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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 99: Supporting Local Food Systems Through Farmers Markets
Step into the heart of sustainable living as we journey deep into the forested hills of Halliburton with Lexi, a passionate advocate for local food systems and manager of the Halliburton County Farmers Market. Practicing a homestead lifestyle where wild harvesting and permaculture principles reign supreme, Lexi offers a refreshing perspective on reconnecting with our food sources.
The conversation meanders through practical wisdom like using coffee grounds to deter garden-raiding skunks and the vital importance of proper tent weights at outdoor markets (a safety measure with dramatic consequences when ignored). We discover the surprising world of Ontario's 36 dragonfly species – natural mosquito warriors – and learn how stormwater retention ponds use fountains specifically to prevent mosquito breeding by disrupting their breathing process.
At its core, this episode tackles the growing disconnect between people and their food sources. Lexi articulately challenges our modern food system, questioning why we ship produce thousands of miles when local alternatives exist, and highlighting the hidden costs of convenience. The Halliburton County Farmers Market stands as a powerful example of community resilience, offering not just fresh food but direct connections with the people who grow it. With approximately 39 vendors across two locations serving 1,800 visitors during peak season, these markets demonstrate the viability of local food systems.
Whether you're a seasoned gardener, curious about farmers markets, or simply wanting to make more conscious food choices, this episode offers practical insights into creating a healthier relationship with food. Ready to reconnect with your food sources and support local producers? Visit the Halliburton County Farmers Market on Tuesdays in Halliburton or Saturdays in Minden until October 11th, and experience firsthand the vibrant community nourishing both body and soul through sustainable local food systems.
Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 3:We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, all the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. But now that we're reforesting- and all that, it's the perfect transmission environment for line to see.
Speaker 4:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 1:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 5:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by Indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. Well, welcome everybody to the podcast. We always appreciate the listeners and, as always, if anybody has any questions or comments or wants to hear any specific shows, let us know and we will do whatever we can to see if we can put together a podcast for you.
Speaker 5:That was a normal morning. It's that time of the year we're into June now and I was out with my chocolate lab, ensign Gunner, and Gunner was out, and you know, lo and behold, out in the middle of the field. Now I don't have any problem with him, but Cooper is his favorite buddy, another chocolate lab, or Willie, a German short-haired pointer that does have problems rolling in dead animals, and it looked like there was a rabbit, that or something that had been killed by a coyote or a fox and lion in there. No problems there, but it doesn't appear that. Uh, reishi. I've heard of harvested some reishi mushroom and no more growth. Normally we get some second or third cuts of reishi in this area, but I'm not seeing anything there this year at all.
Speaker 5:My wild mint patch is going well, along with the stinging nettle which is slowly expanding, and I'm making sure that that continues on. But I got to tell you, my wife Diane, that was it the mullein in the yard, which was huge and it was going into the second year, just, nope, gone. It's a weed and we're not having any more of that in the front yard. So the mullein's gone. But hey, that's the way it is and we've got to keep people happy. And you know, it's just that time of year and apparently they're calling for some rain today, which will be not too bad, but it looks like there might even be some tornado calls in southwestern Ontario. Now today we have a great guest and I want to welcome Lexi to the podcast. Welcome, lexi.
Speaker 6:Thank you so much for having me, Jerry. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 5:No, no problem. It's always good to listen to people, and people find it very interesting, I think with a lot of things that we'll talk about. So tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you located, say, from Toronto?
Speaker 6:Sure, yeah, so I'm just north of Halliburton, it's about, I'd say, two and a half hours to the GTA. I currently live in the bush, which is lovely, and we've been here. We just moved here from Kingston, actually We've been here for a couple of years, my little family, we grow a lot of wonderful food here and I like hearing your stories of nettle and mullein and all the wild stuff you find, because we also love to wild harvest, we make medicines and we prepare a lot of our foods from nature as well, as it comes up. Yeah, so we've been enjoying living in the bush and all the abundance that comes with this beautiful forested area.
Speaker 5:So what do you mean? Living in the bush? I mean, are you off grid or how does it work? I?
Speaker 6:know, you know it's become a bit of a vocabulary, you know to say out here, living in the bush, but essentially I'm pretty deep into the woods here. There's not a lot of people around, which is great. I do live partly on the grid, but we're a lot more conscious of our energy consumption so we cook by cook stove, we are on hydro but, yeah, we're on about 600 acres here, so we enjoy going for walks and just being a lot more immersed in nature. So we'll come out and see turtles and frogs and snakes and feeling a lot more connected to nature. Living in the bush, as people out here like to call it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I know, I was out. My son, josh, took me out golfing for Father's Day and there was a snapping turtle that was guarding or sitting beside one of the sand traps on the 10th hole at Oak Ridge. And yesterday, as a matter of fact, I happened to see three turtles on the road. I stopped to help one across a painted and I didn't realize until we actually had the turtle rehab center out of just outside of Peterborough that if you're releasing a turtle, release it in the direction it's going. So yesterday's painted it was heading across the road and it was right in the middle and on a hill. So a car coming over the top of the hill might not have seen it in time. But I helped it across and then and released on the other side and there was two snapping turtles.
Speaker 5:Um, I also saw that looked like they were probably laying eggs on the side of the road, but they were just stationary and no problems there. So it's that time of the year when a lot of people are going to see turtles on the roads you get. What kind of turtles do you get out your way?
Speaker 6:Yeah, I love bringing up turtles because I'm also in love with the turtle guardians. They're out here in Halliburton too and they do so much amazing goodness for the turtles out here. But we also see the painted turtles often. We thought we had one laying eggs for a while and she was just enjoying a little hole for herself. But we do see quite a few snappers. I was going off to the market the other day and driving through a swampy, swampy area, there were three snappers on the side of the road having just a nice sunbath before the people go flying by. They're nicely safe on the side, which is great. They already made it across, but we saw all sorts of things out here, so we're trying to get them out of the garden. That's the hard part we're finding without disturbing them too much oh really, so they come into the garden.
Speaker 5:Well, a lot of people don't realize that when you drive along some of the 400 highways, like if you're heading north from toronto up to sudbury, sucee marie way, you'll look along the side of the roads and you'll see all this fencing and some of it's only about three feet tall and it's pretty heavy mesh. That's turtle proof fencing, to be honest, to keep them from going on the highways and try and keep them out of those harms way in a lot of cases because people aren't going to stop on the highway to with turtles and the speed that they go. But yeah, turtle proof fencing is getting pretty evident in a lot of locations now to make sure that turtles are a lot safer yeah, well, well, just like the bees, we need them.
