7 Interesting Facts About Carrots + Recipe

This Sunday at the Power of Produce Club, children will be participating in a cooking demo to make carrot coleslaw! Teaching children at a young age how to cook is a valuable skill that they will take with them throughout their life. Sometimes it can be hard for kids to eat their vegetables, so having them get hands on and create something of their own is a great way to get them to try new foods. Kids are more likely to try something they made themselves especially when they are having fun doing so!

Here are some interesting facts about carrots:

  1. You can leave them in the ground all winter. You can either keep carrots over the winter and harvest in the spring or harvest continuously throughout the winter.
  2. Carrots were first grown in Afghanistan.
  3. Carrots are made up of 88% water.
  4. Carrots come in many different colours.
  5. Cooking carrots is better than eating them raw because it releases hidden pockets of beta carotene which is very good for you.
  6. Carrots contain the richest source of beta-carotene.
  7. Carrots have seeds.

Here’s the recipe that we’ll be trying out:

Carrot Coleslaw

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound carrots, peeled
  • 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parley
  • 2 finely sliced scallions

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

  1. First make your dressing by combining ingredients above in a bowl and mix well to emulsify. You can make this dressing as sweet or tart as your heart desires! All you have to do is adjust the honey, salt and pepper to taste.
  2. In a large bowl, combine carrots, parsley and scallions. Pour about 1/3 of the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat and add extra dressing, to taste.

Come join us this Sunday at the Port Moody Market so the POP kids can come and try making this recipe!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

Top 4 Benefits of Farmers Markets

Why are farmers markets so important? Well, the benefits of them are huge! They not only benefit our lives, but they also benefit the environment and the economy. Farmers markets bring fresh, local produce straight from farmers to consumers. There is less transport, less handling, less refrigeration and less storage which means the food is fresher and doesn’t lose its nutritional value. And, the farmers retain the profits. Supporting your local farmers is always a good thing! The Port Moody Farmers Market is filled with locally sourced foods and handmade wares; you can meet makers, bakers, and growers who bring their goods straight from their workshops and fields to the market every Sunday. It is beneficial to explore the market and see everything that it has to offer; meet the vendors, enjoy local artists at the music tent, meet different community groups, and enjoy doing the different kids activities offered with your children.

Here are the top 4 benefits of why you should shop at your local farmers market:

  1. Stimulates Local Economies
    • Farmers get fair pay when you purchase directly from them.
    • The money spent at farmers markets goes right back into the community at other local businesses.
    • It creates more local jobs.
    • Buying locally supports local agriculture and supports the local economy.
  2. Preserves Farmland and Rural Livelihoods
    • More land is preserved for growing food and not just becoming development sites.
    • Farmers markets allow small and new farms to gain financial security as they build their businesses.
    • The winter markets help to create year-round income for farmers.
    • Enjoy food and goods that are sourced nearby, which benefits the environment by reducing the usage of fossil fuels.
  3. Increases Access to Fresh Food
    • Since the food is not travelling from country to country, it is fresher and healthier.
    • Studies show that farmers market produce is actually cheaper or comparable to supermarkets.
    • Markets create more access to organic foods.
    • See an array of fruits and vegetables that most grocery stores don’t carry, along with locally sourced honey, handmade sauces, and handmade giftware.
    • Learn what is in season as you explore the market, eat fresh and delicious produce, and know where your food is coming from.
  4. Supports Healthy Communities
    • People make healthier food choices when shopping at farmers markets as compared to supermarkets.
    • The market is a great place for farmers to communicate and educate shoppers about healthy produce.
    • Meet the farmers that grow your food; ask them about their farm, their farming practices, and any questions you may have about their produce.
    • Kids make healthier eating choices by participating in programs like the POP Club!
    • It’s an amazing environment to be more social and get to know the people in your community.

So, those are the benefits and reasons why you should continue supporting your local farmers market! This Sunday at the POP tent, kids will be learning a lot more about our market. They will be playing a farmers market version of BINGO where they will get to explore the market and learn more about what’s going on at the market!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

5 Great Reasons to Have Your Children Start Gardening

Gardening with children is amazing for their development. Through gardening, they learn many new skills. They learn to work with their hands, how to take care of something else, and they learn patience as they wait for their plants to grow. Teaching children about planting seeds can be fun and educational. Kids love being creative, and this can also become a great outlet for them to express their creativity. They can make choices in what they want to plant and learn how real, nutritious food is actually made. Things don’t just come from a store, there is a process and getting them more involved in this process will help them become more conscious eaters as they grow older.

