Farmers' Market

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For the basics, see
- Website & Privacy Policies
- How To Get Involved
- The Role of the Park

The Farmers' Market: vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, fowl, cheeses, breads, prepared foods, and specialty foods. Mainly organic.

Market Vendors

(:redirect VendorListing:)

Local Marketplace

For a listing of neighbourhood services, see our neighbourhood Marketplace page.

Related websites

Toronto Farmers' Market Network website tfmn.ca

eat-local.ca is a recently launched Toronto project to connect people with local food sources.

Small Farm Canada promotes small-scale farming as a legitimate and viable endeavour.

Local Flavour Plus, Promoting the use of local food

London (England) Farmers' Markets

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About Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market

See the Weekly Market Notes for a summary of the current week's offerings and events at the market.

Every Thursday 3:00-7:00 all year around

Outdoors around the rinkhouse in summer; in and around the rinkhouse in winter.

Location

Click here to view a map. Dufferin Grove Park rink house (875 Dufferin, S of Bloor), across from the Dufferin Mall. The rink house is in the northwest corner of the park, just off Dufferin. The closest subway stop is Dufferin Station (one block north). The Dufferin buses, both northbound and southbound, stop every three minutes right outside the rink house.

Contact

Phone: 416-392-0913 | email market@dufferinpark.ca

Parking

posted February 25, 2007

You are very likely to get a ticket if you park illegally on Dufferin Park Ave., the little street leading into the park. Please obey the signs. Just a short walk away, across from St. Mary's High School on the north side of the park, there are special signs allowing parking on Thursdays for market hours. Please use those spots or other legal ones in the area. See satellite image.

Map of Farms

See our map of farms that come to the Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market.

Email Subscription

Anyone who wants to be on the weekly market notes e-mail list can subscribe here:

For some views of the market, see the Berman Photo Gallery , Pinkus Gallery.

See the Toronto Farmers' Market Network website: tfmn.ca

Latest Market News 2009

From the December 2009 Newsletter:

DUFFERIN GROVE FARMERS’ MARKET, EVERY THURSDAY 3 TO 7 PM

This year, both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are on a Thursday. There will be no farmers’ market on those days. On all the other Thursdays, the rink clubhouse will be shared between the skaters, the farmers, and the food customers – tricky but not impossible. The late frost this year means there is still a lot of freshly harvested produce, and also meat, baked goods, cheese, olive oil, honey, chocolate, preserves, and more. Sometimes it gets crowded, but it’s a friendly crowd. And the rink staff will stash your groceries for you if you want to have a skate after shopping.

From the October 2009 Newsletter:

DUFFERIN GROVE FARMERS’ MARKET: EVERY THURSDAY 3 TO 7 PM

From market manager Anne Freeman: “Nobody is ready to say goodbye to the summer that hardly got started, but we can't stop the clock. Due to the shortening days, this will be our last market on the summer path. Next week, you'll find the full market set up on the rinkpad on the east side of the building. It's fun "up top" too, and we love those rink lights when sunset comes. We'll be there until mid-November. Please spread the word among your friends who may not read the news. Sadly, we also ask you to warn them to carefully guard their wallets and purses, as the pickpocket has not been caught yet. The police urge anyone who thinks they've had money stolen to report it.”

The pickpocket Anne is referring to is possibly a young woman, who unzips purses and opens wallets to remove the contents, as well as outright taking the wallets. The market is such a friendly place that it’s hard to remember to guard your belongings – any park in a city of two and a half million is going to have some thieves, even at farmers’ markets.

Every Wednesday Anne puts out a weekly market newsletter, which is linked on dufferinpark.ca farmers’ market page. If you want to get it by e-mail, go to the link on the market page. Here’s a sample item from the September 30 market news, from pie baker Jacinthe Koddo: "With Thanksgiving coming up, pies are available for pre-order from "Artisan Pies and Preserves", made with organic produce sourced from Eastcliff Farms and others in Grey County, Ontario. Stop by this Thursday to place your order for pick-up October 8th. There are four delectable choices: Pear-Cranberry, Apple, Pumpkin, and Pecan. They're all made with buttery pastry crusts that are melt-in-your-mouth good. You're sure to be the best dinner guest ever when you arrive with one of these! An individual pie of your choice is $20. Can't decide on just one? Get two for $38."
Mmmm….

