The world of the professional kitchen is a far cry from cooking at home – in so many ways – but the most obvious is the scale on which restaurants work compared to the home cook. Chefs dedicated to offering dishes made from the best ingredients spend a lot of time tracking down the products – and producers – who can consistently provide them with a quality product.

For years, most restaurants have worked with restaurant supply companies or importers at the food terminal, and the idea of working directly with local farmers seemed painstaking and difficult. How could a chef know which local farmer could supply enough potatoes for their famous frites? Or which grass-fed beef was the best?

The idea of bringing chefs and local farmers together has gained momentum in the past few years as the local food movement has taken hold in the GTA. With more than 20 farmers markets for individuals spread out across the city, wouldn’t it be a great idea to set up a farmers’ market just for chefs? A place where farmers and chefs could meet, where wholesale orders of large quantities could be accommodated and where a chef could put in an order and it could be delivered to their kitchen door.

Organized by Edmund Rek, a former chef himself and the co-owner of Evelyn’s Crackers, the chefs’ market at the Evergreen Brickworks is a space where chefs and farmers can meet and do business, and where industry folks can socialize, make contacts and compare products. Based on a seed of an idea from a Slow Food Toronto symposium, the Chef’s Market gained momentum under the guidance of Jamie Kennedy.

At the moment, the market is still small, with about 15 vendors and aspirations to double that by the end of the year. When I attended the market a few weeks ago, I was expecting something along the lines of a mini food terminal, but the scene was much more laid back, with local chefs and food shop owners sampling products and buying some items, but socializing seemed to be a higher priority.

“Socializing is a big part of the market with buying ultimately the goal,” explains Rek.  “At the market farmers can speak to a chef; in the restaurant it is too busy. It is the same for the chefs making relationships with farmers that don’t happen when a box is dropped off at the back door. For a few hours, everyone is committed to growing the local food movement through human connections.”

Still, whether it’s for the shopping or the socializing, the Brickworks location has made attendance difficult for chefs and restaurant staff who are car-free. I had to bum a ride with the good folks from Pantry to get there, and I’ve spoken to a number of Toronto chefs, many devotedly dedicated to the local food scene, who just can’t get there because it’s not TTC-accessible.

“There will be transportation from the subway to the Evergreen Brick Works by this time next year,” Rek assures me, “which will help people get down to the market from the city. Many of the farmers will still be driving several hours to the market and it is hard to convince them chefs can’t come down before then.”

A colourful array of lettuces.

And for chefs who don’t come to market with their own truck to haul away their goods, deliveries can be arranged through 100km Foods. “We realize that getting a chef out of the kitchen, the farmer off the farm is not easy,” says Rek. “So, we have delivery from market available for the chefs who purchase large amounts and may only need to be physically at the market once a month placing orders. Also, there are farmers who are using the market for dropping off orders that are picked up by the chefs. This lessens the time farmers spend driving around town making deliveries.”

Besides the actual market, Rek is doing plenty to make the weekly event attractive to local chefs. There is a chef/farmer pairing for lunch, which has recently grown to include breakfast. Rek also invites a guest each week to do a presentation on an issue relevant to local chefs and producers. Most recently, representatives from Ocean Wise were on hand to discuss sustainable fishing; the gals from Field Trip were guests one week and talked about their farm trip tours; and Rek even organized a discussion after the premiere of the film Food, Inc.

Preparing lunch.

Each week the market also high-lights a featured producer and featured beverage. The chefs and volunteers creating the lunch will use products from that producer in the lunch entrée, such as tomatoes and beef from Kerr Farms for a bolognese pasta. Rek and his team are also working on a “shop with a chef” program where small groups can tour the market with a chef, learning about how to choose and prepare foods.

While the market itself isn’t open to the public, its importance in terms of what we eat is not to be underestimated. As more chefs, caterers and retailers participate, the connections between chefs and farmers grows, and more opportunities to put local food on restaurant menus become available. It also allows people in an industry occasionally known for hard after-hours partying to socialize and network in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Chatting and socializing - dogs welcome.

There’s still some growing to do to make the market viable, and until there is easier access in terms of a shuttle bus, a lot of local chefs won’t be bothered to take part, but the seeds of something good are sprouting. Bringing chefs and farmers together can only create good things, for everyone involved. And it certainly beats having those big old industrial food service trucks pull up to the back door a couple of times a week.

The Chefs’ Market takes place at Evergreen Brickworks on Tuesdays from 8am – 1pm. Open to industry professionals only.

We contacted Access Toronto this morning and here's what they could tell us.

City-run markets are definitely not running during the strike. This includes the Wednesday morning market at Nathan Phillips Square and the Thursday morning market at Metro Hall.