Speaker 6:So I love the protection we're doing for them and just the more conscious approach we're having, especially in this area. Halliburton's a little obsessed with turtles, so I really like that. I appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 5:So how are the bugs where you're at, when you're in the bush, so to speak?
Speaker 6:Jerry, don't get me started. The bugs are not good out here. We're into deer fly or moose fly season. We call them because they're so big. They're hard. They're hard out here. It's rough because we do live in a quite swampy area, which is good for us in a sustainable aspect. We dug a little pit for ourselves in the back and we use that murky algae filled water for the garden. It's really great. Minerals and food for the garden, um. But because of that we get so many mosquitoes. Those black flies just are killing us right now and the noceums coming through the screens they eat us while we sleep. So we're very, very involved with the bugs out here yeah, there's.
Speaker 5:I I got um a couple things. I got one of those propane um mosquito magnets and I I had a couple. I've had three now. The first two work fantastic because we're off, our place is off grid, where we are up in wilberforce, just outside of wilberforce, um. So it ran on d cell batteries and it worked great. What happens is you run a 20-pound tank Actually, I'd hook up a 30-pound tank, which would last about a month and a half and it gives off carbon dioxide that attracts a lot of the bugs, the biting bugs, whether it's mosquitoes or deer flies.
Speaker 5:We don't get a lot of black flies, or maybe we're just not there in the black fly season, but not so much black flies, although this year we had quite a hatch of black flies and it targets them very specifically and I got to tell you those ones with the D cell work spectacular and you'd be entering and emptying the net. And it would just happen to be that I was at a guy's place that lived deep in the bush and was surrounded by swamp and right at the peak of mosquito season. I was there and there's like nothing there. So I said to him. I said, hey, how come you don't have any mosquitoes. He said come here, I'll show you. So he showed me this thing and he said I emptied this yesterday. He emptied his, I emptied this yesterday, he emptied his, which was another one, and it was like a bag, probably one of those old shopping bag, plastic shopping bags full the size that you'd get at a grocery store filled with mosquitoes again, and he emptied right in front of me. He says, yeah, every other day I just empty that many and it was working unbelievable. So I tried it. It was spectacular.
Speaker 5:But I got to tell you, the new ones that run on only propane. With the one I have they don't work. Worth a damn Total waste of my money Does not work. I've tried everything I've tried because you hang an attractant there with it as well. I've tried double attractants with it. Nothing seems to work. With this propane one. It only runs on propane and so what happens is the batteries run a little fan, so the attractant and the propane burning attracts the mosquitoes and black flies and deer flies and then the fan blows them into this, this net kind of thing that eventually kills them off. And it was working. Spectacular, but yeah, and some of the other things is a lot of people don't realize that when you're looking at in with new subdivisions, particularly in Ontario and I'm not sure the other jurisdictions, because you know we have listeners in Switzerland and Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago states, of course, and all around the world, but in Ontario when they build a new subdivision they have these what are called stormwater retention ponds build a new subdivision.
Speaker 5:They have these where called stormwater retention ponds because essentially what happens it used to be, it used to be fields and the rain would fall, seep into the ground and then slowly migrate towards streams and creeks and purify itself. But all these new subdivisions come in where you have rooftop and blacktop and rooftops obviously, but blacktops would be driveways and roadways that reduce the amount of seepage that goes into the ground. So they end up having these stormwater retention ponds to emulate some of the the way that it would be natural courses. And the reason they put fountains in them is not because they look nice, it's because they stop mosquito production.
Speaker 5:Mosquitoes can't reproduce in waves because they breathe through a proboscis that sticks its little breathing tube into the air and breathes and then goes down and wiggles around in the water again. And if there's waves on it they can't reproduce because the waves don't allow the proboscis to breathe the air. So you end up stopping mosquitoes from breeding in those stormwater retention pots. Just a little something that if you've got enough water there, that could help produce some of the mosquitoes there.
Speaker 6:I love it Anything to help, because once you go out in the evening you can't go out with a bug suit. So you know I got to try a couple of things. But I also love, you know, along with that, I love seeing the dragonflies. It's like a perfect little cycle we have here the dragonflies come out. Last night they were out in swarms and I was not getting bit by anything, so I love that as well. So it's a little natural cycle that happens here and we just take a bit of a hit. But I got to look into those systems. That's a brilliant idea.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, the dragonflies. I tried to talk the ministry into doing a dragonfly hatchery, to do releases of dragonflies in the areas that had found where West Nile virus was, because it's transmitted through mosquito bites. And so I said, look, why don't we try releasing dragonflies to consume more of the mosquitoes in the area in order to reduce the likelihood of West Nile virus and, quite frankly, put more strain on the healthcare system in Ontario?
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 5:Can't be done because there's 36 strains of dragonflies in Ontario. I don't know if you knew that 36 strains of dragonflies in Ontario and the largest one is called a dragon slayer dragonfly that'll actually migrate as far south as Florida. Most people don't know that. I had no idea.
Speaker 6:I know nothing about dragonflies, except that I love them. They help so much. So there you go, this little piece of information. I didn't know.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so anyway. So I tried to bring a dragonfly hatchery to get them to release them in Ontario, but no, ain't happening. Can't do it, Minister. Too many strains and we don't know if it's the right strain to release in an area that'll cause potential problems with other strains and conflict with them. So we don't want to do that. And then, lo and behold, a year later, when I was still Minister, I had to call the deputy in, because how come Winnipeg is releasing dragonflies to deal with mosquitoes and how come they're doing it in England as well? But we couldn't do it in Ontario. But that's another interesting story. So, Lexi, tell us about your. You know you grow a lot of your own food. Tell us about the food that you're growing, and how big is your garden that you've got to keep the snapping turtles out?
