Best tomato source in Chicago? Dry-farmed Early Girls?

As peak tomato season looms on the horizon, and after stumbling upon Local Lemon's delicious sounding tomato soup recipe: http://locallemons.com/local_lemons/200 ... -soup.html, I'm dying to give these much praised Dry-Farmed Early Girls a try. Does anyone know of a good source for them in Chicago?

Furthermore, where the heck is the best place to get tomatoes in the city anyway?

Hi- I was waiting for someone else to answer this post, but since nobody has, I guess I will. I had to visit the link you supplied, in order to figure out what dry farmed meant. It means tomato plants that you just stick in the ground, and do not water. The best place to get tomatoes in Chicago is at one of the farmer's markets, such as Green City Market. The tomatoes are not going to be the cheapest, but they are going to taste the best. The tomatoes at the farmer's markets, are generally a lot riper than what you get at Dominick's or Jewel. Most of the tomatoes at the major grocery stores are picked green so they can be kept for a week, and are gassed to make them look like they are ripe. A lot of the tomato growers that sell at the various farmer's markets do not water their tomatoes, because unless they have an irrigation system, it is too time intensive to water five acres of tomatoes. Personally my favorite tomatoes are Brandywine, which is a heirloom, and sungold, which is a cherry tomato. A lot of farmers sell early girl tomatoes at the Evanston market too, and they are not bad. First Orchards sells lots of tomatoes at the Evanston, Wilmette and Green City markets on Saturdays. They sell a lot of heirloom tomatoes, including brandywine. They frequently have a bag sale, starting at about 11:00am, and often sell them for $4 a bag.

Another option, which might not be feasible for you is to grow your own tomatoes. I rent a garden in one of the community gardens in Evanston, and I like to grow my own, because then I can plant the varieties of tomatoes I want, and I can pick them when they are ripe. I did have one early girl tomato plant in my garden, but when I went out there to water my garden last night, I figured out that somebody stole it! I should have lots of Sun Golds to pick in the next few days though, with all the hot weather we are having right now. Hope this helps, Nancy