I just got an email from Henry Brockman saying that he is going to have the most stuff for sale that he has had so far this summer. He contributes his overflowing truck to the 90 degree days he has been having this week. He finally got an inch of rain Monday too. He is going to have a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes tomorrow, as well as lots of cherry and plum tomatoes. Tomorrow is the last day for beans and edeme. He is also bringing in a ton of greens, including Egyptian kale. This is the first year he has grown it. He is bringing in lots of peppers and turnips as well as more lettuce than he brought last week. Organic Pastures is also selling meat in Henry's tent, and Teresa is coming to sell her fruit, fresh herbs, and her sister's goat soap.

The market is having the Truck to Table celebration. tomorrow. Various local chefs are setting up tables in some of the tents, where they are preparing dishes made with produce supplied by the various farmers at the market. Henry is going to be having somebody from a Korean restaurant cooking in his tent, and using some of his winter squash in the dish. All together there are 12 restaurants that are going to be there, including Found, Boltwood, Chef Station and River Valley Ranch's restaurant. The tickets can be purchased online for $35 for 7 tickets. They can also be purchased at the city of Evanston tent at the market tomorrow morning for $6 a piece. Henry was told that Truck to Table is going to take place from 10:00 to 12:00, but the city website says it is going to take place the last two hours of the market, which would mean 11:00-1:00. It might be better to get to the market before the Truck to Table celebration starts if you also want to buy any produce Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:The market is having the Truck to Table celebration. tomorrow. Various local chefs are setting up tables in some of the tents, where they are preparing dishes made with produce supplied by the various farmers at the market. Henry is going to be having somebody from a Korean restaurant cooking in his tent, and using some of his winter squash in the dish. All together there are 12 restaurants that are going to be there, including Found, Boltwood, Chef Station and River Valley Ranch's restaurant. The tickets can be purchased online for $35 for 7 tickets. They can also be purchased at the city of Evanston tent at the market tomorrow morning for $6 a piece. Henry was told that Truck to Table is going to take place from 10:00 to 12:00, but the city website says it is going to take place the last two hours of the market, which would mean 11:00-1:00. It might be better to get to the market before the Truck to Table celebration starts if you also want to buy any produce Hope this helps, Nancy

Here is the Facebook posting about the Truck to Table event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/165334174032048/

Celebrate the continued success of the Downtown Evanston Farmers' Market at the annual Truck to Table Celebration on Saturday, September 23, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. An expanded roster of top local chefs will partner with prominent Midwest sustainable growers to deliver a truly unique culinary event which will tantalize participants’ taste buds. Among the chefs volunteering their time this year are those from Boltwood, Farmhouse Evanston, Chef’s Station, Found/The Barn, Koi, La Cocinita, NaKorn, Peckish Pig, Tomate Fresh Kitchen, and Gotta B Crepes.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Market’s outreach and educational programming, including the children’s “Spud Club.” Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Market at the City of Evanston tent or online at cityofevanston.org/rectickets. Tickets are $35 for seven chef-table tickets in advance or $6 per chef-table ticket on day of event.

Hi- I drove there today. since I wanted to go to a program at the Glenview Public Library that started at 10:00. It just reminds me why I don't like driving there. It is much easier for me to walk over there with my cart. I then stopped there again after the program, and got there around 12:45. On my second trip, I got 20 huge red peppers from Nichols for $5, and four heirloom tomatoes from Jon First for $2. Apparently all the hot weather revived his tomatoes, and he had a lot more this week. He also had a ton of 5/$1 peppers and eggplant. Henry had a lot more lettuce today too. He still had a ton of it when I made my second trip through the market.

