Federal Plaza farmer's market today, and a general concern

There was a small stand, no name of a farm hanging, selling a few items including tomatoes and apples. I wonder if it's the rules or their enforcement that are lax. For many years there was a large and popular stand at the Daley Plaza farmer's market that had no sign and a great variety of produce; more than Nichols, and it all looked perfect, and it could not all have been in season at one farm. Aside from obvious signs, like apples in May, my general rule is that there must be a sign telling me the name of the farm and where it is, or I don't shop there.

Jonah

Jonah wrote:There was a small stand, no name of a farm hanging, selling a few items including tomatoes and apples. I wonder if it's the rules or their enforcement that are lax. For many years there was a large and popular stand at the Daley Plaza farmer's market that had no sign and a great variety of produce; more than Nichols, and it all looked perfect, and it could not all have been in season at one farm. Aside from obvious signs, like apples in May, my general rule is that there must be a sign telling me the name of the farm and where it is, or I don't shop there.

Jonah

Dunno this case, but there are some local farms selling on-farm produced hothouse tomatoes, and apples they've stored themselves from last season.

Yeah, there were definitely apples at Green City Market on Saturday. I can't remember who was selling them though.

I noticed the apples at the Green City Market also. I can't remember the name of the vendor, but apples are their main thing.

There is a largish vendor at the Lincoln Square market that also sells a variety of things way earlier than everyone else. I just don't get that warm-all-over feeling buying hothouse produce at the farmers market.

Darren72 wrote:I just don't get that warm-all-over feeling buying hothouse produce at the farmers market.

Me neither, and I tend not to buy the stuff. But I don't have any problem with them doing something useful with the colder months and trying to make some money from it.

Iron Creek is an area farm that specializes in indoor produce, including lettuces, peppers and tomatoes. So, you will see their stuff, looking oh so perfect, at odd times.

As to apples, there is really nothing wrong with stored apples, assuming they were stored well--and given that it's not very hard to store apples, why not enjoy this seasonal item too.

Perhaps I jumped to a conclusion. I do have to say that, in 10 or more years of going to farmers markets in Chicago and Wisconsin, I've never seen apples in the Spring, and this was not one of the well known orchards. Your responses have shown me, however, that I should have asked them about the apples and tomatoes before raising the issue here.

Jonah

There is a largish vendor at the Lincoln Square market that also sells a variety of things way earlier than everyone else. I just don't get that

I suspect that Darren72 is referring to Compean and Sons, formerly Huntington Orchards before a brush with bankruptcy. They are near Huntington, IN, which is a lot farther south than any of the other growers at Lincoln Square and which has no Lake Michigan cold spring influences unlike all of the Michigan growers. Local climate makes a big difference.

I recall two vendors selling honeycrisp apples at GCM on opening day--as I was surprised to see them, I inquired of the vendor and she replied that they were from their stored stash. I bought a small bag and, while still firm and crisp, the flavor was a bit faded compared to those I purchased in season.

Completely off-thread but funny story related to apples: Our family guinea pig, A-Rod, actually knows the difference between when I slice an apple versus any other kind of cutting or chopping. Seriously--she (yes A-Rod is a girl) goes absolutely wild from 2 rooms away when she hears me coring and slicing an apple. To test that she actually knew the difference, I cut an onion, some broccoli and some leeks and there was a signficant difference in her volume. Each time I started, she heard the knife on the cutting board and made some noise but quickly quieted down as I continued. With the apple she kept yelping/whistling throughout and got louder as I kept going. Wow.

And, by the way, A-Rod said the Honeycrisps were just fabulous!!

ekreider wrote:

There is a largish vendor at the Lincoln Square market that also sells a variety of things way earlier than everyone else. I just don't get that

I suspect that Darren72 is referring to Compean and Sons, formerly Huntington Orchards before a brush with bankruptcy. They are near Huntington, IN, which is a lot farther south than any of the other growers at Lincoln Square and which has no Lake Michigan cold spring influences unlike all of the Michigan growers. Local climate makes a big difference.

I think I'm thinking of a different place. I seem to recall the one I have in mind was from central Illinois. In any case, they had tomatoes so early in the season (earlier than they arrive at the Champaign and Springfield markets, for example), that I'm sure they were grown indoors.

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing househouse growing methods or storing things like apples. I just prefer to focus on other things.

FWIW - Growing Power, which sells at a number of markets around town, had indoor-grown tomatoes at the GCM today.

Jonah wrote:There was a small stand, no name of a farm hanging, selling a few items including tomatoes and apples. I wonder if it's the rules or their enforcement that are lax. For many years there was a large and popular stand at the Daley Plaza farmer's market that had no sign and a great variety of produce; more than Nichols, and it all looked perfect, and it could not all have been in season at one farm. Aside from obvious signs, like apples in May, my general rule is that there must be a sign telling me the name of the farm and where it is, or I don't shop there.

Jonah

Nearly ALL the apples currently on the market, with the exception of Granny Smith's from New Zealand and perhaps several from Chile, are from last year's harvest and held in cold storage. If you drive through the large orchards of Michigan and Pennsylvania, you will see hundreds of cold storage units.