Berry Good News: 1st Strawberries are In!

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Sweet Season

Thursday was a lot, but I managed to squeeze in a first-of-the-season visit to the late afternoon/evening Lincoln Square Farmers Market in the eponymous Chicago neighborhood. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made this week because… strawberries! Thank you, Los Rodriguez Farm (Eau Claire, Michigan), for making my week sweeter.

Before I go on, this is a heads-up to you berry lovers out there. Because the weather has been steadily good, there is no reason why there shouldn’t be strawberries somewhere out there this weekend — with two caveats. One is that it’s very possible that not every grower will have them to market yet. The other is that the vendors who have strawberries may not have a ton of them, so if you want ‘em, get ‘em early.

This is one of the earliest strawberry debuts since we moved to Chicago in 2011 and started keeping track the following year. I checked my photo archives and the first strawberries I bought last year were on May 23 (interestingly, also at Lincoln Square, but from a different vendor.)

Los Rodriguez Farm also had these beautiful heirloom hothouse tomatoes. For most of my life, hothouse tomatoes were decidely meh, but that has changed a lot over the past few years. I never thought I’d look forward to buying tomatoes in May.

Meanwhile, asparagus, annually the first major crop in Chicago area markets, is still going strong at the stands of Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan).

This year’s Tuesday and Thursday Lincoln Square Farmers Market sessions are in a parking lot located at 4513 N. Lincoln Ave. This is a shift from its traditional location hard by the Western Brown Line L Station, where construction work will be going on during the market season.

We can’t emphasize this enough: It is now near-universal practice for farmers markets to accept payment in the form of food assistance benefits from Illinois’ Link program and the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Farmers markets are thus performing a major role in increasing access to fresh, healthy, sustainably produced local food for individuals and families facing food insecurity.

My small haul: Black sourdough rye from Dorothy’s Bistro in Chicago (I’ve become very fond of their breads); asparagus from Mick Klug Farms; and strawberries and hothouse heirloom tomatoes from Los Rodriguez Farm.

My next market visit, to Saturday’s South Loop Farmers Market at Printers Row, will be a first. While I’ve attended their Thursday evening markets in previous years and made one stop at their indoor market this past winter, I have not yet been to the Saturday South Loop Market. I’m looking forward to fixing that oversight.

Bob’s World, and Welcome to It: Flora in the Parks

Today rounds out our photo travelogue of the natural beauty around North Pond in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. After three days of fauna — ducklings, goslings, squirrels and turtles — here’s some pretty flora to start your weekend.

Sounds like beautiful weather coming, so enjoy Chicago’s natural environment — and get to a market to support your local farmers!