St. Lawrence Farmers' Market will definitely be running on Saturday, as it is an independently-run facility.

The rest of the markets on city property are a bit of a grey area. These are not "city-run" but are held in public parks, which are city property, and thus are subject to the standard permit requirements. Lists of affected services for parks don't mention markets, but simply say that no permits will be issued. However, markets generally apply for a permit for the whole season, not on a weekly basis.

Basically, the folks from Access Toronto have told me that the decision to open the market is pretty much at the discretion of the individual market organizers. Technically, the permits are revoked during the strike, but there are also no inspectors on duty to check for permits - the same way that you need a permit to have a BBQ in a park, but there's no one on duty right now to stop you from having a BBQ if you don't have a permit.

Note - market cancellations will not apply to any of the MyMarket markets such as Liberty Village, Sick Kids, etc. which are run separately.

If you're a market organizer, farmer/vendor or customer who can give us more information about specific markets, please let us know so we can keep everyone up to date on this issue.

Updates

Riverdale Farmers' Market will be running during the strike - on the boulevard on the north side of Winchester Street. Note - no washroom facilities available.

East York Farmers' Market will be closed.

Trinity-Bellwoods Market will be open today (June 23rd).

Even if the strike finishes, the market at Nathan Phillips Square will not run next Wednesday (July 1st) due to the Jazz Festival.

More Updates - June 24th

Withrow Park Farmers Market will be running as usual on Saturdays.

Markets in the Toronto Farmers Market Network will all be up and running - this includes Dufferin Grove, Wychwood Green Barns, Brickworks and others (participating TFMN markets are on the "About" page; the "List of Markets" page is all markets in the city). Note that Dufferin Grove cannot offer products from city support staff or services so there will be no snack bar and no on-site baking (ie. no bread from the on-site oven). Some of the larger MyMarket markets in city parks are still deciding if they will go ahead. More info as I get it.

With huge thanks to Roscoe Handford, Anne Freeman and Roberta Stimac.

It's an early Saturday morning in November and it feels like I'm in an urban village, albeit one that is covered, jam-packed and well-heeled. It's the launch of the Green Barn Market at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, a new community centre uniting environmental, cultural and arts space and affordable housing for artists. Under the Covered Barn, one of 4 converted TTC streetcar barns onsite, excited local residents are chatting over stone ground, fair trade hot chocolate while shopping from over forty year-round market stalls.

A selection of teas, fruit preserves, smoked fish, even candles and wool, help shoppers beat the chill of late Fall. There's birch syrup and dried mushrooms from Forbe's Wild Foods and a selection of meat from Stoddart Farm and Naturally Raised Beef. For those lucky enough to snag a seat at one of the tiny, coveted tables, there's food hot off the grill like polenta cakes with local leeks, mushrooms and cheese from Chez Vous and sweet potato, corn and sage empanadas from Surkls. Others have gone straight for the Paradiso sheep milk's cheese at Monforte Dairy, the addictive cinnamon buns and potato-rosemary bread from Alli's Bread, or the seasonal, organic produce from Ted Thorpe and Plan B.

Many shoppers have left their cars at home (limited onsite parking was intentionally planned), and come by foot or bike to shop here. This market demand for farm fresh food is good news for The Stop Community Food Centre, the nonprofit junior developer of the site, whose programming in the Green Barn, including the market, greenhouse, organic garden and compost demonstration site, is intended to connect people to local, healthy food. Unlike the city's large-scale civic markets, the Green Barn market, like the Dufferin Grove and Riverdale markets, is community-based and so characterized by an emphasis on sustainable, often organic, food and the strong social space that surrounds it. Though the market feels like a harmonious and inclusive urban village, Rhonda Teitel-Payne, urban agriculture manager at The Stop, admits that it is currently inaccessible to people with low incomes. Residents of the nearby public housing or even the artists' rent-geared-to-income (RGI) units onsite may not be able to afford to shop here.

The redevelopment of the Barns is the latest in the transformation of the neighbourhood from a rural, wealthy refuge to a working class, industrial neighbourhood to one filled with commercial, retail, residential and now revitalized, post-industrial space. Ironically, the City is now welcoming artists, who they once kicked out of illegal live/work space in abandoned industrial space, back into such a space to spur an economy fuelled by creativity and the arts. The artists will be accommodated in the Barns live/work rent-geared-to-income units developed by Artscape, the nonprofit developer originally formed in the 1980's to address City closures of artists' illegal housing and the general disappearance of affordable artists' housing in the downtown. As with many of the culture-driven redevelopments by Artscape, the Barns effect on the neighbourhood will likely include increased rents, retail sales, and businesses capital improvements. These changes eventually push out low rent, affordable stores and amenities and the more vulnerable residents that rely on them.