Speaker 6:Yeah, we're on about I'd say, two acres yeah, we're on about I'd say two acres and where my husband, josh, is one of the most brilliant growers that I've ever known and he's not listening, so I can't grow his head any more than that, but he's truly a brilliant, brilliant person. He really has involved himself in regenerative and permaculture principles around growing food. So you know, for example, he'll look at the landscape that he has and evaluate where, depending on what's already there and growing, what weeds are there, what the landscape is like, if there's a slope, is there extra water, the sunlight, and he'll select spots on our piece of land which where we think the food will grow more optimally. And we also do food pairing and what will keep the predators and the bugs away. You know, surrounding things with onions. For instance, he grew a beautiful patch of watermelon. We had maybe 35 watermelon, I think I lost count. We ate them so fast, but they would come down a bit of a little, a little bit of a hill, into this more of a swampy area, and they seem to really like that because they need a lot of water. So we grow everything.
Speaker 6:We're still experimenting with Halliburton soil because it has a reputation for being a little bit trifficult, as we like to say. We're sandy, acidic here. Some are rocky, so we're fighting with the sand. But we're building up some nice beds and we grow everything from garlic onions, we're doing radishes this year, all variety of squashes, potatoes and then we have some herbs parsley and cilantro Celery did really well here and then we have a beautiful little patch of stinging nettle. We love that. We harvest that as well for food and we dry it out for our teas. So, you know, we tried something new every year to see what's really happy here. But so far the potato mounds have been really abundant. The squash does quite well.
Speaker 6:Um, and it's always a matter of being in the bush is, you know, living with the deer and the bunnies that come in and helping them feel fed, but not feeding on our garden. Uh, uh, every year it's a. It's a bit of a lesson. We came from Kingston where, you know, the saying I have is you can throw seeds into the soil and uh, and things will grow. So here it's. It's a learning lesson, um, that we're really figuring out as we go. But, um, we love to think about our seasons and we're in the warmest time of the year right now and we have to think of our future selves. What's going to grow well for ourselves, to store, to dehydrate, to freeze, to can. And it's really a matter of thinking about your future self and thinking what's going to work. And I'm still eating things from my freezer from last year, so, yeah, there's a lesson to it every year to see what works well, especially if you're just growing from your family.
Speaker 6:It's not as complicated and we also like to.
Speaker 6:We leave a lot of the wild plants as well.
Speaker 6:So all the flowers that are growing, the weeds that are growing and mother nature is pretty smart.
Speaker 6:She says if you need it, I'm going to make sure you get a lot of it. So we like to harvest the plantains, we like to harvest the goldenrod and all the red clovers and the helals and then wild nettles. We just harvested a bunch of horsetail and of course, it's all sustainably. We're very, very, very conscious and especially in our garden, with the bees that we just pour our love into if we're going to harvest some of those dandelions for our smoothie, we only do a couple here and there in the pocket, so they are also really full in abundance, but thankfully we're in so much beautiful nature here that the minimal harvest we're doing is in support of our wellbeing, so we can continue to support the land we have here and what we have access to. So it's just, it's an endless learning lesson. I keep saying learning lesson. It's an endless lesson that we really appreciate to see what's going to grow well this year, what we can make the most of and how we can prepare for our future selves.
Speaker 5:Yeah, have you ever tried growing lavage, or do you even know about?
Speaker 6:lavage. I've never heard of that word. What's lavage?
Speaker 5:Lavage is like a peppery celery and it is spectacular, and I have lavage is like a peppery celery and it is spectacular, and I have lavage growing in my place and it works great in soups and stews and salads and a lot of times when I'm out in the yard I'll just pick some leaves and consume them. It's kind of a peppery celery and it works great as a celery substitute or has a lot of very European or Slovak European, where a lot of my family background is very good and I may. Next time I see you, if I remember, I will bring you some to try.
Speaker 6:I would love that. Thank you. As you're saying, I remember someone speaking of it last year and I think it's on my mind this year, so that sounds like a wonderful addition. Thank you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and the other thing is garlic scapes. It must be garlic scapes, it must be a garlic scapes season. Are you getting garlic scapes that?
Speaker 6:just came up a. So we actually like to ferment them. So I still have jars from last year because we had quite an abundance of scapes. So we harvest them, we cut them into little bits and we we do a lacto fermentation with them into big, big jars and we keep them in our fridge and we use the ferment, the liquid as our dressings and so you have that garlicky pinchy, you know vinegary flavor that you're looking for, but it's a lacto-fermented garlic scape and we love them.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I freeze some of them as well, because they freeze well, and then use them through the year as well. I cut them up in small I guess less than an inch chunks and freeze them and then use them through the year as well, which are really good. Now something else that I've had some success with, because we've had problems in the past. The listeners know about my chocolate lab gunner and his skunk experience experience. But I gotta tell you um one of the things that I I just by chance, old coffee grounds. I started putting old coffee grounds in and the skunks stay away. I don't have any problem, I just they don't like coffee. I guess I don't know. But so I just and we had I could see that something was in digging up grubs that looked like in the yard, and so I put another couple of batches of because some of the coffee shops will give you their old grounds if you ask them. And I put it out and have not seen any fresh dig ups at all and sometimes they'll keep things away like that.
Speaker 6:Oh, that's a good one. We did save some. We tried and unfortunately got moldy before we were ready to use it, but we tried to do that as well. So that's something to really look into, because we haven't seen too many skunks. We had a big German Shepherd for a while and I think that's probably why, and it's amazing what a big dog would actually do but we have all sorts of critters coming through, but we've never seen a skunk knock on wood.
Speaker 5:Right. So your husband, josh does. He do nature walks and things like that that are available to people, you know.
Speaker 6:I've been pushed, I've been pushed and I'm trying to get him to do it. He's so, absolutely so in tune and his knowledge and the landscape is so vast and so spiritual and so incredible that he's been asked to do walks and he just hasn't had the opportunity. We haven't found the opening yet. So because he is, I call him a master forager. He's never done any sort of certification, but his understanding of the life cycles of mushrooms especially, is so unique, um, and he takes them. So he has this spidey sense right. So when the mushrooms are coming up as I'm sure you have that as well and he'll say, oh, I have to go, I have to go, and he'll leave for like half a day and he'll come back with baskets and baskets of baskets of edible mushrooms. Um, those chakas we watch really closely because we are a lot more sustainable with that, but just as you are. But the edible ones, you know, they come, they drop their spores and they go back, so we're able to harvest those in a really beautiful way. So he needs to and I like to do that. So hopefully this will be an inspiration for us to say you know, we want to have the opportunity to share his knowledge. I'm just his assistant. I'm his assistant's assistant when it comes to he's my boss. So I I do what he says in the garden because he's so good, but also the foraging walks. So that's very good inspiration. I'm going to see if he wants to do that and for anyone in the area.
