It's the peak of summer and local fruits and vegetables are cropping up everywhere, and La Coalition des Marchés de Quartiers has a handy interactive map tool to help locate the nearest Public Market.

Even big box grocery stores proudly label produce as "grown in Quebec", but there are all kinds of (generally less expensive or of better quality since they don't sit in distribution warehouses as long) places to purchase your melons, tomatoes, and summer squash including Farmer's Markets and Public Markets, which are not exactly the same thing.

When I stumbled across a long table selling vegetables at very reasonable prices in the park next to the AMC Forum on Atwater a few Fridays ago, I thought I'd discovered a new farmers market. But it's actually a "public market", meaning it's more about serving the community and offering low prices and accessibility to fresh produce. It was mostly local, with some imported products because those fruits and veggies either weren't in season or you just can't get them here (bananas, pineapples).

The organization at the Atwater public market was called Tera Ter, and they have several markets in the Southwest of Montreal where they sell fresh fruits and vegetables weekly. At this particular one, they pair up Sweet Lee's Bakery (one of my favourite bakeries in the city who are set to open their own store front in a few weeks in St-Henri but still sell at various markets and cafés in the city) who were selling their muffins, brownies, tarts, cookies, and savoury scones at a table across the park path.

I tried to get in touch with Tera Ter to find out more about their organization, but it was Ana Marinescu of Urbana Marketing who responded to my inquiries. She works for La Coalition des Marchés de Quartiers, and was happy to speak with me about the public market initiatives in Montreal, including Tera Ter, as well as the interactive website and social media being used to help Montrealers locate their nearest public markets. The online map shows weekly markets, (from the organic Outremont market, to the Marché Citoyen in Little Burgundy, to Atwater Market, and even includes special markets that set up for only a weekend or a specific event, such as the Pointe-à-Callière market the weekend of August 27-28.

The map even often describes what's sold at each location, by whom, and what activities are upcoming - cooking demos, and family-friendly or community events.

Here's an interview I did with Ana about the city's public markets and the Coalition des Marchés de Quartiers initiative:

For more info check out the Marchés de Quartier Facebook page and follow them on Twitter