BTW- I just looked at the city's website, and the parking lot below the Holiday Inn is one of those where you have to go to a machine and enter in your parking spot, and then you deposit money for parking. Apparently they start charging for parking at 8:00 am. I was hoping that I would not have to pay for parking until 9:00. I have to be there at 8:00 to pick up my bulk order from Henry, and then I have to be somewhere else at 8:30, and so I hope I do not have problems paying for parking. Sometimes those machines are temperamental.

It was nice to see so many people at the farmer's market at Immanuel Lutheran today even though it was snowing. I got there at 8:00 to pick up my bulk order from Henry. He already had a ton of customers at 8:05, but he had lots of greens and other stuff to sell. He needs a better system for his bulk orders, He needs to put the larger orders in crates, and just get the crate when the person shows up and have them empty it. Instead they just collected the items that the person ordered, and some of them weren't bagged up. I finally had to leave and come back at 12:15 to pick up my order. By the time I made it back there Henry was all sold out of greens and only had some Japanese turnips and some corn meal left.

Green Acres was also sold out by the time I got back there. I ended up getting some greens, spinach and leeks from Nichols. I also visited the table in the church that has postcards you can fill out. At each market at Immanuel they have a table set up where they are asking people to leave notes on postcards concerning whatever topic they are dealing with that day. Today it happened to be gun control. They give you a post card where you can write a message about gun control, and then they have a whole list of elected officials that you can address the post card to. You just tell them what elected official you want to send the card to, and they supply you with an address label and a stamp. Hope this helps, Nancy

Sitka Salmon Shares was there on Saturday morning as well. I hadn't noticed them before at the Evanston summer market. I believe they are planning on being there for some of the future winter markets at the Church.

I did not get there again until about 12:20, and I think Sitka Salmon shares was getting into their van when I got there, and so I missed them. I wished I would have had time to tour the market at 8:00, because it was really picked over by the time I got back there. I might buy some salmon from them to try it out if they have some for sale.

By the time I got back there Morlocks and Green Acres had closed up too. It was good to see so many people there considering it was snowing though. My friend that bought a sandwich and a roll from Kurt's said he liked them. I am definitely set up for veggies for a while except for brussel sprouts. I noticed Morlocks had some, but they were loading up their truck when I got there.

Hi- I just received an email from Henry Brockman today, and he still has some root vegetables, corn meal and black garlic that you can order in bulk from him. His Sister Teresa will be at the market at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston this Saturday so people can pick up the stuff they have ordered. Henry's webmaster has come up with a new online order form which keeps track of how much of any one particular item is left. For example he has some black garlic available. Henry started out with 20 pints of garlic, and currently he only has 8 pints left to sell. I know when he did the bulk orders back in November, I ordered 10 pounds of carrot seconds, and Henry emailed me back a few hours later and said he was out of them. This new system is going to correct that problem. You cannot go back and change your order once you enter in what you want. If you enter in two five pound bags of carrots in your order, and then you decide you only what one, you cannot change your order online, and you will have to email Henry to tell him that you want to change your order.

Has anybody tried Henry's black garlic? It sounds interesting, but it is also $12 a pint which is out of my budget.

Henry also has a holiday special going on right now on his CSA for next year. If you purchase a share in his CSA for 2019 this Saturday to gift to somebody you will get it for $390 for the 26 week season, which figures out to $15 a week. You pick up your share every week at his stall at the market.

My wife is finishing up "The Seasons on Henry's Farm" by Terra Brockman - Henry's sister. The book tracks the growing season on a week by week basis documenting the tremendous amount of work dedicated to the farm. She has really enjoyed the book.

Has anybody heard anything more about the documentary about Henry? I know it had to be put on hold for a while because the filmmakers ran out of money, but I though Terra said last Summer that they were able to acquire enough funding to finish it.

