Farmers Market Trekker

Glen Ellyn Farmer’s Market . Glen Ellyn, IL

2005-07-29T17:37:00.000-05:00

Glen Ellyn Farmer’s Market . Glen Ellyn, IL
The Glen Ellyn Farmer’s Market is held on Friday mornings in a downtown parking lot a few blocks south of the train station. There are several produce vendors, a couple of flower vendors and miscellaneous other stands from honey to jewelry.

Strefling and Girls Produce
I purchased beautiful peaches and some yellow squash from Strefling and Girls Produce.

I have seen this Galien, MI farm at other farmer’s markets in the area. Their tasty peaches will be great on the grill.

D & H Farms
D & H Farms from Benton Harbor, MI had a wide variety of produce available. The variety names of each fruit and vegetable were labeled at the end of each row.

The Early Gold Plums looked and smelled wonderful so I bought them along with some very sweet blackberries. The colors and flavors will work well together in a fruit tart.

Hahn’s Bakery
There was a bakery stand in the center of the market, which had some scones on display that seemed familiar to me. Sure enough, Hahn’s Bakery from Geneva, Il was there selling breads and other baked goods. I could not leave without a scone for the way home. Today’s choice: Berry. Delish!

Evanston Farmers Market . Evanston, IL

2005-07-09T17:18:00.000-05:00

Evanston Farmers Market . Evanston, IL
I went to the The Evanston Farmers Market this weekend and I paid $1.50 for a bunch of weeds!
Yes, weeds!

Kinnikinnick Farm
One of the first booths I stopped at was the, Kinnikinnick Farm of Caledonia, IL. They had an array of greens out. One bunch looked a lot like some weeds I have growing in my back yard. This bunch of weeds was called “wild Purslane”. Not sure if I wanted to eat weeds so I chose a generous bunch of spearmint ($1.50) instead, for this summer tea I’ve been making, inspired by a Moroccan restaurant I went to a few weeks back.

This market is brimming with people and booths. There are over thirty booths here. Several booths offer organic and transitional organic produce in addition to conventional fruits and vegetables. There are also booths for flowers, breads, cheeses, relishes, and meat.

The market is right next to a large parking garage for the shopping district in Evanston so it is very easy to park and shop this market. We cycled to the market. This market could use some bike racks but we found parking meters to lock the bike to, as did the others who cycled to the market.

The atmosphere is great. There are several musicians playing throughout the market. We listened to an accordion player, a guitarist, and a harp player this morning.

Huntington Orchards
I’d just been reading that melons are chock full of B vitamins and good for nourishing your skin…I was therefore drawn to pick up a few cantaloupe melons at the Huntington Orchards stand. They were handing out samples and it was easy to be drawn into to the buying persuasion of the tasty tidbit. I bought two. ($3 ea.)

Green Acres
Green Acres is a transitional organic farm…meaning they are moving from conventional farm practices with pesticide usage to an organic farm with organic practices and no pesticide use.

The booth for the Green Acres Farm of North Judson, IN was filled with a large variety of greens and other vegetables. I picked up a bag of Spigeriello ($2.50). I have not eaten this type of green before. It has a small leaf with the thickness of kale.

Henry’s Farm
The next booth I stopped at was the Henry’s Farm booth. They are an organic farm in Congerville, IL specializing in produce of heirloom and Asian varieties. I definitely had to try something new here, so we picked up a bunch of Yu Mai Tsai – a Chinese lettuce. ($2)

There was a sign at the Henry’s farm booth for “Wild Purslane” The sign said it was extremely high in omega 3’s. Unfortunately they were already out of their wild purslane.
So, I went back to the Kinnikinnick booth and picked up a bunch. A green, high in omega 3’s? This will be interesting. I tasted it and it tastes a bit like wheat grass. Very chlorophyll – ey ( to coin a word).