I know this is not food related, but the Northwestern sax players were back. They were wonderful. Apparently they are available for hire, because they had their business card there. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- I drove there today. since I wanted to go to a program at the Glenview Public Library that started at 10:00. It just reminds me why I don't like driving there. It is much easier for me to walk over there with my cart. I then stopped there again after the program, and got there around 12:45. On my second trip, I got 20 huge red peppers from Nichols for $5, and four heirloom tomatoes from Jon First for $2. Apparently all the hot weather revived his tomatoes, and he had a lot more this week. He also had a ton of 5/$1 peppers and eggplant. Henry had a lot more lettuce today too. He still had a ton of it when I made my second trip through the market.

I know this is not food related, but the Northwestern sax players were back. They were wonderful. Apparently they are available for hire, because they had their business card there. Hope this helps, Nancy

I couldn't agree more Nancy. Those brass players were outstanding.

It looks like the city has not learned their lesson, and they were power washing the parking garage when I got there at 12:00 today. Hopefully it did not impede traffic too much. I normally check out all of the stands before I decide what to purchase, and today I did not because I knew that Henry was going to leave early because he has his potluck taking place at his farm this afternoon, and I wanted to get some of his mesclun. I then went to the the organic people near Rockford whose name begins with a K, and I got a few organic heirloom tomatoes for $1 a pound. I then saw some heirlooms for $2.50 a pound, and I was going to buy some of those, and the farmer said that the woman standing there bought them all. She had at least 10 pounds of tomatoes, and she only paid $1 a pound for them. If I would have gotten there five minutes earlier. I still needed some not so ripe tomatoes to use for tabbouleh salad, which I am taking to a potluck on Tuesday, and so I broke down and got some $3 a pound tomatoes at Jon First, which cost me $7 total. I then went to Nichols to buy some corn, and they had all their heirloom tomatoes for $1 a pound! They never have their tomatoes that cheap. I ended up getting a few more tomatoes from them. I will make a batch of salsa, and pig out on tomatoes this week. They also had some large red peppers 10/$4, and so I got 10 of them, and I got a head of cabbage for $1.50. I am also going to make some sweet and sour cole slaw for the potluck.

Henry still had a ton of mesclun when I got there at noon. After seeing that Treasure Island is going to have a produce butcher at their new Uptown store, it makes you understand why Henry is not selling as many veggies as he used to. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I was at the last Evanston outdoor market yesterday. The weather started out being lousy again, but by 11:00 it had quit raining, and it was manageable. Nichols had a bunch of greens on sale for $1 a bag, but I don't think a lot of customers knew about them. I got a bag of tatsoi, a bag of red mizuna, and a bag of broccoli rabe for a total of $3. They called the broccoli rabe something else, and so I had to ask them what it was. Also while I was looking over the veggies for sale at one of the Michigan farmers, the farmer came up to me, and asked me if I wanted a stalk of brussel sprouts, and then asked me if I wanted a couple of heads of cauliflower. He knows my Sister that has the farm in Michigan, and this is not the first time he has done this for me. He ended up giving me a stalk of brussel sprouts, and told me I could pick out two heads of cauliflower. I got a purple head and an orange head. He also threw in a bunch of leeks when I asked him He was going to donate the veggies to the food pantry anyway.

Has anybody tried the colored cauliflower? Does it taste any different than the white cauliflower? I also bought some potatoes and garlic from Nichols, and some mesclan from Henry as well as some pears from somebody else.

I also bought some cider from Koeningshof's, and I was surprised that they still had raspberries for sale at noon when they were the only farmers selling them. I bought a pint from them a few weeks ago, but it took me three days to finish them, and I remembered why I don't buy raspberries. I don't love them, but I know a lot of people do.

I also ran into a friend of mine, who was buying something at the Mexican food stand. She said they are her favorite vendor at the market. Has anybody tried them? I tried them at the ethnic art festival in July, and I thought they were good, but I would not go out of my way to buy from them. Hopefully she was also buying some fruits and veggies while she was there, although I did not see anything else in her hand.

I also noticed that the new apartment building that opened up last year on Emerson across the street from Primm Towers, has a public parking lot, which you can access on the side of the building when you go down the street that ends at the market. Does anybody know if they do the first hour free like the other parking lot does?

