Farm Folk/City Folk, a Vancouver-based collective that represents small and organic farmers around the province, reports that BC’S several microclimates — from mild Vancouver Island to the dry interior plateau — coupled with an ever-growing consumer demand for homegrown specialty foods, make this one of the best regions in North America for seasonal farmers’ markets.
The oldest and best-known Vancouver market remains the East Vancouver Farmers’ Market. It’s held each Saturday from about 9 AM to early afternoon, from mid-May until mid-October, at Victoria Drive and East 15th Avenue (604-879-3276 for this and the following two markets). Produce from the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan, Vancou¬ver Island, and the Gulf Islands includes the organic, the eccentric (a “camembert in ash from grapevine shoots”), and freshly snipped field flowers, as well as preserves, baking, and crafts. Politics is never far from the farmers’-market scene, and the society that runs this market hasn’t been too welcoming of newcomers — in part, it says, because too many markets may cause problems for struggling farmers.
However, that hasn’t stopped it from opening a West End Farmers’ Market (on the school grounds at Bidwell and Pendrell streets) and the North Vancouver Farmers’ Market (on the civic plaza at Lonsdale Avenue and 14th Street). Experience tells me these markets can be pretty sensitive, if not purist. For example, don’t dare be over¬heard asking, “Where are those huge strawberries I saw at Urban Fare?”
On Thursdays year round, in the parking lot next to the Granville Island Public Market (www.granville-island.net), you’ll find a clus¬ter of farmers selling everything from cherries and squash to fresh honey, in season. There are lots of flowers and plants, including herbs, as well.
In suburban southeast Vancouver, in what was once the city’s rural outskirts, you’ll be delighted to come across the Avalon Dairy (5805 Wales Road, East Vancouver, 604-434-2434). This place, the oldest existing dairy farm in BC (1908), sells glass-bottled organic milk, along with eggs, cheese, yogurt, and other delicacies, in a big shed just beyond the heritage house.
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