We made it through the winter cold and Spring is finally here again in Ontario! This is our favourite time of year. For one thing it's our birthday, but also we get to make ice cream from all the amazing produce that our favourite farmers grow around us.

Seasonality for us is a big deal. As you might have noticed, we switch up at least 4 of our 12 flavours every month. This gives us a chance to connect with other producers and makers in the KW community, and to experiment for the next greatest flavours.

For this #TellAllThursday, we mapped out our seasonality based on the ingredients we used during the Ontario growing season last year. This way, you can get a better idea of when to expect certain flavours of ice cream and get to know our existing partners.

May:

Rhubarb

Last May, we started off the growing season by making Rhubarb from Barrie's Asparagus Farm into a tasty Rhubarb Sorbet. They have a beautiful heritage patch of Rhubarb on their farm that is more than 40 years old. Farmer Tim Barrie works his farm of exclusively rhubarb and asparagus with his family and some long-time dedicated farm hands. They have a small farm store where they stock our ice cream made with their rhubarb. You can read more about Barrie's Asparagus on the Supplier Series interview we did with them last summer.

Thanks for being our first ever supply of local produce Tim and family!

June

Strawberries

Probably the most popular time of year for Ontario - strawberry season! Last year we worked with Herrle's Country Farm Market who supplied us with delicious strawberries and we stocked their freezers with Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet and Strawberries & Cream. Farmer and Owner Trevor Herrle works the farm and runs his much-loved store with his family and business family. Last season was a particularly wet one with lots of rain which impacted the length of the strawberry season. Fingers crossed for a good balance of rain & shine this year! You can read more about Herrle's in the Supplier Series article we wrote last summer.

Cherries

Remember that limited flavour we made? That one you couldn't get enough of so we brought it back twice? That was White Chocolate Cherry Almond and we got those juicy local cherries through our friend Heather from The Good Peach! Heather provided us with much more local goodness in the months of July & August too.

July

Plums & Peaches

Heather & The Good Peach were our saving grace for the late summer harvest. Heather works closely with a farm in Niagara that grows some of the best produce in all of Ontario like plums, peaches, apricots, and cherries. She brings all of this goodness back to KW so that we can turn it into ice creams like Peach Crumble, Red Plum Sorbet, Plum & Ginger Mint Sorbet and Apricrumble. Heather also has a great passion for reducing food waste of 2nd grade produce by connecting farms with producers. You can read more about Heather & The Good Peach on their Supplier Series interview. We also worked with Farm Craft Organics around this time to get a yummy supply of fresh Ginger Mint to pair in our Plum Sorbet.

Corn & Blueberries

Sweet corn ice cream? Yup we did that. A Sweet Corn & Blueberry ice cream, actually! We also made a vegan Blueberry Coconut ice cream too. Herrle's supplied us yet again with that tasty local corn and blueberries.

August

Grapes

Heather came through again and brought us beautiful concord grapes from Niagara. We made a juicy and refreshing Grape Sorbet from stewing the grapes!

September & October

Apples

Even as we start to say goodbye to summer, amazing Ontario produce keeps on coming. For starters, fall is apple season! Last fall, we were getting our apples from Brantview Apples & Cider. Their 2nd grade apples that were damaged from hail may not have been pretty like the rest, but they made fantastic Apple Caramel ice cream! You can read more about Brantview in their Supplier Series interview.

Do you have a favourite local food you think we should make into an ice cream this season or a farm that you love to visit? Let us know on our social media pages or send us an email to letsconnect@fourall.ca.

Love & Ice Cream,

Four All