Earth Day – Sustainability Spotlight!
2023 / 04 / 21“Earth Day is an annual celebration that honours the achievements of the environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations.” – The National Geographic. The vendors at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market celebrate Earth Day by selling eco-friendly items and/or finding sustainable ways to sell these products. Read below how they strive to help the environment!
Darren at The Market General Store sells a variety of eco-friendly items. These include Swedish dish towels, reusable tea towels, dryer balls (much more eco-friendly, and have carbon positive impacts), and glass storage jars to reduce the use of plastics.
May’s Thai Kitchen sells her special Jeow Bong sauce in reusable jars. Once you are done with the jars, you can reuse them to store other food items, or store leftovers. You can also use these jars to grow small herbs including parsley, lavender, sage, thyme, cilantro, basil, and rosemary. These reusable jars eliminate the need for single-use plastic containers, and therefore, are a more sustainable option.
Hamilton Farmers’ Market’s only pet store sells Compostable Poop Bags, they source dog treats from local suppliers, and their most sustainable effort is their salmon treats that they have made in the market from trimmings from a fellow vendor that previously would have been wasted.
At Apothecary Kitchen Earth Day is Every Day. Prior to starting this business, Kristy had been a “zero-waster” for several years, and she designed the business to be low waste from the ground up. That’s why their slogan is “More Taste. Less Waste. Plant-based.” Their Meals that Heal aren’t here just to improve human health, we’re trying to heal Mother Nature as well and make it easy for others to contribute.
All of their grocery items are sold in Bernardin canning jars, which they lovingly buy back from customers. All jars are washed, sterilized and reused within 3-4 days of being returned to our kitchen.
Their samples are all offered in reusable shot glasses, rather than single use containers.
On the restaurant side of her business, Kristy offers zero-waste dining for her dine-in guests by using real plates and cutlery. They take-away food items are served with compostable packaging, napkins and cutlery.
In the retail area, Apothecary Kitchen carries sustainable brands who are doing their part for the planet too, including u10sils (a reusable cutlery brand) and Rather Green (who specialize in making high quality, canvas shopping bags which will stand the test of time.) They offer customers extra incentives (25 cents and 1 dollar, respectively) for bringing reusables with them each time to shop with Apothecary Kitchen.
In addition to all of the above, our entire menu is fully plant-based. A person who consumes a plant-based diet produces 50% less carbon emissions, and significantly reduces their consumption of oil, water and land. To mitigate food waste, they use all of their vegetable scraps to produce their Berkey Based Healing Broth (the base of all of Kristy’s soups and stews), and they make a “fridge clean up soup” to donate to the Hub whenever they can to support the houseless neighbours.
District 6 at The Market: District 6 is a friendly group of gardeners who believe in sustainable and responsible gardening. They will be at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market on Saturday, April 22nd from 8 AM – 4PM. They will be promoting 22 different horticulture societies, and presenting at the York Boulevard entrance. Some of the societies being represented include: Action Horticultural Society, Ancaster Horticultural Society, Burlington Horticultural Society, Glen Morris Horticultural Society, and many more. All 22 societies maintain gardens in their own communities to spread the love of gardening. Their main goal is to bring back the bugs. There are many bugs and plants native to their region that are in need of growth.
Fact: A decline in bug population is a decline in bird population!
Want to know more? Please Visit District 6 at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market from 8 AM – 4 PM.
Happy Earth Day!