May. Tomorrow. It’s Only a Day Away
It was almost appropriate that April 30 would be chilly, breezy, cloudy and showery, because — with the exception of last weekend’s all-too-brief warm spell — most of April was chilly, breezy, cloudy and showery. It was opening day for Lincoln Park Farmers Market’s 41st season, and Market Manager Elsa Jacobson (with a corgi photobomb) is bundled against the elements.
But as the old saying goes, April showers bring May flowers, and my latest contribution to the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois Directory focuses on Flora Bay Farm, a flower farm in Carbondale. The blurb below describes why the planting and harvesting calendar is different for flower farms, and there is a link to the full story.
Following that is my travelogue of the wrapup of Green City Market’s five-week April head start, with my market haul and (of course) Dogs of the Farmers Market.
Flora Bay: Mother’s Day Meets Mother Earth
The clock runs faster for flower growers in May. While most farmers are just getting their seeds in the ground, Courtney Smith of Flora Bay Farm near Carbondale, Illinois watches nervously hoping that her early flowers bloom in time for annual May events — Mother’s Day, college graduation, weddings — that are crucial to her bottom line.
Read about Courtney, who combines an artist’s eye for beauty with her love of nature, in the latest installment of Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois’ series of farmer stories. If you are a farmer/producer/seller, make sure to claim your free listing in the BFBL Directory; if you are a consumer, use the directory to find Illinois farmers who share your values.
The Kind of Day When Farmers Need You Most
Neither chill nor clouds nor threat of rain will stay local food devotees from their appointed farmers market rounds. Sure isn’t a pretty day, but that fresh local food tastes just as good as on a sunny, warm day.
Here’s my Green City Market haul:
From the lower left, a 50% rye sourdough and a berries and cheese danish from pHlour bakery (Chicago); ground pork from Avrom Farm (Ripon, Wisconsin); two bunches of ramps, one from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan) and the other from Froggy Meadow Farm (Beloit, Wisconsin); pretzel bagels from Flat & Point (Chicago); first of the season English cucumber and kale from Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois); cremini mushrooms from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin); sweet potatoes from Jacobson Family Farms (Antioch, Illinois); apples from Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan); and chorizo from Finn’s Ranch (Buchanan, Michigan).
It’s a transitional table at the Ellis Family Farms stand, with last fall’s storage apples sharing space with the early spring ramps. That’s René Ellis Gelder on the right.
Lots of leafy green variety from Nichols Farm and Orchard.
And Dogs of the Farmers Market. The first pooch has the determined expression of a dog on a mission.
Happy weekend, everybody!