A Taste of Haldimand: November 27, 2025

By Marie Fagan Peart   |  marie@haldimandpress.com

I noticed Sarah Dexter had numerous award-winning entries at the Caledonia Fair this year. Some of her vegetables won prizes, but also her strawberry jam, gingersnaps, peanut brittle, and more. She is a stay-at-home mom with three little girls, figured she had the time, so why not enter items in the fair? It’s a great way to connect her love of cooking and gardening with other people and contribute in a small way to the community.

The Dexters

As a youngster, Sarah spent many hours in the kitchen alongside her grandmother, which was a very special time for her. Now that Sarah has her own family, her goal is to “be that special Grandma”. Sarah and her husband Matt live in the rural area of Sweets Corners with their three daughters, Hannah, Riley, and Camille. Both Sarah and Matt grew up on a basic “meat and potatoes” diet and were not fussy on trying new things. When they discovered that Hannah didn’t like meat, it created a dilemma – what do we do now?

The answer to that actually started earlier when Hannah was a newborn. Sarah was the first in her group of friends to have a baby and when she was up at 3 a.m., there was no one else around to talk to. She started watching the gardening show hosted by Monty Don, a British horticulturalist. It was much more than a gardening show, as he described the multitude of benefits that gardening provides for the mental and emotional wellbeing of people. He gave simple instructions for the novice gardener on how to get started. Sarah began planting microgreens in trays along a window sill. That grew to include a garden of purple things, like cauliflower and broccoli. The next step was to learn how to cook these veggies. Through research and trial and error, Sarah has figured it out! Her girls will eat just about anything with the exception of spicy food.

I asked Sarah to share some of her family’s favourite dishes. She said, “My oldest daughter loves veggies and she adores a salad that is colourful. This is just a salad that makes her so excited to eat and that makes me happy. It is simply a combination of her favourite things. The Buddha bowl is such a versatile recipe you really just make it your own.” Enjoy!