In pictures: Saskatoon Farmers' Market

I love me a good farmers' market, so I was a tad excited to check out the Saskatoon Farmers' Market. Fresh and local produce, home baking, and on May 19, lots of samples to try as part of Food Revolution.

I got to Market Square at what I considered early, 8am (Come on! 1: I'm on holiday and 2: it's the weekend), only to find both customers and stallholders already active. I spent about four hours strolling through the stalls, talking to producers, sitting in the sun and enjoying way too much good food.

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The farmers' market is held on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Visit: http://www.saskatoonfarmersmarket.com/

To market, to market

Rise and shine. The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market opened at 8 and I wanted to get there early. In my experience, the early bird gets the worm and the rest of the garden at such events. I shouldn’t have worried. My vision of trucks unloading stacks of vegetables still covered with dirt was a little bit off the mark.



Turns out, while agriculture is a big part of the surrounding economy (which is the best in the nation right now), growing fruit and vegetables is not. The flat prairie paddocks are mostly filled with wheat crops. So instead, a lot of the produce was greenhouse grown – tomatoes, capsicums (peppers to my North American friends) and cucumbers. There was a bit of asparagus floating about and one farmer, who works on plots of less than an acre, had some spuds, beets and carrots. The rest of the market was filled with handmade clothing and jewellery, baking including pies, bread, slices, biscuits and some delicious little cupcakes, salsas, Indian marinades, spices, lentils, woodwork and photography. One photographer struck up a conversation after noticing my camera and insisted I choose a card of one of her images. “I want you to have something from Saskatoon”. Very sweet.

I met another woman who talked to me about the Trans Canada Trail: a trail that would run the length of the country. There are a lot of gaps and it will take many years for it to happen (if it does). This woman is part of a group of eight working to link up existing trails in Saskatchewan.



Over the morning the crowds grew. It became near impossible to find a free chair, either indoors or out. There are a couple of cafes in the market building selling huge servings of fruit pies topped with whipped cream, fresh waffles covered with berries, quiche, lasagne, salads…the list goes on. It’s fair to say no one went hungry.

The market was holding a Food Revolution Day, inspired by Jamie Oliver, and had a rotation of stalls featured in the Market Kitchen, a kitchen built in the permanent building of the market to use for demonstrations. I tried Seabuckthorn Berry gelato and tea, Saskatoon Berry (a tart cherry) muffins, fresh cucumber and scored a free bag of pea sprouts. Full on samples and a rhubarb and cherry smoothie and loaded up with my pea sprouts, some local organic asparagus and greenhouse grape tomatoes, I headed home for a shower.

Conscious that I won’t have internet for the next three days I spent the afternoon at Collective Coffee, one of the trendy places to open on the rather-dodgy looking 20^th Street. I caught up with travelling planning, blog posts, editing pictures and writing Couch Requests for Quebec, Halifax and Newfoundland. I spent a few hours in the café, trying my best to be polite the occasional drunk neighbourhood local. One asked me for $1000. Sure mate. The server later gave me a free cookie and a card for a free coffee for my patience with such patrons.



After a dinner of pasta, pesto and my farmers’ market asparagus, tomatoes and pea sprouts (picture above...yum) I met Neil at his friend’s place for his farewell party. He’s off to Central America in a week or so. Maybe. He hasn’t booked his ticket yet.

Highlight of the night: (re)learning to hulahoop. I’m sure I could do it as a kid, but as an adult I have struggled. Until now!

A city of trees

Even the promise of rain in the afternoon couldn’t drag me out of bed early. My busy few weeks, plus a restless night on the train, saw me sleep in and it was after noon when I left the house.

With an umbrella in hand I headed to the river front, walking along part of the Meewasin Trail I missed yesterday when I was on the other side. Despite being a stones throw from the city centre, the local geese weren't bothered at all. I came across a little flock (soooo many babies) on the edge of the path. One of the older ones, I assume Dad, made it clear us humans were not welcome, hissing and flapping his wings when a walker or runner got too close. 

