Meet Brian Hamlin. Brian has been a beekeeper for over 40 years. He knows his stuff and has a serious connection and passion for his work (although, he does not call it work). He does most of his extractions in the fall when it’s cool and the bees become dormant so his Thursdays don’t always include direct interactions with bees. There’s no set schedule to when Brian visits the five apiary sites that are strung across Toronto, including the Portlands, Toronto Island and UofT’s Scarborough. His visits depends on the weather, the environment and Brian’s instincts.
His Thursday includes things like trips to the hardware store for screws for his tents and the print shop for labels for his honey products. He also spends much of his time raising awareness about the importance of pollinators and threats from pesticide use and habitat. So when you’re picking up your honey this week be sure to also say ‘thank you’ to Brian for all he does to protect this renewable resource.
Some of Brian’s products from around Toronto.
Toronto East General Hospital will also be at the market his week with information on their upcoming redevelopment plans and tips for keeping healthy.
The East Lynn Farmers’ Market runs every Thursday from 3-7:00 p.m. between June 4 – October 15 at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave. Stay up to date by visiting theEast Lynn Market Facebookpage or by following us on Twitter.
Soil is too important to be treated like dirt so join DECA Tree this Tuesday to learn how to protect and improve it!
Tuesday, September 8 | 7:00pm (program to start at 7:30) | 297 Wolverleigh Blvd
(This is someone’s house & there will be wine/beer on hand but feel free to BYOB)
All your burning questions about dirt will be answered:
• Why is dirt so important to gardens, trees and the planet’s survival?
• Why are microbes your friends?
• Why does your favourite perennial never makes it past annual?
• Why do the leaves on your tulip tree turn yellow?
• Why do your hipster west end friends have soil so different from your sand bank on the Danforth?
2015 is the United Nations year of soil. Come out an learn about this precious resource, its nutrients, ability to hold water and why it’s important for the trees we lovingly care for.
Come prepared to learn about and even play with soil, with educator Tina Scherz.
Click here to RSVP on the Facebook event. (If you don’t have Facebook or don’t want to RSVP, please just come anyway!)
It’s time for another Thursday-in-the-life of an East Lynn Park farmer.
Meet Bruce Wier of Black Tractor Farms. Bruce and Gillian Proudfood are quite busy managing an 11 acre property in Warkworth, Ontario growing peas, various salad greens, onions, beets, garlic and more. You can follow along on their farming adventures and bee keeping shenanigans on their website. Bruce spends his Thursdays preparing for the market, including washing lettuce and other salad greens and running to the bank to get change. He tends to spend Mondays sequentially planing so he always has fresh lettuce and salad mix each week. This process includes tilling, raking and seeding. And because he don’t use pesticides (or chemical fertilizers or herbicides), he has to cover his lettuce to protect it from flea beetles. Wednesdays are reserved for harvesting, meaning that spicy salad mix on your plate was just picked yesterday. Be sure to stop by the Black Tractor Farm tent and grab some greens for your dinner plate!
For the little ones:
This week the market hosts Anne Massicotte. Anne is an experienced music teacher and performer offering private recorder lessons from her home to students of any age or level. Discover the joy of playing the whole family of instruments! Come see and hear them at the market this week.
Anne Massicotte, recorder teacher
The East Lynn Farmers’ Market runs every Thursday from 3-7:00 p.m. between June 4 – October 15 at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave. Stay up to date by visiting theEast Lynn Market Facebookpage or by following us on Twitter.
It’s almost that time again…time to make your way over to East Lynn Park for the Farmers’ Market! This week, there’s a whole lotta dancin’ goin’ on.
Wellness booth:
Pegasus Studios (361 Glebeholme Blvd.) will be at the Farmer’s Market Wellness Table to give you information, tips and maybe even get you moving! Come and learn how dancing not only is a fun way to exercise but it has additional benefits like; reducing stress, improving strength and flexibility, keeping our muscles and joints healthy, and improving posture and balance. Not only that but participating in dance, learning sequences, and mastering new physical skills helps with brain development, can make you smarter and can lift your mood!
