Traveling Cowboys: We've Found Rudolph and Friends at the 2017 Annual Millarville Christmas Market in Alberta.

Shoppers Stampede

There was a stampede in Millarville recently. You've had to see it to believe it.

Never have we seen the entrance to a famous market so jam-packed as it was at this year's fair. Some say the line of cars stretched all the way to edge of the Calgary city limit.

Luckily, with an exclusive invite from Lisa and her team, we made it to the front of the line on Friday 10 November. The plan was to meet some of this year's unique and new Christmas craft vendors as we kicked off our Christmas event coverage for 2017. We were pleasantly surprised with what we found.

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The Millarville Christmas Market was established in 1988 and is one of the premier craft and artisan shows in Alberta. It takes place on an early weekend of every November. The good thing about the market is the abundance of parking surrounding the grounds with free transportation into the event. This means that you don't have to carry all your shopping to your car, which is essential. You can expect to do a lot of shopping. Help is always welcome.

The Christmas market is not just a reincarnation of the very popular Millarville Farmers' Market. It is it something quite unique, stocked with more than the usual vendor mix we've become accustomed to. Lisa and her team added ample activities to distract from the sensory overload typical of these festivities. There is something for the entire family to eat, see and do. Be prepared to spend the whole day with the good people of the market going through the familiar rhythm of a Christmas event like meeting Santa, feeding the Cariboo (Reindeer) finding your children and losing your paycheck.

Observations

We love markets because there is always a surprise. The surprise comes when you talk to the vendors and learn more, not only about their products but about their motivation and passion for their work. There is always a story that needs to be discovered and shared.

This time, we discovered black garlic, a creative take on toilet plungers, met a legendary Blacksmith from Nanton, bought Italian marinated street food, tasted Alberta mustard and cheese, found oil for our beards and shared more laughs than we can remember.

The best part of our market experience is not discovering the unique and well-crafted goods of our artisans. It is the opportunity to spend the time to share the good cheer with our people, that comes with the celebration of the Christmas season's arrival.

That is why we love our markets and our people

Hendrik van Wyk

Christmas Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. We use Patreon to help us gain from our work. Please become a patron at http://www.travelingcowboys.com if you want to see more of this and other stories.

Photos

Rudolph 2.0

Rudolph Clones

Cheer!

Cowboy Welcome

Making Something

Two Cowboys: Fresh, Pure, Liquid Gold from the Alberta Prairies Courtesy of Forever Bee in Okotoks, Alberta

Purest of Honey

In 2010 I embarked on the crazy journey to perfect classic Italian Honey Nougat. It is an ancient celebratory confection with only four ingredients - honey, egg white, cane sugar, and nuts. Nougat is a major industry in the old world of Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, and Morocco where it was typically served to royalty and as present at weddings, christenings, Christmas and birthdays.

It is also one of the most difficult confections to make. The soft, white, melt-in-your mount textured candy has broken many a chef's resolve. Only a few people in the world know the secrets of perfect white soft honey nougat and most of them only impart it to close family members on their death bed, who is tasked with perpetuating the legacy.

It took me three years and five tons of failures to finally unlock the secret of honey nougat perfection. None of which I am prepared to divulge in this post. What I did discover during my struggle is that most of the honey that we buy in stores are either not honey or of such low quality that it may as well be regular cane sugar syrup. For a start, it contains abnormal amounts of water, and it is pasteurized. As we know pasteurization kills all pathogens - the good ones with the bad. The bottom line discovery was that store bought honey cannot be used for making Honey Nougat.

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During my journey, I met Matt and Annanie. They own of Forever Bee. It is a small apiary they started in February of 2012 while on their own search for a better quality honey.

Forever Bee began as a tiny business that managed to sell a few jars of honey here and there at farmers' markets. They've been bootstrapping the business since and have managed to build up a strong fresh honey supply to many loyal customers in Southern Alberta. Their products include raw honey, flavored honey (they do a fantastic cinnamon honey), honeycomb, beeswax, candles and more.