Food News 2009

posted on December 18, 2009

A Tale of Two Dufferins

By: Erin Balser
Published: December 16, 2009
Source: books.torontoist.com/

Yesterday, this Books@Torontoist editor interviewed Sarah Elton about her recent collection of literary pieces about Toronto, City of Words. Today, we excerpt one of the contributions to the book, novelist Anand Mahadevan’s ode to Dufferin Street and his father.

subzi bazaar

by Anand Mahadevan

Walking south of Bloor on Dufferin Street, one is presented with two choices. To the right is the Dufferin Mall anchored by one of Canada’s busiest Wal-Marts, a prodigiously stocked No Frills supermarket, and scores of generic mall stores squeezed cheek-to-jowl with their backs to the city. To the left, a large grove of trees flanks an outdoor ice rink and a grassy pathway hosting a weekly farmers’ market. Beyond them are a basketball court, soccer fields, and extensive children’s play areas.

Read more >>

posted on November 09, 2009

Mould, Slime Found at Listeria-Stricken Meat Plant

Published: 11/09/09
Source: The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - A top-to-bottom scrubbing after a deadly listeriosis outbreak apparently didn't fully cleanse a Maple Leaf Foods plant of mould, slime and meat debris, newly released documents show. Inspectors found a troubling lack of hygiene at the company's Toronto facility just weeks after it reopened last year from a temporary shutdown for cleaning, according to inspection reports.

Read more >>

posted on October 29, 2009

Something smells: A local garlic shortage?

Toronto woman's network supplies neighbourhood

By: Julianna Cummins
Published: October 29, 2009
Source: National Post

The struggle to keep up with demand for Ontario garlic after a difficult growing season has a Toronto woman creating a network to distribute a limited supply in her community.

For the past three years, Mary-Margaret McMahon has made sure that her family stored eight pounds of local Ontario garlic to last through the winter. Early last week, Ms. McMahon's husband came back from the East York farmer's market with bad news: There was no more Ontario garlic.

"Then I started getting panicky, because I knew we were out at East Lynn, East York was out," said Ms. Mc-Mahon, listing other farmers' markets. Then, she found out that the Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market was out as well, and no more was coming.

Ms. McMahon called Anne Freeman, the manager of the Dufferin Grove Farmer's Market, who referred Ms. McMahon to a friend with a connection to a garlic farm in Little Current, Manitoulin Island. Read more >>

How long does a virus last

Survival of Two Avian Respiratory Viruses on Porous and Nonporous Surfaces

A. Tiwari, Devi P. Patnayak, Yogesh Chander, Minakshi Parsad, and Sagar M. GoyalA

Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, 1333 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108

A Corresponding author

Abstract

The transmission of pathogens from infected to susceptible hosts may occur through contaminated fomites and inanimate objects. This type of transmission depends on the ability of the pathogens to survive in the environment. In this report, we describe the survivability of two avian respiratory viruses, e.g., avian metapneumovirus and avian influenza virus on 12 different porous and nonporous surfaces. The viruses survived on some of the surfaces for up to 6 days postcontamination but not after 9 days.

Both viruses survived longer on nonporous surfaces than on porous ones. One of the reasons for poor survival on porous surfaces could be inefficient elution of virus from these surfaces. These results should be helpful in determining how long the premises should be left vacant after an outbreak of these viruses has occurred in poultry houses.

Roy E Costa, R.S., M.S./M.B.A. Public Health Sanitarian Consultant Environ Health Associates, Inc 1.386.734.5187 www.haccptraining.org, www.safefoods.tv rcosta1@cfl.rr.com

posted on October 15, 2009

Agri-chemical companies are both breeding and killing bees

Agri-chemical companies like Syngenta don’t just make the chemicals that have been blamed for the decline in bees; they also breed the bees that are being used as a replacement for wild pollinators

By: Tom Levitt
Published: 13th October, 2009
Source: http://www.theecologist.org

The new documentary, ‘Vanishing of the Bees’ - out in UK cinemas this week - once again blames the spread of neonicotinoid pesticides for the decline in honeybee populations.