J. W. Morlock & Girls Fruit Farm
The berries at the J. W. Morlock & Girls Fruit Farm of MI were simply irresistible. They offered samples of their sweet cherries and their raspberries – both were delicious. I opted for the raspberries – red and black. The tough part was deciding how many pints to get. I settled on 4 pints ($14) – since I didn’t have too much room in the panniers of my bike. I would have liked to have taken a whole flat of berries but I saw no way of getting them home by bike. (any suggestions?) I’ll have to figure that one out for next time. As it is the panniers of the bike are filled to capacity.

P.S. After looking up “Wild Purslane” in my Peterson Field Guide of Edible Wild Plants, I found out that wild purslane can be used fresh in salads or it can be boiled for 10 minutes for a cooked green. The stems can be pickled and the seeds can be made into a flour.

Searching a bit further in other resources…wild purslane is a weed that is a nuisance to farmers and one way of dealing with it is to raise it as a food crop, thus - weeds for sale.
It is rich in iron, Vitamins A & C, calcium, phosphorus, and yes, it contains Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) an essential fatty acid, part of the omega-3 fatty acids. Excellent!

Olde Schaumburg Centre Farmers Market . Schaumburg, IL

2005-07-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

Olde Schaumburg Centre Farmers Market . Schaumburg, IL
The Olde Schaumburg Centre Farmers Market is just off of Roselle Road in the Town Square Shopping center’s parking lot. It is a great location for a market. You can see it as you drive by and you will see it as you are shopping in the town Square Center. I arrived at high noon and it was HOT on this summer day. The vendors were wilting a bit under their tents but the produce looked great.

There are twenty-five booths at this market – representing a wide variety of items. From breads, scones and other baked sweets, to pickles, relishes, fruit jams and preserves, soaps, flowers and herbs, to lemonade… and you can even get your knives sharpened at Tony’s Sharpening stand.

Skibbe Farms
I was glad to see cherries were still in season so I went over to the booth of Skibbe Farms, Eau Claire, WI and picked up a carton of dark red sweet cherries ($3). They are as good as they look. Very sweet and juicy.

R & B Miller Farms
Nearby at another booth, R & B Miller Farms of Coloma, MI also had dark red cherries available but in addition, they also carried a variety of jams and preserves made from the fruits of their farm (peach, blackberry, apple butter, etc.). I scooped up a jar of their Sweet Cherry Jam ($2.50)

Michael Paul’s White Star Gourmet Foods
To end my scone cravings I stopped by the White Star Gourmet Foods booth. There were a variety of scones to choose from. I chose a mango scone ($1.50). It was generous in size, slightly crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. Excellent. In addition to the scones, Paul Quillen had out samples of his unique “no cream – cream soups” and his “finishing sauces” for meats.

Nichols Farm
The booth for Nichols Farm & Orchard of Marengo, IL is large, and it offered up a very wide variety of vegetables and fruits.

The berry table caught my eye. Especially the ones called Jostaberries” .

jostaberries (R. nidigrolaria)

The Nichols farm guy told me it is like a gooseberry. It’s a cross between a gooseberry and a black currant, and it sounded intriguing so I picked up a 1/2 pint ($3), and then picked up a 1/2 pint of the irresistible gooseberries ($3) and a pint of the currants ($3). I love berries. These taste great, nice and tangy. They will make great tarts.

gooseberries (R. grossularia)

The French Market, Geneva IL.

2005-06-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

The French Market at Geneva, IL
Geneva French Market is conveniently located in a parking lot next to the train station. This market is a bit different from other farmers markets. It is more like an open air shopping area. This market offers a wide range of products not just seasonal produce. You can find products ranging from vegetables, fruits, and flowers to toys, books, linens and soaps.

It is run by Bensidoun USA Public Market Managers and developers. They run public markets in France and the USA.

Today I picked up wonderful asparagus for dinner and some fresh baked scones (cranberry, cinnamon chip) from the Hahn’s bakery stand to enjoy on the way home.

St. Charles, IL Farmers Market Opening

2005-06-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

St. Charles Farmers Market at Baker Memorial Church
I stopped by at the opening of the Farmers Market here in St. Charles, IL.
The market is about a city block wide. There are a wide variety of vendors here. You can get fruits vegetables, dairy products, breads, flowers meats, etc.
It truly is a one stop shopping place for seasonal produce.

