beck, Upper Green and Hillside) joined forces in 1993 when Beck Farms approached them to form a collective.
“The idea was to share knowledge and expenses, and to create a larger presence at the market,” says Leona Staples, owner of Jungle Farms.
What began as a way to sell their gardens’ bounty soon expanded to include fresh berries and rhubarb, ready-to-bake frozen pies and streusel-topped fruit crisps, both stuffed with locally grown and BC fruits. Find jams, jellies and other preserves, sauces and various herbs and flowering plants. Best sellers from the three remaining founders include Edgar Farms’ peas, Jungle’s strawberries and Beck Farms’ carrots, plus raspberry jam, asparagus pickles and sauerkraut.
Each farm has a commercial kitchen for processing and packaging their products and they host seasonal farm tours. Jungle and Edgar each have on-farm stores, and Jungle has u-pick strawberries and vegetables throughout the summer and fall. Look for classes in gardening herbs, tomatoes and flower pots as well.
Innisfail Growers’ produce cycles through the seasons as availability allows, starting in our always long-awaited Alberta spring with daily fresh cuts of asparagus.
Innisfail Growers | Calgary Farmers’ Market South and West | innisfailgrowers.com
FLAVOURS OF QUEBEC
When Claire Duchesne and Alain Ethier decided to start a business in 2004, their roots provided the impetus: they wanted to bring a piece of Quebec to Calgary for others to experience, says their son Francis.
They originally started in the market at Currie Barracks, moving with the Calgary Farmers’ Market South when it relocated to its current location on Blackfoot Tr.
Their renowned maple syrup is shipped from Coaticook, Quebec. The four grades of syrup – Golden, which has a delicate taste and light colour, Amber, a pure, rich flavour, Dark, robust, and caramelized and Very Dark, an intense, stronger flavour – are all represented here.
In addition to a wide range of maple syrups and maple-based products such as vinaigrettes, barbecue sauces, plus maple butter, fudge and sugar, Flavours of Quebec also stocks Montreal smoked meat, fresh cheese curds, maple-baked beans, French Canadian pea soup and cretons, a pork spread similar to French rillettes.
The freezer is filled with homemade chicken, beef and turkey pot pies, quiches, lasagna, cheesecake, maple pecan and sugar tarts and tourtiere, many based on handed-down family recipes. The south location also serves Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and poutine.
The business is a real family affair. Francis runs the show, Claire watches over the kiosk at Calgary Farmers’ Market West, and Alain prepares the various dishes inspired by Francis’ grandma’s recipes.
Flavours of Quebec | Calgary Farmers’ Markets South and West | @FlavoursofQuebec.cfm
