Posted by Sheryl Kirby in market basket on July 4, 2007 at 7:16 am
One of the truly great things about all the new Farmer's Markets that have sprung up this year is that pretty much everybody now has access to one. For years, the market at Nathan Phillips Square was the only weekday downtown market, but this year the Metro Hall market is quickly becoming a popular destination.
The gentlemen at Brantview Apples and Cider assured me that the Metro Hall market is the same "usual cast of characters" who vend at the Nathan Phillips Square Market, but the customers are completely different. Both markets do extremely well at the lunch hour, but even a few blocks can be a trek when you've only got an hour for lunch, and the folks who work around Metro Hall are delighted by the new, close proximity market. The farmers too are happy to have another place to vend and a whole new group of customers to buy their wares.
A quick walk around does indeed reveal the same vendors from Nathan Phillips Square; Andrews Scenic Acres, Caledon Springs Farms, Willowtree Farms, Hillsview Greenhouse and the folks from Domenic's Meats in the silver airstream trailer, to name just a few.
The question now, and I guess, the challenge for the city is - can and will they create more of these downtown markets? A lot of the other new markets are in residential areas (Trinity Bellwoods, Liberty Village), but why not give office workers a midday destination and a chance to buy some fresh produce for lunch? How about a market at Queen's Park? Or College Park? Maybe an afternoon market somewhere around Church and Wellesley or Union Station so people can grab produce on the way home?
If it's the goal of our various levels of government to promote local produce, it would help to get it out there where people can access it easily. More Farmer's Markets, please Premier McGuinty and Mayor Miller!
Here's my Metro Hall Market swag for this week: apples from Brantview Apples and Cider, strawberries and cherries from Andrew's Scenic Acres, raspberries (the first of the season), potatoes and peas from Willowtree Farms, and cherry tomatoes from some stand that had neither a sign or business cards. Oops.
The Metro Hall Farmer's Market runs on Thursday mornings from 8am to 2:30pm until October 25th.
I don't think that having more downtown farmers markets with the 'same cast of characters' is the best solution to having local foods made easily available to Toronto's urban population. We shouldn't want our valuable farmers standing around markets every day. Their expertise is needed on the farm. The marketing and distribution experts (supermarkets) need to take up the challenge whether voluntarily or by government encouragement. Imagine a 'farmers market' inside every supermarket! Distances to farmers markets in the Toronto suburbs are not trivial and the suburbs are where most people live. We're condemning our best local farmers to a marketing ghetto where they will never be able to supply the mainstream culture.
I think that's a decision best left up to the farmers themselves. Some of them are producing crops that do allow them time to come to market every day, and many of them have workers in the fields so they can attend to the business end of things.
It's sort of like people who expect to go to a famous restaurant and are disappointed because the famous chef didn't personally cook their meal. There are a lot of people behind the scenes, even on smaller family farms - in most cases the one farmer isn't doing everything him or herself.
Also, you seem to assume that I am demanding the farmers themselves be present at each and every market, which is a point that I did not and would not make. Quite frankly, if the farmer would rather hire someone or be part of a co-operative group where they do get to stay on the farm while someone else brings their wares to market, I'm all for that as well. I think it's terribly "entitled" of us to expect (as with the chef analogy, only in reverse) that the farmer wants to come and meet all of us.
It should be their choice.
But I do think there should be more markets in the downtown core to make local produce more accessible. Doesn't necessarily have to be that same "cast of characters", in fact, I'd prefer that it wasn't. But if the goal of our city and province is to make local produce more accessible, more markets that people can get to is a good first step.
And for a whole list of reasons why selling local produce is impractical for the average supermarket, see the July 1st issue of the Toronto Star where that very issue is addressed.
(Note - you and I have had these arguments where you push your own interpretations onto my statements, Al, please don't do that here, because just as you forced me to do in my own blog - I WILL delete your comments or ban you from commenting if I feel that you're purposely twisting my words or arguing for the sake of arguing.)
I don't know about farmers' markets existing 'inside every supermarket', but I do know some farmers north of the city take full advantage of the existing infrastructure supermarkets offer.
Two weeks ago I was in an Oak Ridges independent store and overheard a customer asking about a certain farmer's rhubarb. The produce manager said the farmer whose farm was somewhere near Newmarket had not made his delivery yet. Shortly after I went over to the produce manager and queried in a surprising tone, "I didn't know you bought directly from farmers?" "We do it seasonally", was his response. "This fellow also sells to our sister store near Steeles Ave."