Speaker 6:We would like to also have a bit of an open door for one afternoon on a Sunday to come see what we're doing here, because it's not regular. It's not common for people to be growing a lot of food and to be foraging around here, because the soil has a reputation for not being great. People often leave to grow their food. But if you can grow in your raised beds and you take your time to build up the soil, it's very much manageable. So I'd really like to have an open door to see if people want to come and experiment and see what we're doing. And we always give bags of food as well as we're going off. But we're very connected to community. We're extroverts, we love sharing, we love being with people, we love you know. I really feel that we're meant to be here on the planet to be with each other and to share with each other, and we really have been tapping into that. We're trying to at least being out here.
Speaker 5:It's such a wonderful community, so to have an opportunity for someone to come and to do walks with him and listen to him, and uh it's, it's such a gift to be out here, so yeah, and I, I, when I do mushroom talks as I have a lot of uh mycologists come on the podcast we always mention about the reason that they usually carry a basket with them which is kind of like a wicker basket with. That is because while they're walking through the woods, when they're picking the, the spores on the mushroom get spread to the woods to allow the growth of further mushrooms in the area where, if it's a completely closed unit, all the spores are contained and you don't allow those bodies to be able to expand their areas out there, which is good, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 4:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 3:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
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Speaker 5:And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we've got Rob from Hamilton here, who's had some success with the Jagged Cream. Rob, can you tell us about it?
Speaker 7:Yeah, I've used it on blemishes, cuts, just basically all around healing Anything kind of blemish. It speeds it up really quick. Great, it speeds the healing process up the healing process really well. It leaves no marks and doesn't stain. It smells okay.
Speaker 5:Thanks, rob, appreciate that. You're welcome. We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, chagahealthandwellnesscom, place a few items in the cart and check out with the code CANOPY C-A-N-O-P-Y.
Speaker 5:If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package and each bag gives you around five or six cupsaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode. So now, lexi, let's talk about the reason that I called you in the first place. All these other things are very interesting and I'm sure our listeners are going to find that, but you're a farmer's market manager. Tell us about that.
Speaker 6:Yes, yes, so I am managing the Halliburton County Farmer's Market. We have two locations, one's in Halliburton on Tuesdays and one's in Minden on Saturdays and we really look to promote community and support agriculture and food production prepared foods, artisans and anyone local in the area that wants to have a business. That is more farmer's market vibe. So we're regulated under the farmer's market of Ontario and so, yeah, it's a really great. I've really enjoyed this role because I've been able to open our doors even a little bit wider to see how we can continue to support people that are doing really good things with food, but also with their creative skills as well. So supporting our local vendors, our local businesses, who maybe don't have a brick and mortar Some of them do, some of them are large scale farms. Some of them do have a brick and mortar, but for the most part they're not. They are looking for this seasonal opportunity. We only run in the warmer season, so we're up between May and October and then we stop for the winter because we're completely outdoor.
Speaker 5:So what's the difference between a farmer's market, what makes?
Speaker 6:a farmer's market as opposed to, say, an artisan market or a flea market. So the farmer's markets we are regulated under the FMO, the Farmers Market of Ontario. So having that allows us to be supported by the FMO amongst their regulations, their mandates around food safety and health, but also they have some marketing opportunities and it also gives a recognition that we are an actual farmer's market where we do have to follow certain rules under the FMO standards. That allows us to have those benefits. And there's some membership opportunities that we haven't really taken a part of. There's you you pick opportunities we haven't taken a part of, but they have really good support systems amongst the organization that allows us to keep doing what we're doing.
Speaker 6:So we can do things like support our food growers but also the artisans, and we do have an artisan market in the area. There's one in Minden, but they are a standalone market. They are only in support of the artisans. They're a really great group as well. So yeah, so I think the benefit is really to have those support systems and to feel that close-knit effort of supporting. You know, it's a recognition of supporting our agriculture in this area and allowing them to feel supported and to continue to thrive and support our food system. It's very important to have some things, particularly to support our food systems.
Speaker 5:So, and I believe that there needs to be a percentage of agricultural producers in order to achieve the farmer's market designation.
Speaker 6:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 6:So you know you can still be insured and recognized by the FMO and not be what we call an exempt farmer's market.
Speaker 6:But essentially the standards are different in the sense that really generally you have to be more than 50% of food related vendors, so whether it's farmers, agricultural type people, honey as well, or they have to be preparing food where the bulk of their ingredients comes from their own farm.
Speaker 6:So that has to be more than 50% to be called an exempt farmer's market. And essentially the difference is A, the recognition that you were an exempt farmer's market and, and mostly what the you know, the, the behind the scenes support is around the food regulations. So there's the Ontario food premise regulation 493, and that doesn't apply if you are an exempt farmer's market. But we still have to follow things like the I think it's called the Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Milk Act and the Farm Products Marketing Act so it's a different level of support and regulations around food safety and handling. So we work closely with our health inspectors in the area to ensure that we maintain a regulated safety around our health. So it's essentially a different type of regulation that we have to follow and we really want to get to that 50%, so we can be recognized farmer's market or an exempt farmer's market and have the benefits of that support system.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I know things like wine producers in Ontario. Ontario wine producers so long as I believe it's 80% of Ontario grapes are part of the agricultural community, so then they're classified as agricultural.
Speaker 6:Is that correct? That's correct, yep, so we do have one winery that comes to our market as well, so she does count as one of our food vendors.
Speaker 5:And what about craft beer breweries?
Speaker 6:That's a bit of a. It's a bit of a gray area. They wouldn't count because they don't utilize the local plants. So the reason that the winery does is because, just as you said, they grow their grapes and then turn them into wine. These guys not as much. So maybe there are, I'm sure there's that gray area and there always is around um food regulations that we're always still trying to recognize and understand. So I'm maybe there are, but for us it's not because they don't. They're not a farm, they're they're simply a brewery yeah it.