Children’s activity:
We have a few activities going on this week, including performances by Irish Dance School around 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. You can also join us for story time with the Toronto Public Library at 4:30 p.m.
And don’t forget to check out DECA’s first Volunteer Fair at this week’s market. See you Thursday!
Have you always wanted to volunteer in the neighbourhood, but not known where to start?
Mark next Thursday August 27 on your calendar. DECA is hosting it’s first “Community Connections” fair – at the top of the farmers’ market in East Lynn Park, between 3 and 7 pm.
There, you can meet TEN local groups and service providers who will tell you what they do and why, and – most importantly – how you can get involved.
Have you always wanted to help out at a women’s shelter or the hospital? How about deliver hot meals to senior’s doors, so they don’t have to brave the winter weather? Maybe you just want to get on your kids’ school’s parent council. In all cases — this is your chance!
This is the first project of our newly formed DECA Connects committee. We are a small group of neighbours who want to use DECA’s impressive talents, connections and energies, to address social needs in our community.
Would you like to join us? Please email Elizabeth Dove at edove9@gmail.com for details regarding our next meeting!
Murals, fairies, another pop-up shop success and NOW Magazine nominations!
Coxwell Barns Mural
East End Arts is teaming up with a esteemed artist Sean Martindale to paint a mural on the wall of the Coxwell Barns (south-east corner of Danforth & Coxwell, just south of Danforth) from August 24-end of Sept (approx). Other than just telling you about this awesome project, there are two other things you need to know:
Are you interested in volunteering to help paint the new mural? If so, come to a volunteer info session on Monday, August 24, 5-6 pm at TKO’s (Coxwell & Danforth). All are welcome – no experience necessary! If you can’t attend the session but you want to help out, please join the project’s Facebook event and to keep track of sign-up slots when they have a schedule.
The project is looking for the following supplies to help with this mural – please contact info@eastendarts.ca if you can share any of the following:
a sturdy rolling cart capable of carting full buckets of paint/water (may get paint on it, 1 needed from August 24 – end of Septladders ( 6 ft, 8 ft) – needed 1 or 2 from August 24 – end of Sept
step stools – needed 1 or 2 from August 24 – end of Sept
1 high quality, long (at least a meter) level – must be strong, engineering-type quality here! (warning: may get paint on it)
If you can help or want more info, please contact Cindy at info@eastendarts.ca!
Fairy Dance
On Tuesday, Danny’s Urban Fairies are heading to Pegasus Studios for a Fairy Circle Dance Party from 6:30-7:30pm. BYOFW (Bring your own fairy wings)
The fairies are so busy but are wrapping up at the end of the month so make sure to keep up to date on all of their comings and goings!
Another Pop-Up Shop Success! Congrats to the Handwork Dept!
Last week we were so happy to tell you that Merrily, merrily is now a permanent store on our strip! So it’s doubly exciting to tell you that another of our current pop-up shops has signed a lease! The Handwork Dept will be moving to 1898 Danforth (formerly Jenny’s Floral Boutique). If you haven’t been yet, you should go. It is part gallery, part trip down memory lane (depending on how old you are) and all-around awesome shopping experience. Thanks to Maggie the owner for giving us one more interesting, unique and fun store to visit.
The Handwork Dept’s current storefront at 1801 Danforth – moving to 1898 Danforth in the coming weeks
Also need to acknowledge our dedicated pop-up shop team. Gay, Tina, Cath, Anita and so many others have worked so hard to transform and revitalize our neighbourhood through our pop-up shop project. It’s a huge project that involves countless hours of work, and every success happens because this team has made it happen.
Now Magazine Best of Toronto Nominations
Now’s Best of Toronto nominations are out and our neighbourhood is very well represented. While it’s an honour to be nominated, what we need is to WIN! Our friends at Moberly have put together a handy cheat sheet for all our local nominations. You can vote from all of your devices, so please get in as many clicks as possible. Show Toronto why the east end is the bestend.