Neonicotinoids are a comparatively new group of synthetic chemicals used as a coating for agricultural seeds and in pot plants. The chemicals spread throughout the plant and into the nectar and pollen that bees then eat.

Read more >>

posted on October 13, 2009

Turkey wars

'When you're confined ... things spread easier'

By: Margaret Webb
Published: Oct 10 2009
Source: The Star

If you're eating organic turkey this weekend, savour it, because by next Thanksgiving it may be easier to buy crack cocaine in Ontario than a drug-free bird.

Here's why: While the turkey industry marketing board tells growers to confine their turkeys indoors to reduce the chance of transmission of viruses from wild birds, new organics standards administered by the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency mandate raising organic birds outdoors.

Read more >>

posted on October 10, 2009

Locavore News

By: Elbert van Donkersgoed
Published: October 7, 2009
Source: Plumbline

Offer of free potatoes causes massive traffic jam

Call it Spudapalooza. That was no rock concert spawning the massive line-up of cars that gridlocked traffic on the Manning Freeway northeast of Edmonton for several hours on Saturday — it was a potato giveaway. An alliance of community groups and a local potato farmer decided to give away 45,000 kilograms of free spuds as a way of promoting locally grown food and to draw attention to the valuable farm land being used for urban development. Globe and Mail story.

Read more >>

A Taste of the Market -- Every Week

posted February 2, 2010

Hungry? There's always a bit of food to try or snack on at the market. Menus vary according to the season, but here are some examples:

Venison kofta from Deer Valley
Sweet or Savoury Crepes or burritos from Clement's Crepes
Sandwiches and Rotis from Fish Shak
Ice Cream cones from Best Baa
Park oven focaccia and cinnamon buns
Hot dogs and tofu dogs
Hearty soups and salads with slices of park bread
Treats from Alli's Bakery including samosas, sugar-free cookies, and spicy buns
Chocolate drinks from Chocosol

See the Tasting Fair Photo Gallery.

Vendor Listing

Akiwenzie's Fish: Andrew and Natasha Akiwenzie bring fresh & Smoked Georgian Bay Fish. They have a blog to keep you up to date on fishing conditions and what's new: akiwenziesfish.blogspot.com Contact: Phone: 519-534-9056

Alli's: Organic breads include Sweet Potato, 5-Grain, Potato-Rosemary and Foccacia. Gluten-free products and small edibles, including Jalapeno Screamers, are also available. See Alli's vendor notebook entry Contact: Phone: 416-651-2929 | Email: allifreshbaked@bellnet.ca

Bees Universe : John and Irina Alecu keep bees in 10 different yards close to wild flower fields and conservation areas, between Toronto and Barrie. They sell honey, honey comb, bee pollen, propolis (raw and tincture), fresh frozen royal jelly, beeswax candles and also live bees. See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: Phone: 705-436-7659 | Email: office@beesuniverse.com | Website: www.beesuniverse.com

Beretta Organics (certified organic): Mike and Cynthia Beretta farm in King township, an hour north of Toronto. They bring beef, pork, turkey, chicken and deli items to the market. Pre-orders are accepted up to 1:00 Tuesday. See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: Phone: 416-674-5609 | Website: www.berettaorganics.com | This month's order form: Order Form

Bestbaa Farm: Peter and Nicole Bzikot offer Plain Yogourt, Maple Yogourt, Feta, Ramembert, Brebettes, Eweda & other cheeses, of course all from sheep milk. Lamb, too. Best Baa will also be scooping many flavours of sheep's milk ice cream throughout the summer.

Contact: Phone: 519-848-5694 |Email: Nicole at nicole.bestbaa@hotmail.com

ChocoSol : Michael Sacco and Mathieu are horizontal traders and chocolatiers, who bring cacao beans, coffee and more from Oaxaca. See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: Phone: 416-923-6675 | Website: www.chocosoltraders.com | Email: Michael Sacco at chocosol01@yahoo.ca

Clement's Crepes : Tim Clément's crépes are hand-spun with organic whole wheat flour, organic free-range eggs, whole milk, sea salt, and ingredients from the market farmers. Both sweet and savoury crépes are served piping hot, with ever-changing seasonal fruit and vegetable fillings, and now there are burritos, too.

