Honey at the Perth Farmers’ Market

When I first started this blog last year, my intention had been to solely write about Farmers’ Markets (hence the url), and I may, in fact, revert to that original intention. Anyhow, at the time, I had been setting up and developing farmers’ markets in Northern California with a non-profit, and in general, I tend to visit both markets (and universities) wherever I travel. Markets are important community events/institutions, and honestly, you can tell whether a community is thriving or not by the presence of a market, and then the quality of and attendance at the market(s). I love going to them, taking photos, talking to vendors, buying fresh food, watching the unique dynamics of each market, and writing about them.

As you can see, if you scroll through my posts at the other site, or the few on this site, I just can’t limit myself to markets. I probably could, but I would need to travel a bit more than I do currently (I wish!). I write about bees (in addition to my site, Bees Alive!, ergonomics, responsible citizenship, gardening and the environment. It is all related :)

Today, however, with a focus on bees and honey, I am going to write about a market I had the pleasure of visiting for the first time two weekends ago. A few of my favourite topics, to be sure.

The Saturday farmers’ market in Perth, Ontario is a nice little set-up. Despite the fact that a large music festival was going on that very weekend, they had excellent traffic – an indication to me that Perth is a healthy, thriving community. There was good variety in vendors. In comparison, the vendors at the Smith’s Falls market I visited a week later ALL sold baked goods in addition to whatever else they had – not a good sign. The Nanaimo, BC downtown market has a similar problem, but with jams. But at Perth, a baker or two, good organic veggies (with variety), a homemade soup wagon, and yes, honey!

There were two part-time beekeepers present. They had other doings, mainly to do with running gardens, but had incorporated bees into their activities. Smart people. One keeper had about 30+ hives. We discussed problems he’d been  having with bears and mortality rates, hive splitting and building up the numbers again. I

passed on some information to him about pacifying bees with citronella and spearmint.

The other beekeepers, also growing vegetables, had 2 hives. It is very exciting to see small vendors produce and sell. Not only do you get an opportunity to buy local products, but it is encouraging to see that huge operations haven’t forced small producers out of the picture. I also find that small producers are more likely to use organic methods, the larger set-ups more concerned with producing as much as possible regardless of the impact on the environment and the health of life forms. I like to support those with smallholdings – it is the way we used to work, and it worked…