100% Organic Flute

Irish Show Boy - Trad

It was well worth getting up at daybreak on a Saturday, and I was thrilled to be part of  Evergreen Brick Works’ Harvest Family Fun Day!

A variation on their weekly Farmers Market, this kid-friendly event was just wonderful, and far exceeded my expectations! As in my recent post from Rosedale’s Glen Road Bridge - that you don’t have to travel far to enjoy the fall colours - this family-friendly marketplace in the heart of Toronto brings the country into the city, and offers more than just organic produce and haute-cuisine; in fact as I write, I’m wearing a wonderful woolen car blanket to stave off the autumnal chill*, a heirloom-cum-everyday, practical item that I purchased after busking for a couple of hours as the crowds filtered in. These vendors supply some of Toronto’s finest shops: Pusateri’s, William-Sonoma, et al…I guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised!

As an example of the incredible variety of product on display, this reasonably priced, vintage blanket that serves as a souvenir from my morning in the Don Valley, came from Jan’s booth not far from where I had been playing, just past the Oxford Tea booth and some specialty soaps. I should have really taken a photo of one particular historic piece she had proudly on display: a lined, 1920’s-era kid’s raccoon fur coat that had originally come from Yellowknife, surely a museum piece that immediately evoked images of remote posts of the original Hudson’s Bay Company.

Evergreen Brick Works Farmers Market at the historic, de-commissioned brick factory in Toronto’s Don Valley has been extended through December 1 for their inaugural season, Saturdays, from when the bell sounds at 8 a.m. until well into the afternoon…see you there!

Note: There’s ample parking, and shuttles are now offered from nearby Danforth subway station if you’re sans-wheels…me? I went by bike through nearby Milkman’s Run: watch out for the fresh gravel that they put down near there!!

* I’m loathe to turn on the furnace quite yet: I can never remember, is it October 1st or November 1st that is the first ‘official’ day to crank the heat?