Farmers market serves it fresh for food bank
Project SHARE continues to cultivate a partnership with the Niagara Falls Farmers Market.
The agency will join vendors at the Sylvia Place market on four days this summer for a fruitthemed morning.
On June 17, for example, Project SHARE staff and volunteers will be selling homemade reduced-sugar strawberry jam using strawberries donated by DeVries Fruit Farm in Fenwick.
All proceeds will be used to purchase produce for the food bank.
“Right now, about 65 per cent of the food we give out is perishable and we want to increase the amount of healthy food we give out,” said Diane Corkum, executive director at Project SHARE. “And, we want to support our local farmers.”
The themed days also promote the farmers market.
Jeanette DeVries, of DeVries Fruit Farm, said she’s pleased to be able to support Project SHARE and to raise awareness of what’s available at the market.
“We want to actively promote the community’s access to good food,” she said.
This year’s strawberry crop, she added, is especially good.
Upcoming themed days to benefit Project SHARE are: cherries on July 15, peaches on Aug. 19 and apples on Sept. 16.
“We are really excited to continue our work with Project SHARE in promoting both its important work in the community and the importance of local fruit and produce at the same time,” said Clark Bernat, the city’s manager of culture and museums.
“It is a great connection and relationship.”
Open Saturdays, year round, the Niagara Falls Farmers Market is located at Sylvia Place directly behind the Niagara Falls History Museum.
Also, local nutritionist Meghann Riley will host four fermentation workshops at the market this summer.
The sessions will cover natural vegetable preservation in the form of wild fermentation which uses naturally-occurring bacteria to preserve and culture food, increase its nutritional value and provide natural probiotics.
“Her work as a nutritionist and the promotion of how best to utilize the produce at the market are a natural fit for us,” Bernat said.
“We are happy she can showcase what can be purchased at the market and create something that can be enjoyed well beyond the season.”
Participants will prepare a one litre jar of vegetables to be brought home to ferment.
For more information and to register, visit http://www.meghannriley.com.
The workshops are as follows: fermented pickles on June 24, fermented sauerkraut on July 22, fermented salsa on Aug. 26, and fermented beet kvass on Sept. 23.