 When you hand a vendor a $20 bill at the Horton Farmers’ Market, it can be easy to think of the transaction as simply a purchase. You get something fresh, local, and delicious, and the vendor gets to make a sale - but that $20 does more than buy a basket of tomatoes, a loaf of bread, and some sweet treats for the weekend. It becomes part of a much bigger local food economy - one that connects farmers, food producers, small businesses, and the community around them.
One of the biggest differences between shopping at the farmers’ market and shopping through a traditional retail chain is the direct connection between the person buying the food and the person who grew or made it. There is often no large chain of middlemen between the producer and the customer. Selling directly allows farmers to keep more of the revenue from each sale, while also giving them immediate payment and a chance to learn directly from their customers (Ontario Federation of Agriculture, 2025).
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 There’s something extra special about pulling a warm, homemade treat out of the oven - especially when you're the one who made it. For Emelya Dore of The Golden Pantry, that feeling inspired a business built around making gluten friendly baking a little easier, more accessible, and (of course) delicious. Established during the summer of 2025, The Golden Pantry brings gluten friendly, ready-made baking mixes to the Horton Farmers' Market and other local St. Thomas, Elgin County, and surrounding area markets.
 For Rachell Samaroo Henry, a love of ice cream has always been about more than simply enjoying a sweet treat. It is about flavour, quality, memories, and most importantly, bringing people together. That passion is at the heart of Samaroo Sweets, a local business established in May 2025 that specializes in handcrafted ice cream and desserts, with a particular focus on ice cream cookie sandwiches.
Rachell’s approach to dessert is rooted in the belief that everyone deserves a sweet treat without having to sacrifice flavour or quality. As someone who grew up loving ice cream and desserts, she wanted to create treats that felt just as indulgent while taking a more natural approach to sweetness. Rachell explained, “Growing up I always loved ice cream and all desserts, but as I got older, my favorite treats began to not align with my health goals.” Today, Samaroo Sweets uses ingredients sourced from local and surrounding businesses whenever possible, including milk from Walkers Dairy Inc. and fruit from nearby farms. Honey and maple syrup sourced from farms in and around the St. Thomas area is also used as natural sweeteners in many of her ice cream recipes.  There is something special about becoming a regular at the farmers’ market. At first, you might come for fresh produce, a favourite baked good, or simply because you have a Saturday morning free. After a number of visits, the market can become something more. A place where you know the faces, recognize the routines, and look forward to seeing what each week brings.
For one Horton Farmers’ Market regular, that sense of community is what keeps her coming back. She has been visiting Horton for 10 years, and her favourite part is seeing what changes from week to week. After a decade of Saturday mornings, she looks forward to seeing the people she has come to know along the way.  Miranda Scott of Good Bones Jewelry has always felt connected to creating and personalizing jewelry, going back to when she was a young teenager. "I think I was maybe twelve or thirteen when I started ripping apart necklaces I owned to rearrange [them] or add beads," she said with a smile. "I remember using tiny locks, keys, and hardware to make big, clunky punk necklaces I'd wear to high school as a protest against uniforms we had to wear." For Miranda, jewelry is all about conveying your personality - just like how clothing can be created, styled, and altered to express your individuality and interests. "Jewelry draws me in, it lets me be artistic in a very physical way," Miranda explained. "It keeps my mind sharp because there's always new techniques to learn and try out."
Flash forward to 2026, and Miranda has now been designing and crafting jewelry as a professional goldsmith for over fifteen years. Female and disability owned, her business Good Bones Jewelry is a bespoke fine jewelry studio and workshop based right here in St. Thomas, where Miranda designs, creates, and repairs pieces, while also running and teaching jewelry making workshops.  Have you ever stopped to think about how far your food has travelled before it landed on your plate?
Some foods naturally have to travel long distances, we’re not growing bananas in Ontario anytime soon, but many of the fruits, vegetables, meats, honey, baked goods, and preserves we eat every week are grown much closer to home than we realize. In a place like Elgin County, surrounded by productive farmland, “local” isn’t just a trendy label - it is a reality that’s growing just down the road.  When you stop by the Harmony Acres booth at the Horton Farmers’ Market, you’re not just buying fresh vegetables or a beautiful bouquet of flowers. You’re supporting a family that has spent more than a decade growing healthy food, working together, and sharing the rewards of agriculture with their community. Harmony Acres Family Produce is owned by Issak and Fannie Wall, who began market gardening in 2013. While the term ‘market gardening’ might not be familiar to everyone, it’s a style of farming that’s perfectly suited for farmers’ markets.
 Behind every homemade pie, jar of preserves, savory pastry, fresh vegetable and fruit, and seasonal creation at Haven is a story rooted in family, fresh ingredients, and a lifelong love of cooking.
Skye Ellis may be newer to farming, but she’s spent much of her career in the kitchen. Before moving to Norfolk County, she worked as a professional cook in Toronto, building experience in restaurants, hotels, catering, and weddings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her partner made the move to her parents’ farm, where she now combines her culinary background with the adventure of growing food. Skye's parents purchased the farm nearly 20 years ago after moving from Hamilton to pursue their dream of farming. As they got older, Skye returned to spend more time with family and help carry that dream forward. While she jokes that she’s, “still learning the growing part”, her passion for food is evident in everything she creates.  There’s something deeply satisfying about arriving at the market with a list in hand. Tomatoes? Check. Baguette? Check. Honey? Check. Sweet treat? Double check. A market list helps you stay organized, stick to your budget, and remember the ingredients for tonight’s dinner.
But here’s the thing about markets: sometimes the best finds are the ones you never planned for. Unlike grocery stores, the market changes every week. One Saturday you’ll find baskets overflowing with juicy peaches, and the next you’ll discover the first sweet corn of the season. A vendor might bring a new variety of cucumber, or someone may have baked fresh butter tarts that disappear before noon. That’s part of the magic. So yes, bring your list. But don’t make it a contract.  Before children learn to read nutrition labels or understand where their food comes from, they are already forming lifelong habits around the dinner table, in grocery aisles, and at community markets. They notice what their parents reach for, what foods become family traditions, and how meals are talked about at home. That’s why one Saturday morning at the market can shape a child’s relationship with food in ways that last far beyond the season. Unlike a quick trip through a supermarket, a visit to a farmers’ market invites curiosity. Children can watch vendors arrange colourful displays, smell fresh herbs, taste a juicy strawberry picked just a day before, or ask why carrots come in purple, yellow, and orange. Every stall becomes an opportunity for conversation, even if parents don’t realize they’re teaching. A simple answer to “where did these apples come from?” helps children connect food to farms, people, and seasons instead of seeing it as something that simply appears on a shelf.
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