On the first Sunday of last month, a group of farmers set up a little market near the football stadium six blocks from my house. I ambled down after breakfast and came away staggering under the weight of packages containing bison sausages, fresh farm eggs, ripe strawberries, bunches of lettuce, and early tomatoes and potatoes.
Ottawa lies at the confluence of three major river systems - the Rideau and the Gatineau empty into the mighty Ottawa River here - and the rich soils of the river valleys support an intensive and diverse farming industry. So summer is the season to be eating food fresh from the fields that lie just outside city limits.
There are already two markets in the city that feature produce and meats sold from stalls - operated by vendors whom you might think are local farmers. And some of them are.
But many aren't. Several years ago, when the city attempted, by law, to reserve the stalls for farmers selling food they had produced themselves within driving distance of Ottawa, lawsuits were immediately mounted by some vendors. The Charter of Rights was invoked and the city was obliged to back off.
What this means is that now, you have no way of knowing whether the tomatoes you are buying in those markets come from down the road or across the continent.
So, frustrated area farmers decided, with city support, to create a third, true farmers' market within a short walk of my house. That was considerate of them, and I'll return the favour by buying from them at every opportunity.