Timber Creek Farms
Today I stopped by the Timber Creek Farms booth. They were serving up organic beefburgers ($3). Timber Creek Farms is an organic produce delivery service out of Yorkville, IL. They have been delivering organic produce to their customers for over a decade. They were handing out pints of organic milk for free. Very fresh tasting.

Ragamuffin Coffeehouse
The Timber Creek Milk was great with the muffin I purchased from the booth run by a local coffeehouse called Ragamuffin Coffeehouse.

Farm Direct Black Angus
In addition to the organic beef burgers at the Timber Creek Farms booth, beef lovers can find other beef vendors here. You can get beef from Farm Direct Black Angus where you can place an order for a whole, half, or quarter of a beef. The beef you order goes from their farm to the processor and then to your freezer. Very handy if you like beef.

Roseland Organic Farms
Roseland Organic Farmsprovides certified organic beef - certified by Indiana Certified Organic (ICO). You can buy various cuts of beef, or order a half or quarter beef for your freezer.

The Summer Season Begins at Green City Market - Chicago, IL!

2005-06-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

The Green City Market
A beautiful day to begin the summer season for farmers markets. To start my trekking I stopped at one of my favorite markets – the Green City Market just north of LaSalle Street between Clark St. and Stockton Drive. in Lincoln Park Chicago, IL.

The place is bustling with activity. It is filled with local, sustainable and organic produce vendors. There are so many wonderful stands here. You can purchase produce to bring home or you can buy a tasty snack to eat on the spot. Local Chefs prepare all kinds of delicious specialties on the Wednesdays and Saturdays that the market is open. This place is one of my regular stops. It has a very vibrant atmosphere. There is always something new to try here.

Growing Home
Today I stopped at the Growing Home booth to pick up some organic Russian Red Kale.I’ve never tried that before and it looked fresh, crisp and inviting. Many people cook Kale but I like it fresh, prepared as a salad.

Growing Home is not only an organic farm. It is actually a non-profit agriculture business that provides job training and employment opportunities for homeless and low-income people in Chicago through their organic agriculture business. So, your purchase at their stand not only satisfies your desire for organic produce, you also help to move someone from homelessness to employment and then to a future job and self-suffiency.

Sweet Beginnings
There is another good stand here – along the same line - that I stopped at to see what was new. It’s the Sweet Beginnings stand. They make local honey. It’s good honey and I’m surprised to see that this year they have really expanded on their product offerings. Last year it was honey. This year they have lip balm, candles, and other items all made from the honey and bees wax produced from their apiaries. I picked up a lip balm in a small tin bin. ($3).

Sweet Beginnings is unique. It is a partnership by the North Lawndale Employment Network to produce chemical-free honey and honey related products. The North Lawndale neighborhood can be a tough place to live. The North Lawndale Employment Network helps to transform vacant and neglected land into gardens and apiaries to help train and employ community residents.

Sweet Beginnings currently has about 40 beehives at their Filmore Street location. These city bees make good honey!

Traders Point Creamery
Next, I wanted a snack. Walking around the many stands can stir up an appetite. I wanted to try something new so I walked over to the Traderspoint Creamery booth and tasted their organic drinkable yogurts. I found out, via their information sheet, they are currently Indiana’s only producer of organic milk. Their cows are grass fed. Their milk is organic, free of synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. The drinkable yogurt I picked up today was Wild Berry ($5 bottle). It’s very thick, creamy, and like a good berry smoothie, and it’s in a glass bottle. I like that.

Red Hen Bakery
I also made a stop at one of my favorite booths the Red Hen Bakery booth. The have a nice variety of breads. I’m particularly hooked on their scones, so today I munched down one of their organic pumpkin cranberry scones ($3.50). Delicious.

Sandhill Organics
And…On my way out of the market I was drawn to the beautiful flowers at the Sandhill Organics booth. Sandhill is part of the Prairie Crossing conservation community in Grayslake, IL. The flowers I couldn’t resist today were the Primrose ($4), very bright and cheery.