A Visit to Around The Sound

I heard about Around the Sound Local Food Market early in the summer, but what with one thing or another I was only able to visit them for the first time on Thursday. The first thing I discovered is that they are about to move by January 28th, so I will just give the new address. They are going to be at 685 6th Street East, in Owen Sound. Their hours will be the same; Thursdays and Fridays 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturdays 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.



Their current abode is an old house, and products are arranged in a somewhat higgledy-piggledy manner throughout. This is the main room, which has their baked goods, cereals, most of their jams and preserves, and grains, beans and cereals.



They've even got the hallway pressed into service, with a shelf full of toiletries and cleaning supplies, and beeswax candles.



Refrigerated and frozen products are mainly in the other front room, along with some spill-over of the juices, jams and preserves.



Currently you can enter directly from the parking area through the back sunporch where the vegetables are, or through the front door.


They had a nice selection of winter storage vegetables including some absolutely fabulous looking garlic.


There was a small area tucked away to keep children entertained while parents do some shopping. This seems typical of owner Anne Finlay-Stewart, who has some big plans for the new site. It's going to have a certified kitchen, to allow classes and rentals. It won't be just a grocery store, but also a community resource.



Lots of good local apples!



GrassRoots Organics is something of a fixture in this part of the world... Around the Sound has a wide selection of their beans, flours and puffed cereals.


Cookies from New Moon Kitchen, in Toronto. The local connection here is the flour, which comes from GrassRoots Organics, via a mill in Tavistock. (I'd bet that it's Oak Manor Farms - who else?)


Local pastas and sauces.



Rainbow trout oil, wild rice, sunflower seed oil and olive oil, amongst other things. Okay, you guessed it: the olive oil is not local, it's from Palestine. Of the "100 Mile Market" type stores I've been in, this one takes a looser approach than most. Mostly the products, even if from some distance away, have a connection to someone in the Owen Sound area. For example, she had tinned tuna and salmon from the west coast, because of a connection to someone from Owen Sound.


Puffed cereals from GrassRoots Organics. Around the Sound gets some items from the Ontario Natural Food Co-op, with a particular emphasis on product from Ontario and Quebec. It helps give the store it's well-balanced selection of products. This is the first local market I've been in where I've felt like I could actually do a lot of the weekly shopping. Pity it's just a bit too far away for me to get to regularly. However, now that I've tracked them down, I'll be back. I want to see how things work in the new digs, which will be larger...





Last year at this time I made Cream of Rutabaga Soup and Buttermilk Pancakes.

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