Speaker 5:I work with um I'm not sure if he's still the president or past president jeff from the ontario craft breweries Association and one of the problems is that if they use Ontario hops to make their beer, then it's agricultural. However, ontario hops do not produce a high-quality hop. But there's a lot of research. I know I sit on the board of Durham College and the college. There has research taking place on hops to produce a quality hop in Ontario and if they bring in their hops from the states where most of them get I think it's California, but I'm not positive of that, but I believe that's where it comes from then they're not considered Ontario agriculture and it's the same as using Ontario wines. So long as it's Ontario grapes then it's okay, but if it's external grapes then it's not. And I think it's the same thing with the hops for the craft breweries. But I keep working on it and I keep talking to the premier that we need some changes because that'll certainly help a lot of the markets achieve that 51% and to make sure to get that classification.
Speaker 6:Absolutely. And you know it sounds like a little too regulated, like it sounds strict and and rule binding, so it has that. It gives off that kind of almost obnoxious way of having to follow rules. But if you think about it, the reason that it's in play is so we can continue to support our, our immediate community, and I do think that that's really important. That you know, supporting healthy food in general is great, but then you want to go closer to home and say, yes, but we also. It's this and that we also need to support people that are living here so we can keep our food closer to ourselves. So I do think we need to keep that in mind and we need to have more farmers markets and spread them out so they can continue to have the support systems that comes with FMO standards and regulations and that will allow us to continue to support our local growers. And if we keep spreading that out further and further and import, import, I mean we all know what that's going to be doing to the planet and to how you know, our air quality and everything can go on, you know, for days on that. But it's really really important that these rules are in place, really as a sense of support so we can keep these people employed, financially supported, but also keep our food closer to home, maybe healthier, maybe cleaner, get people healthier.
Speaker 6:So it's it sounds rules sound frustrating, but I do find that this in particular we need to really emphasize and make changes as our needs and our values and our ecosystems are changing and the problem that we're finding right now is that things are expensive, things are extremely expensive and farmers are not able to fully support themselves in the way that they need to.
Speaker 6:I've done a lot of interviews with our local growers here and there's a lot of vernacular around the financial feasibility about being primarily an earner through growing food and it's hard to see how we can make this better and improve as our systems are changing and fluctuating, and see where you know there are there's always corruption in systems and to see where there's those holes. But you know people who that are really immersed in our systems and wearing many hats and that's what I'm trying to do as well in my own life is to have many hats. That allows me opportunities to have many conversations and be involved in many different areas where I can see the entire picture and how we can make our community healthier, closer and feeling more connected, and it all comes down to many different areas. Have to be talking to each other, and sometimes that's where our limitations are.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I know, I know at least least no considerable amount of farmers. I mean, there's lots out there and, and a lot of the 100 acre, 200 acre farmers I knew they all had other jobs because they just couldn't make a living off the farm itself. And we need to change that, or that's slowly coming about and people are starting to realize that. But but, lexi, how does someone participate or become a vendor at your market?
Speaker 6:So you can go to our website, which is wwwhcfmacom or sorry, it's ca and if you were to just put into Google Halliburton County Farmer's Market, that would also come up, and all of our information is on there Our socials, our emails, which is incredible, hcfma, which is Halliburton County Farmers Market, at gmailcom, and you can find me there, and I can be reached on Facebook, on Instagram and in our emails.
Speaker 5:So when is the application period, time that people need to apply? And I think you have different vendors. You have what pop-up vendors or short period vendors, or all year long vendors and that sort of thing yeah, we have different options and we we try to provide different options for to respond to different needs.
Speaker 6:You know, because we don't have strict um standards. Like you know, if you have a brick and mortar, there's a a lot of uh financial complications with that Um, but with this we want to make it accessible to people that are growing food. You know, for instance, um, we have some homesteaders that are popping up. So the options really are we have a pop-up opportunity. If you want to come a couple of times throughout the season, you pay a fee per day and um, and you come as the season needs you. So we have a few homesteaders that are doing that. So they'll come around once a month throughout the whole season and they've planned that out to try to predict what their food production is gonna be like. You can also choose a one-time pop-up and see how that works for you. We have guest spots where you can register for five weeks at a time, so five consecutive market days in a row, and that works also for people that are looking for the peak of their season, whether it's July as the leafy greens start to come out, or the root vegetables come out in the fall. So you can choose that. We also have a full-time option where you pay for the entire season and then you come as you can, and that works well for people that are also maybe they're artisans or they're creating some different food products or ready to take home sort of food products that they're not as reliant on the growing and they can come throughout the whole year.
Speaker 6:So we try to make a few different options and one we really haven't utilized enough, but we have an agricultural community table.
Speaker 6:So we try to offer an extra level of support where we can bring some of the more costly resources, like the table and the tent, and we have that available and you come and bring your produce so you can test it out and see how it works for you. So we try to provide different options but, honestly, if you send me an email, I can help work through it, but it's all laid out on the website as well, so to see the prices and what's available and what your options are, and our doors are still open. So we really like to support people as they're growing as coming up. Unfortunately, we have to keep our numbers in check, so we have to maintain that 51%, as I talked about, so we can't really take much more of the artisans at this point, but we're still open to taking food related people or you know, plants, whether you're selling seedlings or vegetables or produce, or you're creating food products as well, so we still have our open door for that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I know there are some, as you mentioned, a little complicated and sometimes the rules are tough. I know one health department because there was a flower producer that used to grow flowers and sell them cut flowers at the markets. But this particular health department, even though it says grown and consumed, they didn't classify the flowers as that, so they were not classified as agricultural. Yet other health departments say no, it's grown and consumed, so it is classified as agriculture. So you get a lot of interpretation, which is your job to work and figure out which is allowed and which is not allowed, right?
Speaker 6:Yeah, and really you know, having working very closely with our health inspectors, which is your job to work and figure out which is allowed and which is not allowed. Right, yeah, and really you know, having working very closely with our health inspectors. Unfortunately it's subjective and they'll tell you that right. So you really need to work well and closely with them to say, you know, especially for myself, I'm really trying to look out for the If this is a food product, if it is a consumable food product and that's the intention behind it, not like it's a flower, it's beautiful but you can eat it.
