The Market Basket - Sherway Gardens
Posted by Sheryl Kirby in market basket on May 12, 2008 at 2:36 pm

Sherway Gardens Farmer’s Market
25 The West Mall, Etobicoke
Fridays, May 12th to October 31st
8am – 3pm
The first of our featured markets is actually an early adopter. Started in 1993, the Sherway Gardens market has 15 to 20 vendors during peak season with the focus on produce vendors and a few merchants selling bakery items, nuts, candy and dried fruits. Being a weekday market, they stick to the formula of vendors offering fresh Ontario produce and goods instead of themed events, fast food vendors or activities for the kids. Like other weekday markets, this is a good option for people who want to pop in and do their shopping without too much fuss.
The warm weather we had in April means the season for local produce has already started. I came home from St. Lawrence Market this past Saturday with not only local asparagus and ramps, but peas, tomatoes, and fiddleheads.

It’s late August, people!! Why are you sitting here reading this when you should be at the farmer’s market, buying the bounty of the season? I mean, this is as good as it gets. Everything is ripe.
The trend of eating locally, while nothing new for many people, seems to have brought some additional concerns with its renewed popularity. Maybe it’s the necessary role food plays in our lives, but we as consumers seem to want a lot more from our food shopping experience than any other shopping we do. Where we are encouraged to get to know the people selling and creating the food we eat, this philosophy doesn’t seem to extend toward other items we purchase. No one is insisting we develop an ongoing relationship with our real estate agent, or form a “community” with the salegirls from the Gap. Heck, for that matter, the “buy local” trend seems to go no further than food, as the same people who search out wheat grown within a 100-mile radius have no qualms whatsoever about wearing yoga pants made in China, or shoes that have come from Italy.
Chalk one up for all the folks who 


In case you were wondering, you know, if maybe you weren’t sure, I just thought I’d let everyone know that it’s strawberry season. How’s that for a luscious image?
Yes, folks, that photo that you see is indeed the very first local strawberries of the year, courtesy of the booth at
It was the first week of the market at Liberty Village this past Sunday. The Liberty Village market is affiliated with