The Stop is working within the Barns but against these changes to ensure the site reflects and supports the neighbourhood's diversity. They are considering recruiting youth living in nearby public housing to the Green Barn's after-school programming and opening the farmers' market to people with low incomes through a subsidized coupon system or a shuttle bus connecting the market to The Stop's central site at Davenport and Dufferin which serves a low-income population. The Stop's work demonstrates the connection between food, community building and poverty. Teitel Payne states, "We would prefer that people have adequate incomes. We would rather see our community able to afford whatever food they wanted and that it's a free choice to come and buy local healthy produce. That's our ultimate goal."

The Stop's Green Barn Market runs year-round on Saturdays from 9am-12pm in the Covered Street Barn at the Artscape Wychwood Barns - 76 Wychwood Avenue, off Christie Street, just south of St. Clair Avenue West.

Top photo by Magda Olszanowski, used with permission.

East Lynn Park Farmers Market
East Lynn Park, Danforth Avenue at Woodbine Avenue
Thursdays, 3pm – 7pm
June 5th – October 30th

Another new market that has started up this year is the East Lynn Park Farmers Market. Located in East Lynn Park, which is just south of Danforth Avenue at Woodbine, this market takes place on Thursday afternoons, offering folks in the Danforth area the opportunity to stop by after work and pick up some fresh veggies, eggs and cheese for dinner.

An initiative by Farmers' Markets Ontario (FMO) and the local resident's group Danforth East Community Association, this market boasts between 10 and 13 vendors on a regular basis. Moore Orchards and Lincoln Line Orchards offer fruit, Fisher’s Farm takes part selling cut flowers, while Monckton Organic Farms and Bakery is on hand selling bread baked from their own grain. Other vendors include VanHart Greenhouses, Bosco Farms and Sovereign Farms selling fruit and vegetables.

Like other markets in the My-Market group, all vendors must past a certification process and can sell only items they have produced themselves.

For the market customer who can’t wait for dinner, market organizer Diana Gonzalez recommends checking out the beef farmer who sells prepared hot beef sandwiches, franks, sausages and hamburgers. “One of our fruit farmers also has muffins and pies which can be eaten as you stroll the market,” she says.

The East Lynn Park Farmers Market has a number of seasonal events on their weekly schedule, with an apple festival planned for September 18th and a spooky pumpkin festival to close the season on October 30th. They’ve even been screening movies after the market during the summer.

For east-enders looking for fresh locally grown produce close to home, the East Lynn Park Farmers Market is the place to be on Thursday evenings.

The Village Market
Toronto Waldorf School
9100 Bathurst Street, Thornhill
Saturdays, 8:30am – 1:30pm
Open year-round

The market as community hub is a goal for all farmers market organizers – they want their market to be where neighbours come together in the name of good food.

Founded in 1991 by two teachers as a fundraising initiative for the Toronto Waldorf School and as a way of encouraging the growth of organic and biodynamic agriculture, the Saturday morning market has become a year-round fixture for the people of Thornhill, as well as the occasional visiting celebrity.

The market now boasts 25 – 35 vendors, offering organic and local products ranging from produce, meats, maple syrup, organic fish, bread and other prepared goods. The comprehensive website for the market is updated regularly, and even offers notes on which vendors will be present at the upcoming market day.

With a focus on organic and local, the Village market offers vendors a bit more leeway in terms of participation criteria. “Generally food products need to be organic or in the case of prepared foods, include a high proportion of organic ingredients,” explains market organizer Richard Chomko. “In other stuff, it's a plus if the person makes it themselves, and of course it needs to be compatible with a healthy environmentally conscious lifestyle.”

This allows the farmer from Country Meadow Farms to offer not only his own Ontario-grown produce, but olives and olive oil from his family’s farm in Greece. Bakers such as Molly B (gluten-free products) and Awrk, who make roti and Caribbean products can set up stalls beside Carmen Duggan who makes and sells raw pet food and supplements and Honeycomb Botanicals, a vendor of honeycomb and beeswax products. Craft vendors occasionally take part – most notably people selling jewelry and a vendor with fur mittens, slippers and hats.

There are a number of vendors each week offering prepared food items to snack on, and café tables to sit at and enjoy a treat. Live music is on offer most weeks; Chomko finds classical and folk to be the most popular. Events and activities tend to be focus on the environment, with a recent Body Ecology Diet Workshop proving to be very popular.

As a year-round market, having fresh produce available is a big concern. “Our farmers are committed to providing local organic produce whenever possible” Chomko says. “We do have one farmers who also carries imported foods to fill gaps in local availability. This is important in that we operate all year round. People eat all year round and farmers sell a lot of locally produced storage crops like carrots, beets, cabbage and squash all winter long.”