Observations

We spend a lot of time around farmers' markets in Southern Alberta, and inevitably we run into the Forever Bee clan again and again with their fresh honeycomb and jars of pure, unpasteurized honey.

The honey is terrific for all the good reasons they mention in the video above.

What stands out for us about Matt and Annanie's business is not so much the honey they produce, which is fantastic. It is the success they have starting from nothing five years ago and building a simple, successful business with a very loyal customer base. The business is in its fifth year, and it is allowing them to have their entire family involved in growing it. It is only with passion and an outstanding product that they can continue to succeed.

Being at farmers' markets is hard work. It may appear idyllic or romantic to the casual bystander. There is a lot of time and dedication that goes into producing products the whole week and then still doing markets at the same time. For many, it is a seven day week affair. Often these small producer businesses cannot sustain themselves with only one market, so they are typically serving several markets per week. The season is also short, so every market day counts.

We find Forever Bee at these markets in the Foothills. What stands out is their dedication to a fantastic quality product. What sets them apart from other honey vendors is their willingness and commitment to educate about the virtues of fresh honey and the love and care they put into making their honey taste as good as it possibly can.

The honey from Forever Bee is the perfect honey for my classic soft Honey Nougat.

Hendrik van Wyk

Sweet Cowboy

We earn our livelihood from producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. Please become a patron at http://www.travelingcowboys.com if you want to see more of this and other stories.

Photos

Lethbridge Market

Okotoks Market

Canmore Market

Honey Gold

Happy Beez

Traveling Cowboys: Getting Ourselves Checked at Man Day at Crossfield Farmers' Market, Alberta

A Food Experience

The Crossfield Farmers' Market does a few things right. For a start, they care about the men in the community. They also care about food - lots of home-made, fresh, delicious locally produced products. We found the whole pantry and more in one afternoon at this little market.

Cheryl Shea invited for Man Day on 18 August to see what makes this small market so unique and to get our prostates checked. Yup, they needed checking, we were told.

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The Crossfield Farmers Market runs June to September every Thursday from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm. It is located in Banta Park, Crossfield, Alberta. The 2017 Season marks their 42nd year!

As an Alberta Approved Farmers' Market, Crossfield pride themselves in offering the best of local handmade items, fresh baking, and locally grown produce. Since 2014, and with the help of volunteers like Cheryl, the Crossfield Agriculture Society put in an extensive effort to bring the market back to its roots.

They succeeded. The goal is to offer a family friendly and interactive environment with shopping and fun events for all market goers. The Market features local artists, farmers, and bakers. On this occasion, the market also featured BBQ, axe throwing, and hosted the MAN VAN, which is Canada’s first and only free mobile men’s health clinic offering PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) blood testing.

Observations

Time flies when you are having fun. Indeed, we had fun at Crossfields.

What stood out for us was the variety of food vendors for the small size of the market. There was everything from gourmet doughnuts, jams, juices, seafood, sauces, mustards, ice cream, and more.

Alberta Health Services, bylaws and regulations make it hard for small producers to bring food products to market. To have a farmers' market like Crossfield, that embraces food vendors, is a win for food producers in our province. It makes it a little easier for entrepreneurs to take the initiative and make something delicious and unique when they know they have a place where they can find customers for their wares.

We also had ourselves checked by the MAN VAN. Men, in general, are skittish when it comes to discussing their prostrates. Since I turned forty a few years ago, my Doctor developed a fixation for my nether regions. The MAN VAN offers a refreshingly different approach to having our prostates checked, and yes, it is all legal. They do it with a simple PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) blood test.

We are glad to report that we are still as healthy as ever and in outstandingly good condition. The checkup showed us a little over weight. We attribute it to our healthy appetite and healthy love for our beer. Two healthies makes a very healthy in our books!

Crossfield Farmers' Market is a must in Alberta. We rate it amongst our favorites.

Hendrik van Wyk

Healthy Cowboy

We earn our livelihood from producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. Please become a patron at http://www.travelingcowboys.com if you want to see more of this and other stories.

Photos

Glass River

Gourmet!

Unique

Alberta Produce!

Future Millionaires 

Lost Texan