Monday, June 25, 2007

long overdue

brickworks colour

So yes, we did go to the Brick Works, some time ago, and I still haven't blogged about it. For one thing, I shot a lot of photos and wanted to spend some time editing them before I blogged. But for another, frankly, I was disappointed. The farmer's market really was local, but the problem with a local-only farmer's market in June is that there's really only strawberries (but yum -- organic strawberries!), wild leeks (which a vendor had made into pesto and which we didn't buy), and other greens. There was also a fair-trade, organic coffee vendor and some organic bakeries, but really, the selection was pretty limited. Not worth the trip to TO in itself, I'm afraid.

However, the native plant selection WAS good; they even sold shrubs and trees. But I'm not ready to buy shrubs and trees, so I only wanted herbaceous plants, and they pretty much only had species I already have. But that's also ok, because we planned to go downtown after the market and I wasn't sure how plants, or any other produce, would fair in a hot car.

The Brick Works is a really cool site and had lots of crumbling bricks, broken windows and graffiti -- although sadly, the graffiti was mostly in a fenced-off area that I guess hasn't been restored to safety yet. Bottom line? A cool place to go if you live in TO and you don't actually want to do your grocery shopping.

broken-window

Afterwards, we wandered around Chinatown and along Dundas and had a nice afternoon.

central-hotel

I've taken a break from blogging to work on all the photos I've been shooting. I will post more soon.

ocad-156

7 comments:

Christine said...

Great photos. i love the last one. All that red.

The Brick Works sounds so cool from your account as well as Sage's.

Aliki2006 said...

I also LOVE that last one--so much red!

niobe said...

Succumbing to peer pressure and voting for the last one. (actually, even before I saw the comments, I was going to say I love the color and the composition)

karengreeners said...

I have to admit that we felt the same way about the brickworks. It's very close to where we live, so we keep going back, but it hasn't gotten any better (read, bigger). We just eat some yummy bread and go for a walk along the paths - those are great.

So are the photos - made me feel like I didn't even know my own city.

NotSoSage said...

The local market near us is starting to get a little better, but yes, when we went the pickings were a little slim. I thought they had some neat activities for the kids at the Brick Works, though, and it's the potential I'm excited about more so than what's there right now. Sooo excited about the nursery in a few years.

I'm sorry that you were disappointed. I love the Chinatown photo. I feel as though I know the exact spot.

Beck said...

Beautiful photos.
The reality of what can grow in Northern Ontario is what makes me roll my eyes at the recent local-foods movement, although I DO eat very locally - but we'd starve to death much of the year, thanks to the extreme limitations of when things can grow.

S said...

I love the second photo. I'm all alone here. But that's OK. I won't bow to peer pressure. ;)