5 Great Reasons to Have Your Children Start Gardening:

  1. It builds their self-confidence they are creating something out of nothing.
  2. They learn how to be more responsible because they are now in charge of caring for something other than themselves.
  3. It is a great way to bond with them.
  4. The become healthier eaters because they are involved in the process of growing food and they are more likely to try eating something that they have created.
  5. It teaches them to be more patient as they wait for their little plants to grow.

This Sunday at the POP Club tent we will be teaching children how to plant beet seeds. They will each work with the soil and plant their little seeds into egg cartons. We will teach them about the different stages that the plant goes through and how to care for their little plants. Then they will take their plants home and watch them grow!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

Engaging Kids in the 5 Senses

Why would developing our senses be important? Well our senses are the way that we explore the world and basically make sense of what is going on around us. Teaching children about the 5 senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste) is important to help them to stimulate their brains and to better understand their bodies. It is also great for building their self esteem because through activities relating to the senses, they are discovering new and exciting things about themselves.

A great way to have them engage in all their senses is to bring them to the Port Moody Farmers Market! You can ask them questions like what kinds of sounds do they hear? Maybe the musician of the week or vendors making their sales. Then ask what they see, like the assortment of fruits and vegetables we have to offer. There is always so much going on at the market and it’s a great way to engage in all the senses!

Here are some other activities that you can try with your children to help them engage in their 5 senses:

Sight: Playing I Spy with your kids is a fun and easy game to play with them to have them become more aware of the things around them.

Smell: The blindfold test is a great way to help kids activate their sense of smell. Take familiar items like cocoa powder and lemons and have them figure out what it is only by smelling it.

Touch: A great way to have them engage in this sense is by getting a box and hiding a mystery object within it. Cut a hole so they can stick their hands into the cardboard to use their sense of touch to discover what it is. This is exactly what we’ll be doing for this Sunday’s activity at the POP Club!

Hearing: Take kids to a park and have them point out all the things that they hear. Is it a bird, or a plane, or maybe the laughter of other children? Have them describe all the things that they hear.

Taste: The blindfold test can also be used here to help kids differentiate between different tastes. Have them try different foods and answer questions like is it salty or is it sweet?

Join us this Sunday for a fun activity that will help POP kids engage in their sense of touch by using their hands to figure out what vegetable is hidden in the mystery box! They will not only be using their hands, but also their critical thinking skills in order to make sense of what they are feeling.

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

Why It’s Important to Teach Kids About Money

Teaching children at a young age about money and savings will help them become better money managers as they get older. In the POP Club Program, children earn a $3 market token after participating in the activity and 2Bite. These tokens can then be either used that day on produce within the market or saved for bigger purchases in the future. Children get to choose which helps them to develop better decision-making skills.

It’s important to give children a good foundation about money management. Teaching them the basics about how to budget, spend and save will establish good money habits for life. Through our program, we teach young kids the value of money through real life situations to help them understand where money (aka market tokens) come from and how to earn them. We are also able to teach them that there is a process in order to get the things that they want. You work hard at something, earn money from that and then you get to reap the benefits.

It can be difficult for children to understand what money is and why we need it. Especially in this day and age, where most purchases are made by using debit or credit cards or otherwise known as “invisible money”. Here are some tips on how you can help your child be more money conscious:

  1. Start by allowing your children to actually see money.
  2. Teach them the importance of saving by getting them a piggy bank.
  3. Give your kids pocket money so they can start making their own decisions about how they want their money spent.
  4. Exchange money for chores around the house to teach them that money is earned.

This Sunday at the POP tent, the POP kids will be working through a worksheet that will help them understand how to use their POP tokens to purchase the things that they want within in the market. They will also learn the value of patience by saving up their tokens to make big purchases.

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

Kale Yeah! The Health Benefits of Kale

This Sunday at the Power of Produce Club, children will be participating in a cooking demo to make a healthy kale salad! It can be difficult to get children excited about eating their vegetables, so a fun way to do so is to get them more involved in the process. They will learn valuable skills that will help them understand the importance of cooking their own food and how delicious fresh produce really is. Having kids join in on the cooking process can make it more exciting and enjoyable for them. Plus, they are more likely to try something that they created themselves. Even if it’s a vegetable that they would normally turn their nose up to like kale!

