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 Submitted by: Juliane Pate, Co-Administrator There’s something special about a morning at the farmers market. The scent of fresh bread, the bright colours of just-picked produce, the hum of friendly conversation–it’s more than shopping. Farmers markets embody a sense of community that supermarkets often lack. Instead of hurried shoppers rushing through aisles, you find people pausing to chat, sharing recipes, and supporting local growers.I t’s connection. It’s why the Riverside-Albert Artisan & Farmers Market was created a few summers ago. Now about to start its third year, our market has created countless friendships, and transformed talented people into vendors. We’re excited to announce that Foods of the Fundy Valley is hosting an exciting new fundraising event, A Midsummer Celebration, on June 20th, 2025, hosted by Farmer Brown's Greenhouse.
An open-air evening filled with a local food menu curated by chef Stefen Mueller, live music, storytelling, and community spirit — all to support food security and sustainable agriculture in Albert County & beyond. We’re reaching out to invite you our community businesses, organizations, or individuals to become a valued sponsor of this celebration. Your sponsorship will help us raise funds to support vital programs like community gardens, food education, and access to healthy, local food.  Submitted by: Michael Land
After mowing today I hesitate to suggest spring has arrived. I think it was one of the coldest days I've ever sat on a mower! However, yesterday was spent looking through my recipes for Rhubarb Jam. It was my Grandmother Terris' recipe and after a bit of chopping and cooking, it is sitting on the counter ready to be enjoyed throughout those cold winter mornings when just a little taste of it helps one remember, spring will come again. Our rhubarb is doing well this spring, growing thick and strong, a lovely shade of red. I'm waiting now for the next picking to be ready so I can make my next rhubarb treat. To help you enjoy your bounty of rhubarb I share the two following recipes: Rhubarb Conserve, the recipe for a wedding shower gift from Beatrice Irving almost 45 years ago and Rhubarb Cake with butter sauce, a recent acquisition this spring. Does your non-profit organization host fundraising breakfasts? BBQs? Or other events that involve food?
If so, according to Section 39(1)(2) of the Food Premises Regulation 2009-138 under the New Brunswick Public Health Act, you legally need to have someone with food safety training on site. We are excited to invite you to our upcoming food safety training courses for non-profit organizations in Southeast New Brunswick! We will be hosting these sessions in multiple locations in March and April. These five unique sessions will allow the participants to learn about food safety and provide them with the required certification to serve safe food. Key Details:. Virtual Option: There will also be a self-directed online certification course available in either French or English. Why Attend?
Cost: ONLY $25! ($27.96 with Eventbrite fee) A savings of over $100 thanks to contributions from municipalities through the Southeast RSC. Important Notes
Register early to secure your spot. Together, we can ensure that all community events serve not just delicious food, but safe food! For more information and to register, follow this link or contact Vicki Weaver at [email protected]. Submitted by: Michael Land
What better a time than the next few weeks to gather your friends and loved ones together and renew old memories over a hot cup of tea. Tea has been around for many years and shares it origins from China and India. True teas are black teas but today we have many blends of tea with which to tease our taste buds. The English tradition of afternoon tea as a time for relaxation, refreshment, and socializing dates to the 1840's. It can be traced to Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. One day, the duchess asked that a tray of tea and some bread and cakes be brought to her room about 4PM, to tide her over until the customary 9pm dinner hour. This practice spread among her friends. Over time, what began as one woman's late-afternoon pick me up developed into a common social occasion.  Pictured: Emily & Alicia visit Port Elgin Regional School to tour their greenhouse and learn about how their school and community work in this space
Submitted by: Amy O'Keefe