I was just on youtube this afternoon, and there were several ads for Imperfect Produce about how they are 30% cheaper, and they sell produce that would get wasted if they did not sell it. It is amazing how people fall for this. I was just at a program on Tuesday, where one of the persons leading the program was promoting Imperfect Produce. I mentioned that Evanston has two farmer's markets this Winter. Hope this helps, Nancy

Has anybody here been to the winter market at the ecology center lately? I looked at the list of farmer's scheduled to come there this winter, and one of the farm's listed was Wrightway Farms out of Wisconsin. Is anybody familiar with them? It sounds like they are certified organic. Their farm is somewhere near Racine. Thanks, Nancy

Hi- I went to the market over at Emmanuel Lutheran Church today, and I much prefer that one to the one at the Ecology center. I went to the one at the ecology center the beginning of February, and I was underwhelmed. The only stall that I was even remotely interested in was Wrightway Farm.

At Emmanuel I ended up getting some mushrooms from River Valley, but Nichols were also there, as was the organic farm from SW Michigan who's name I can never remember. Both Nichols and the other farm had fresh spinach. Nichols had it for $5 for a not large bag, and the other farm had it for $6. I was hoping to get some garlic from Nichols, but they said they were out for the year. They also had some beets, turnips, potatoes, and rutabaga, and I assume apples. They were already starting to take down their display when I got there. I was tempted to get some spinach, but I still have some of Henry's turnips and beets that I got at the Thanksgiving market, and I bought a head of organic cabbage a few weeks ago at Jewel which was on sale for $.69 a pound. Nichols had lots of spinach left.

I talked to my Sister in Michigan today, and it got down to -17 back in January on her farm when he had the polar vortex. She was actually scuba diving in Belize during the polar vortex. When she got back she knew she had some peach buds coming, but she was not sure how many. When I talked to her today, she said that she won't know how large a peach crop she is going to have this summer until the trees go into bloom, but she will definitely not have anywhere near 100% of a crop, and nobody in the county will. She says North of her it did not get quite as cold, and they are going to have some peaches. It sounds like the most she will have will be maybe 35% of a crop, and it could be a lot smaller. She told me she has a much larger crop of cherries, peaches and plums. She has some of the highest elevation in the county for raising peaches, and so if she does not have peaches nobody does. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- The Evanston outdoor farmer's market is opening for the season this Saturday 5/4. I am not sure if they are going to have any asparagus this Saturday. They should have it the following Saturday. I just got an email from Brockman's. Teresa is coming with lots of bedding plants. All of her brassica plants are going to be half off this Saturday. I am not sure if she is bringing any warm weather plants this Saturday such as tomatoes, peppers basil, squash and squash. It is too early to plant that stuff. Teresa is also bringing a few things that Henry has picked, including a small amount of overwintered spinach, nettles and a few other things.

BTW- While we were going through the polar vortex back in January, SW Michigan also got hit bad. It only got down to 17 below at my sister's farm, but her peach trees got hurt. The last time I talked to her maybe a month ago, she said that she was definitely going to have a smaller peach crop, but she did not know how small. She will have upick cherries and apples this year though, and those did not get hurt as bad. She told me that some peach growers got down to 21 below though, and their peaches got wiped out. She said it did not get as cold North of her, and so people 30 miles North of her all the ways to Traverse City should have more peaches than Berrien county does. Hope this helps, Nancy

I went to the Evanston market this morning, and I bought some plants from Teresa Brockman, and two bars of her goat soap. When I asked her about the Romanesco, and whether it could deal with the cold weather in the fall, she said probably not, but she had lots of it to get rid of, and she sold me the last three plants she had for $1 a plant. Apparently it is a cross between a broccoli and a cauliflower plant. I also bought one regular broccoli plant, some kale and a brussel sprout plant. I also bought a bag of spinach from Nichol's.

There were some new people there in the first row. Sitka Salmon shares was there. I don't know if they are going to be there every week. They were out of salmon, and just had tuna left. Apparently if you buy a share of salmon from them, you get it at 50% off. She sold a lot of shares today, and that is why she was out of salmon.

