I love the Leslieville Farmers’ Market in Toronto, but I’ve only been in the city for six years after I accepted a teaching position at the University of Toronto.
Before Toronto, I lived in Palgrave where most of my family resides.
Although many don’t know this, southwestern Ontario is one of Canada’s farm belts and enjoys some of the most fortunate weather and ecology of the entire country. Much of the crop farming is done in the prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saschaketwen, and Alberta, but most of Canada’s fruit farming is done in southern Ontario. Many of the Ontario fruit farmers sell their goods at weekend farmers’ markets, among other places. Thus fair, my favorite farmers’ market has been the Leslieville Farmers’ Market in Toronto. This open-air farmers’ market is held every Sunday in Jonathan Ashbridge Park and features fresh-food and live music. Since it’s a block from Ashbridges Bay, this puts the Leslieville Farmers’ Market right on the edge of Toronto’s beautiful lakeside coast. Aside from fresh-foods from south Ontario farmers, there are also CBD vendors that have recently started selling their products every Sunday. Much of the hemp is grown in either British Columbia or Ontario, with some of the latter coming from Port Perry. Both high THC cannabis and CBD are federally legal in Canada. While much of the marijuana is grown indoors like it is in much of the United States, outdoor cannabis cultivation is becoming increasingly popular where the natural ecology can handle it in Canada. It just so happens that southern Ontario comprises a large portion of the viable farmland.