After 27 years and still going strong, the Village Market offers Thornhill residents a lot of tradition, a meeting place to come together, and a year-round selection of healthy, ecologically friendly food.

Photos from the Village Market website - used with permission.

St. Lawrence Farmers Market
92 Front Street East
Saturdays, year-round
5am - 2pm

When it comes to farmers markets, St. Lawrence in the Granddaddy of them all. The oldest, biggest and most raucous; if it grows in Ontario, it’s probably here. For the sake of space and topicality, I’m keeping just to the north building of the complex for this article, where every Saturday morning since, oh, 1803 or so, farmers have gathered to sell their goods. The south market building, which is full of permanent vendors open from Tuesday to Saturday, is also fun to explore, but is more like a collection of cool food shops, as opposed to farmers and food producers selling their own wares.

The north farmers market building has gone through many changes, demolitions and disasters in the past two centuries, having at times been partially open-air, or including a canopy that covered Front Street, and at one point stretching as far north as King Street. The current building was erected in 1968 and offers 10,000 square feet of space. Most importantly - this site has always been a farmers market.

Inside, vendors start selling their goods at 5am, and on a nice Saturday morning, many find themselves sold out not long after noon.

With probably the most comprehensive website I’ve seen for a farmers market, St. Lawrence offers both a list of vendors and a map (colour-coded by product category) showing where everyone is located. However, regular customers need no such hand-holding, as they make their way to their favourite vendors for eggs, veggies, baked good and sausages.

With over 50 vendors during the peak season, it would be difficult to name them all, but some favourites that I personally always like to check out include British Baked Goods for authentic tarts, Eccles cakes and biscuits; Marvin Gardens and Produce for fruit, veggies and flowers; Harlan Clark for eggs; El Gaucho Chorizos for sausages of all flavours; Clement’s Poultry; Bilski Farms for fruit; and prepared food vendors like Viva Tastings for gorgeous hors-d’oeuvres and Raani Foods for homemade samosas and naan.

The south market building offers kiosks for crafts and other items, and the whole complex presents weekly events including tours and family festivities such as last month’s Hogtown Hoedown, an annual corn roast and Buskerfest.

For regular market shoppers these events can make the market crowded and chaotic, and if grocery shopping is the main intent, it can never hurt to arrive before 9am, or even earlier.

And while the St. Lawrence Farmers Market is a year-round occurrence, it does empty out a bit come January when a lot of the vegetables are out of season. But even then, there’s still plenty of locally grown and produced goodies to be had and it’s actually nice to drop by when the place is not so packed and chat with the farmers, bakers and cheesemakers, and try their products.

A visit to the Saturday morning St. Lawrence Farmers market doesn’t just allow customers to be part of the local economy by supporting Ontario farmers and producers, it allows them to be part of the history of our city. Standing in the same spot our ancestors stood two hundred years ago, buying eggs and tomatoes and strawberries just as they did, offers a sense of connection to place that can’t be found in any supermarket.

Stonegate Farmer’s Market
194 Park Lawn Road (parking lot of St. James’ Humber Bay Anglican Church)
Tuesdays 4pm – 7pm
June 24th – September 30th

With the concentration of farmers markets popping up in the downtown core, it’s important to remember that residents of the suburbs should have access to fresh local produce as well. For the past four years, Stonegate Farmers Market has been serving the south Etobicoke community with a variety of offerings every Tuesday afternoon.

The market was initially a pilot project implemented by Community Food Animators at FoodShare, the Stonegate Community Health Centre, and the Stonegate Community Ecumenical Ministry, and was set up to tackle food insecurity issues in the Stonegate neighbourhood. In the second year, the market became a full-fledged farmers market, run by Stonegate Community Health Centre with support from community organizations such as Stonegate Community Ecumenical Ministry, Community Food Animators Project, and the local food bank at St. James’ Humber Bay Anglican Church. The market also receives funding from the Food Security Investment Program.

Stonegate Farmers Market averages 10 to 12 vendors each week with a focus on organic and local produce. Market manager Julia Graham explains the participation criteria: “The market is producer-based, that is, vendors may offer goods for sale which they have produced themselves. However, a producer may sell produce grown by a farmer neighbour. The additional produce is limited to 25% of the vendor’s produce line. The intent of this exception is to increase the range of fresh produce offered to customers but not to encourage unfair competition.”

Unlike many of the downtown markets, which all seem to feature the same products, Stonegate Farmers Market offers a list of vendors that are not seen many other places. Produce vendors include Demkomart, Natures Way Organics, and fruit from Warners Farm. Beaver Vale Farms offers local, grass-fed beef; there’s honey and related products from Bee’s Universe, as well as bread from the Dufferin Grove bread oven.

