by Mary de Bassecourt, SLFM Market Manager

Eager and enthusiastic farmers attended the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market farm vendor information session Wednesday evening, February 25, at the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake. Current SLFM vendors Tom Waller of Elm Tree Farm, Janet Ducharme of Johnston Lake Organic’s Farm & Market, Pat Furlong of Elphin Gold Organics, and Peter de Bassecourt came out to field questions and chat with the participants, and maybe for the first time this winter we experienced the novel sensation of being too warm due to the number of people in the room! With new vendors coming on board for the 2015 market season, SLFM expects to be able to offer more produce and new products such as shitake and oyster mushrooms, living foods, microgreens, worms and castings, more grassfed beef, pastured pork, wild edibles, soaps with home-grown herbs, etc. Almost all of your favourite vendors from previous years will be returning. We hope to also add some new artisans to the mix.

Many thanks to Lesley Picard of the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake for letting us use their board room for the information session. The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market will open on Victoria Day Weekend, May 16, from 9 am – 1 pm. www.facebook.com/sharbotlakefarmersmarket

Have you enjoyed the market experience and considered applying to be a farm vendor yourself? If so, you’ll want to know that Sharbot Lake Farmers Market (SLFM) is offering an information session for potential farm vendors on Wed. Feb. 25, 6:30-8 pm at

St. Lawrence Employment Centre, 1099 Garrett Street, Sharbot Lake. This is your opportunity to meet and ask existing vendors your questions and discover the benefits of vending at Sharbot Lake Farmers Market.

Do you or does someone you know grow or raise mushrooms, sunflowers, berries, other fruit, ancient grains, beef, goat or duck? These are just some of the products that would complement what is offered at our market. It’s a good time to start garden and seed planning for the spring, or to think about raising livestock.

SLFM also promotes vendor farmgates through its brochure, its website, and other media so your sale opportunities would not be limited to market days.

Did you know that you can apply to be an Occasional Vendor so you can try out the Market before joining? The fee is only $25 per Saturday up to three Saturdays. (If you decide to apply for membership after your third Saturday and your application is accepted, your fees paid to date would be applied towards your membership fee.)

SLFM will be entering its fifth season in 2015 and is located on beautiful Sharbot Lake Beach. SLFM offers local products from within 100 km of Sharbot Lake. Our Market season runs from Victoria Day Weekend through Thanksgiving Weekend.

To pre-register (free), please contact Mary de Bassecourt, Market Manager, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

At a special holiday Christmas market at the Verona Lions hall on December 13, many of the Frontenac Farmers' Market's regular vendors gave their loyal customers a chance to get ahead on their holiday merry making.

Twenty-two vendors took part, including new market vendors, Bear Root Gardens who were selling packets of their own seeds, and Long Road Ecological Farm near Harrowsmith, who were selling their home made edibles including their sumptuous Chinese buns.

Market manager Debbie Harris, who is also a regular vendor, said that putting on the special Christmas market is beneficial both to vendors and their loyal following, which has grown steadily over the market's 10-year run. “People called us wanting to know when the Christmas market would be and this event gives customers a chance to stock up for Christmas.”

One notable newcomer to the market this year was Allison Storring, who along with her husband Mark da Silva recently launched their new piano upcycling business called DoFaSo in Yarker. The two are in the business of moving turn of the century upright and player pianos that people no longer want, but these days can't even seem to give away.

The couple bring new hope to these formerly popular salon instruments. They will move them (for a fee) and also upcycle them into useable accessories for the home and person. They had a number of their sample pieces on display in Verona, including some music back boards from a number of turn of the century upright pianos. One wooden beauty had a mirror inset and all of them can be used as the perfect backdrop on a mantlepiece, or as a decorative head board in a bedroom or as a large display shelf.

Samples of the stand alone front upright legs of these same pianos, made of solid wood and some exquisitely hand carved and shaped into attractive columns, are used as elegant free standing candles holders and Storring said that she and her husband also plan to make the legs into shelving units, benches, cornices and more.

