Trout Lake Farmers Markets

There was a great article in this weekend's Vancouver Sun about the proliferation of today's farmer's markets and their role in sustainable agriculture and foodculture.

For some, farming has suddenly become cool and the small-scale farmer is something of a local hero.

And with good reason. Small-scale local farming provides an alternative to food trucked, flown, or shipped from massive farms, travelling for thousands of miles to reach your table. That's tired food, grown in depleted soil and bred to last a long time and look good.

Zaya and Dick, proprietors of Ice Cap Organics, are newbies in their first year of farming mixed vegetables on leased land. They couldn't do it without farmers' markets. They sell at the Kitsilano and West End markets. "They're our main point of interaction with customers," says Zaya. "Before, it would have been unfeasible."

...

"The primary goal is to still keep the connection between the consumer and producer," she says. "We only carry products from our regular farmers' market and if people want to meet the farmer, they can do it at the main site."

On the weekend before I wrote this, my partner and I began our Saturday morning with delicious crepes at the Trout Lake market -- so delicious, in fact, we went back for seconds. We bought strawberries, greens, biodynamic eggs, some plants and delicious apricot/walnut sourdough bread. Visits to markets are not a chore; somehow the city shrinks down to this little village in a parking lot and you feel a connection to the earth through these farmers.
(Mia Stainsby, Vancouver Sun, June 20, 2009)

I couldn't agree more - the Farmers Markets are creating community where so little previously existed. I didn't even know Trout Lake existed in its little grotto between victoria drive, grandview highway and Nanaimo, and it is the indisputable town centre for EastVan. Stainsby's article reminded me of the pictures I took at the summer's first Farmers Market at Trout Lake:



Don't forget to visit a Farmers Market near you! The Trout Lake market is one of the largest, and takes place from May to October in the parking lot of the Trout Lake Community Centre (off Victoria Drive), Saturdays, 9-2pm. Check out the full list of Vancouver Farmer's Markets at Your Local Farmers Market Society.