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Transitional Growing Seasons Always Produce Some Surprises
If you are a regular at farmers markets, farmstands and other purveyors of locally produced food, you know that the growing season is actually multiple seasons. These can be generalized as spring, summer and fall produce seasons, but the transitional periods between seasons always provide some interesting overlaps.
We are in one now. Spring produce, which has been tapped out at most farms, is still hanging in there in a few. Witness the above photo, taken at Green City Market in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood today (June 26).
Depending on weather conditions, asparagus — the first major cultivated crop to hit Chicago regional markets — can range from a few weeks to months; this year's bumper crop, which comes mostly from Michigan (the nation's leading asparagus-producing state), is winding down a long season. Strawberries are extremely unpredictable — some years their season is so short, if you blink, you missed it. But to my mind, we're wrapping up the longest strawberry season since I moved to Chicago almost exactly 13 years ago.
Nonetheless, I was surprised when I hit the stand of Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan) and saw the scene above. In fact, Ellis had sent a newsletter last week that said their asparagus was just about kicked. Although I had no plans for either when I headed to Green City, I felt obliged to buy some of each, knowing that it really, truly could be the last chance this year.
On the other hand, those peak-season summer crops keep flooding in, with multiple new items every week.
I got my first black raspberries of the season from Mick Klug Farms (St. Joseph, Michigan). While I love red raspberries, they are very fragile, and even following my own advice to bring hard-sided containers, there are always some that are super-ripe or squished by the time I get them home. Black raspberries, which are also delicious, are sturdier, and my quart got home completely intact, with zero juice on the bottom of the container.
Barring a crop failure that we don't even want to think about, one thing we can always count on in the Chicago foodshed is a profusion of summer squash in multiple varieties. Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois) had zucchini, yellow and pattypan squash. There was also okra, sized jumbo for your gumbo.
Nichols, the largest diversified produce farm in the region, also had some of the first cauliflower of the season.
Smits Farms (Chicago Heights, Illinois) has long been known for its prolific selection of herbs. The bunches today were huge.
So, finally, my market haul. Clockwise from the left, baby Russian kale from Jacobson Family Farms (Antioch, Illinois); lemon balm and oregano from Smits Farms flanking my Ellis asparagus; from Nichols, English shelling peas (winding down their short season); hothouse heirloom tomatoes, and gooseberries (the subject of our next What is It and What Do You Do With It? feature); Ellis strawberries and Mick Klug black raspberries; and cremini mushrooms from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin).
NOTE TO CHICAGO AREA READERS: Yeah, I love showing off the local food I buy, but we're out to build community here and it would be lovely to share photos and insights from other folks. Plus, there are so many farmers markets in the region that I can only get to a few.
If you want to strut your devotion to local food, send me your photos (and your thoughts, if you like), and I will publish them.
NOTE TO NON-CHICAGO AREA READERS: One of the reasons I transitioned from the daily Local Food Forum newsletter format to the website is to expand our geographic reach. I'm sure our mostly Chicago region-based audience would love to see what local food fans are buying from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon and beyond.
Click below to send me an e-mail with your information.
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