Husband Mark, who was not in attendance at the show, is a musician and also works at Renaissance Music in Kingston. He knows a lot about upcycling old musical instruments; for years he recycled electronic tube organs for use as tube amps. “Mark soon realized that there was a market for older pianos, not only to have them removed from people's homes but also to create something new from their parts, which are often comprised of beautifully decorated solid wood. Our business not only prevents these pianos from ending up in landfills but preserves much of the intrinsic beauty that these older instruments possess,” Storring said. According to Storring many older pianos contain up to three pounds of lead but also copper, glass and steel, all of which is unwanted in landfill sites. The couple also sell attractive key chains made from either the Makasar or African ebony keys and Storring said that she also plans to market the pre-ban ivory keys and will also use them to make other items like jewelry.

While these pianos will no longer be making music in the parlor, in the hands of the owners of DoFaSo they will bring a different kind of art into their buyers' homes. For more information, call 613-331-3031 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. DoFaSo items are available at Starlet in Napanee and at Renaissance Music in Kingston.

The market is closed for the season and will not be back until late May, but it is never too early to plan ahead, according to interim manager Mary de Bassecourt.

“We want to start talking to gardeners now about how they can participate next year,” she said, in announcing that an information meeting for potential market vendors will be taking place on Wednesday, November 26, between 6:30 and 8 pm at the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre board room on Garrett Street in Sharbot Lake.

“We are hoping avid gardeners will come out, anyone who sometimes has more of some produce than they can eat during the summer and might want to sell some. We will also talk about how to make value-added products such as jams and baked goods from vegetables and fruit that people grow themselves,” she said.

The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market encourages people to try selling without committing to full membership. “We only charge $25 to try it out for one week, and vendors can do that up to three times without joining,” she said.

Full membership in the market is only $100, and the $25 per day is deductible if a vendor decides to join after trying it out, so the risk is minimal.

“Now is the time to start thinking about next year's garden,” said de Bassecourt, “and the market is always looking to encourage people to get involved, and to bring different kinds of products,” she said.

The three-year-old market enjoyed a fourth successful season in 2014. “Sales were down a little bit because of cold weather this summer,” said de Bassecourt, “but we have a good core of vendors and there is every reason to be optimistic for 2015. That's why we want to start talking to potential market vendors in the fall,” she said.

For more information, contact Mary at 613-375-6576.

For the final market day of the season on Oct. 11, vendors at the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market offered up some tasty treats to their loyal customers as a way to thank them for their ongoing patronage. Given that this summer was considerably wetter and colder than most, assistant market manager Francis Wooby said that every week he was thrilled to see customers still “waiting patiently for any little slice of sun and heat on Saturday morning to get them out to the local market to get their weekly shopping done.”

A number of vendors reported that their sales this year have been noticeably consistent, likely in large part because of a number of regular returning shoppers. “Local residents and cottagers know that we are here and are now making the market part of their regular Saturday shopping routine, which has been great to see,” Wooby said.

On Saturday market goers enjoyed maple biscuits slathered with maple butter, bite-sized pieces of fresh baked corn bread, spoonfuls of fresh cranberry sauce, slices of pickled egg, cups of home made squash soup and fresh hummus. The event wrapped up another great year at the market, which since its inception continues to grow a hearty core group of loyal shoppers.

The market will be back on Victoria Day weekend in May 2015; however it will not run at Oso Hall this year during the winter months as it has in the past. Market vendor Mary DeBassecourt said that on average the market attracts upwards of 400 visitors each week and that this year the number of regular shoppers increased. While the growing season was a slower one for many farmers, Tom Waller of Elm Tree Farm near Arden said that overall it was a good year. “The heat lovers like tomatoes, peppers, squash were not terribly impressed and were not as prolific as usual and in general were slower to ripen due to the lack of heat but all in all it was good year. One nice thing was that with all of the rain we didn't have to water as much and watering can be really labour intensive. The greens did really well and by far it was the best year ever for cucumbers."

Penny Vance, who calls herself simply “an individual who cares about turtles”, was at the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market on August 2 showing off an aid specially developed for assisting in the successful hatching of turtles' eggs. 

