We thought that our pea seeds failed.  As soon as another pea seed order arrived, our original batch decided to come alive!!  Now we wonder where we plant those extra peas…

Last week we planted two more apple trees.  Now we have 6 apple trees total. One day, we will bring apples to the market… 

One of our sourdough bread repertoires is rye bread.  According to the book “The Rye Baker”, rye first appears in the archaeological record about 13,000 years ago in the eastern Turkey and thrived in the Fertile Crescent when earth entered into a period of global cooling about 12,000 years ago.  Though it disappeared from the record as the earth warmed up and replaced by barley and early wheat called einkorn, it emerged again about 6,000 years ago in central Enrope because rye can survive drought and cold climate.  It’s been a staple grain diet in northern and eastern Europe ever since.   Rye contains higher amounts of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc compared to wheat, has lower glycemic index, higher fiber contents and less gluten.  In other words, it is a nutritional super grain.  We make our rye bread using stone-ground organic whole grain rye flour with our own rye sourdough starter.  The bread ages for about a week from light to very smoky taste on your kitchen counter.  It tastes great when eaten with various jams and cheese since its smoky flavour does not get easily overwhelmed.  So, if you want something different for your breakfast toast or lunch sandwich, please try our rye bread!.

Registration for workshops of “Isle of the Arts Festival on Gabriola Island (IoTA)” has started. There are still some spots available for Yoko’s Koji workshop on Saturday, Apr. 18th. If you don’t know what koji is, please see our newsletter Vol. 17. There are lots of things we can make with this friendly fungi, and this time, you will make 2 condiments, Soysauce Koji and Salt Koji to take home. They will make your meal more delicious and nutritious. Please click here for registration.

  

Our market schedule is as follows:

• Island Roots Farmers’ Market: Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, 3 – 6pm on Wednesday
• AGI Market: AGI Hall, Gabriola, 10am – 1pm on Saturday

Have a beautiful week!