Ever see the North Section directly in front the St. Lawrence market? It's that big sketchy building across the street that's always empty whenever you walk by it most of the time.........
...........except for Saturdays!
Every once a week on this magical occasion, the North Market becomes open! And it's filled with people (duh).
Aside from the thousands of visitors that come to shop, the main attraction that dominates the Market are the numerous farmers that grow & distribute their own produce at low prices (yes, even during the winter, there are farmers markets. With real organic food. Every Saturday. Aspiring chefs everywhere can freak out in joy now).
I had the opportunity (or better call it, a positive-burden) to wake up at 7 am (because who does that on a Saturday, right?) & travel to Toronto to witness all this retail mayhem unfold on a regular day.
As soon as I walked in, it was a culinary wonderland.......
With my grind music on, I was walking through the rushing bunches of eager customers competitively hunting for the right deals while completely drowning out the sense of urgency to run through my mission, & enjoy my time while I could before flocking journalists & last-minute students swarmed the warehouse.
To visualize, I was utterly speechless when I saw what the first few sellers had to offer. Although it was a farmers market in the winter (and being simple-minded at times) I was expecting a low, dwindling supply of organic foods at this time. Boy, was I wrong (so wrong).
I saw a nice abundance of some of the finest (perhaps rare as well) ingredients that students in George Brown's cooking labs were given the chance to use. Venison tendon (hey, that rhymed), buffalo meat & even large whole clean animal bones were among the few meats you wouldn't find at a regular butcher.
Like a prehistoric guy seeing fire for the first time, I was too interested holding a handful of turnips & wondering why there is so much dirt covering each one. Being raised with industrial produce for most of my time, it was pretty cool to know that the farmers here aren't messing around, and the fact that they pull vegetables straight from nature & sell it in its natural state certifies its freshness (it doesn't get more real than that).
All ecstatic reflections aside, I did say I was on a mission. Meet Wes Sovereign (coolest. last. name. ever). He's the most popular farmer (and the most socially qualified among the rest of the busy farmers) to set time aside for a nice story.
Exposition time!
Wes Sovereign was actually born from a long line of farmers. Since the 1800's, sustainability was the policy for this family as they made most of their agricultural business with the vast acres of land won over to them in light of the ever-growing demand of farming at the time (call it: The Golden Age of Organic Farming).
When Wes was old enough, he lived through most of his childhood learning how to produce food. Call it a slightly clichéd way of becoming a farmer, but Wes' skills further developed into a passion when farming grew on him.
Fast-forward into his later years, Wes was not always a farmer. For a time, he worked at an industrial factory for financial support, as many contractors were taking more farming land & the farm itself couldn't make all of the income earned annually.
However, something lucky happened. While Wes was on the verge of being a part of some massive layoffs in his workplace, his experience & reputation kept him safe, allowing him to continue earning. At that point, he had an epiphany. He took this as a wake up call to leave his workplace to go back to his one passion (while he still had the money to rebuild his organic empire).
And so, he did!
Half a decade later (which brings our story from Media Res to the Present Day), Wes has brought his business to the St. Lawrence Farmers Market every Saturday, sharing the fruits of his labour (Every. Pun. Intended) with everyone.
And that's where I come in... (with the harder, compelling questions)
Asking Farmer Sovereign about his philosophy on farming, he modestly stated that although he works out of his love for the soil, farming organically as his drive stems from his fierce determination to stay true to growing "real food", as many industrial (fake) foods currently dominate the market. Growing up from a long line of farmers, Wes Sovereign knows better than many people about "Simple Farming".
Wes did mention that although he uses a bit of chemicals on his produce, the compounds in his solutions are to simply keep the fruits & vegetables from dying during harsh seasons. Aside from that fact, he supports farming with "free land", and greatly opposes the destruction of agricultural areas where you could grow an entire field of corn rather than building another "concrete foundation" of parking lots & more industrialized factories making fake foods.
Again, "Simple Farming" is the norm at Sovereign Farms & every day, Wes works hard to keep customers happy while spreading awareness that there is a whole other agriculture you could experience if you try purchasing foods outside of the local supermarket.
Keep farming, & keep fighting Wes.
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