Vance, who lives in Tweed and cottages near Mountain Grove, is a member of the Quinte Field Naturalists and she had with her at the market a Turtle Incubation Care Unit, which she calls a Turtle ICU. The device is used to protect turtle eggs from predators. It is a simple wooden frame constructed with four pieces of 2 x 4, each roughly 1.5 feet in length, which have been screwed together to make a frame. Stapled onto the frame is a single piece of ¼ inch square metal screen. The frame is placed over a freshly laid nest of turtle eggs, mesh side up, and four one-foot-long ardox spikes, which are sold with the unit, are nailed down through the four corners of the frame to keep it in place.
The frame remains in place over the egg nest for roughly 10 days, protecting the eggs from skunks, racoons and other creatures that like to feast on them. After that time, once the smell of the nest has dissipated and the eggs are then safe from prey, the frame can be removed. Depending on the species of turtle, the eggs can take anywhere from 60-90 days to hatch and it is important that the frame be removed well before hatching time so that the young turtles do not become trapped.
The device was developed by some friends of Vance, the Wilkins, who arranged for staff from the Toronto Zoo to come to their home in Tweed to help them develop a snake hibernaculum and a beach for turtles to lay eggs. The idea for the ICU came about from that meeting.
Denise Wilkins then arranged for students in the environmental class at the local high school in Madoc to build the Turtle ICU devices, which the students are now are selling for $10 apiece. Funds raised from the sales go back to the school so that the students can continue building and selling the units.
Vance also had with her a copy of the Toronto Zoo booklet "Turtles of Ontario: A Stewardship Guide" which she and the students are also selling along with the ICU for an additional $2 per copy. The stewardship guide is helpful in identifying the turtles and determining how long it takes the eggs to hatch. Common turtles species found in this area include the blandings, painted, and snapping turtles. Due to the fact that most turtle species with the exception of the painted turtle are listed as either endangered, threatened or of special concern, and additionally that most turtle species do not begin reproducing until they are upwards of 20 years old, it is important that young turtles get a helpful start in the world. Anyone interested in purchasing a Turtle ICU can contact Penny Vance at 613-478-6229 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Vance said she would do her best to deliver the units and booklets personally to buyers. While the season for turtle egg laying is nearing its end, Vance said she is willing to take names for those interested in having a unit ready for next season.

Those attending the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market and others enjoying Oso beach on July 19 likely noticed some unusual sights hovering overhead. Two drones operated by Alex Wright, owner of the Toronto-based business Drone Depot, were part of a special presentation he gave at the market. Wright set up a booth from where he piloted two of the Chinese-made drones he sells. Onlookers were invited to view a screen that showed the real time recorded images of the market venue from the drones’ cameras hundreds of feet overhead.

Wright gave demos of the larger Octocopter drone (which I did not get a chance to see) and also the DJI Phantom 2 drone, a white, four propeller 1.5 foot long drone that he flew using a remote control. Demonstrating the control possible with the drones, he made the Phantom 2 hover just feet from his face and then launched it into the sky over Sharbot Lake, informing onlookers that it has a range of 1500 metres.

The images received from the Phantom 2’s camera were clear, stable and fascinatingly picturesque, offering market goers and vendors a chance to see themselves, the venue and the surrounding landscape from angles that they most certainly have never seen before nor will ever see again.

Wright's business not only sells a wide selection of the DJI drones, which in Wright's words, “are the leading makers of consumer drones”, but also all the necessary technology to go along with them. He trains buyers to fly the drones at his Drone Depot Flight School and also offers service and repairs. Wright had nothing but good things to say about the DJI drones. “These have flight controllers that make these drones extremely flyable, stable and level. You can fly them around like a camera track in the sky because they have 3D stabilization in them. Before these, you had to fight to keep the drone in one position. Now you can release the controls and the drone will hover in one single spot.”

His demonstartions brought his point home. Both the Phantom 2 and the Octo-copter flew like things from a sci-fi movie - precisely, smoothly and with a soft beating hum. These drones use DJI Light Bridge technology, which allows Wright to send a 1080 P digital video downlink from the drone to a smart phone or TV screen.

