Darren72 wrote:Tim, have you been to the Green City Market? I would be shocked if anything there was from a wholesale outlet. ....

Maybe not quite wholesale outlets, but the kids who work the Bennison's bread stand still have no clue about anything, and last week one worker at a newish vendor that sets up behind Nichols was selling chard, and she told me that she had no idea what chard was and had never heard of it before that day. But yeah, for the most part the farmers that sell there are indeed farmers and they know their produce well.

Tim wrote:Hi,
I have visited many farmers markets in suburban Chicago....
Tim

Darren72 wrote:Tim, have you been to the Green City Market?

No. as I said, I have only visited suburban markets. Nevertheless, I would be very surprised if most of the vendors at the Green City Market were the farmers, rather than sales assistants. Almost all of the Old Capitol Farmer's Market vendors are the actual farmers/owners or family members. The few employees work the farms and know the varieties. There may be two or three exceptions out of 40 vendors.

Darren72 wrote:...I think there is a lot of room between the very bad markets that you have in mind and the ideal ones.

Actually, I had the best markets in mind and hijacked the thread subject (...are bu*sh&*) to brag about the Old Capitol Farmer's Market. You should also realize there are bad market at both ends of the spectrum. My point is that many suburban markets are populated with vendors that purchase from a wholesale market or exaggerate the provenance of their produce by selling snob value without even knowing the variety being sold.

Darren72 wrote: There is also an evening market at the state fairgrounds.

Many of the same vendors go to the State Fairgrounds farmers market on Thursday evening. This farmers market does not enforce rules and there is usually a supply of out-of-season produce from a wholesale sources and products purchased from other producers.

Tim

aschie30 wrote:Some people sneer at others because they drive gas-guzzling SUVs, others sneer at Prius owners because they're not riding bikes. Unfortunately, people are flawed and they all have their own personal elite causes. <Shrug>

Good observation. Mine is that it's not so much that people look down their noses at others not as evolved as they are, as that people imagine others looking down their noses at them. (Or, as Matt said, projection.) The owner of the gas-guzzling SUV looks at the owner of the Prius and silently thinks, "Oh, I suppose you think you're better than me because you're saving the world." The owner of the Prius looks at the owner of the gas-guzzling SUV and silently thinks, "Oh, I suppose you think you're better than me because your gargantuan car commands the road." More powerful than our need to believe we're better than others is our need to reject that other people are better than us.

For the record: farmers espied when @ green city market the other day included Vicki Westerhoff of Genesis Growers; Tracy Vowels of 3 Sisters; Peter Klein of Seedlings; Mick Klug of his namesake; Michelle Dietzler of her namsake. I could go on but does it matter. I could also do the same for most other markets. Do non-farmer's work too. Of course (my wife works for Tomato Mountain), but that hardly undermines the point of plenty of farmers @ markets.

I'll accept the philosophical debate, but let's have straight facts.

And the workers know the produce too - I bought some Tuscan Kale from one of the vendors (Growing Home?) and a young woman working there asked me what I was going to do with it, and then told me her preferred recipe

Tim wrote:Kenny,

Old Capitol Farmers Market in downtown Springfield on Wed. and Sat. mornings.

Sadly, a long haul from Chicago. The Dane County Farmer's Market is closer and bigger.

Tim

I made it to the Downtown Springfield market a couple of weekends ago. It was quite nice - it was about 2-3 blocks long and about the same quality level as the Andersonville market (by which I mean very good) that I usually frequent. I'm told many of the vendors there are also at the Thursday market.

Weekend tip: as the GCM is kaput this weekend, due to the air & water show, a trip up to the Glenview Farmers Market might be a nice substitute - interesting, largely Illinois-centric vendors, including Mint Creek Farm for lamb and other meat/poultry, as well as eggs & milk. Ample free parking - and across Wagner Road, an actual farm to explore, one of the last existing farms in northern Cook County. Tomorrow's market features a nicely-timed food-preservation demo. Easy to access via the Edens, and well worth the trip.

Wagner Farm/Glenview Farmers Market
1510 Wagner Road (at Lake Street)
Glenview, IL 60025