I also noticed that Garlic Underground was there today. They had fermented black garlic today. A small head was $3. It was all soft, and I asked how long it would keep, and he said three weeks in the fridge, and longer in the freezer. He gave me a sample, and it was not bad. It was kind of sweet, but definitely different than any other garlic I had ever tried. Has anybody tried their garlic? Apparently they sold at the Libertyville market last summer. Later in the season they will have fresh garlic, and apparently all of their garlic is organic.

Only one farmer had asparagus this week. A few growers told me they might have it next Saturday, but it sounds like they will not have a lot of it. Nichols had a ton of spinach and leaf lettuce today. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:I went to the Evanston market this morning . . .

Any ramps?

=R=

Hi Ronnie- I wasn't looking for ramps today, but if anybody would have had them it would have been Nichols. I am sure Henry did not have them, but I am not sure if he ever does. Nichols had by far the most veggies. They had lots of greens, spinach and leaf lettuce as well as overwintered potatoes, and greenhouse tomatoes which they were charging $6 a pound for or 2 pounds for $10. Most everybody else was just selling plants and bottled stuff such as salsa.

Lake Breeze Organics across from Bennison’s had ramps but the bulbs looked pretty big which in my experience usually means chewy when grilled. They’d probably be good for pickling though. You might want to check eBay Ronnie and see if there’s a northern MI seller as the ones around here are probably getting too big to be any good.

Yeah, ramps were thin on the ground. Even asparagus was sparser than I remember it being opening weekend in prior years. Cool start to the season.

I don't think I've ever seen Nichol's with ramps.

Hi- I got an email from Henry last night, and Teresa is going to bring lots more plants, including a few tomato and pepper plants. It is still probably too early to plant warm weather crops such as zucchini, tomatoes, basil and peppers. You is also going to have lots more broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, and Romanesco, as well as some lettuce and swiss chard plants that contain lots of seedlings you can plant individually in your garden. She is almost out of a couple of mints. If you plant mint in your garden, make sure you keep it in a pot. Mint is very invasive, and grows like crazy if it is not contained. Teresa is also bringing more goats milk soap.

Henry is also coming this week, and is bringing a small amount of mesclun and leaf lettuce, and well as some nettle and docks and chives. If you want any lettuce, get there early.

There is going to be more asparagus this week, but it is late this season due to the cold weather we have been having lately, and so it might be in short supply this week. Next week they should have plenty. Nichols should also have lots of spinach and leaf lettuce as well as some hearty greens and some greenhouse tomatoes. They charged $6 a pound for their tomatoes last week though. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:There were some new people there in the first row. Sitka Salmon shares was there. I don't know if they are going to be there every week. They were out of salmon, and just had tuna left. Apparently if you buy a share of salmon from them, you get it at 50% off. She sold a lot of shares today, and that is why she was out of salmon.

I'm confused, I thought their marketing pitch was that they were selling product direct from local fishermen. Are the local fishermen getting their tuna from a grocery store up there?

Sitka Salmon has relationship with some fisherman that catch albacore off either the Oregon or Washington coast. This has been a part of their offerings for several years so I assume this is the same. These tuna folks are small family businesses and they claim (and I don't doubt them) that their fishing and preserving techniques meet the high Sitka Salmon standards.

Teresa just announced that her brassica is going to be half off again tomorrow, The plants are large and need to go into the ground soon. She will have less mature brassica plants next week for the regular price of $6. Henry just found out that his dock is past its prime, and so he will not be bringing any of it up tomorrow. He will bring a small amount of young kale and some overwintered Jerusalem artichokes as well as the last of the overwintered spinach.

I was at the Evanston market today at 11:45, and Jon First had tons of asparagus left, and the food bank is not starting to do pick up until next week. Jewel has a nickle and dime produce sale this week, and so a lot of people get enticed by that. I would rather have fresh asparagus anytime over zucchini.

Henry had more veggies this week too. He still had lettuce Japanese turnips, nettles, carrots and a few other things, and Nichols had tons of spinach left. I spent $15 on veggies today, but it was worth it.

Hi- I am sure there is going to be lots of asparagus at the market tomorrow, and it is supposed to rain, which means a lot of it won't get sold. At least the food pantry is going to start doing pick up tomorrow. If anybody loves asparagus, I am sure they could get a great deal on it if they buy lots of it to freeze, right before the food pantry shows up at noon.