Kale is actually one of the worlds most healthiest foods since its packed with so many nutrients!

Here are some interesting facts about kale:

  1. Kale is a green, leafy, winter vegetable that is high in fiber.
  2. It has more nutritional value than spinach.
  3. The potassium content of kale may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
  4. The nutrients it contains support healthy skin, hair and bones.
  5. The fiber content enhances digestion and contributes to cardiovascular health.
  6. It is a good source of vitamin c and iron.
  7. It contains fiber, antioxidants, calcium, vitamin k and more.

Here’s the recipe that we’ll be trying out:

Kale Salad with Lemon Dressing

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups of chopped kale
  • ½ cup shredded carrots
  • ¼ cup diced red onion

Dressing Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp honey

Instructions:

  1. First make your dressing by combining ingredients above in a bowl and mix well to emulsify. You can make this dressing as sweet or tart as your heart desires! All you have to do is adjust the honey, salt and pepper to taste.
  2. In a large bowl, combine kale, carrots and onion. Pour about 1/3 of the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat and add extra dressing, to taste.

Come join us this Sunday at the Port Moody Market so the POP kids can come and try making this recipe!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

A Farmers Work Never Ends

Just because the harvest season is over, doesn’t mean that a farmers work ends. Farmers play many different roles and this Sunday we will be teaching our POP kids what these roles are. From being a veterinarian to a scientist, the daily tasks a farmer takes on varies. There are many different types of farming such as livestock, crop, tree, dairy and many more. Each type of farming requires specialized skills and knowledge.

There are farms that grow crops, others raise animals and some do both! For the winter season, farmers focus on preparing for the harvest season. They make decisions on what crops to plant on which fields, they prepare the fields, and they budget for and purchase items likes seeds and fertilizer. They also take on the role of a mechanic and work on farm equipment like tractors and planters to prepare for spring planting. Since our winters can get very cold, they also need to ensure the water lines don’t freeze, and that their animals have proper shelter, enough food and bedding to keep warm. A farms tasks varies greatly according to the type of farming, the type of crop or livestock, which machinery and equipment are used, and what size the farming operation is.

Here are a few examples of the different roles a farmer has:

Veterinarian: farmers must be able to recognize early signs of disease in animals, assist with the birth of animals, and administer medicine to any sick animals.

Weather Forecaster: farmers must understand weather and climate, be aware of possible weather changes, and know how to prepare for these changes.

Mechanic: farmers must be able to operate and maintain both simple and complicated machinery, make repairs, and keep machines in good working order.

Nutritionist: farmers must know how to prepare feed rations for best growth and production of livestock.

Scientist: farmers must be able to conduct experiments that help answer agricultural questions like which crops grow best in particular climates or soil.

Engineer: farmers must know how to plan and construct fences and buildings, build irrigation ditches and control the flow of water, and use natural resources to grow products useful to people.

Business Manager: farmers must be able to balance accounts, sell farm produce to the market, be responsible for making payments and payrolls, and keep track of equipment, products, and land.

Forest Ranger: farmers must be able to recognize the various kinds of trees, detect fires and know methods of controlling them, and clear trees from land and prevent soil erosion.

This Sunday, children will participate in a fun activity that will teach them more about the different role’s farmers play. Come down to the Port Moody Winters Farmers Market and let’s learn together!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

Why You Should Start Seed Saving

Let’s begin by defining what seed saving actually is. Well, its exactly how it sounds. Seed saving is when you save the seeds from fruits and vegetables that you grow in your garden. You can also save seeds while on your nature walks from things such as wildflowers or acorns. Each plant has a different method of having its seeds saved, so it is worth it to look into what type of seed you have and the methods needed. To learn more about seeds saving of different varieties, you can check out our previous blog post here: Seed Saving

A cool fact about seed saving it that it is one of the earliest practices of agriculture. It has been around for over 10,000 years! Seed saving allowed our ancestors to settle in one location and have their basic needs met through growing their own resources. These resources included food, fuel, forest, fiber and flowers.

Why seed save?

There are many benefits to seed saving. The first being that you save money! Instead of buying packets of seeds every season, you can harvest the seeds from the plants that you have already grown, save them and plant them again come gardening season. By saving seeds, you can eventually build up enough stock to rotate what you grow in your garden every year.

