Farmers are coming to your neighborhood
PRODUCE TIME | Market days; make sure you don't miss them
The weather finally has turned. My sweaters are in storage. And the Green City Market is open for the summer season.
And now, a confession: I rarely go to the market. It runs on Wednesdays, when I am at work downtown, and on Saturdays, when I try to avoid Lincoln Park traffic gridlock.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
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Farmers market opens
Indeed, I'm always a little bitter about this. But this year, while I'm on maternity leave, I vow not to miss out.
If you've never been to the market at the south end of Lincoln Park, go. Now. (For our guide to all of the Chicago area farmers markets, turn inside.)
It is a community unto itself, a bustling, happy place where farmers offer you bites of peaches dripping with juice, where dairy vendors wax poetic about their cows, where you might discover you actually like Swiss chard. You'll spot chefs doing cooking demonstrations and musicians strumming guitars.
It may sound hippy-dippy, but even if "sustainable" and "locavore" aren't in your vocabulary, who can argue with a perfectly ripe, truly red strawberry?
My alternative in recent years has been the Thursday farmers market at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington, a brisk 10-minute walk from the office. There are fewer vendors, and the vibe is different than at Green City, with workers on their lunch hour, many of whom seem more into getting a little sun than perusing baby arugula.
But the market works for me. I need my produce fix, especially in the summer. And I'd much rather talk to the farmer who grew the imperfectly shaped but juicy tomatoes than bag a bunch of waxy, tasteless ones at my supermarket.
I make a beeline to the Nichols Farm stand, where the chatty vendors are always eager to tell you just how sweet the corn is that day. They're an honest bunch. A few times, they've steered me away from the corn because it was puny and just not great.
One worker always cuts me a slice out of every type of apple they offer. (The Marengo farm is big on apples, carrying dozens of varieties at their peak.) Sometimes, he suggests his favorite way of cooking rapini or whatever leafy green I am eyeing that day. The simpler, the better.
It never fails to amaze me how much $10 gets me on each visit. It has become a Thursday ritual I am proud of.
My ritual will change this summer, but maybe for the better. Though I will have my hands full with stroller in tow, I also will have my Wednesdays to shop the Green City Market, which has mostly eluded me until now.
Nichols Farm runs a stand there, but there are a number of others I'm curious to check out. I don't plan on wasting one minute. Besides, those peaches won't be around forever.
Enjoy your summer. See you at the market.
For more on Green City Market, which turns 10 this year, go to www.chicagogreencitymarket.org.