Liisa Hawes doesn't let apples fall far from the tree
'We specialize in ugly fruit,' says vendor known as Apple Lady
East Village Junction, a new pop-up container market in Calgary, opened on Thursday afternoon, taking over an empty lot across the street from Studio Bell.
It's meant to be an innovative shopping experience and neighbourhood hub, complete with comfy seats, picnic tables and a stage that will host live music, bringing people together every weekend from now until the end of September.
The brightly coloured shipping containers, once used but now revamped with some architectural input, provide an opportunity for affordable retail space for about a dozen small businesses that range from a vintage bike repair shop (they rent them too) to a woodworking shop to locally-made menswear.
For many, it's their first semi-permanent retail space.
In the corner, the Apple Lady snagged a spot and will be offering fresh produce sourced from around Alberta, B.C. and even Manitoba, all summer long.
Liisa Hawes and her husband Lynden worked together in orchards 30 years ago; they got back into the business in 2011 after finding growers in Oliver, B.C., with surplus fruit.
It was often rejected as too ugly or miscoloured, and was being left on the tree or going to waste. One farmer admitted the price of apples had not changed since 1982.
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"We specialize in ugly fruit," Liisa says.
"When the growers don't have a market for their product, they just leave it on the trees. And so we're encouraging them to pick it — we just say we'll take everything you have."
She started out with four cases of apples, and with no experience in the industry, stepped outside with an apple and a knife and started offering people samples.
You'll still see her out in front of her farmers' market stall or made-over storage container, offering tastes of her fruit to passers-by.
"They ship them overnight — we have them 24 hours off the tree," Liisa says.
Lynden built a walk-in cooler at their home that's dedicated to apples.
Beyond apples, Hawes has beautiful local potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes and other fresh produce on offer — right now it's the end of last season's apple crop and they'll rotate through local fruit as it comes into season.
With connections in the Okanagan, they drove down to the Fraser Canyon last summer and brought back apricots and cherries from between Lytton and Lillooet.
"You can't even get a truck down there — we took the minivan," Liisa explained.
They picked from apricot trees Lynden's dad had planted 40 years ago — he grew up in an orchard and knew the old, gnarled trees of his youth were well cared for.
Another reason they got back into the business was the fact it was hard to find good quality apples like the ones Lynden grew up with. At one point on their journey they discovered pink wine grapes that tasted like cotton candy.
Besides the markets and special events, Liisa and Lynden have a fruit share program where you can pre-pay for the season and come pick up a share of fruit from the market, or their home in Oakridge, every week.
What you get in your share depends on the season and what they find — one year, Hawes canned more than 1,000 jars of her own grape juice for fruit share members.
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One batch was spiked with hot peppers and was destined for jelly, but Lynden liked the juice so much they decided to just bottle it straight.
Last year they had about 500 people in their program, but they hope to enlist more this summer and fall when the EV Junction closes down and apples are at their peak.
In the meantime, you can swing by to listen to some music, pop into the beer garden every third Thursday, attend special events, and pick up whatever happens to be growing between the Okanagan and the prairies all summer long.
