Farm Friday: The Stop’s Green Barn Farmers’ Market

Name: The Stop’s Green Barn Farmers’ Market
Location: 601 Christie Street, Barn #4
Date & Time: Saturdays, 8 – noon, year-round
# of Booths: 15-50
Contact: 416.651.7867

Initially created as a food bank,  The Stop has grown to include community gardens, a kitchen and classrooms, education about food as well as a multitude of other community involvement initiatives.

While the Green Barn at the old Wynchwood TTC Barns offers gardening workshops and after-school programs it’s the market that continues to wow Toronto. Named the best Farmer’s market by Now Magazine, the Green Barn’s year-round market is well-thought out with a comfortable atmosphere.

With a live band singing upbeat folk music with guitars and a bass, shoppers are able to take a break from their lettuce and callaloo shopping with some fresh mint iced tea from Unrefined Beverages, and some organic chocolate from Chocosol for some friendly gossip or to think about your shopping list.  Shoppers to the market can also be enticed by the Market Cafe, where snacks such as a Farmer’s Frittata (Swiss chard, peas, potatoes) or a SPLT (Smoked Pork, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich can be purchased to support The Stop. Of course, all ingredients are purchased from the farmers at the market, and changes week to week.

Roscoe Handford, market manager for The Stop, says that without the community, the market wouldn’t be able to exist. Relying on approximately 1,000 weekly shoppers to keep the market afloat is part of Handford’s biggest goal for the market. About 15-20 per cent of the city’s population shop at farmers’ markets she says, and she’d like to see that number rise to 80-90 per cent.

The market is primarily a producers market, requiring throughout the summer that farmers have 75 per cent of their own grown product on the table. Throughout the winter, Handford says, they can bring up to 75 per cent amalgamated from neighbours’ farms allowing farmers to pitch together to pay for cold storage. “The whole idea is to keep, year round, the vehicles coming to market as full as possible,” she says. “Farmers need for income doesn’t disappear with the winter season; everyone has to pay their mortgage.”

Despite the winter being non-harvest season, the market itself has never dropped below 15 vendors and thrives in the summer months there with 45 to 50 vendors. One of the interesting vendors that Handford supports weekly are new farmers from the Farmstart incubator program in coordination with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Started by McVean farms in 2005 the program allows new farmers to enter into a three-tiered program based on support and education for those wishing to farm, but may not have the funds to purchase their own farm. They must have some basic experience and a desire to grow sustainably. Often the program is set-up to give new Canadians a plot of land to growThe program’s three tiers include Start-Up Farms, Enterprise Farms and Mentor farms, each phasing out as the farmer becomes successful and knowledgeable.

Another farmer Handford highlights is Daniel Hoffmann from the Cutting Veg who does global garlic and produced 90 different types of garlic, but does a range of things from food coaching to wellness counseling.

One of the things that Handford says her farmers were most concerned about at their first meeting was the notion that farmers’ markets are for the well-to-do, “the farmers that I’ve worked with are uncomfortable with that notion. They would love to fight the notion that there’s something special about going to a farmers market.” So they’ve become very pleased that FoodShare is on hand to collect donations of the  leftovers to sell at their 17 Good Food Markets across the city. Good Food Markets allow those who live in neighbourhoods where farmers’ markets aren’t present to purchase fresh and local foods. At the same time, they are educating shoppers on preparation and the importance of supporting local farmers. FoodShare may accept donations, but more often than not they are found purchasing food from farmers at markets all across the city.

The Stop has many of their own community initiatives underway. One of the most obvious at the market is the greenhouse in Green Barn #4, where shoppers can go for a tour with Gord the expert any market day and the “grandfather gardens” down the barn five walkway where farmers from all over the world showcase their growing and gardening techniques. The Stop also has community gardens at Earlscourt Park and they continue to run the food bank, a stop in program for free breakfast and lunch, as well as a multitude of other community advocacy programs. Among all these programs already in place, The Stop is launching a Yes In My Backyard program that will connect homeowners in the City and  people who would like to garden.