Hope this helps, Nancy

I don't find any flavor difference between the colored cauliflowers, but they sure are pretty. One year I did the green, orange, and white all roasted together for an Easter side and it was quite festive. Did you enjoy yours?

mamagotcha wrote:One year I did the green, orange, and white all roasted together

Isn't there a purple cauliflower variety too? I see an idea for Mardi Gras!

Katie wrote:

mamagotcha wrote:One year I did the green, orange, and white all roasted together

Isn't there a purple cauliflower variety too? I see an idea for Mardi Gras!

Does the purple stay purple? Some purple vegetable varieties, such as beans, turn green when cooked.

JoelF wrote:Does the purple stay purple? Some purple vegetable varieties, such as beans, turn green when cooked.

As I understand it, the purple color comes from anthocyanin, which is also in purple beans. But for some reason (probably pH-related), the purple cauliflower I've cooked stays purple, not the case with purple beans and purple okra. I've been getting heads of white, orange and purple cauliflowers at the Evanston Market, blanching them and mixing into two-serving sizes and freezing. Colorful meals ahead this winter.

NFriday wrote:I also noticed that the new apartment building that opened up last year on Emerson across the street from Primm Towers, has a public parking lot, which you can access on the side of the building when you go down the street that ends at the market. Does anybody know if they do the first hour free like the other parking lot does?

As far as I know, the only lots offering the first hour free are the parking garages owned by the City of Evanston, which include the one next to the farmers market but not the new apartment building.

Hi- I am just posting this to remind people about the pre Thanksgiving farmer's market, which is going to take place at Emmanuel Lutheran church at Sherman and Lake in Evanston. It is right down the street from the Holiday Inn. It is also across the street from Tommy Nevin's Pub if anybody wants to go there one last time before they close. The market is taking place on Saturday 11/18 from 9:00-1:00. There are going to be farmers located outside and inside the church. Henry, Green Acres, Morlock's, and Nichols are always outside. Henry has a bulk sale going on where you must preorder by Thursday at noon, and then pickup and pay on Saturday morning. I would give a link to the email he sent me, but I am not able to link it. Maybe somebody else that got it, can figure out how to do that. It is root vegetables and garlic he is offering bulk deals on. He is going to have some other veggies for sale on Saturday morning, but not enough to offer a discount. It got down into the teen's last week on his farm, and so he picked everything right before it turned cold. I sincerely doubt he is going to have any lettuce or mesclun on Saturday.

Has anybody here tried Henry's red hidabeni turnips? He is going to offer a deal on those as well as his Japanese cream colored ones, and the purple top ones. I love the Japanese cream colored ones, but I have never tried the red ones. Are they as good? Thanks, Nancy

Here's the link from Brockman Farms for the Saturday, 11/18/17, market.

The GP wrote:Here's the link from Brockman Farms for the Saturday, 11/18/17, market.

Note that for the bulk vegetable deals from Henry, your e-mail has to be in to him by noon today (Thursday). I'm getting four lbs. of the Hidabeni Red turnips, four bunches of leeks, two bags of a multicolor corn flour (no idea what I'll do with that) and two
lbs. of assorted garlic varieties.

Hi- There are going to be two indoor farmer's markets taking place tomorrow 12/2 in Evanston. One is going to be taking place at Immanuel Lutheran Church from 9:00-1:00, at Sherman and Lake, and the other is taking place at the Evanston Ecology Center on McCormick from 8:00-12:00. The one at the ecology center is taking place every Saturday morning through the end of April except for 12/23 and 12/30, and the one at Immanuel is taking place twice a month also through April. The Immanuel one has more traditional farmers, and the one at the ecology center has a few farmers, but has a lot of people selling salsa, bread, and other prepared food.