Caledonia Regional High School is excited to share about a new project that’s in the works. We are now raising funds for a Geothermal Greenhouse that will be used by Hillsborough Elementary School, Caledonia Regional High School, and the local community for food security, farm to table, community engagement, and academic projects. The aim of the project is to educate students and the community about farm to table possibilities in our area. It will be used to supplement food programs in the school and the community. Students will engage in project-based learning to grow, harvest, use, and consume what we have in the greenhouse. During the summer months, community programs will be able to benefit from the facility for a variety of projects and programs. We have a dedicated team comprised of school staff and community partners working diligently on plans and fundraising and we look forward to sharing more as the project develops. There’s room at the table if you’re interested to work with us! Please contact Emily Ostler Colpitts, Principal, for ways that community agencies, businesses, or donors can help.  by: Jas Shukla
Ever wonder what gives Indian (i.e. South Asian) food its complex flavours? For me, it all starts with fresh garam masala ground and made at home. This blend of spices is a cornerstone in Indian cooking and a key part of my culinary journey. While garam translates to "hot" and masala to "spices," this mix isn't only about heat. Indian cuisine often gets a reputation for being too hot to handle. "Hot" usually brings to mind a fiery sensation that overwhelms your taste buds. In my family, garam masala isn’t about overwhelming your taste buds; it's about bringing a warming complexity to meals.  Image and additional mincemeat tart recipe by //blueskyeating.com/mincemeat-tart Submitted by: Michael Land
Mincemeat came about in the 1800's and was a combination of minced meat, dried fruit and liquids. It was a way of preserving meat without the aid of refrigeration as it was kept in crock type storage until needed. Today, most of our mincemeat is made to be used as a sweet type of dessert mainly in pastry pies and pastry tarts, and is often stored by being bottled or frozen and then used as desired. It too combines cooked ground meat with fresh apples and dried fruit along with sugar and other sweet sources as well as a number of spices. The recipe I share was often made by my maternal grandmother and my mother. It began as my Grams recipe but was tweaked by my mother over the years. The spice ratios can be adjusted to meet individual taste but I think you will find this a tasty treat when made into a pie. Submitted by: Michael Land
Any of you who may know Edith and I are aware of our connection to the Amish community in Pennsylvania. Over the years we have had the good fortune to meet a number of amazing individuals from that community and have gotten to share in a glimpse of their world from the inside, not just the tourist angle. While there are many things we love about the people of this area, we are, well I am, always interested in trying new foods or old foods served in different ways. A meal at an Amish home can follow a menu much like you’d find on any of the tables around about Albert County but many foods are served with a twist of difference. With Christmas coming many families in our area will sit down to at least one big celebratory meal often centered around turkey, ham, chicken or beef. With these large spreads comes the challenge of dealing with leftovers and with the cost of food today, using these leftovers is more important than ever. One of the favorite recipes I’ve picked up from our Amish friends, served in their homes and at many of their buffets is Glazed Ham Balls. It uses up leftover ham to create a delicious meatball type of meal.  Farmers Markets are several things all rolled up into one. They are a source for local foods. They are a place to buy arts and crafts. Though perhaps, most importantly, they are places that bring neighbours together.
Last year a woman named Ursula, who had a table at the Hillsborough farmers market, realized it was a bit of a drive for people in Riverside-Albert to get there. She recounts, “I thought why not have something more local. It's a beautiful little town, why is it a drive-thru town? So I figured it made sense to have a market here and I started hunting around. Three days before I posted that there would be a market I had made arrangements with the exhibition hall.” The first weekend there were five vendors which rose to sixteen vendors at its highest point. The number of vendors fluctuated from week-to-week based on people’s schedules. by James Wilson
My Mom worked for a number of years as a cook at Camp Wildwood. While some of the things she made would end up on the dinner table for years after, none had quite so unique a name as Tory Pudding with Liberal Sauce. Since its an election year let’s take a moment to look at this politically-named dessert. The name contains a pun with ‘liberal’ both referring to the party and the generous portion of sugary sauce. Its a fun name for what is essentially a type of bread pudding but its not the only name. In Mom’s old Barbour cookbook it is referred to as ‘Radio Pudding’, presumably because people got the recipe off the radio. Searching either name brings up many alternate names such as ‘Halifax Pudding’, ‘Montreal Pudding’, ‘Half-hour Pudding’, and even ‘Unemployment Pudding’! Clearly this pudding has gotten around. By Amanda Rossiter