Prepared foods on offer include Casalba Gourmet Pasta Sauce, jams and preserves from the Joy of Harvest, beverages from Sunshine Shakes and prepared goodies from Magaza Food that customers can buy to take home or to snack on while visiting the market. Flowers from Gaeta Farms and handmade soaps, pillow and jewelry from Earth Secrets round out the mix with a little bit of something for everyone.

Stonegate Farmers Market offers weekly events as well as a roster of musicians who perform each week. Events include holiday celebrations, a kids Summer Fun event, Raffle at the Market, Sun and Safety at the Market, Senior’s Day as well as tasting events.

When I asked Graham what else our readers should know about the Stonegate Farmers Market, her answer spoke to the original values of supporting the community rather than simply the trend towards eating locally.

“What makes the Stonegate Farmers’ Market unique is that it targets food insecurity and social isolation issues in the Stonegate community, located in south-eastern Etobicoke,” she explained. “Focusing on alleviating hunger and improving access to food, the Stonegate Farmers’ Market offers fresh produce to area residents who otherwise must depend on the one large, mainstream supermarket in the area that is accessible by residents without means of transportation.

“Park Lawn Road, where the market is located, is seen as a dividing line between an affluent neighbourhood and lower income community,” she continues. “The customer base at the market comes from both sides of this dividing line, bridging the community together and helping to provide local residents quality, locally-grown produce in the neighbourhood, with a venue where the Stonegate community can come together and connect to each other as well as the farmers that attend the market.”

With a mandate that ensures the availability of fresh local food for everyone in the community, Stonegate Farmers Market should be a Tuesday tradition for everyone in South Etobicoke.

Nathan Phillips Square Farmers Market
100 Queen Street West
Wednesdays, 8:30am - 2pm
June 4th - October 15th

I've got to admit that the Wednesday morning market at Nathan Phillips Square is still my favourite of all the farmers markets in the city. There is no face-painting, no snack stalls, no fun activities for the kids. Heck, usually there are no kids. And while there are "Fresh Wednesdays" concerts from noon to 1pm, it's mostly just farmers and customers who are serious about their produce.

Most of the customers are, in fact, workers from within City Hall or the nearby office towers on Bay Street. To accommodate these customers, many of the produce vendors selling stone fruit ingeniously offer mixed baskets of seasonal items to accommodate snacking. Usually retailing for around $8, baskets can include cherries, peaches, plums and apricots, and as the season moves on, will see the addition of small sweet pears, apples and grapes.

After the creation of certified markets in the city last year as a response to a few vendors at Nathan Phillips Square selling items from the Ontario Food Terminal, almost all the 20 vendors at the square are now the farmers or producers of the products they're selling. Vendors such as Willowtree Farm, Andrew's Scenic Acres, Elfsong Apiaries, Bilski Farms, Sweetee Belle, Warner Fruit and Thames River Melons are fixtures here. Gurth Pretty and his Cheese of Canada booth is a welcome addition, as is the display of bread from St. John's Bakery, and Domenic's Meats in the airstream trailer rounds out the selection with meats and sausages.

A few regular vendors are still missing in action at this point in the season, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing the fellows from Brantview Apples and Cider with the first apples of the year.

One concern I've heard from some of the vendors at Nathan Phillips Square is that the new market at Sick Kids hospital on Tuesdays is cutting into their business. Previously, people working in the Dundas and University area would make the quick walk down to the market on Wednesdays, but as they're shopping at Sick Kids on Tuesdays, they don't need anything else only a day later. Obviously, we want to see all the farmers at all the markets doing well so they can support their families and continue to farm the land and supply our city with food. So anyone who hasn't been out to the Nathan Phillips Square market yet this year should check out the great selection and competitive prices. Almost everything is in season right now, from berries to corn, watermelons to tomatoes. Stay and listen to some music at lunchtime, pick up a mixed basket of fruit to snack on, or just enjoy the fruit and flowers and friendly faces.

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

Metro Hall Farmers Market
55 John Street
Thursdays, 8:30am – 2pm
May 29th – October 16th

One thing we know about farmers markets is that people want them to be accessible. We tend to go to the ones closest to us, as opposed to travelling across town. In the downtown core, more and more markets have popped up, not to serve people near where they live, but to attract office workers who will do their market shopping at lunchtime or during a coffee break.

The Metro Hall Farmers Market fills that niche exactly.

This is a smaller market in terms of the number of vendors and unlike many other markets, the focus here is primarily about the produce. With vendors like Andrew’s Scenic Acres, Hillsview Greenhouses, and Sovereign Farms, there’s a good cross-section of fruits and vegetables in season. The Howells from Brantview Apples and Cider also have a spot later in the year when their apples are ripe.