Speaker 6:I believe that it's important to say that don't play with the loopholes, play with what it is, and if you're coming to produce, to sell a product, that is a food, you count. So we really have to work well in support of our health inspectors that I do believe have the goodness behind them to say that we just want to keep everyone well. So it's important to have a really positive and kind relationship with everyone that's involved in a very complicated system like a farmer's market and I am the only employee of the farmer's market here. It's a not-for-profit. We have a wonderful board of directors that I work very closely with and are my bosses, but at the same time I do a lot of the hands on the ground type of work and I want to ensure that we're following our rules. But also we have to understand our rules and if they're subjective they're hard to follow. So you know, to have late, kind and transparent health inspectors that are following their own mandates, which is education and support, then we're in a really good place.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so the full time applications usually come out right in the wintertime, so people looking to for full time, but there's still spots available sometime in markets and each market is different as well, so they all have different guidelines or vacancies and things like that I say different vacancies, we follow the same.
Speaker 6:the way I think of it is we have a halliburton county farmers market with two locations so you'll see the similar or the same vendors that will come to halliburton and Minden. We have full-time that do both. We also have some that only come to Halliburton or only come to Minden. That's really depending on their location availability. So I still have spots on both locations and I'm still open to applications.
Speaker 6:We did open our doors around I think it was mid-January and we wanted to slow them down before our season started so we can get a good grasp on what our full-time numbers are, so we can determine if we are in fact an exempt to farmer's market or not, which will in fact change the way our health inspectors will view us and work with our vendors and do their assessments and evaluations, and also the way that we need to participate in the market from a health standard will be different.
Speaker 6:So we did try to open and close our doors for that reason, so we can get an accurate number.
Speaker 6:But because we have become exempt on both locations, we are able to then say we can take some more people that are food related or agriculture related and our mandate is still. The root of it is still let's support our growers and producers here and, of course, our artisans as well. But being a farmer's market, our emphasis is a little bit more towards the food because we have to maintain those numbers, that 51%. So if you want to test out a new business you have a new food product, you're growing too much of something this season and you want to come in a new business, you have a new food product, you're growing too much of something this season and you want to come in and try it out you certainly still can um send an application, allow us to review, a chance to review it, ask some more questions and then you know, with that approval we can find you a spot so, roughly what kind of numbers do you have for vendors, like, are there a lot and every market is different?
Speaker 5:So you speak about Halliburton and Minden, but I know in Lindsay, for example, they have huge numbers like 40, 50 sort of vendors when it's all peaked out. Well, maybe not that many, maybe 30, 40. But roughly how many vendors are you talking to in your markets?
Speaker 6:Yeah, so they are different. Halliburton we do have more than we do in Minden. I think that's simply because it's a business day, but we actually do see similar numbers in terms of our visitors. So that's quite interesting. But we have a total about 39 vendors and they fluctuate between full-time pop-up and guests. But on average in Halliburton you can probably see something around 25 to 28 vendors.
Speaker 6:On average in Halliburton you can probably see something around 25 to 28 vendors, which is more than our Minden. But because I think it's because it's Tuesday, and then we have more guests coming up in Minden as well and a few pop ups coming up as well. So total we have registered right now is 39. And then we have a few not for profits coming up throughout the season as well, especially through Halliburton. We have a few coming up there, a few coming up in Minden that we'd like to continue to support our community. So, yeah, so it's going to be a very busy season and I'm so glad to say that we do have more vendors this year than we do last year. So I'm really glad to be able to expand on our support systems and to have more visitors coming as well. I think we're anticipating over 1,800 visitors around our peak season. That was around our peak last year and I think we're going to see more this year.
Speaker 5:Is that a day you mean?
Speaker 6:In a day. Okay, yeah, our peak time is around July yeah.
Speaker 5:Very good. So what does a new vendor need? Like somebody okay, they're listening to the podcasting. I'm interested in this because I got this and I got that. What do they need as equipment? Wise? Now they go through the application process, but I'm sure that they're going to need a lot of equipment in order to become a vendor.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's a good question. So, equipment wise, you need a table, you need a tent, especially if your food. You absolutely need a tent. You know, for health standards we have to keep the sun away from your food and your products. It's about 10 by 10 is your spot. If you choose for a single table, 10 feet by 10 feet, you need a business sign, something, and it could be a something small, if you know, if you're budget conscious, or it can be a large sign that you have, like you have across the back of your tent. And then we do need to follow also some health standards around keeping your space clean and available and accessible. If you're a food vendor, you need a hand washing station which can be as simple as like those large jugs with the spout at the bottom, something to collect it underneath and something to dry your hands, and that's the most of it.
Speaker 6:We really emphasize health and safety as well. So, to have a space that's protected, if there is that fresh food, you want to have it contained. If you have something that's cold, you need to have it in a proper cooler. If you have meat, it has to have a thermometer. Have something that's cold, you need to have it in a proper cooler. If you have meat it has to have a thermometer. So all that's available online. But I say, if you're looking to invest right off the bat, we're looking for a table, something to cover, something to make it a little bit attractive would be nice. That tent especially if you're food, the hand washing station if you need it, and the business sign just to emphasize what your products are, what your name is and what you have available.
Speaker 5:And I think a lot of the farmer's markets need something like tent weights.
Speaker 6:Oh, thank you so much, Gary. I'm a little lunatic for the weights, aren't I? You need tent weights, Thank you so much. You need 10 weights. You need minimum 25 pounds on each side, and I can hear the chair of my board of directors screaming right now Lexi, you didn't say the weights, 25 pounds on each side, and I am a stickler for that and I come around and if you don't have them, I give a very smiling gentle reminder please get your tents on your weights.
Speaker 6:For so many reasons. One, if it blows away, you know that's so, so not safe. And also it'll destroy your tent if it blows away. So we did have an incident in Minden where we had the most extreme wind I've ever experienced in my life and those who did not have big enough weights. It blew away and I saw Final Destination movie happening in slow motion, flying in the wind and we are so lucky no one was hurt, but they were all destroyed. So it is part of our rules. We have a vendor handbook that we have created. It's available on our website to really lay out these rules that maybe we forget as the season is going. So we can keep going back to that for referrals, um, but that weights is so important. I am a lunatic with the weights well I.
Speaker 5:The reason it brought him up was I know I've had master gardener Bev DeLonardo on the podcast a number of times and last year she runs a market in Lindsay on Thursdays and last year the wind was so strong at their market that she was helping another vendor take down their tent, knocked her over. I had to call an ambulance, huge pool of of blood. She was rushed to the hospital because there wasn't enough weights and the wind just caught the tent in it and, just like you said, the final destination kind of thing that came in and surprise, surprise, yeah, so big importance to have those weights.
