The beauty of the wintertime Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne Park is that the relative scarcity of fruits and veggies means you can spend your extra foodie dollars on homemade delectables — think breads, cheeses, jams, and pasties — and exploring new vendors. And that’s how we discovered Almonte’s Wild Oak Homestead  (and our latest obsession: live fermented turnip pickles).

New to the market, Wild Oak Homestead is the brainchild of duo Sarah Lickley and Michael Cooke, who grow organic greens, vegetables, and mushrooms in the summer. This time of year, they’re making crunchy, funky, flavourful ferments. Lemon-dill kraut, spicy kraut-chi, carrot kraut-chi, turnip pickles… Fermented foods are having their moment and these recipes are so good! $9/500mL.

City Bites Hot Tip: We think of turnip pickles in sandwiches and kraut on summertime sausages, but Sarah suggests pairing their kraut with your morning eggs. Delicious idea!

City Bites Hot Tip #2: While you’re at the market, there picking up fermented tastiness, stop by the Ottawa Farmers’ Market info table and grab a Winter Warrior stamp card. Collect stamps proving you’ve shopped 10 times between now and April 29 and you’ll be entered in a draw to win $500 in market dollars.

Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne is every Sunday, from 10 am to 3 pm., January to April 29