Wright is often hired to film special events and recently he used the drones to film the Tim Horton's Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival on June 21 and 22. “We had TVs set up on the beach so people could watch and had live digital broadcasting that also went out to viewers on CTV”. Wright was also recently hired by the owners of the Sumac Centre in Central Frontenac to film their extensive property for promotional purposes. Wright said that filming and broadcasting has become a big part of his business. Transport Canada requires drone pilots of commercial flights to acquire special permission and a special flight operations certificate. Wright also said that presently commercial drone flights are not allowed in the US yet. In Canada currently there are no regulations on recreational drone flights, something that Wright does not agree with. “I think there should be regulations and training. Personally, I train a lot of my clients especially with the larger units like the Octo-copters. It just takes just one idiot flying one around an airport like the recent incident that happened in Vancouver to create huge problems and if that happens enough times, Transport Canada could ground everyone, which would be terrible for the industry.”

Wright said that the DJI drones he sells have a special no-fly zone feature that causes them to auto land if they fly within 1.5 kilometres of an airport. Wright opened his business in November 2013 and said that the business is going “gang busters”. “We're getting into major retailers and I am piloting for large scale events like the Lake Ontario 300, the longest fresh water sailboat race in the world.” For more information about Drone Depot contact Alex Wright at 1-647-302-0072 or alex@dronedepot.com

The farmers’ market that takes place every Saturday during the summer in McDonalds Corners is well worth the trip. The market started up in 2007 and takes place on the grounds surrounding the MERA Schoolhouse, which offers visitors a peaceful and quaint country setting where they can lounge under two huge, shady poplar trees and enjoy everything that the market has to offer. Over 20 regular vendors fill the old fashioned steel-roofed log stalls and many also set up their own covered outdoor booths. Goodies for sale include a wide variety of fresh grown market veggies, herbs, garlic, and also prepared salads and salad dressings plus plants and fresh cut flowers, all made available from local farmers. There is organic meat, home made breads, cookies, cakes and other goodies plus maple syrup, home made preserves and other comestibles. Also beautifully displayed are a wide variety of local hand made crafts that include stone and glass jewelry, wooden crafts and other functional objects for the home and kitchen, and other creative and imaginative gift items including wizards, Santas and gnomes. Lovers of the fabric arts will enjoy the wide array of yarns and other hand made woolen and knit items including beautiful felted slippers, and unique and very delicate crocheted cloth jewelry.

I would encourage visitors to skip breakfast and arrive hungry since they can sit down and enjoy a wide array of healthy and filling snacks. The two J.Ps who man the on-site outdoor brick pizza oven are happy to prepare made-to-order pizzas starting at 11am. The pizzas come in two sizes and are carefully assembled, baked and served up piping hot from the oven.

Or perhaps a home made souvlaki or tandoori chicken courtesy of Silvia and Chris is more to your fancy. The Steady Way trailer offers up fresh and steaming hot fair trade coffee and teas that go well with their famous sticky buns, Queen Elizabeth cakes, exceptional cookies and their wide selection of non-GMO fresh-baked breads. If cheesecake or pies are your thing try Sally Andrews' incredible pies, her regular or gluten-free cheesecakes or her ready to eat gluten-free strawberry shortcakes.

The MERA school house is also open for visitors to wander around and enjoy the art and craft displays within, free of charge. Indoor washroom facilities are also accessible to market goers. Adding to the charm of the market are live musical performances by a number of different musicians every week, who perform from 11am until 1pm.

The market runs every Saturday from 9am to 1pm at the MERA school house in McDonalds Corners. Visit meraschoolhouse.org

Unseasonably chilly temperatures could not keep close to 350 shoppers from attending the opening day of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market at the Oso beach on May 17.

The market, now entering its fourth year, has seen its numbers increase steadily over the last three years; last year the numbers peaked at 750 on the season’s busiest single market day. Due to that fact, this year the market’s governing body, which is comprised of its regular vendors, appointed a market assistant to help manage some of the administrative and behind the scenes duties required to keep pace with its growth. Francis Wooby of Sharbot Lake was chosen and his duties include offering administrative support in between market days and in the lead up to and closing out of the market season.