Speaker 6:Wow, yes, yeah, there you go. So I had the whole experience without the blood, just seeing it fly in the wind, but that's intense and that's exactly why it's so important and I yeah, I'm a stickler for it. I just drove people nuts running around, reminding them to please have them in place.
Speaker 5:Right. So, lexi, tell us you know what's your opinion on farmer's market and food security and helping those systems take place.
Speaker 6:Oh, it's such a big passion of mine it really is, and the fact that it's not a big passion of every person is just it's bewildering to me. It's become something that has really consumed me. We have Harvest Halliburton here as well and they're all wonderful volunteers that are really taking part on creating a more sustainable food systems. And we're looking to update our local policies as well to see how we can create better support systems for people that are involved around food security. You know we've just accepted the Minden Food Bank to have a few opportunities to come in Minden as well to promote education, and they have membership opportunities. So it's really important to see what it means to truly have a sustainable food system, and by that I mean from those who are growing it, those who are distributing it, those who are the waste production and the composting, how that's available and how to make it accessible and affordable composting how that's available, but and how to make it accessible and affordable. So the cost of our food right now is abysmal. It is just so upsetting that it makes people sick. It makes them sick because they're chasing the almighty dollar that they'll never bill to just pay for their food. And there is more of a conversation around organic food, and we have generations still in our community that are saying it's silly, the idea of organic food is silly, but what we mean by organic food is food that is not touched by synthetics. So we have a lot of things at play here. One is the affordability, one is the health of our food, and that creates health of our people, and if our people aren't healthy, we can't do anything. So you know, the cost of living is extreme.
Speaker 6:Our communities are really spreading out and not as much working together. I do feel we're shifting in that. Currently I feel we are working to come back together, but we are chasing the almighty dollar because we create our little closed systems of our homes and our lands, we shut the door and we have to pay for these bills. That's no longer manageable anymore and it makes living hard. And the more that we look at each other and say what are you good at? This is what I'm good at. Let's work together. And I don't mean in the hippie commune idea, although I'm so open to that. I mean in the sense of you're fantastic at growing food, I'm fantastic at managing the compost, you're fantastic at carpentry or building. Having that sense of sharing or supporting is important and it sounds so idealistic and very hippie, but it's really the root of us. So I can go on all day about this.
Speaker 6:But the reason I came to this community, in particular my family we're both 36 with a four-year-old to say, to genuinely say we need to do better with our foods and we came onto our property where we felt we were called to, in which we could do that, and we tried hard to make that possible. But we do have lots of people at play that are still saying money is what matters and this is not manageable. And I'm here to say that it is so. With the farmer's market, it's really about creating a place that's financially supportive to our local growers and producers and our artisans, of course, but for this conversation I'm talking about our food people where they can afford to come and sell their food and everything from. We do have meat as well, so you can come and connect with your farmers that are raising their animals in a really conscious way and to have that connection and to see where our food is coming from and to keep our foods closer to home. So having this shipping of butternut squash to Foodland and I'm not trying to harp on Foodland, but that's just an example. Bring your squash in February to Foodland from God knows where and how long it took to get here and what radiated onto our food to keep it alive to come here. And then all the health regulations that are involved in keeping our food alive to ship like cilantro. Cilantro should never be shipped. It needs to stay alive, it needs to stay vibrant and we have to keep our food closer to our soil.
Speaker 6:We really need to shift our conversation on what it means to keep our community well and it's very complicated because we're very disconnected. So the more that we have opportunities to get our feet into the ground, to have calm conversations about what it means to be well and to support people that are doing that is imperative. It's so imperative for the wellness of our future and our kids. So I really appreciate what Harvest Halliburton is doing. They're really trying to really make some shifts to make support systems better for our community and you can hear my rooster screaming in the background right now so to really keep our food and our systems closer to home and, you know, shift in the way that we support each other.
Speaker 6:So I really am concerned about how we go into these mortgages that are unattainable. We have to all have full-time jobs and put our kids somewhere else, and we can't grow our foods. So the reason that we've always had school or education where the summers were off is not to give the kids a break. Kids should never need breaks from anything. They really need to slow down and how they're actually interacting with what it means to be educated. But the summer was meant to grow food. That was the root of summertime. You all take time off. The kids come home and help mom and dad in the garden, and that's what my daughter knows.
Speaker 6:She said mommy, what the heck is summer, why am I not in forest school anymore? I said well, honey, the kids have to come home and help in the garden. Okay, great, I'm so excited to help in the garden. So we really need to re-evaluate. And then, if you have to pay for employees, they have to have a livable, a manageable earning as well to support themselves. So we really have to take a pause and see what's important and reevaluate how we're making this work.
Speaker 5:Oh, absolutely, I know my baba, my mother's mother, my grandmother on my mother's side, and not only that, but my in-laws as well, my wife's parents.
Speaker 5:The backyard at my mother's mother, my grandmother on my mother's side, and not only that, but my in-laws as well, my wife's parents the backyard at my Baba's was all garden the entire hardly any grass there at all, and it was all growing at all her own plants and tomatoes and peppers and everything, and of course there was apple trees and pear trees and plum trees, and then would jar everything and consume all that material all year long.
Speaker 5:Not don't see that happening anymore to the extent that it used to at all, and a lot of people need to realize that food security is something that we all take for granted. I mean, they just go to the grocery store and assume everything's taken care of and fine, fine and I've talked about this from a number of perspectives, whether it was the beekeepers I've had on that, if you want to support your local beekeepers, keep bees out there, buy your local honey, and yes, if you go to a place like a farmer's market, you're going to pay more for it, but you're supporting the individual that's actually producing and making a difference, as opposed to going to a large chain grocery store that's buying it en masse and you're not even sure the quality and all the materials. It's the same with farmers markets. If you want to get something on sale or a special chances are you're going to be paying more, but you're going to know where it's coming from and you're directly supporting that food source systems to make sure it's there for future generations as well.