The farmer's market at Immanuel has a pop up kitchen run by Curt's Cafe, and also has a table where they are going to promote a different action every time, and they are supplying postcards and stamps so you can express your views on that particular topic to a specific person such as your Senator. They are also taking all the money that that the church makes at each farmer's market, and donating it to groups that fight hunger. Last winter they raised $6,000. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Has anybody here tried the stone ground corn meal yet they bought from Henry? I bought two packages of it four weeks ago, but it is still sitting in my freezer. I have a copy of ATK's Healthy Family Cookbook, and they have a recipe for corn muffins I wanted to try out, but in the book they recommend that you don't use stone ground corn meal, because it will dry out the muffins. I am looking for suggestions on what to do with it. BTW- The farmer's market is taking place again this morning at Emmanuel Lutheran as well as the ecology center. I still have tons of stuff left from Henry, and some stuff from Nichol's, and I am going out of town for Christmas, and so I think I will pass. I did go to the last farmer's market they had at Emmanuel, and ran into a friend of mine who was buying something from Curt's Cafe, and she told me that it was good. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just came back from the opening day of the Evanston market. It was heavy on bedding plants, but there were at least three people there selling asparagus, although Jon First was out of it by the time I got there. Nichols also had some bags of spinach, and swiss chard, and some veggies that were over wintered including potatoes, turnips and beets. I was tempted to get a bag of spinach, but it was $5, and I don't really need it. There was also somebody there selling a small bag of mixed greens for $6 which I passed on, and River Valley was selling mushrooms. I just got two bunches of asparagus from Seedlings for $6. Everything is late this year because of the cold Spring, and Jon First told me that there was going to be lots of peaches and apples, but that some of the cherries got hurt a few weeks ago.

It was kind of sad though because there were a fair amount of customers but the only stalls that had tons of customers were the Mexican restaurant and the crepe place.

I was there too. I picked up some Michigan asparagus — 3 bunches for $5. When I got home, just out of curiosity, I weighed the 3 bunches; they came to just a little over a pound. So, while I'm sure the quality is much better, that's still a significant premium over the $1.99/lb. I paid last week for Mexican asparagus at Valli Produce.

The criminis at River Valley were much larger than I've remembered seeing in the past — nowhere near portobello-sized, but hefty for criminis.

There were quite a few stall spaces that weren't occupied (most notably Henry's), although I'm sure as the season continues that won't be an issue, especially considering the late spring.

I was there at 10:15am. I too bought criminis from River Valley, as I do every week even through the Winter Market season.

They weren't at the largest I've seen, but definitely a healthier size than they were at their low point 5-6 weeks ago when available at the church/ecology center.

Aside from that, today was, predictably, somewhat of a dud for purposes of shopping. Great weather, healthy crowd of families and young adults, very Evanstony, but not much to buy that can be thrown in a recipe. Great Harvest & Cocina Azteca, amongst others, doing bang up business though.

I bought two bunches for $6 at Seedlings, and I weighed them, and one was 14 ounces, and one was 15 ounces, and so almost a pound. I saw the ones that Stover's were selling and they were really small. My first choice for asparagus is Jon First, but if he is out, I go to Seedlings. Henry's Sister was there and brought a few things from Henry's farm, including some lettuce, but all she had left of his when I got there at 10:30 was Jerusalem artichokes and some chives. She also had a ton of herb and veggie plants, but I won't pay $6 for one broccoli plant. Ill go to Anton's instead. Hopefully next week Henry will be there in the flesh and will have some spinach and lots more lettuce, Jon should have lots more asparagus next week too. He told me it is running late this year because of the cold Spring.

Hi- I was going to get a few broccoli plants from Teresa because she had them B1G1F, but I got too involved in watching the wedding, and by the time I got there at 10:45 she was out. She did have plenty of kale plants though. I will have to go to Anton's to get some for my garden. She had plenty last week, but they were $6 per plant, which I won't spend.

