Sunshine Garden Market
1001 Queen Street West at Ossington Avenue
Mondays and Thursdays, 10:30am - 12:30pm
July 7th - October 13th (note - on holiday Mondays the market will take on the Tuesday)
When people say they want the produce at their farmers market to be local, what they generally mean is from an area somewhere within a hundred miles or so of the city. But what they don’t realize is that one local market offers a selection of items grown in the city, specifically right downtown.
The Sunshine Garden Market sells items grown by Centre For Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) participants in the 6000 square foot garden on the CAMH Queen Street West campus. Originally created in 2002, the garden was moved in 2007 to make way for renovations but is up and running again as the “Lasagna Garden”.
Ravenna Barker, Community Food Programmes Co-Ordinator of Foodshare Toronto explains, “The Sunshine Garden is a partnership between FoodShare and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health which aims to demonstrate the potential of urban agriculture and to provide employment training for clients of CAMH.”
Produce grown in the garden is certified organic and includes things like lettuce mix, radishes, green onions, bitter melon, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, callaloo, beets, tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, carrots, peas, spinach, green garlic, and lots of fresh herbs. This year the market will also be offering other seasonal produce from local farmers that they can't grow themselves, such as cherries, apples, cauliflower, asparagus, bulb onions, apricots, peaches, and plums.
Unlike other markets that are all about “added value” or making a trip to the market an event for the whole family by including music or activities for the kids, the Sunshine Garden Market is a small set-up; basically one brightly decorated stand in front of the CAHM building at Queen Street West and Ossington that is more reminiscent of the farm gate stands you’d see while driving along a country road.
In addition to providing area residents with truly local produce, the Sunshine Market Garden grows a variety of ethnically diverse vegetables and provides opportunities for CAMH clients to participate in programs offering paid employment, urban agriculture skills and valuable work experience. It also preserves green spaces within our city.
So while it’s not big and flashy like some of the city’s other farmers markets, the Sunshine Garden Market is worth checking out – both for the city-grown produce on offer, and for the good the market does for the people involved.
Images © Laura Berman for FoodShare Toronto