In addition to the produce vendors, there are a couple of flower vendors, a baked goods booth, plus tasty honey products from the folks at Staite’s Pure Honey, meats and sausages from Domenic’s in the airstream trailer, and this year, cheesemeister Gurth Pretty has a booth featuring wonderful Ontario cheeses.

While this is a straight-forward, no-nonsense market that doesn’t offer much in the way of craft vendors or activities for the kids (not a lot of kids hanging out downtown on a weekday morning), market organizers have recognized that the market can still be an event for shoppers and a stage at the west end of the square offers live music during lunch hour. A selection of snack vendors have also set up in the square and shoppers can choose a snack or lunch from Crepe It Up, Jan’s Caribbean Food and Snacks, or Grandpa Ken’s World Famous Back Bacon on a Kaiser.

Friends of mine who work in the nearby office towers say they were delighted when the city decided to add the market at Metro Hall late in the 2006 season and continue it over the following summers. When lunch breaks are short, the walk to the next closest market (Nathan Phillips Square on Wednesdays) can often take too much time, and vendors have told me they’re delighted with the response they’ve had.

If our goal in promoting local produce is to be achieved, putting that produce where people can buy it more easily is the way to go. Metro Hall Farmers Market makes local fruits and vegetables accessible to Torontonians who might otherwise be too busy to seek it out, and gives them a nice break at lunchtime once a week where they can enjoy fresh from the farm goodies without having to go too far.

Liberty Village MyMarket
Green P Parking lot, corner of Liberty Street and Atlantic Avenue
Sundays, 9am - 2pm
June 1st - November 2nd

In the summer months, our Sunday morning ritual almost always includes a walk over to Liberty and Atlantic for the Liberty Village Farmers market. Started last year as one of a few certified markets (in which all vendors must also be the producers of the goods they sell), it’s become one of our favourites not just because of the close proximity to home, but because of the great cross-section of vendors and items for sale.

With 13 – 15 vendors, including Thames River Melons, Leitch’s Honey, Monkton Organic Farms and Bakery, Bob and Julie Proracki and their sweet potatoes, Peterborough Buffalo Farms, Bizjak Farm and starting this week, Monforte Dairy, to name but a few, customers can cover almost all their fresh food needs in one stop.

Market manager Patrick Slimmon explains that the market got started with a grant from the Greenbelt Foundation to set up markets for farmers from the newly protected land. “Farmers' Markets Ontario, which runs markets throughout the province, chose Liberty Village for its great location, peaceful Sunday morning atmosphere, and its sophisticated and growing population,” he says.

Vendors are required to be certified as the producer of what they are selling, but the MyMarket group have loosened restrictions from last year and are now permitting more “value added” items at the booths, allowing things like baked goods made with the primary ingredient sold. For instance, when I ask about snacks available, Slimmon points out that, “all of our vendors have something you can eat right at market. Whether a freshly picked fruit or vegetable, a honey stick, a cookie, muffin, or pie made from peaches, cherries, or sweet potato, breakfast beef sandwich - (think peameal-on-a-bun, but beef) or even a stick of buffalo Jerky.”

Liberty Village Market doesn’t offer kid-specific activities, but there is live music and contest draws each week, as well as other specials like free massages, and a whole schedule of seasonal events such as the Canada Day Strawberry festival, Simcoe Day corn roast, Thanksgiving Harvest Day and more. It’s also dog-friendly, so it’s a fun mix of kids, dogs, shoppers and music. Slimmon says they’ve also got chef demos planned to coincide with some weekly events.

We shop at the Liberty Village market because it’s the closest one to home, but we’d probably visit this market regularly anyway. It’s got a good vibe, is professionally run with plenty of space for shoppers, and offers a diverse selection of produce, meats, cheese, eggs, bread and even cut flowers. It’s also a fun and relaxing way to spend a Sunday morning, and as Slimmon points out, “There is no fresher food available on Sunday morning in Toronto than can be found at the Liberty Village MyMarket!”

Sorauren Park Farmers Market
Sorauren Park, Sorauren Avenue south of Dundas street West
Mondays, 3pm - 7pm
May 26th to October 27th

The key to a successful farmers market? Ensuring that the community is onboard and that there will be enough customers to make it worthwhile. So the idea of setting up a market at Sorauren Park on Monday afternoons, when 300 kids (and their parents!) are in the park for soccer was a truly brilliant bit of marketing.

