‘People want to know where their food comes from’: Meet the farmers growing Toronto’s most exciting produce

Sept. 21, 2024 - Originally reported by Max Richler for the Toronto Star. This post highlights the Green & Bloom Farm portion of the original feature.

Toronto’s farmers’ markets are filled with chefs browsing for inspiration and home cooks picking up something for dinner. Six of the most popular growers share the joys and challenges of farm life.

Shea Wijeyeratne (left) and Natalie Pignetti of Green and Bloom Farm at The Stop Farmers’ Market at Wychwood Barns.

Nick Lachance/Toronto Star

The Power Couple

Shea Wijeyeratne and Natalie Pignetti, Green and Bloom Farms

Shea Wijeyeratne is known for experimenting with rarer seeds at Green and Bloom Farms, growing products like chijimisai (leafy Japanese brassica), Tokyo bekana (a hybrid of lettuce and napa cabbage), and kajari melons (honeye orange and green Punjabi melon). The distinctive produce has caught the attention of some of Toronto’s most creative chefs: Hoon Ji and Min Yi of Mhel come “every week without fail for their produce,” said Wijeyeratne. “When chefs come around to buy our stuff, like Hoon and Min, it’s validating for our unusual products.”

This season is Wijeyeratne and his partner Natalie Pignetti’s first on their own land, in Amaranth, Ont. “Of the past five years of farming, this has been the sweetest,” said Wijeyeratne. The land they live on is now tethered to their livelihood, which is both humbling and daunting, and has renewed their sense of purpose. “It has forced us to take pride and not cut corners. We are more self-dependent now than ever.”

While Wijeyeratne focuses on produce, Pignetti specializes in growing Canadian varieties of cut flowers. She plants both annuals and perennials on their property, capturing the fleeting moments of Ontario’s growing season for market regulars in her floral arrangements of dahlias, snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias and cosmos. “Sharing the beauty and the joy and the smiles with everyone is a huge reason why I continue to do what I do,” said Pignetti. It’s a point of pride that flowers can be local, too. “More people want to know where their food is coming from; why not their flowers?”

Whatever they’re growing, freshness is paramount. “Locality is the best indicator of quality,” said Wijeyeratne. “Something that has travelled the least will have the most life in it.”

Where to eat it: At Mhel’s (276 Havelock St.), try Green and Bloom’s Tokyo bekana prepared Ohitashi style: blanched and marinated in dashi, sauced with sumiso (miso, vinegar and sugar).