__________ Last month’s unseasonably warm weather has had me looking forward the 2010 farmers’ market season. While cautious in my own gardening habits – I did not plant early lettuce, beans, peas, radishes etc… - I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of fresh spring vegetables after a winter’s worth of rather tired greens, canned tomatoes and heavy root veggies. A great thing about Ottawa is that many neighbourhoods within the City’s urban core are well-served by farmers’ markets (Parkdale/West Wellington, Mainstreet/Old Ottawa South, the Glebe). These markets offer opportunities to buy fresh produce, often grown by people within the Ottawa valley. However, recent debate over the “value” of one of the City’s markets – the Ottawa’s Farmers’ Market located in Parking Lot #4 of Lansdowne Park – raises some questions about just exactly how the City sees / understands the role of the farmer’s market in the modern city. Specifically, recent staff reports and Council decisions heavily emphasize the economic role of the farmers’ market rather than broadly interpreting the market as a public good.

As an apartment dweller living in close quarters, sometimes I appreciate open or unused spaces simply for the fact that they are not built upon. But in other cases, I lament upon what seems like wasted space around an office or apartment building, or even an extra-deep front yard. Perhaps it is the fact that I have no yard of my own that makes me yearn to make use of some underused land for my own personal garden. At least one other Ottawan feels similarly. Urban farmer Jesse Boynton Payne has started a new type of Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) initiative that partners with homeowners to use their yards to grow organic vegetables and fruit. Instead of looking out at a yard that you have to mow, or planting a garden that you really don’t have time to weed, you can partner with Jesse's service --The Vegetable Patch -- and he will cultivate your yard for you. Similar services exist in many U.S cities; closer to home another variation is Toronto's Young Urban Farmers. In payment for use of your land, you get periodic vegetable baskets throughout the growing season, from both your own and other gardens around the city. It's this "in-kind" payment of free produce that makes Jesse's service different from traditional CSA models, where the customer buys a share in the harvest before the season starts. But like a traditional CSA,  Jesse's customers are aware of what he intends to plant early in the year, and the actual produce that is delivered depends on the season and the success of the crop. The users of the service are participating in the risk of agriculture; if there is a bad weather season, or a pest infestation of a certain crop, the harvest – and the food box – suffer. Equally, in a good year, there is extra for all.

Are the patterned openings to these storm sewer grates trying to tell us something? Some people look at them and see an odd jumble, others think a man's necktie is being evoked for some strange reason, and still others see a fish in the middle of the pattern right away. Of course, once the fish is pointed out, most people will see it that way from then on. Then the next mystery is why? Again, it's a head-scratcher for some, while some intuit the reason right away. The fish symbol alerts us to the fact that however murky the flow of water below us might look through these grates, the ultimate point of outflow is directly into our rivers, either the Ottawa or the Rideau. So the symbol is trying to tell us something. But does the City of Ottawa itself ever explain the meaning of its lovely fish grates?