The Sorauren Farmers Market is another of the newbies this year, having held their first market day on May 26th. Prior to that, organizers had a couple of prepared food vendors set up in the park on Mondays to create a buzz with the soccer families. The close proximity of the Wabash fieldhouse provides washroom facilities as well as kitchen and dishwashing facilities, a boon for any market with the goal of being zero-waste, as this one is.

The market has a very specific set of guidelines that determine vendors, wit ha focus on local and sustainable, with organic practices if not official organic status. Organizer Janna Lüttmann explains the concept, “The recipe in mind was a wide diversity of farm fresh produce and other products that are either 'certified organic', are produced using organic methods, or that adhere to sustainable farming standards for the community. We wanted to offer a full range of local and organic food following the principle ‘the closer the better’.

“We felt that a good selection of prepared foods featuring locally-grown and processed ingredients was important for residents and families who want a healthy dinner option while attending soccer games that are taking place in the park in the first weeks of the market season," she says. "At the same time we were committed to working with farmers and organizations such as FarmStart to develop a market that promotes new farmers and small, local and sustainable producers. This meant moving away from a fully certified organic market, because such a market would for example have meant turning away new farmers that have not been able to receive organic certification, as well as urban farmers and wild food crafters, who usually can't receive certification despite adhering to or even exceeding organic standards. Acknowledging the importance of rigorous regulations, to ensure that imported fruits and vegetables would not be bought at the Ontario Food Terminal and passed off at farmers' markets as local produce, we created our own set of vendor guidelines.”

Participating vendors include many folks who show up at other local markets, such as Sosnickis Organic Produce, The Local Cafe (prepared foods with mainly local ingredients) and Forbes Wild Foods, but also include some unique participants such as South Etobicoke Organics (backyard produce from organic gardens in Etobicoke), Guerilla Gourmet (teas, prepared foods from local and wild products), Merrylynd (grains, flour, noodles) and Field Sparrow Farm (grass fed beef). Lüttmann expects a total of about 20 – 25 vendors at peak season and is looking to add a poultry farmer and a fruit farmer to complement to current list.

With so many people in and around the market to take part in the soccer games, prepared foods are a big part of the attraction, with items such as calzones, crepes, sweet treats and even a special grass-fed burger event taking place last week. Non-food vendors are not really a part of the Sorauren market, although there is one vendor selling tea towels and tank tops made from organic cotton and silkscreened with local edible weeds. There’s also an additional table reserved for neighbourhood groups and fundraising.

Entertainment is a part of the market every week, with local musicians taking part, and there is also weekly programming with a food theme and plans for seasonal events such as harvest festivals, pumpkin carving and more.

With plans to eventually open a co-operative grocery store, the farmers market is really just the first step for the West End Food Coop, who hope to eventually be able to supply the neighbourhood with sustainably-grown organic food year-round. In the meantime, the market has quickly become an important part of the local community, and Monday nights at Sorauren Park aren’t just about soccer anymore.

Green Barns Farmers Market
St. Michael's and All Angels Church, 611 St. Clair Avenue West
Saturdays, 2pm - 5pm
May 24th - late October, reopening year-round in the Wychwood Carbarns in November

One of the most exciting things about the recent spate of new farmers markets is how quickly they’ve caught on. The Green Barn Farmers Market was started last year at St Michael and All Angels Church at the corner of Wychwood and St. Clair Avenue West, and by the end of the planned market season, demand was so great that it was held over for an additional month.

“As part of building up community understanding of the Artscape Wychwood Carbarns Project, Friends of A New Park and The Taddlewood Creek Heritage Association built an outdoor bake oven at the 'barns,” explains market organizer Cookie Roscoe Handford. “A volunteer came out on summer Thursdays for 2 years to light the fire in it and to sell $1 balls of pizza dough. After 2 years there were about 250 people coming out every week. When it became apparent that the bake oven had to stop during construction phase of the park, talk began to spring up about having a farmers market in the area.

“The volunteer lighting the oven talked with the Stop, the organization animating the Green Barn portion of the Wychwood project, and it turned out they too had been dreaming of starting up a farmers market on the site. It was decided that the market would be The Stop's Green Barn Farmers Market. The Stop then talked with Debbie Field at FoodShare. FoodShare had been given some grant money from "Project For Public Spaces" and used it to help to foster 3 new markets in Toronto; Wychwood, Trinity Bellwoods, and Withrow. The result was last year's held over pilot market.”

The market itself is slated to move later in the year when the carbarns are completed, with the market closing at the end of October in the current location and then reopening - year-round - in November.

Averaging between 10 and 16 vendors, the Green Barns market includes many names we’re now familiar with in this column, such as Monforte Cheese, St. John’s Bakery, Chocosol, Ted Thorpe Organics and Plan B to name a few. Vendors were chosen using the criteria of local, sustainable and organic, in that order, and organizers encourage collaboration with neighbouring farms to cut down on the carbon footprint of the market. The market also has a goal of producing zero garbage.