I guess this might make more sense than taking the better part of a day to sell at a farmers' market where sales can be quite weather dependent. But I'll bet if the farmer didn't have the independents to sell to, his only choice would be a farmers' market outlet.
Unfortuantely, the major corporate grocery store chains still don't get it and are pretty much uncooperative when it comes to supporting local farmers. Even here in the outer burbs head office rules. It's the Ontario Food Terminal or central distribution, no questions asked.
That's an attitude we have to change. I should be able to buy a local Ontario farmer's products from a nearby store, not a farmers' market the better part of 15 Kms. away.
Leesa,
Check out this article from Sunday's Toronto Star...
http://www.thestar.com/article/231369
That you are lucky enough to have a store that will buy directly from the farmer is a rare occurrence indeed.
The other thing that must be considered is that there isn't currently enough local produce to replace everything in the supermarkets, even at peak season, so while it would definitely be nice to see more local produce in stores, it will pretty much always be supplementary to the imported stuff, just because of the quantities required.
Excellent article Sheryl, thanks.
I was most interested in the author's comments about the strawberry industry. I pick my own up at Trapper Bob's in Newmarket--$1.50/lb or about $2.00/quart.
A couple of years ago when I spoke to the owner he asked me, 'Are you after size, or flavour?' I said, 'flavour of course'. 'And you have plenty of time to pick', he countered. 'Time I have', I responded. He went on to tell me to pick from an area of his farm devoted to the 'Veestar' variety.
These berries are the sweetest I have ever tasted, and have next to no hull (the interior white part, the part that has next to no taste) on the inside of the berry. One problem with the Veestar (if you want to call it that) is that they are considered a medium-sized berry. Much smaller than the ones coming in from California.
The owner also had other varities available, one of them being Kent. They are almost twice the size of Veestars, less sweet and a lot more hull on the inside. It takes about a third less time to pick the same volume.
The problem with our lazy dumb-ass society is that we have been conditioned to think that bigger is always better. Well there's no California berry that comes anywhere near the taste of a Veestar. And look at the size of the hull on the inside of those suckers from California. Too much would be an understatement. Even our own Kents look better on the inside than those monster berries from California.
The biggest problem with the Veestar is that they do not ship well. People, you have to get off the couch away from the T.V. (or the computer in our case), drive out and pick the best, eat fresh or freeze them. I mean car pool if you have to, it's worth it.
Worth it for the farmer too. I don't think Trapper Bob even bothers with farmers' markets which are usually held on the weekends. His farm is a complete madhouse on Saturdays, why bother? Wish I could say the same for the other farmers out there, but unfortunately too many are too far off the beaten path. It's just not that easy to find a lot of them. And they too also have very good product available.
It took me 6 hours on 3 separate occasions to pick close to 40 quarts of veestars. It took me another 10 hours to freeze them properly. But you know something, the compliments I receive in the off season make the effort worth it every time. Sure beats anything from California and the frozen 'Europe's Best' berries are a complete loss in my opinion.
A few years ago I remember hearing Dr. Andrew Weil speaking about the two vegetables you don't want to buy from the supermarket, especially if they are not locally produced. According to him, the two culprits are green beans and strawberries. The problem is with the amount of pesticide used. No wonder those berries from California always look unblemished. We already know they grow hybrids, for all we know they could be genetically modified too.
About the only thing that might save us is a massive public education campaign. And one that's very hard hitting at that. Want to help your body avoid cancer? Go local and buy from people you trust. With imported food, who the hell knows what you are really eating? And don't get me started on the Chinese imports of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Fantastic comment Leesa.
I grew up in Nova Scotia and some of my favourite childhood memories include berry-picking and apple-picking in the Annapolis Valley.
I don't drive and don't have the need for that quantity of berries now, otherwise I would definitely do the pick-your-own just because it's fun.
And I definitely agree with you on the varietals. I tend not to eat strawberries out of (local) season because they just don't taste very good. I'd rather have the hedonistic pleasure of biting into the first berry/ peach/ melon/ ear of corn of the year, than become desensitized to both the seasons and the pleasure of good food by eating mediocre imported produce year-round.