Weekend Wanders – Evergreen & Waldorf

On the weekends we tend to leave the house as a family and Go Do Things. Sometimes that involves driving a couple of hours to a Provincial Park and spending the day hiking or hanging out on the beach or going to a farmers market or farm stand to pick up some fresh local vegetables. This weekend was more of a market weekend, but we still managed to pop over to a park too.

Saturday mornings at the Evergreen Farmers Market at the Brickworks have a nice flow to them – the open air outdoor market feels safe and full of good energy, lots of locally grown fruits and vegetables, tasty prepared things, and friendly people at tables. It is so nice to be surrounded by other humans again in a way that feels comfortable and functional, while still being mindful of current global events.

Mid-July I started seeing baskets of Niagara peaches from Reyes Farms – and I’ve lived in Ontario long enough to have a preference for late summer peaches vs early summer peaches, but oh wow these are so juicy and perfect. I picked up a basket of them this weekend as well and they’re ready to be eaten immediately (occasionally over the sink).

Also see some beautiful beets and fresh veggies from Wheelbarrow Farm when I’m wandering. A couple of weeks ago I picked up my all time favourite pattypan squash and it was perfect roasted. Wheelbarrow Farm is based in Uxbridge, and also has a CSA. I suspect we’ll pick a CSA to join in future seasons, so I’ve been looking around for a few options easily accessible on weekends.

Another thing I love at Evergreen is whenever Natural Japaneats is there. That’s not every weekend, but the weekend’s she is there are delicious – they have inari, mochi, sushi rolls, and fun character sushi that our kid enjoys. (They are also at other markets around the city, so it’s worth checking out their website if you’re curious – you can also pre-order there.)

After we were finished at Evergreen, we drove up to Markham to get rid of some of my old sewing scraps and some old clothing. The City of Markham has a Textile Recycling Program that I think is pretty cool, and I’m finding super helpful. In the early days of the pandemic I spent a lot of time making reusable cloth masks with all the extra fabric we had around the house, and that experience helped me get pretty good at using as much of my fabric as I could – but also resulted in some weird fabric waste and it’s nice to have a spot to drop things off.

Items that are still in usable condition get donated, but they donate to organizations like the salvation army, so I have extra incentive to sort through everything carefully and make sure to instead donate things in good condition to the many other organizations doing good stuff in the city. I still think it’s a generally great idea, and one that would be cool to see happen in Toronto. (Hope they don’t mind us using their box… thanks Markham…)

After dropping stuff off, we swung by the Waldorf Market for some Hansomm Chef fermented things. I’ve been loving her kimchi, but the surprise winner recently was the pickled kohlrabi (which we finished a whole jar of), so I wanted to get a bit more for lettuce wraps later this week.

I also picked up a loaf of rye country sourdough from Our Farm Breads, and it was incredibly popular with our 5 year old. Soft and just a touch sour, a great combination with margarine, he enjoyed a slice when we got home yesterday.

We ended our afternoon picking up corn and cherries from Romagnoli Farms in Beamsville, Ontario and on the way back hit Bring Me Some at the Hamilton Farmers Market for sandwiches and had lunch at our favourite picnic site in Bronte Creek Provincial Park. An all around lovely day.

The nice thing about having an EV for the last few years is not having to think about emissions when we’re doing our long drives (over 200km) around the province – it’s not that we don’t consider our travel, just that it’s a lot different when not having to stop at a gas station or think about idling. We charge the car overnight when time of use rates are at their lowest, then we jump in the car and get on the road.

Until next time!