Henry has had too much rain on his farm this month, and it is supposed to rain for the next seven days there. Because of the wet soil, Henry is way behind on his planting, and it sounds like he was not able to direct seed much spinach this spring, and so his spinach crop is going to be small. Nichols had tons of spinach last week though. Henry is going to have green garlic, lettuce, turnips, carrots, and some spinach tomorrow

Teresa is going to be bringing up more veggie and herb plants tomorrow. All of her plum tomato and squash plants are going to be half off, and she is going to have a table of other plants she is going to mark down. Henry is going to be bringing up some sweet potato shoots too for people that want to try growing their own.

Please come and buy lots of asparagus, spinach, lettuce and other veggies tomorrow. The farmers especially need you when the weather is less than ideal. One of the farmers gold me last week that he does not expect to start picking strawberries until the middle of June. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi,

I read a stat that Illinois only has 11% planted, but last year at this time it was 88%. By June 5th, there is a crop-insurance deadline. If there are further delays, they may be planting more soy beans.

Regards,
Cathy2

I was going to send a post last night, but I did not get around to finishing it. Henry is way behind on his planting because of all of the rain he has been having. It has rained almost every day in the last month. Henry had a field that contained 500 heads of leaf lettuce that he planted before the rain started. He was planning on picking them yesterday, and selling them at his amazing wall of lettuce today. On Thursday Henry got a really bad hail storm. He has only seen one other one as bad in the 30 years he has been farming. When he tried to pick his 500 heads of lettuce yesterday, only 3 heads were salvageable. He had another 50 heads of lettuce in another field that did not get as much hail damage, and he was able to bring those. I walked to the market twice this morning. The first time at 10:30, I was able to get a bag of Henry's spinach, and Komatsuma greens. I was surprised he still had three heads of lettuce left, but I decided I did not need any. I also bought $48 worth of Teresa's plants. I was surprised that she still had lots of Sun Gold tomato plants left.

I walked home, and called up one of my friends to offer her a ride to the farmer's market. She said she was not ready, and so she passed on me. I said I would offer her a ride next week. When I walked back to the farmer's market at noon, Henry still had one head of lettuce left, and so I ended up buying the last one, and I bought two bunches of asparagus from Jon First. The market must have not been super busy today, because Henry still had lettuce left, and Teresa still had lots of Sun Gold tomato plants left at noon.

Jon First told me that he got his soybeans planted, but has not gotten around to planting all of his corn because of all of the rain. He predicts that corn is going to go for $10 a bushel, and soybeans for $20, and so that means that meat is going to be more expensive. Jon predicts that he is going to have asparagus for another three weeks.
Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I know this is late, but I just came back from the Evanston market, and they had tons of homegrown strawberries for $6 a quart. I know both Jewel and Aldi have California ones for $.99 this week, but they are only 2/3rds of a quart, and the home grown ones are way better. Henry also has tons of spinach for $3 a bag, and tons of lettuce for $3 or two for $5, and Nichols has 5" pots of basil marked down to $3. I am going back there to pick up two pots of basil and some sugar snap peas from them. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- When I went to the Evanston market two weeks ago, I got there around 11:30, and Nichols had strawberries marked down to 5 quarts for $20, and John First had them for 4/$20. A friend of mine was with me, and so I talked her into going in on the 5 quarts of strawberries with me. She is used to California berries, and so she was not sure if she and her Son could finish two quarts. I assured her that these were way better than California berries. I then went home to a family reunion last weekend, and so I came back with lots of sweet cherries from my sister's farm, and some local strawberries.

Because of the hot weather we have been having, this is probably going to be the last week that there are going to be lots of strawberries, and if you go there at 11:00 or later they should be marked down. Koeningshof's should have lots of strawberries as well as some sweet cherries and some of their raspberries. When I was at my Sister's fruit stand to get the cherries and strawberries, I noticed that she had some of Koeningshof's raspberries for sale. There is not a huge crop of Michigan cherries this year, and it seems like every grocery store in the Chicago area is lost leadering Western cherries, and so the cherries at the farmer's market are going to be way more than $1.99. My Sister is charging $3.29 a pound for her upick cherries, and $3.99 a pound for her already picked cherries.