Henry actually had a fair amount of stuff left when I got there. He had three different kinds of lettuce, some carrots, and some other miscellaneous stuff. He had lots of lettuce. I asked him if he would have any mesclun next week, and he said he doubts it. I also noticed that there was a ton of asparagus still available when I left the market at 11:30, but the line for the Mexican restaurant was a mile long. How much trouble is it to cook asparagus?. Jon First said it is going to be another month before he has an abundance of strawberries for sale. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just came back from the market, and Henry has a lot more this week. He has lots of lettuce, mesclun, beets, green onions, swiss chard, kale, carrots, and a few other things. His beets look amazing. He did have spinach, but he ran out before I got there at 9:00. I had to buy some spinach from Nichols, and I bought some asparagus from Jon First. Last week he had asparagus $4 a bunch or 2 bunches for $7, and this week he had it $5 a bunch or 3 bunches for $10. I ended up buying 3 bunches, and then I had to call up the family I work for in Wilmette this evening, and I asked the wife if she wanted to buy one of the bunches off of me for $3. She is Chinese, and I am not sure if she ever buys asparagus. She finally agreed after she figured out what it was.

BTW- What is it with the kumbuchi stand? I think I spelled it right. Apparently they have three or four drinks that they sell. The line was a mile long for it. Has anybody tried it?

I also bought two broccoli plants and two paste tomato plants from Teresa. They were B1G1F. They did not have many broccoli plants left, but they had a lot of kale plants left also B1G1F, and lots of paste tomato plants. The rest of her plants were $6 per plant.

Hi- There was an article in this weeks Evanston Review about the Evanston Farmer's Market. 7,000 people show up for the market on most Saturdays. Here is a link to the article.

https://www.cityofevanston.org/Home/Com ... ws/2943/17

NFriday wrote:There was an article in this weeks Evanston Review about the Evanston Farmer's Market. 7,000 people show up for the market on most Saturdays. Here is a link to the article.
https://www.cityofevanston.org/Home/Com ... ws/2943/17

That link doesn't take you (at least not me) to the article. The link below should work for the brief article.

She estimated 7,000 for last week's. While it was the busiest of the year yet, when more crops have yielded and the selection is better, they might get even higher attendance on average July through September.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/evanston/news/ct-evr-farmers-market-season-tl-0531-story.html

I am sorry the link I supplied is the link for the survey which the city of Evanston wants Evanston residents to fill out to help determine where budget cuts can be made.

I went to the market twice this morning. I had a dress rehearsal in Niles this morning that started at 8:30, and so I went there at 7:00 to get some of Teresa's plants that she was supposed to have on sale. When I got there only some of her plants were on sale, and none of the pepper plants or cherry tomatoes were on sale, and she wanted $6 a piece for them. I ended up getting some asparagus, spinach and mesclun. When the dress rehearsal was over, I went back to the market, and the majority of Teresa's plants were still not on sale. I asked her if she was going to put the pepper plants on sale, and she told me that she was putting all of the plants B1G1F.. She still had a ton of plants left at 12:00.

I made a trip around the market again before I went home with my plants, and I noticed that Henry still had tons of mesclun and lettuce left. All of his spinach and sugar snap peas were gone. Jon First had tons of asparagus left too, but I noticed that Hillside food pantry was there collecting donations, so hopefully all of that asparagus that is left over will go there. Jon donates a ton of veggies every week to the food pantry.

Hi- Jon First told me last week that tomorrow should be the last time this season he should have very much asparagus. Asparagus does not like really hot weather.

Homegrown strawberries appeared for the first time last Saturday, but I spoke to my sister that has the farm in Michigan yesterday, and she told me that they had a ton of rain this week, and it is supposed to be in the 90's all weekend, and so she anticipates that the strawberry crop should be winding down. It sounds like this weekend will be the last time there will be lots of strawberries, and so if you are looking for some to make jam or freeze, get them tomorrow. There should be tons of strawberries tomorrow, and just a few the following week. Strawberries do not like lots of rain and hot weather. If anybody is interested in upicking strawberries, I would do it this weekend, even though it is going to be miserable out in the fields.