Contact: Email: Tim Clement of Clement's Crepes tmaclement@gmail.com

Country Meadows Gardens (certified organic): Angelos Kapelaris grows heirloom tomatoes, keeps laying hens, presses goat cheese, and brings olives and oil from his family's farm in Greece. See the vendor notebook entry and a Picture Gallery >>

Contact: Phone: 905-478-1201 | Website: www.countrymeadowsorganics.com

Deer Valley (Venison) Farm: a family-operated farm surrounded by Grand River Conservation Authority, in Amaranth Township, Ontario. Their red deer are free to roam year-round where they graze on organic pastures seasonally. In winter they are fed hay, grain & minerals. No genetically modified organisms, chemicals or growth promoters are used in rearing the animals or on the land. They offer a variety of venison cuts including breakfast & bbq sausages & burgers.

Contact: Email: dvf@venison.ca (including special orders) | Website: www.venison.ca See the vendor notebook entry

Dufferin Grove Bakers community oven bread: (not certified: all flour and seeds and grains are certified organic but the oven is not certified). Breads include: grapeskin-sourdough, rye sourdough, Italian rosemary, Italian olive, artisan 6-grain, artisan pumpkinseed-sesame, raisin and others, along with cinnamon buns and pizzas with market toppings.

Contact: To contact the bakers: dufferinpark@dufferinpark.ca

Earthly Paradise:(Fall and Winter) Each plant used in earthly Paradise's products is organically grown by us or sourced from ethical companies that share our vision of a beautiful and bountiful planet. Nourish your skin and your spirit with our products: Creams, Salves, Products for the Face, Teas. Contact Colette Murphy.

Contact: Phone: 416-504-1653 | Email: earthlyparadise@ca.inter.net | Website: www.earthlyparadise.ca

Evelyn's Crackers: Dawn Woodward and Ed Rek bring savoury artisanal crackers, named in honour of their daughter, Evelyn, and made with local, organic and fair trade ingredients. They also supply the market with Ontario flour from CIPM farm near Stirling. Contact: Phone: 647-448-0731 | Email: evelynscrackers@gmail.com | Website: www.evelynscrackers.com

Feast of Fields Farm: near Jordan ON, Demeter-certified since 1996, and now also Local Flavour Plus certified. Laura Sabourin grows grapes, pears, peaches, raspberries, and blackberries. She also makes grape juice and preserves.

Contact: Website: www.feast-of-fields.ca

Fish Shak features wild fish sandwiches and rotis, using many of farmer Ted Thorpe's vegetables throughout the summer.

Contact: Phone: 647-884-7425

Forbes Wild Foods: (natural wild foods from Canadian sources) -- Jonathan Forbes offers dried wild mushrooms, wild rice, maple sugar, preserved wild foods, jams, mustards, chestnut flour, and more.

Contact: Website: www.wildfoods.ca

Fun Guy Farms: Bruno Pretti and Paula Vopni are mushroom growers. They have many varieties of fresh mushrooms including shiitake and oyster, as well as mushroom pesto, crackers and Kombucha beverage. All their mushrooms grow on or are cultivated on wood, never on composted animal manures. Contact: Phone: 416-402-9755/416-963-5521 | Email:office@mycosource.com | Website: www.mycosource.com.

Greenfields Farms (certified organic): Lorenz Eppinger has a farm near Guelph which includes a 25-acre market garden. The farm also includes ecologically protected areas and is Local Food Plus certified. In addition to their own produce, Greenfields works with Pfennings, a local, farm-based distributor, to supply the winter market with a selection of imports and produce from other regional farms. See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: To place a special order, Email: greenfields@interhop.net. | Website: www.greenfieldsfarm.ca

Growing Spaces is owned and operated by Blythe Weber and Adam Smith. Blythe grew up farming with her family near Ayton. The farm is a mixed operation, currently in transition to organic certification. They grow vegetables and fruits on the farm to make the many varieties of chutneys, pickles, jams and other preserves which they bring to the market. Blythe and Adam also help urban dwellers create edible gardens in Toronto.

