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.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Sherway Gardens »

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.

Throughout the month of May and into June, the various farmer’s markets throughout the city will be starting up. And while we keep a very comprehensive guide of local markets on our Markets page, I know I can’t be the only one anxious to get out there and start checking out what’s available.

Here’s a list of Toronto markets based on their start dates, so market junkies can visit each one as they open for the season.

Note that we still don’t have start dates for a few places, but will continue to update our Markets page as start dates are announced.

Also, please watch for our Market Basket column, starting next Monday, where we feature a different local farmer’s market each week.

Continue reading To Market, To Market… »

With the summer dwindling and autumn asserting itself through an explosion of bright yellow and brown leaves, Toronto’s Farmers’ markets are slowly starting to close up shop. However, there are still a few bustling markets around town, including the Markham Main Street Farmers’ Market. This smaller market is located, as one would guess, on Markham’s Main Street which is also called, crazily enough, Markham Road. It lies just northeast of Toronto, right above Scarborough and open every Saturday from 8am to 1pm.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, September 26th »

Sad as it is, the season is starting to wind down. There’s still plenty of produce available, from plums to potatoes, basil to zucchini, but when the pumpkins start appearing, that’s the sign that fall is right around the corner, despite whatever the thermometer says. It’s an exciting time of year, with such a great bounty and so much to choose from. I’m itching to bake a pumpkin pie, now if the weather would just co-operate and get chilly! These photos are from Liberty Village market this past Sunday. Most markets run until at least Thanskgiving, with a few running until the end of October. Enjoy it while you can!

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, September 20th »

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 photo at right is a compilation of goodies from two markets last week; Liberty Village and Nathan Phillips Square. Early apples (upper right corner) including Gingergolds and Paula Reds, are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. The farmers want to get them off the trees before the birds get to them, so grab some and stick them in the fridge or make some pies. I’ve also got nectarines there (not much of a fan of peach fuzz), and early sweet pears.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, August 22nd »

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.

No, we have a twisted and sometimes perverse relationship with food and with the act of procuring said food. We’re no longer content to just go, shop and bring the stuff home. Now we need events, family-friendly activities, entertainment, a sense of community and added value. That’s a lot for your average farmer and a table of tomatoes to live up to.

Continue reading The Market Basket - What do YOU Want From Your Farmers? »

Chalk one up for all the folks who whined and complained advocated for more local produce in supermarkets. It seems the big chains have been listening.

One July 28th, Loblaws rolled out a programme called Ontario Grown - Picked at its Peak in which they are featuring special displays at Loblaws, Zehrs, Fortinos, Valu-Mart and Your Independent Grocer stores in Ontario that focus on local produce.

Loblaw works closely with farmers in maintaining high standards of excellence to ensure consumers get the freshest and most flavourful fruits and vegetables possible. “Ontario Grown - Picked at its Peak” produce program will have a positive impact on local economies and help revive and support Ontario’s family farms. Loblaws Companies is committed to this relationship - to consumers and to farmers!

Now colour me sceptical, because I’m thinking that Loblaws is mostly committed to their stockholders and increasing their tanking profit margins in the face of stiff competition from Wal-Mart and hopping on the “eat local” trend just happens to be a great way to capture some market share that Wally World can’t infringe upon.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Coming to a Supermarket Near You »

I haven’t been back to the new Trinity Bellwoods Market since the opening week, so I figured I’d go and check it out to see how it was progressing. Vendors and customers seem to be falling into a groove with locals stopping by their favourite booths to pick up goods and chat. The feeling is very much that of a small community gathering and there is still a bit of disorganization. A couple of vendors hadn’t arrived by the 3pm start time and there was some frantic running around with boxes and tents as customers waited to see the wares.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, July 25th »

I pulled myself away from my four-day Mission: Impossible marathon to swing by the farmer’s market at City Hall. I may not like hippies and they might not like me. Well they probably like me because they’re all Taoist. But I don’t like them because I’m small-minded and inflexible and my parents were hippies and my mother left when I was three and I have abandonment issues and… well, anyway, I’ll save it for my shrink. But apparently they grow healthy produce.

Foolishly I went during the lunch hour and found myself in a throng of Bay-streeters swarming over the produce stalls like carrion. The house band kept on rockin’ in the free world at a nerve-wracking level. The noise and crowds made it difficult for me to shop in my normal fashion (that’s when I’m shoving people, not the other way around).

Continue reading Life Of Leisure »

It was a busy day down at the Distillery District on Sunday with the Nissan Toronto Ten-Miler and 5K race going on. Wading through the runners, I finally made it to the Farmer’s Market and found it pleasantly calm.

Continue reading Beans, Greens and Pristine Tomatoes »

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.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, July 4th »

I know, I know, I’m all about the strawberry photographs, three weeks in a row. They’re just too fascinating. Plus I got a new camera and I’m photographing pretty much everything, pushing the limits of its macro capacity, which continues to amaze me. In any case, yes, strawberries. I’ll switch to cherries or blueberries soon, I promise.
Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, June 20th »

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?

Despite all the recent fuss about certified markets, I still have a soft spot for the Wednesday market at Nathan Phillips Square. The idea of a market in front of city hall dates back to the first days of our city, and even if this market does include the occasional reseller with boxes of goods from the food terminal, there are still more than enough vendors who are selling their own produce to make it a worthwhile trip.

That’s not to say everyone isn’t feeling a bit of pressure from the whole idea of certifying farmers, despite the many faults the certification system currently has. Many of the vendors at the market today either had all of their produce tagged as being from Ontario or like the folks at Willowtree Farms, had signage indicating that everything they sold was grown on their own property. I noticed a couple of vendors with Foodland Ontario signage as well.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, June 13th »

Yes, folks, that photo that you see is indeed the very first local strawberries of the year, courtesy of the booth at Plan B Organic Farms in the shiny and new Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market. Despite the chilly grey weather we all suffered through yesterday, summer is on its way.

I’ve got to say that I am totally impressed with the organization behind this new market. The choice of vendors is well-thought out, as all are complimentary. There is a great cross-section, so all the bases are covered - produce, meat, cheese, tea, coffee, flowers, and most importantly - snacks! There was a string trio playing in the centre of it all, and an information booth with helpful folks who had printed up info flyers complete with the cutest map ever to help people find all the vendors.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Wednesday, June 6th »

It was the first week of the market at Liberty Village this past Sunday. The Liberty Village market is affiliated with MyMarket, a group that promotes certified local farmers. That is, all products are certified to be both local and grown/created by the farmers selling them. Some vendors at other markets resell imported produce and MyMarket aims to ensure customers are getting a certified Farmers’ Market, featuring real farmers, selling only what they produce.

The official grand opening of the Liberty Village market is June 10th, but they will be open for business next Sunday as well. There are also a number of special events scheduled throughout the season, including a strawberries and cake day on July 1st, a Community Corn Fest on August 5th, a peach day on August 19th, Applemania on September 16th and a Pumpkinfest on October 28th.

Since everything is local and seasonal, there were actually only a few vendors out with wares, and among them, only two with produce.

There were a few plant and flower vendors, but as we live in an apartment with no balcony and two ferocious plant-eating cats, sadly we didn’t pay a lot of attention to that side of the market, other than to snap some photos.

Continue reading Market Basket - Wednesday, May 30th »