Recently, my youngest daughter made a comment about how my “most famous recipe” is my banana bread. It started a fun conversation between us about how she thinks I could make the banana bread without reading any instructions because I make it so often and it is so good. She really enjoys making it with me. According to her it is the best banana bread. I don’t know about that theory, but it got me thinking about my own childhood memories of baking with my own mother and grandmother. Truth be told the banana bread recipe I use was given to me by my mother.  Submitted by Kris Buck
A popular location among community members of rural Albert County and beyond is Farmer Brown’s Greenhouse on Pine Glen Road just a few minutes outside of Riverview. Every year many people gather to enjoy the various activities that they host to prepare for the holidays. Planning for their Christmas holiday events is getting underway, and they could not be more excited! submitted by Dawne McLean, ACE Board Director During the 1800s, local agricultural societies were developing in rural communities throughout Canada and so were the annual agricultural fairs, which aimed to promote rural development. Such was the case in Albert County; the early fairs were organized by the agricultural society of each community and devoted to the exhibition of livestock and agricultural products. These annual one-day fairs held in October were exciting social events in the communities of Albert, Harvey, Hopewell Hill, Hillsborough and Coverdale.  The ACE executive team cutting the celebration cake for our 110th Anniversary! Fabien MacLeod, 1st VP, Terry Steeves, President, and Tom McNaught, 2nd VP.  by Lynne Greenblatt
Belated Happy New Year from the Board of Directors of the Shepody Food Bank! We would like to take this opportunity to share with you some highlights from the past year. Shepody Food Bank, located at the Albert County Community Health Centre in Riverside-Albert, serves the catchment area from the Village of Alma up to and including the Upper Albert Mines Road in Edgetts Landing, and the Caledonia Mountain Road from Riverside-Albert up to Route 910 in Rosevale. We are open every Wednesday from 1-3pm, serving clients on a first-come, first-served basis. Clients may visit once a month for assistance and will receive six days' worth of food for each individual in the household. In 2022, we served over 80 households comprising 170 individuals in need, giving out almost 23,000 meals. Almost 30% of the people we serve are minors and around 20% are seniors. by Angela MacDougall Herb n' Joy Fundy Farms: local harvest
It's January! Time for eating hearty, soul nourishing meals we have put away in the cold room, cupboards and freezers. It's time to do the deep clean of all the food in our houses - rotate, use up, save on groceries and get creative in the kitchen! What else are you going to do with all the snow and cold temperatures coming our way? If you've been around for a while, you know the Pantry Challenge drill, but with so many new faces in the community, let's do a quick overview. The Pantry Challenge is to help you: save money, reduce waste, rotate through your food, learn new recipes and get the family involved in some fun in the kitchen. The concept is to not buy groceries for the month of January, BUT you are your own rule maker. So! If you need to buy dairy products, or bread or whatever it is, no sweat! You make your own rules. The goal is just to buy less and try to go as long as possible without grocery shopping. This year we are really excited to learn some new cooking techniques and introduce new styles of cooking into our repertoire. We will be highlighting foods made with flour (Yikes! Not my comfort zone.) with our new community member Kasia Diana. Kasia is going to teach us to make some dishes from her Polish background. We are excited to get together in the kitchen and cook with friends. (This is also something YOU could do, too.) We will be sharing all our meals, discoveries, recipes and ideas on our social media pages. We invite you to follow along under Fundy Farms: local harvest on Facebook and Instagram. We hope you will get involved and join in on the fun. You can also follow #threeriverschallenge #pantrychallenge2023 on Instagram to see what others are doing for the challenge as well. by Laurie McNaught
The Board of Directors invites you to ACE '22, September 15-18. We have a great program this year with the return of the Queen Pageant opening night, delicious meals from the Dining Hall on all four days, parade on Saturday, concerts Friday and Saturday night, and lots of fun for the kids, including Playmania Inflatables and Mad Science. This year, we are taking a strong focus on our roots - Agriculture. Visitors can learn how to make homemade ice cream and see newly hatched chicks on site. New this year, join us in Oulton Hall on Sunday and visit the many stations to learn more about New Brunswick farming. Come sit in our virtual reality tractor to grow your own crop, learn about different grains and we dare you try our edible soil! Please follow us on Facebook for updates, including our full program of events and find other details on our website www.albertfair.ca . See you at the Fair!  by Brittany Butland