Contact: Phone: 416-966-0190 | Email:info@growingspaces.ca. | Website: www.growingspaces.ca

(Colette) Murphy: Spring and Summer, see Urban Harvest. Fall and Winter, see Earthly Paradise

Contact: Phone: 416-504-1653 | Email: earthlyparadise@ca.inter.net | Websites: www.uharvest.ca, www.earthlyparadise.ca.

Nujima Living Foods: Purveyor of living, raw, functional foods from Ontario and around the world. Current selection includes, Organic cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil, Raw wild Agave nectar, Raw organic cocoa seeds (raw chocolate), Raw one of a kind freeze dried Organic shredded coconut (with no sulphites), coconut milk, and Water and Raw and roasted chicory (a pre-biotic). Call or email the owner James with questions or to receive info on these health products.

Contact: Phone: 416-761-5111 | Email: info@nujima.com

Pine River Organic Farm: Bob Felhazi has a large asparagus planting, greenhouses, raspberries, and many varieties of certified organic vegetables on his farm near Alliston. Contact: Phone: 705-424-0917

Pineapple Orchards: Ralph Robitaille brings many varieties of certified organic apples from his orchards near Penetanguishene.

Contact: Phone: 705-533-3492

Plan B Organics: in West Flamborough, ON. Melanie Golba and brothers Alvaro and Rodrigo Venturelli have a fifty-acre farm of which 18 -20 acres are used to grow mixed organic vegetables to supply their CSA and markets. Another part of their land is a reforestation project. See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: Phone: 905-659-2572 | Email: planbof@execulink.com | Website: www.planborganicfarms.ca

Seldom Seen/Seldom Heard Farms has been inspected and certified organic every year since 1995. The certifier, the OCPP (Organic Crop Producers and Processors), also verifies that the farm surpasses European and American organic standards, which enables them to sell their organic lamb, spelt and soya beans all over the world. They sell fresh and frozen lamb at the market.

Contact: Phone: 905-939-7421 | Email: orders@organiclamb.ca< | Website: www.organiclamb.ca

Sosnickis Organic Produce, Waterford, ON (south of Brantford): Ben and Jessie Sosnicki grow certified organic wheat, cabbages, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and more. Jessie's family is Ukrainian and Ben's is Polish, so they also sell sauerkraut, perogies, cabbage rolls, and tomato sauce, made with their certified produce. Visit their blog for regular news from the farm: sosnickiorganicproduce.blogspot.com

See the vendor notebook entry | See the picture gallery from June, 2004>> | See the picture gallery from September, 2004>>

Contact: Phone: 519-443-5903 | Email: jb@sosnickiorganics.com | Website: www.sosnickiorganics.com

Thorpe's Organic Produce: near Millgrove, ON. Ted Thorpe, a fourth-generation Ontario vegetable-farmer, has a 32 acre-farm, of which 20 acres is a market garden. He grows all kinds of vegetables and herbs.

See the vendor notebook entry

Contact: Phone: 905-689-2114.

Under Ground Organics: Shane Eby, Julia Hitchcock and Dan Riegler grow many herbs and over 100 varieties of cutflowers, from spectacular spring tulips through lupines, foxgloves, sunflowers and others. Great vegetables, too!

Contact: Phone: 905-659-6267 | Email: ugo@gofairtrade.net | Website: www.undergroundorganics.net

Urban Harvest:(Spring and Summer) Urban Harvest is dedicated to providing its customers with seedlings and garden supplies that promote ecological diversity and preserve the health of our planet. Our plant seeds and garden supplies are specially chosen for their qualities by seasoned urban gardeners. All of our seedlings are grown in or near the greater Toronto area to support our local economy. Contact Colette Murphy.

Contact: Phone: 416-504-1653 | Email: earthlyparadise@ca.inter.net | Website: www.uharvest.ca

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