Wooby said his new position is a testament to the fact that the market is indeed growing and succeeding. A total of 20 vendors set up their booths, which included a wide array of local crafts and clothing, home-made preserves and other comestibles, home baking and gluten-free products, hot-off-the-grill breakfast and lunch snacks and other ready to eat treats, hot steaming cups of fair trade coffee, body products, fresh and wild produce, flowers and plants, meats, maple syrup, honey, a knife sharpening service, live musical entertainment from young local fiddler Jessica Wedden, plus a “Body Buffet” located at the park’s covered pavilion, where guests can receive various health treatments like shiatsu, massage, and possibly physiotherapy as well.

Wooby said that a number of special events are currently being planned for the season and will include a special poultry day, a special heritage day event that will include tomahawk and knife throwing demos, heritage displays, costumes and likely a presentation about local heritage vegetables. Wooby said that the location of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market is what makes it a perfect destination for visitors, since not only does the venue offer up great shopping under cover but also a large park with picnic tables and washroom facilities, a state of the art playground, huge shade trees and a beautiful sandy beach and floating dock for those wanting a refreshing swim in the lake.

Wooby plans to focus on the market’s beach and park front location as a major selling point and will be advertising it as a day trip destination. He is also hoping to attract new farm vendors this year, including backyard farmers who can choose to become regular, occasional or one time vendors. For more information about becoming a vendor or about the regular vendors and the goods they sell, visit sharbotlakefarmersmarket.ca. Wooby said he is confident that as the temperatures rise, so too will the number of shoppers and vendors. Market brochures are available on site and emphasize the organizers’ commitment to offering shopping within 100 km. of home and “supporting local farmers and getting quality food-picked fresh within 24 hours of purchase”. The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market is open every Saturday from 9am to 1pm.

Regular vendors at the Frontenac Farmers Market (FFM) braved a cold and rainy season opener on May 3 at their new Saturday location. The FFM has moved from its long time location at the Verona Lions Hall to the parking lot of Prince Charles Public School in Verona, where it will be holding its regular market from 9am-1pm on Saturdays.

In addition, the market has expanded to include a regular Friday afternoon market that will be held from 3 – 7pm beginning May 16 in Harrowsmith at the junction where the K&P Trail meets Road 38 just south of the village. The moves have been made in an effort to increase attendance by making the market more visible to passing traffic, and the additional Friday afternoon slot hopes to attract weekend traffic as cottagers and tourists head north on Road 38 to lake country.

Debbie Harris, who is the treasurer/manager of the market and also a vendor, hopes the changes will make a difference in the number of visitors who attend. “The short 45 second drive that it takes from Road 38 to the Lions hall is not the real issue; it is more an issue of visibility to local traffic, which we are hoping to benefit from,” Harris said.

Road 38 is a busy corridor, especially in the warm weather months when cottagers and tourists use the road to access cottages and other weekend destinations in the area and further north. The Friday market, according to Harris, will be the only one in existence in the local area.

Many of the market’s usual vendors were in attendance at Saturday's opener including Haanover Farms who sell ecologically raised pork; Tuckamore Farms and Casey’s Cookies who sell seedlings, produce, and home made pet treats; Melody, the Tye Dye lady with her tie-dyed apparel; newcomer Pat and Kate Joslin of Bear Root Farm in Verona who sell seedlings and produce; and Judy of Judy's Jams Jellies and Jarfuls. Also on hand was Middle eastern cuisine from Memories of Alexandria, knitted items from Gina's Warm and Woolies, cards and butter tarts by Sharron Sole, and produce and meats from Sands Produce and Rock Ledge Farms. Interested vendors and shoppers can find out more information about the market and its vendors by visiting www.frontenacfarmersmarket.ca. While Harris said that certain aspects of the old location will be missed, (especially the Lions' breakfasts), she is hopeful that the move and the addition of the Friday market will increase attendance for the 2014 season. The Saturday market in Verona will run from May 3 to October 25 and the Friday market in Harrowsmith from May 16 to August 29.