Stratford For All Seasons: Secrets & Surprises. Phyllis Hinz

       www.stratfordperthmuseum.ca/current-exhibits/

       HIGHLIGHT:

      The Justin Bieber experience in Stratford

       SEASON:

      Spring, Summer, Fall

       LOCATION:

      96 Birmingham Street, Stratford

       WEBSITE:

       www.pucksplenty.com

       HIGHLIGHT:

      Foraging in the forests near Stratford

       PUCK’S PLENTY FORAGING TOURS

      Named for Shakespeare’s character in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Puck’s Plenty tours, which began in 2010, have been rated as one of the top foraging adventures in the world.

      Lace up your boots and join author Peter Blush and his dogs on walking tours, lasting two to three hours, along lush woodland trails. Hear the birds and breathe in the scent of new forest growth. Learn to identify wild edibles, both the expected and the unexpected, because every year new ones appear. In the spring, fill your basket with wild leeks, trout lily, rhubarb-like Japanese knotweed, garlic mustard, and marsh marigold. Later in the spring, harvest fiddleheads and nettles. Varying shapes and sizes of mushrooms of varying degrees of meatiness appear throughout the summer into the fall season. Giant, mushroom-like puffballs are always easy to spot. You’ll be surprised at the number of weeds that are edible. The recognizable pineapple weed that lurks in cement cracks and driveways emits a pineapple scent when found on a forest’s grassy floor and crushed—like chamomile, it turns into a delicious tea. Learn to properly harvest these delicacies to appreciate their nutritional values and to use them in recipes.

      To round out the foraging experience, Blush’s Forage and Feast events provide a four-course lunch created with foraged finds—a good way to experience the textures and flavours of the wild edibles as they are accompanied by locally produced breads, cheeses, teas, and craft beers.

       STRATFORD CHEFS SCHOOL

      In 1983, three restaurateurs in Stratford, Joe Mandel of the Church, Jim Morris of Rundles, and Eleanor Kane of the Old Prune, faced a challenge. Their established restaurants were busy in the summer months, but in the winter business was slow. For that reason, it was difficult to keep experienced, professional chefs on the payroll year-round. Their solution was to create a culinary training program, running from November to March, that would retain their chefs as teachers. In addition to culinary skills, the Stratford Chefs School (SCS) provides the practical training required to successfully run a restaurant. In the years since the creation of SCS, graduates of their Professional Culinary Diploma Program have been contributing to Canada’s food scene. Stratford Chefs School alumni can be found in highly respected kitchens around the world. Fortunately for Stratford, many of the school’s over 800 graduates have remained in the city and surrounding Perth County. Several have opened restaurants of their own. If you look at the bios and menus of Stratford’s chefs, you will be impressed with their creativity.

      In 2018, in celebration of their thirty-fifth anniversary, the Stratford Chefs School published Farm to Table, a book that reflects upon the farm to table movement in Stratford and Perth County. Stories highlight SCS alumni, SCS team members, Stratford and Perth County restaurants, farmers and producers, and their recipes.

      You can personally experience the Stratford Chefs School by taking Open Kitchen cooking classes for home cooks or attending their popular dinner series. Each September, the SCS puts on a long table dinner, the school’s signature fundraising event.

       SEASON:

      Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

       LOCATION:

      136 Ontario Street

       WEBSITE:

       www.stratfordchef.com/

       HIGHLIGHT:

      The Stratford Chefs School fills a need

       SEASON:

      Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

       LOCATION:

      Slow Food Market: Market Square or Festival Square

      Farmers Market: Stratford Agriplex, 353 McCarthy Road

       WEBSITE:

       www.visitstratford.ca/partner/Slow-Food-Perth-County

       www.stratfordagriculturalsociety.com/farmers-market/

       HIGHLIGHT:

      Weekend markets

       STRATFORD MARKETS

      Stratford offers two popular year-round markets that provide you with the opportunity to chat with purveyors while you select your supplies. They facilitate eating locally and seasonally.

      At the Slow Food Market, you won’t see transport trucks delivering food, drinks, produce, and crafts from faraway places. You will see owners of family-run businesses unloading vehicles that do double duty, transporting kids to hockey games and school during the week and to the markets on the weekend. On Sundays, 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., from mid-May to October, the Slow Food Market is held outdoors in Stratford’s downtown Market Square at City Hall. In the winter months, the market moves two blocks north on Downie Street to be indoors at Festival Square.

      The Stratford Farmers Market, operating since 1855, is one of the oldest markets in Ontario. Located in the Stratford Agriplex building, the year-round indoor market, open every Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., expands outdoors from May to October. It offers a substantial spread of food and flowers alongside a large assortment of handmade crafts.

      At the Stratford Markets you are encouraged to arrive early and fill environmentally friendly bags with gifts and goodies. If you are heading out on a picnic along the Avon River or a drive in the country, the Stratford Markets are a good source for meats, cheese, vegetables, pickles, and freshly baked bread.

       STRATFORD PERTH MUSEUM

      The Stratford Perth Museum offers a glimpse into the lives of the people of Stratford and Perth County as an indoor and outdoor experience. The five-acre site consists of an 1870 Victorian brick home, woodlots, and a network of trails. The museum’s collection of over 20,000 items covers life in the area from the early 1800s to today. As one of the oldest ongoing collections in Ontario, it reflects the growth of the community with railway equipment, furniture, quilts, clothing, military objects, medical equipment, and agricultural, industrial, and architectural artifacts. Current exhibits are