Vendors here sell food items only, or at least products that are food-related. There is no jewellery or crafts other than a few things made by or from the farmers, such as fleece and wool from the Stoddart Family Organic Farm who are there selling lamb meat, or cosmetics sold by Bees Universe Honey whose primary product is, of course, honey.

The Green Barns Farmers Market offers an area for kids, as well as entertainment in the form of musicians, and a “Shop the Market” feature with local celebrity chefs.

Already, the market is a part of the Wychwood community where people look forward to their weekly visit with neighbours, farmers and community members. Once winter hits and most of the other markets shut down for the season, the Green Barns Farmers Market might just find itself to be a favourite destination for people from other parts of the city as well.

BirchCliff Village Farmers Market
St. Nicholas Church garden, 1512 Kingston Road
Fridays, 3pm - 7pm
June 13th - October 10th

Handmade, homemade, earthmade. A good philosophy for life and an even better philosophy for a farmers market. Now in its 5th year, the BirchCliff Village Farmer’s Market does just that.

“We have a number of certified organic farms,” says market organizer Gail Ross. “Those vendors who are not yet certified are using earth friendly processes which are respectful to the land, and the workers. We ask all our vendors to commit to learning the importance of the organic process and work towards certification where available. We currently are at about 75%. As a collective we are working to educate our market vendors and community to make our food safe.”

Started as an initiative to re-animate the business strip along Kingston Road, market organizers chose the land east of St. Nicholas’ Church for their location as it was the centre of the village. Now this Friday afternoon market is the highlight event of the week for many in the neighbourhood, with weekly and seasonal events as well as great shopping.

“[Our] festivals are being planned week to week,” Ross explains. “Opening day we have free seeds, vermi-composting education, a speaker on farming off-grid, pony rides, and face painting. Later in the month we’ll have seniors day and more.” The market also offers weekly entertainment and activities for the kids such as environmental education.

In keeping with the handmade, homemade, earthmade philosophy, vendors at BirchCliff Village Market are more varied that at some other city markets. In addition to market favourites like Monforte Dairy, Quinte Organics and St. John’s Bakery, visitors can also snack on goodies from Wholi Granoli, vegetarian spring rolls from Meals4You, or scones from Nuala’s, or buy handmade soap, candles, jewellery or artwork. All art is handmade and is jurored.

As well, vendors are all complimentary, allowing customers to fill many of their shopping needs from eggs and chicken (Ambleside Organics), jams and jellies (Joy of Harvest), meat (Windcreek Meats), and even tea (Tea Retreat) or cosmetics (Shea Moi Organics).

Besides being a fun place to shop, BirchCliff Village Farmers Market also seems to have become an important part of the community. “Regular customers often tell us that they couldn’t imagine a Friday without the BirchCliff Village Farmers’ Market experience,” says Ross. “They have built it into their lives. They come to shop, experience, share, learn and teach. They come to have a visit.”

And after all, isn’t that what the market is really all about?

For more info about BirchCliff Village Farmers Market, as well as their vendors and events, please check their website.

Withrow Park Farmers Market
Withrow Park (1 block south of Danforth Avenue, between Logan and Carlaw)
Saturdays, 9am - 1pm
May 24th – October 25th

A relative newcomer to the market scene, the market at Withrow Park, now in its second year has quickly become a favourite of Riverdale area residents. With 16 vendors at peak season, the focus at this market is on organic.

“Vendors need to be either Ontario farmers, preferably using organic cultivation practices, and specialty food vendors using local, organic and/or fair trade ingredients whenever possible,” says market organizer Roberta Stimac.

The list of vendors offer a cross-section of items such as honey from Bees Universe; yogurt, cheese and lamb from Best Baa Farms; bread from St. John’s Bakery as well as produce from vendors like Plan B Organics, Ted Thorpe, Grassroot Organics and Fun Guy Farms.

Started as a community initiative to provide opportunities for farmers, the market has also become a gathering space for the community at the same time. Stimac explains, “City parks in densely populated neighbourhoods, like the larger Riverdale area, are a natural fit for farmers markets, and offer another opportunity for the use of a public space for the purpose of community development and strengthening.”

To further involve the community, the market hosts seasonal events throughout the year, such as their Spring Fling (which took place yesterday, their opening day) and the Urban Heirloom Harvest Fest in September. There are also kids activities during the special events, and acoustic musical performances throughout the season.

Like most outdoor markets, the Withrow Park Farmers Market takes place rain or shine, so Stimac encourages customers to come out and support the farmers regardless of the weather, “the farmers are still there with their fantastic harvest.”