Iron is an essential mineral needed by your body for good health. Your body uses iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Without enough iron, you don’t have enough red blood cells to carry oxygen, which leads to symptoms of weakness, dizziness, and fatigue. Iron is also important for healthy brain development and growth in children, and for the normal production and function of various cells and hormones  by Kris Buck
The beautiful frost covered province of New Brunswick extends across two planting zones (4 and 5). The region is made up of rolling hills, sweeping flatlands, floodplains, rugged cliffs, and long coastlines, making it challenging for even the most experienced of gardeners. Two of the most important aspects of gardening are knowing when to plant and what to plant in your vegetable or flower garden. However, it can be difficult to know the exact time to begin planting in order for a garden to flourish throughout the growing season. If your plant or garden fails to thrive, simply adjusting your planting time frame might make a big difference. A planting calendar takes the guesswork out of the process.  by Brittany Butland, RD
Making healthy food choices has become even more difficult in the last couple of years due to the rising cost of food. According to CBC News, food costs have risen 7.4% in the last year, which is the largest increase since 2009.  by Lynne Greenblatt
Shepody Food Bank is celebrating 15 years of service in our community! Located at the Albert County Community Health Centre in Riverside-Albert, we have been providing emergency supplies of food to individuals and families in need who live between Alma and Edgetts Landing in lower Albert County since April 2007. Each month, we distribute an average of 2,200 meals. Our mission is to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community, and fosters respect for diversity and inclusion. by Charleen Broad The phrase “Community Garden” can have many meanings and bring up different ideas, depending on to whom you were speaking. Every community garden has its unique objectives; however, they have been shown to provide the following benefits: education and training, increased nutrition, improved physical and mental health, addressing food security, creating employment, and serving as a common place for diverse and inclusive sharing and development. The majority of those involved in community gardens consider them to be a meeting place for creating healthier societies, and we agree 100% with that sentiment. We invite you to join us in making Albert County a better place to live and experience the many benefits of growing your own food with a group of people eager to share and learn from each other.  Pictured are Tammy Tingley and Jaimie Campbell By Angela MacDougall
The crew at The Old Village Church Farmers Market is growing and we are so excited to welcome the 2022 Market season. The warmer weather brings our opening weekend of May 21st. With our vendor spaces reaching capacity, it will be a full array of colourful offerings. Enjoy the ambiance of the beautiful wooden vaulted ceilings and huge stained glass windows. Peruse the booths, a hot cup of locally roasted Buddha Bear coffee in one hand and a freshly made donut or butter tart in the other. Better yet, meet a friend and have a chat inside at one of the repurposed pew tables or outside at the picnic table under the maple tree. We truly hope you will choose to shop locally as much as possible this summer, when you need a gift, some groceries or even just a snack! We look forward to seeing you at the market! |
Food, Farming & Fishing
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Connecting Albert County would like to thank the following supporters & advertisers: Platinum - Bennett and Albert County Health Care (BACH) Foundation - Horizon Health Network Resiliency Committee - Hon. Rob Moore, MP for Fundy Royal - Village of Fundy Albert Gold - CBDC Westmorland Albert Silver - Albert County Funeral Home - Friends of Fundy Bronze supporters - Albert County Pharmacy - Crooked Creek Convenience - Jeff MacDougall, SouthEastern Mutual Insurance - McCarthy Construction - NBSCF If you would like to support Connecting Albert County, visit our Advertising page or Donation page. With your support, we can continue to share the news of rural Albert County. Comments We welcome comments to our blog postings. Please provide your email address and name with your comment, and respect our content guidelines. Archives
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