A New Chicago Market, Down by the Riverside
Plus Three Sisters Garden corn is here, right on your doorstep
Introducing The Market by the River
I try not to miss much on the farmers market front, but a brand-new market opening in downtown Chicago slipped right past me last Friday.
The Market by the River — located at 333 W. Wolf Point Plaza from 3-7 p.m. every Friday through October 20 — is presented by the Greater River North Business Association, which describes it as the first farmers market in the River North neighborhood.
If you are not familiar with Wolf Point, it has a major place in Chicago’s history. Located at the confluence of the Chicago River’s Main, North and South branches, it was the site of one of the city’s first white settlements about 200 years ago. Long an industrial area, Wolf Point became under-utilized until just about 10 years ago, when the construction of its first skyscrapers signaled the rise of a city within the city.
I’m a little jealous because I worked for FamilyFarmed just a few blocks from the market site from January 2016 to March 2020, when the pandemic shutdowns signaled my permanent work-from-home lifestyle. i’m still fond of the neighborhood and I’m sure I’ll be dropping by the market from time to time.
Three Sisters Garden’s Farm-to-Home Corn
Farmer Tracey Vowell has always grown a wide variety of beautiful produce at her Three Sisters Garden in Kankakee, Illinois. It was her sweet corn, though, that became one of the most anxiously awaited crops during her long tenure as a vendor at Chicago’s Green City Market, and it helped her build a clientele that largely remained loyal after Tracey, prompted by the market shutdowns early in the COVID pandemic, pivoted permanently to a home-delivery-only model.
I am one of those loyal customers and yesterday (July 26) I received my year’s first delivery of Three Sisters Garden corn. I haven’t sampled it yet but history strongly suggests that I’m in for a treat.
I thought the corn needed some company for the trip north, so I also ordered carrots (with greens), cherry tomatoes, and both lemon verbena and sorrel, which I’ve already converted into herbal teas.
Three Sisters Garden delivers in the Chicago area on Wednesday (with an ordering cutoff of midnight Monday) and Saturday (orders must be in by midnight Thursday). Click the button below to learn more and to place an order.
I also made a quick stop at Green City’s Wednesday market in Lincoln Park with its easy-going atmosphere contrasting with the huge crowds that show up for its Saturday morning markets.
The splashes of eat-the-rainbow colors during the peak summer season make for beautiful still lifes, such as this one at the stand of Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan).
We are pretty well-stocked, so my market haul was pretty light: from left, two tofu salads and a tofu scramble from Phoenix Bean (Chicago), cherry tomatoes and blueberries from Mick Klug Farm, eggs from Finn’s Ranch (Buchanan, Michigan) and purple carrots from Kankakee Valley Homestead (Walkerton, Indiana).
I had to high-tail it home for a Zoom meeting, which turned fortunate as I missed yet another episode of our July monsoon season. We’ve had much worse storms, but the presence of lightning in the area prompted a rare evacuation at Green City Market (though they were able to resume operations for their last couple of hours after the storm passed).
The weekend farmers market schedule is below so you can make your own local food shopping plans, but first, get ready to say “Awwww!”
Such a Teeny Thing
I’d noticed this little baby bunny in glances during previous walks down Hawthorne Terrace, but this was the first time it let me get this close.