Nothing but Blue Skies at Green City
A chilly but cloudless day greets the kickoff of the outdoor market season
Sprung
I guess there were a lot of us who were looking forward to the opening day of the 2024 regional farmers market season, which took place at Green City Market in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Saturday.
Abetted by the cool but perfectly sunny weather, the market drew what in past years might have passed for a more mid-season crowd, albeit with more outerwear. Though there wasn’t a full complement of vendors yet — many farms start at farmers markets when their seasonal crops are more fully in — most of the longtime regulars were there, and there was more than enough food to cover a week’s groceries.
There also was a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of Green City Market, a longtime standout among our region’s farmers markets. To do that justice, I will cover that in Sunday’s Local Food Forum.
In the meantime, here’s a photo of my first outdoor market haul this year, and more of the market scene.
Look what followed me home: sweet potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots and kale from Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois); ramps and French breakfast radishes from Kajers Greens (North Judson, Indiana); cremini mushrooms from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin); multigrain bread from pHlour Bakery (Chicago); spicy eggplant tofu salads from Phoenix Bean (Chicago); onions from Froggy Meadow Farm (Beloit, Wisconsin); and a pork steak from Jake’s Country Meats (Cassopolis, Michigan).
There you go. All four states of the Lake Michigan region in one trip.
Tickets here! Get yer tickets!
Sorry, I have the Cubs game on while I’m writing this. Nonetheless, Local Food Forum and friends are very excited about our big new feature, the webinar series titled Local Food Forum’s “Better” Dialogues. The “better” in quotations isn’t a boast (o.k., maybe a little), but rather a reference to the better food system that readers of this publication want to see.
The debut episode will be a lively and informative conversation on the important topic of regenerative agriculture. Registration for this debut episode is FREE.
I am grateful to co-host Chef Sarah Stegner for developing the project with me and to the great organizational and business supporters reflected in the prett\ graphic above.
Register now… Zoom capacity is limited and it will make the webinar team very happy to see those virtual seats filling up. Not sure about your schedule on the 15th? Sign up anyway… the webinar recording will be shared with all registrants.
Click the first button to go right to the ticket page, and the second to read all the details about the event and the series. And since the outdoor farmers market season countdown clock reached zero on Saturday, I’ve commandeered it to count the days until the webinar launch.