Bonjour everyone!
It's just past the midway point to the week and soon soon we are packing it all up to bring to Finnegan's Market out in Hudson for our first ever market stall the Saturday September 24th, 2016! Be excited, be be excited!!!!! (Info is all down below)
I am so happy that my big day is on the first week of fall, praying we have perfect weather, big turn out, loads of interest and takers, along with very happy faces.
As berries went out, other fruits came in and this week we have been up to our eyeballs in plums. I see purple, everywhere, ahhhhhhhhh-help me...
Seriously though, it's been a plumtastic week, last week we went back to Paradis des Fruits.
I adore this place and these people! This time though, I had to call in advance and have pre-picked boxes at the ready for when we arrived. I am just too short on time with all the prep that needs doing and I feel that delicate items like small plums are best left to the experts for picking.
http://www.paradisdesfruits.com/index.php
I came home with loads of goodies! Two cases of plums, which I returned to get two more of, 4 cases of pears, big bag of apples and some delectable honey. Yum scrum!
The plums are these sweet smaller Mount-Royal plums. They are great for my products and are very juicy and sweet, yet again I was reminded that all this produce had to be processed and quickly, so as not to spoil.
I find them so cute!I had originally found a recipe for pickled plums, they were Italian plums though and I could only find these big one's at another market we went to in St. Catherine's.
I was supposed to use the one's that look like these in the pic below, I decided that I would switch them, use what was locally sourced and ecologically produced, along with being very tasty!
So, to the cutesie little bebe plums and the kitchen for some processing and fun times.
I used most of them and froze a few for my Christmas Spiced Plum Jelly, that promises to be a welcome treat and addition to the Etsy shop, which will come very soon-I promise.
I made my second batch of the pickled plums, after testing the recipe with my large plums, and deciding to tweak the recipe a bit. I will be putting this recipe on the blog in a bit but after all this madness has died down.
I ended up with this yummy Tangy, Spiced, Pickled Plum Compote and could not be happier with the results. It is a flavour punch to the senses, a completely new taste to discover and people are really enjoying it. They are eating it off of spoons and not even waiting to pair it with other foods-yup, that good! Thank the Lord, because I was not too sure at first.
I used all natural, grade B Québec Maple Syrup and organic coconut sugar for my Paleo, Vegan Compotes. They taste divine!
After pickling, compotes, jelly, and jam making was done, I went on to Brambleberry & Lilac Jam. This flavour sold so well in the early summer that I wanted to make sure I have a double batch amount for the Finnegan's Market I will be selling at, this coming Saturday the 24th of September. Yup, gonna be obnoxious about mentioning it, so you should just come by and check out the Bien Confit GF table.
I have been going at this nonstop for weeks and I am starting to feel it in my 41 year old bones, here is a pic of me starting super early in the am, and you can tell just how tired I am (dark circle eyes anyone?) but blissfully happy because I am doing something that I love.
I do want to take a moment to say thank-you to my wonderful friends and family who have been miraculously contributing to my business and canning adventure's, exactly when I need it most. God has been answering my prayers and working through those in my life, to keep me encouraged, to help me hold on, and to bolster my soul.
At one point last week, I realized that I would run out of mason jars, after just buying the last one's at 3 different local stores. I was nearly in tears because I did not want to lose product, was terrified I would not make enough product for my deadlines, and was running out of funds. I get a phone call within less than 24 hours and next thing I know Lady T is showing up with this stack of jars, in the exact size that all our stores were out of, at the moment I needed them so badly. Thank her and thank God for answering the silent prayers of my heart.
Then a few days later, my mother shows up with this in her hands, plops it on the table and announces that she is tired with my burning myself several times a day, with the make-shift water canning system I have been forced to use. Starting a business with limited resources and funds, is really tough and this canning set, small and inexpensive to some, has been a luxury I just could not afford. Mumsie to the rescue and she even started cutting out material rounds, to help me decorate my jars. I think she realized that I was in panic, too much to do, how am I ever going to get through it all, please rescue me mode.
Turns out, she is a gajillion times better at this than I am and has saved me a solid week's worth of work. So. though there be stressors in life, there are also rainbows and blessings; and I for one will not be letting them pass by without acknowledging and keeping them stored in my grateful heart.
Have a great day, and I look forward to seeing you out in Hudson this coming Saturday. all the info and links follow down below.
Take care, be well, love freely...
Le marché du samedi - Saturday Market
Hours
Every Saturday, from May 7 until the end of October
Open from 9h00 until 16h00
Address
Finnegan's Market is located in Hudson, west of Montréal via highway 40
Address is 775 rue Main, Hudson, QC, J0P 1J0
775 rue Main, Hudson, QC, J0P 1J0
From Montreal:
From Autoroute 40 W
Take exit 28 to merge onto Route Harwood/QC-342 O
Turn right onto Côte Saint Charles
Turn left onto Rue Main
Finnegan's Market parking will be on the left
From Ottawa
From Autoroute 40 E
Take exit 17 for QC-201 toward Montée Lavigne/Salaberry de Valleyfield
Turn left onto QC-201 N
Slight left onto Montée Lavigne
Turn right onto Rue Main
Finnegan's Market parking will be on the right
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