Speaker 6:And if you want to go to the simplicity of it, if health is not a concern, how you feel in your body is not a concern which it isn't for a lot of people you have to think of well, do you want your food to stay close or do you want to be farther away? And so if you want to also look at our talk with how the health of our planet is doing, if that's what's ringing your tune, then you can think of well, if I'm paying our farmer's market, who probably maybe can't afford or can't manage a brick and mortar, because think of the cost of that then at least I'm supporting them so they can keep doing what they're doing. And if you don't come to farmer's market and support those people, then they can't keep doing what they're doing. So the first few weeks there's the new vendors say oh no, there's not a lot of people right now. Are they going to be coming? You know, am I going to be supported here? And I always remind that we have seasons, we have a slower season than we peak, and then we kind of level off as the school comes back in.
Speaker 6:But it's so important and I'm working hard at our marketing and our emphasis around supporting our farmers. So you know, if finances are tight for you, then just buy your honey from us. Or just just support your local artisan who's working their butt offs to produce something wonderful for you. Um at the farmer's market who can't have the brick and mortar for whatever reason and there's so many different reasons and come by, just buy your celery or we just had asparagus just come, buy your asparagus and you buying that asparagus is going to continue to enable them to be able to come to the market and therefore keep doing what they're doing, which is growing food or making food products or being the artisan. So it's so important to try to do your part as much as you can with your local communities so we don't have to rely on shipping food in. We can keep our trucks not on the road, the planes, whatever.
Speaker 6:However they ship South American food, I don't know. But to stop that from happening and support the people that are here and, honestly, just come, just coming and talking, have conversations. The beauty of the farmer's market is also you get to talk to people. If they're standing in their booth, it's likely because they feel comfortable answering questions, and every single one of them are wonderful people and they'll answer your questions. Where does the food come from? Where are you located? Can you tell me about your bees? Can you tell me how you made your t-shirts? And they'll talk to you and they'll tell you all about it. But if you go to Foodland, you have no clue where it comes from and what has happened to that food as it came here. There's these ridiculous regulations around radiating and spraying and just to maintain the health and life cycle as they're being shipped in from across the world. It's ridiculous, I know.
Speaker 5:I I always thought and I threw it out there a few times but I didn't get anybody said it would be great that it. It's a bit of a cultural mindset change that needs to take place with a lot of these things. Whereas places like restaurants, for example, if they were to have signs out front in their windows, just a small sign that says local farmer's market or farmer supporter, that they're using the materials that they're cooking with or making in the restaurant or selling in their stores from the local farmers markets or the local farms that they would be, you'd be able to walk by and see that, oh, this is locally grown, which would be a go a long way, I think, in getting that cultural mindset change.
Speaker 6:Absolutely. And you know Halliburton's such a small county that you know there's a bit of. You know the ones that are really involved in the community. There's a bit of a reputation as to who is supporting what, and I that's a fantastic idea. And you know the ones that are really involved in the community. There's a bit of a reputation as to who is supporting what, and I that's a fantastic idea. And you know at least putting it on their social platforms or in their windows and just get that conversation going, because I know of restaurants that are doing that, that they are sourcing from local garlic and they're sourcing the local greens when it comes up and the local mushrooms. So they're absolutely doing that and it'd be really a great idea to emphasize that. Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 5:So tell us, lexi, how can people, what are your market days and maybe tell us a bit about your vendors, or give us some of the details on the markets and the times. And what do you do? Is there rain days, is it going on a rain day or not, or is it still continuing? And of give us some a breakdown of your markets and your times and dates and locations sure.
Speaker 6:So tuesday we're in halliburton from 10 to 2 and we're located in headlake park. So just you know, just in the main strip behind that, the main business area where that new giant uh kids park is. We're in headlake park there and, uh, minden, we're um, just behind the government buildings, behind the LCBO and all the restaurants that are there, the streets are we're in a bit of a corner. I think it's Prince and Pilon Street I've never been able to pronounce that street but just behind those government buildings. If you're going to the core of the Minden Center, we're just in those parking lots there and we're actually right beside the Artisan Market as well, and we're just in those parking lots there and we're actually right beside the Artisan Market as well, and we're also 10 to 2.
Speaker 6:And this market is going to continue to run until October 11th and so rain or shine we're going. If there's lightning involved in our area I will stop. But other than that, rain or shine, we are happening. You know, july 1st we're still going to be up and running. We don't take holidays, we're always there unless that lightning is coming down.
Speaker 5:Great. And so, Alexia, how do people get in touch with you and find out more details about the farmers markets and all the great things we talked about?
Speaker 6:Yeah, so I mean, I manage all of our platforms right now. So we are at hcfmaca and everything can be available there as well. So, to find our social platforms, we're on Facebook, we're on Instagram and our email is on there as well, which is incredible hcfmagmailcom. But if you go to our website, everything's available there. If you are interested in becoming a vendor, you can send me an email.
Speaker 6:I'd say at this point, send me an email first before you take the time going through an application, just to ensure we have a spot for what you want to be offering. But our platforms are there and you can connect with me there if you have any questions and, as you can hear, I love chatting. So if you have any questions, if you're interested in doing any form of promotions or community, we also have performers coming. We have a couple events coming up, we have buskers, so we have some big things coming throughout the season as well.
Speaker 6:So, if there's something that you're interested in being involved with the market, we love to find opportunities to support our not-for-profits and any of our local businesses if we can. So you're welcome to send me an email and see what you're interested in and I'll see what we can do through there as well, and we have a wonderful board of directors. We're so lucky to have long-term board of directors that are volunteering their time. Many of them are vendors as well and they really keep this ship sailing and we're really glad to have them, so they're involved as well. You can see some of them at the market and, yeah, I'd love to connect with if you have any questions. Interests, long-term plans, partnerships I love hearing what you have going on.
Speaker 5:Well, thanks very much. We really appreciate that. Alexi is the manager of the haliburton and the mid farmers markets who's given us some insight on all about farmers markets and about self-sustaining food sources and making sure that we we do the things that are necessary for future generations. Thanks very much for being on on the program lexi thank you so much for having me, jerry.
Speaker 6:I'm really glad to have been here yeah, no problem.
Speaker 5:It's just a little something different and a little something more important that people learning out there, out there under the canopy. Thanks again.
Speaker 6:Thank you.
Speaker 2:How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, steve Nitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people, share their stories of our trials, tribulations and inspirations, learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
Speaker 2:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more fishing than it was punching.
Speaker 5:You so confidently you said hey.
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