I was dead wrong about shutting down University Pl. causing dysfunction. It was weird that the optimal parking spots in the alley that leads to University were as available as any point in memory.

The problem was that the first week with fruit ended up being somewhat of a bait and switch since the strawberries were sold out at the 2 vendors (MI farm outside the square on University, and strawberry specialists on the east side in the square) by 9.05am. Probably because so much is on the outside, there was no line to get in. I let the employee pick 2 bunches of lettuce at Henry's, and 1 head of Boston and 1 of Red Romaine for $3/per was a good deal. Smit's had a nice selection of herbs, of which I got cilantro in its first appearance of the season. Lots of rhubarb was being offered. Otherwise mostly the same spring offerings.

Hi- I had to go to the walkup teller at Byline Bank on Emerson first to deposit a check and get some small bills. I asked them when the Davis Street location lobby was going to be open, and he said it was open now, but it was not open on Tuesday while I was walking home from my dentist.

By the time I went to the bank and walked over there there were not a lot of crowds at all. I got two bunches of asparagus at Jon First's, and I got two bunches of spinach and two heads of lettuce at Henry's. By the time I got there it was 11:00, and Henry had all of his spinach and lettuce 2/$5. Both heads of lettuce he gave me were romaine, and so I was happy. Normally I get mesclum, but they did not have any today.

I was not going to go into the square, but when I saw there was no line, I decided to go in there and see what Nichols had. I was looking for snow peas, and I am not sure if he had any or not. Henry was out of them. Henry had lots of spinach left. I am not sure how much lettuce he had. Next week there should be a lot of strawberries. Jon First should have some as well as Linda Koeningshof, Nichols, Morlocks, Lyons, Stovers. and the other people from Berrien Springs that I assumed had them today but ran out. They had peonies and asparagus left when I got there. Everything is late this year. They also had a frost the beginning of May in Michigan, and part of my sister's farm got down to 24. She has plenty of apples, but she has only half a crop of cherries and peaches, and most of her apricots got wiped out. Jon First told me today though, that he hit it lucky, and he is actually going to have to thin some of his peach trees. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just wanted to let people know that if they want to preorder for this Saturday, they should do it now. I noticed that 1ST Orchards now has a website where they allow preordering, but if you preorder 2 bunches of asparagus, you will get charged $8. If you wait until you get to market to purchase it, you can get 2 bunches of asparagus for $7. They do have strawberries listed for this week for $7 a quart, but I am sure that they will be cheaper at the market if you buy more than one quart. Last week though when I got there at 11:00, they were out of basil plants, but I noticed that you can preorder them for this week. If you go to the Friends of the Evanston Farmer's market website, they have a list of all of the farmers that do preorders, and they give a link to their website.

As far as I know Henry and Nichols do not do preorder. I just got an email from Talking Farm though, and they are going to be at the Evanston market on 6/13, and they are only doing preorder. All they are bringing to the market this Saturday though is romaine, kale mesclun, and some other kind of lettuce. Hope this helps, Nancy

I got an email from Lyons Fruit Farm. They are offering home delivery as well as preordering for the Evanston market.

https://www.lyonsfruitfarm.com/

Hi- Here is the link for Talking Farm if you want to preorder anything for tomorrow at the Evanston market.

https://the-talking-farm.myshopify.com/ ... eid=612309

They are only taking preorders now until noon today, and they will not do sales tomorrow. There is a minimum $10 purchase. They are selling kale, mesclun, romaine and leaf lettuce. This year all of there transactions at the Skokie and Evanston farmers market will be preorder only.

NFriday wrote:Here is the link for Talking Farm if you want to preorder anything for tomorrow at the Evanston market.
...
They are only taking preorders now until noon today, and they will not do sales tomorrow. There is a minimum $10 purchase. ... This year all of there transactions at the Skokie and Evanston farmers market will be preorder only.

They're only at the market every other Saturday. The menu for pre-order opens on Thursday and closes at noon on Friday.

Nobody can accuse them of making things too easy.

That is how Talking Farm has been handling their pick your own basket that they have been having at their farm for the past month. You have to preorder and buy at least $10, and they sell out within hours. I might have been interested in some kale, but that means that I would have to purchase something else to bring it up to $10.

Here is the link to the Facebook page that Myra just did telling people what is coming to the market tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/EvanstonMarket ... __tn__=K-R

NFriday wrote:Here is the link for Talking Farm if you want to preorder anything for tomorrow at the Evanston market.

They are only taking preorders now until noon today, and they will not do sales tomorrow. There is a minimum $10 purchase. They are selling kale, mesclun, romaine and leaf lettuce. This year all of there transactions at the Skokie and Evanston farmers market will be preorder only.

Not blaming Nancy since my recollection from the link yesterday was that it confirmed online preorder as the only means of buying Talking Farm, but it ended up being incorrect. They were selling greens for cash $3 or 2 for $5 today. They're on the outside, NW corner of whole plot. When I saw them selling like a normal vendor, I said I thought they were preorder only. The 2 guys working the stand said they heard that was put out online, but didn't know why. No direct reason not to believe the every-other-week schedule, but they aren't preorder-only.

No line to get in 9.20am today. Strawberries were available at 3-4 places, all were $7/qt. I purchased at 1st Orchards. Decently sized lines for Nichols and River Valley, I only waited in the latter. Henry had 2 for $5 lettuce, which I bought. I was split between him and Talking Farm.

Hi- I noticed that Talking Farm was doing sales today too. They still had a lot left to sell when I got there at 11:30, but they were out of kale. I ended up getting a head of lettuce from Henry though and a bag of spinach too. I also got some snow peas for $3. I was going to get some sugar snaps from Nichols, but they were only selling them in one pound bags, and it was $9. They used to sell them by the pound. Nichol's strawberries which I love, were 3 pints for $12, which was more money than Jon First, and so I got two quarts of his, and they are okay, but they should be better next week. He had lots of strawberries and asparagus left when I bought them at 11:45. I was hoping K & K farms would be there with strawberries, but when I did not see them, I asked and they did not come to the market today. They should be there next week. They have wonderful raspberries. They raise 50 acres of raspberries, and they should have some in maybe three weeks. There was no line again to get into the market. Hope this helps, Nancy