I got Henry's email yesterday about what he is bringing tomorrow to the market, and apparently it has been hot at his farm lately, although they finally got some rain earlier this week. He is going to have lots of mesclun and lettuce tomorrow, but won't have much for several weeks after that. He did not mention about spinach, and so I don't know if he is bringing any up. Nichols should have lots of spinach tomorrow. Henry is also bring up the last of his snow peas and sugar snap peas tomorrow. Henry will also have the first zucchini, and lots of greens such as swiss chard and kale. Apparently last week because it rained the first couple of hours of the market, Henry took home a lot of lettuce and mesclun and some other stuff. By the time I got there at 11:00, it had quit raining. I know Hillside food pantry is now doing pick up there about 12:30 every Saturday, but some farmers donate a lot of produce to them, and some such as Henry never donate their excess produce. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I got two quarts of strawberries from Jon First today, and he told me he should have more strawberries next week. Nichols weren't sure how many strawberries they would have next week. I love Nichols strawberries, but they don't fill them up all the way, and they were 2/$12, and Henry's were 2/$11. Henry had spinach today, but he was sold out by the time I got there at 11:00. Nichols had lots of spinach, but this is the last week for spinach.

Henry looked like he was doing a lot more business than he did last Saturday, and Henry told me it was definitely busier this week.

NFriday wrote:Henry had spinach today, but he was sold out by the time I got there at 11:00. Nichols had lots of spinach, but this is the last week for spinach.

Henry's spinach was sold out by 9am, when I was there. It must've been a pathetic quantity.

The Italian basil at Henry's was worth a try along with some romaine-esque lettuce that starts w/ an "O". The spinach void led me to grab some lamb's quarters, aka wild spinach, from a different vendor. We'll see how it turns out.

Hi- Boy it was hot at the farmer's market this morning. I rent a garden in one of the community gardens, and so I went out to my garden at 6:30 this morning to plant some stuff and water, and by 8:15 it was starting to get hot, and so I left. I noticed that at the Evanston farmer's market today, there was a city employee passing out washcloths that she had just submerged in a bucket of ice water to the people selling there. Which was very much appreciated by them.

I finally got to the market around 10:30, and all my favorite people were out of Strawberries, and so I ended up getting some ripe ones from Lyon's for $10/2. Henry's Sister Terra was there selling today. I asked her if she had ever heard of LTH Forum, and she said she had. I told her that I post on here about the market quite a bit, and there are some other people that post here that really like Henry's veggies. She was glad to hear that. BTW- Henry still has his Junior Citizen discount, where he gives a discount of 20% to people in their 20's. He used to also give a discount to people that brought in babies 3 months or younger. Henry now gives the discount to those people who bring in a child under the age of 20 months too.

I saw somebody there today selling homegrown peaches, and there is no way they could be homegrown. There are going to be a few strawberries next week, but if you want them come early. Hope this helps, Nancy

Henry had lots of lettuce when I got to the market this morning. They did not mention lettuce when they sent out their email on Thursday. I also bought some Chinese lettuce from Henry. He had lots of it, and nobody was buying it because they did not know what to do with it. Somebody gave me a sample. Apparently you peel the stems and then cut them up and stir fry them. I think you can also stir fry the leaves too. I am working for a family in Wilmette this evening who are Chinese. I called up the wife and asked her if she wanted me to buy some, and she said yes.

I walked to the market twice today. The first time I got there around 10:00, and then I came home and called up Alice to see if she wanted me to buy her the Chinese lettuce. I then got back at the market at 11:00, and started buying stuff, and I noticed the corn that Nichols had for sale earlier for 6 ears for $5 had gone down to 6 ears for $3, and so I saved myself $2. It was the first corn of the season though, and so the ears were small. Hope this helps, Nancy