I am sure asparagus is done for the year, and anybody that is selling it tomorrow is bringing in asparagus that has been sitting in a cooler for a week. Spinach should be over now too. Spinach does not like hot weather. Henry is bringing in the last of his snow peas, and he is bringing in lots of lettuce, but this is the last week for lots of lettuce until this fall. Henry will also be bringing in lots of onions, swiss chard, arugala, garlic, and some broccoli, beets, cucumbers and carrots.

John First I suspect will have lots of cukes and zucchini for sale. His cukes and zucchini he usually sells for 5/$1 or sometimes 10/$1. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:I am sure asparagus is done for the year, and anybody that is selling it tomorrow is bringing in asparagus that has been sitting in a cooler for a week. Spinach should be over now too.

I have no knowledge of farming and crop seasons, so I'll assume this is 100% true. It just adds to what a miserable farmers market season this has been for Evanston. The selection, from what operators have said to me in brief conversations, is limited because of the spring weather, flooding. The market has been pathetic. There's been better selection and prices at the Wilmette French Market (same day and time, so I've been going to both) that's 1/4 EFM's size.

There haven't been any peppers (any-color bell, jalapeno, poblano, serrano, Anaheim, Fresno, cubanelle; I'm not being overly picky), or standard carrots (only bunches of very small carrots) and even vendors like Henry, who has more than most, has lacked the usual variety of greens.

Nichols has been the only saving grace. The rapini I bought there went well with Italian sausage in a pasta recipe I put together. Them and year-round great mushrooms of River Valley, are all I can count on.

Moral of the Story: If you've been frustrated (understandably) by the Evanston Market selection this season, Wilmette is just a mile and a half up Green Bay at the same time, might be worth a look. Each has unique hot food offerings, so no overlap there helps.

Curious as to how the offerings at the Wilmette market could be different or better? One would think that growers at both Evanston and Wilmette are dealing with the same weather conditions.

Evanston does not have peppers yet because they are not in season. At Evanston you are only supposed to sell stuff that you grow yourself. There was somebody that used to sell at Evanston that was getting tons of stuff off the Water Street Market. They were kicked out, and ended up at Wilmette. Somebody else that was kicked out of Evanston for selling shipped in fruit and calling it homegrown is also selling at Wilmette.

The first week maybe the pickings were slim at the Evanston market because everything was late, but when I went two weeks ago, I spent $30 there. I got three quarts of strawberries, a bag of mesclun from Henry, a bag of spinach and a half a pound of sugar snap peas from Nichols. I also got two bunches of asparagus from Jon First. I eat what is in season, and I don't eat lettuce in the wintertime. Peppers are going to be in season in 2-3 weeks, and the same with tomatoes. I don't eat fresh tomatoes in the winter either. The few growers at Evanston that have tomatoes right now are growing them in a greenhouse.

I buy a ton of peppers from Nichols in September when they have them really cheap, and cut them up and freeze them so I can have peppers all winter.

I just picked some broccoli in my garden tonight, and I have some kale I can pick, and so I will probably just buy some strawberries and cherries, and some lettuce from Henry and maybe some sugar snap peas and potatoes from Nichols if they have them. I am not sure if Nichols has started digging up this years crop yet. Hope this helps, Nancy

There have been plenty of greens at both Nichols and Henry the last month, and Henry from what I understand had a ton of lettuce last week, which I am sure did not all get sold. Henry was concerned last week because he was bringing enough stuff to fill six tents, and the week before when he filled four tents full of stuff, he could not sell it all, and had to take lots home. BTW- Henry just sent another email, and he is bringing a few green and fava beans tomorrow as well as the last of the rhubarb, and he is going to have another amazing wall of lettuce. The first ten people who visit Henry's stand tomorrow, will receive a surprise. Hope this helps, Nancy