From Both Sides Now
Interesting clouds, more market hints of fall, and the week's market schedule
Send In The Clouds. Don’t Bother, They’re Here.
Today we’ll start with a vivid example of how different the weather can be short distances apart in Chicago. Thursday evening — while the skies over the city were mostly clear — these majestic clouds scudded over Lake Michigan and produced a pop-up shower just offshore. Here’s how that tiny weather event looked on weather.com’s radar…
We’ve had a lot of interesting clouds lately. There are more photos below, after this weekend’s in-season news and the week’s Chicago region farmers market schedule.
Among Summer’s Bounty, More Hints of Fall
We are still in the thick of peak summer local food season. Big piles of corn, field tomatoes in an increasing number of varieties, big and juicy melons, and everything else you’d expect to buy as we cherish every day of Chicago’s fleeting summer.
Yet with every visit there seem to be more hints that fall, if not right around the corner, is ambling down the street. A quick trip around Saturday’s Green City Market in Lincoln Park.
As has been the case for decades, Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois) is the champion of our local markets’ uncommon apple varieties. Beyond the hugely popular Honeycrisp in the foreground, they grow and sell varieties with names such as Zestar, Summer Treat, St. Edmund’s Russet, Ginger Gold, Sansa, Wolf River, Pristine, and Initial. I’m sure there will be many more to come.
The Himrod grapes sold by Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan) are really delicious and juicy. They also have delicate skins, so a hard-sided container is recommended to make sure they make the ride home intact (I didn’t lose one).
The arrival of mini-pumpkins (these from Smits Farms in Chicago Heights, Illinois) is a cheerful sign for those who love autumn — and maybe foreboding for those who love summer most of all.
I’m working down some produce inventory so my market haul was modest. Apart from those Ellis grapes, I got a rack of ribs, some ground chicken and a package of bacon ends from Jake’s Country Meats (Cassopolis, Michigan); stunningly beautiful black-and orange tomatoes, plus my first ground cherries this year, from Froggy Meadow Farm (Beloit, Wisconsin); and a really tasty loaf of sliced seeded sourdough from Bungalow by Middle Brow (Chicago).