Seed saving also teaches you about the life cycle of a plant. One of the first steps in the cycle is the sprout emerging from the seed, then turning into a plant and ending with developing its own seeds. When we seed save we are ensuring there is no waste and continue the same cycle of the plant over and over. What this does is help maintain certain types of plants and keep them alive for many generations. It also helps to save us from using GMO seeds!

How to seed save?

Its actually quite simple to seed save. Once the fruit or vegetable becomes ripe, you remove the seeds from the pulp and allow them to dry completely. Once dried, place them in a container such as a mason jar or even an envelope. You can store them for up to 5 years! Of course, each plant type has different ways of saving its seed, so it’s good to do your research on what type of plant you want to seed save.

Time to get the kids involved.

This is a great way to teach children about where their food comes from and how they too can easily grow their own food. Kids love to get their hands dirty! So, having them help with harvesting the seeds from your garden and be fun and educational! Like I mentioned above, it also teaches children about the life cycle of a plant. It can be a never-ending cycle if you’re willing to put the work in!

Come join us this Sunday at the Port Moody Market so the POP kids can learn more about seeds! We will be taking a magnifying glass and getting up close with the seeds as we learn how to identify the differences!

Hope to see you there!

If you haven’t yet registered for the program this season, make sure you visit the POP tent to get started!

Learn more about the program here: POP Kids Club

The Port Moody Farmers Market: It’s (Not) All About the Cookies

When local mom blogger, Hillary With 2L’s visited our farmers market with her adorable son, she posted about her adventure and we are sharing it all with you!

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When you think of the farmers market, you likely think of local produce. Which isn’t totally off base; the Port Moody Winter Farmers Market is a great place to find beautiful produce. The farmers market has so much more to offer than mountains of radishes and bushels of kale though.

Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of piles of gorgeous produce.

Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of piles of gorgeous produce.

When I told Grady we were going on an adventure to the farmers market last Sunday, the first thing out of his mouth was: “they got cookies there?” I told him they do have cookies there (thanks to the lovely Sweet Thea! Pro tip: try the lemon tart. You will die it’s so good.) He thought about it for a minute and then clarified “we get the cookies?” As soon as I confirmed, my little negotiator agreed to a trip to the market and we were on our way.

Our very first stop? Cookies, obviously.

Our very first stop? Cookies, obviously.

The Port Moody Winter Farmers Market is more than just a place to stop to grab some groceries. It’s an experience. There are food trucks so you can grab a yummy snack. There’s live music and space for the little kids to run around and dance without knocking over any shoppers. Many of the vendors offer samples and all of them are happy to talk about their product. Grady was absolutely charmed by the pictures of the farm animals hanging out with Barrie’s granddaughters at Redl’s Home-Grown Beef while I hemmed and hawed over what I should buy (everything sounded amazing and it’s tough to not buy one of everything when it’s local beef raised on the pasture with no hormones, antibiotics, steroids, or any other nasty stuff.) It’s a different level of service than what I experience at the grocery store. The vendors are proud of what they’re selling and it shows.

The selection of products available is extensive without feeling overwhelming. We managed to come home with our beef and cookies, but also snagged two giant bags of gorgeous organic kale from Ripple Creek Organic Farm (I know this is going to make you roll your eyes at me but seriously, I have never tasted kale like the kale I bought from Ripple Creek.) We also brought home an amazing loaf of bread from A Bread Affair ( it had cheese and roasted garlic in it, have mercy), wildflower honey and a beeswax candle from Vlad’s Apiary, and a dozen organic eggs from Rockweld Farm.

Our market haul!

Our market haul!

Buying from and supporting locally-owned businesses is important to our family. Shawn and I both work for locally-owned small businesses so we see the value in keeping our dollars in the local economy; we worry about the environmental impact of buying food from far-off places (it’s been painful to cut back on favourites like fresh pineapple and papaya in favour of fruit that grows closer to home but we believe the effort is worth it); and we don’t want to see our neighbourhood turn into a no-personality zone of big box stores and chain restaurants.

The Port Moody Winter Farmers Market runs on Sundays from 10am – 2pm until April 26th and then the Poirier Street Farmers Market will run May 10 – October 25th on Sundays from 9am – 1pm.  You can find the market on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter and Instagram (psst – they’ve got a cool social media contest on now where you can win Market Money and products from the vendors so keep an eye out for the hashtag #makebakegrow!)