I followed the trail up to the Mendel Gallery, Saskatoon's most popular art gallery. There were some great exhibitions on, including School Art featuring the work of primary and secondary school students in the area. There were some amazing pieces there. I may be easily impressed though when, at 27, a stick figure is the best drawing you're going to get out of me. There is also an adjoining conservatory, which was really relaxing to walk through before heading back outside. There's even a banana tree, although the fruit is a little way from being ready.

I headed into the suburbs walking around a lovely area (lots of trees, gorgeous big houses, quiet streets) that Neil, my CS host, later informed me in called City Park. Then it was back to the Meewasin Trail. I'll write more about the trail another time, but it really was a gorgeous little walk. After reaching the weir, and the pelicans who arrive about this time of year, I crossed on the railway bridge. I was climbing up the stairs to it when a freight train thundered across. I'm not great with heights so I stood frozen on the shaking staircase, gripping the hand rail, before slowing climbing further up. Just as I reached the walkway (divided from the tracks by a little fence) the last carriages went past.





The railway bridge gave a great view of the city....well that's if you could find it among all the trees. Aside from the taller buildings in the city centre, most of the residential areas are submerged under a sea of green. It really is a pretty sight. And being prairie land, you can see for miles and miles. As my CS host pointed out, if you want a workout on your bike, you have to travel a fair bit. No inclines to be found.

I walked back down the other side and home in time to cook dinner for Neil.

So Saskatoon...not so boring after all

This is what greeted me as The Canadian pulled into Saskatoon at 8am on Thursday morning:



Not a great start.

As the local bus toured the outskirts before heading into the city centre, things didn’t get much better. Although thumbs up to the driver who let me ride for free because I didn't have any change. I offered a $5 note, happy to forget about the $2 fare difference, but he said not to worry about it. The prairie capital was dusty, bland and overwhelmingly uninviting. After leaving my bags at my CouchSurfing host’s place, I ventured in the direction of the river, first stopping at where there was supposed to be a bike rental place only to discover it won’t open until July for the summer.

I headed to the Meewasin Valley Trail along the South Saskatchewan River and followed it until I crossed at Broadway Bridge. Broadway is the “hip” area of Saskatoon (yes there is such a neighbourhood here) and I needed food. My host, Neil, had recommended Broadway Café, a 50s-style diner. Of all the cafes on the strip it was the most packed so I took that as a good sign. The food was cheap and decent, although my steak sandwich turned out to be just a steak on top of a very thick slice of bread. I think the chef should visit a footy game or two in Australia and learn how to get this dish down.

Broadway was an interesting area. I visited a great alternative bookstore as recommended by Neil – I could have spent a lot of money there. There were also lots of stores featuring local arts and crafts, clothing boutiques, outdoor/adventure stores and a cupcake shop. I impressed myself by walking past the last one twice without going in.



I continued along the Meewasin Valley Trail on the east side of the river, crossing back over one of the traffic bridges and ending up close the to the city centre. I walked along the trail a little further and found Kinsmen Park. Seeing a good opportunity to kick off my shoes for a while I sat down under a tree, read one of the local papers and then fell asleep on the grass. Luckily my camera and purse were still beside me when I woke up.



The park borders the city centre so I decided to explore through there. I came across American Apparel, Lulu Lemon and then Sears and The Bay, each time thinking “That? Here? In Saskatoon?” I kept forgetting that despite appearances, Saskatoon is the biggest city in the province. Big city with a small town feel.

I walked back in the direction of Neil’s house, with a detour along 20th Street, an area he pointed out earlier. This street used to be one your parents would tell you to avoid for fear of getting mugged, murdered or worse. But over time it is slowly transforming. Now, among the church-run help centres, pawn shops and thrift stores are hot yoga centres, a yoga and dance studio, contemporary art galleries and a coffee house and communal working space, The TwoTwenty. The TwoTwenty is a co-working studio where you can buy a day pass or membership to use the space. I glanced inside and saw a huge table with people sitting at their laptops. I just looked like an unfurnished Starbucks.

Later that night I met Neil at the launch party for the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. The festival is next month and Michael Franti is playing. Unfortunately he wasn’t in the line-up for the launch party, but I caught two bands that were both pretty good. And not a yellow scarf in sight.