Hi- I am particularly interested in this thread, because I live in Evanston, and love the farmer's market there, but I grew up on a fruit farm in SW Michigan. I don't know where to begin. I personally think that most of the time, the produce I get at the Evanston farmer's market is far superior to anything I can get at Dominick's or Jewel. I will not buy peaches in the grocery store, because they have to be picked green because it usually takes a week for the peaches to arrive at the store after they are picked. The cherries and strawberries are also far superior at the farmer's market. Sometimes you can get decent blueberries at the chain stores. I am willing to spend the extra money at the farmer's market, because the farmer is getting all of the money, and most farmers are not making a killing at the farmer's markets. By the time they pay for gas and tolls and other expenses, they are not making a lot of money. Grocery stores often have lost leaders, where they sell an item for less than wholesale in order to get the customer in the store, and a lot of people do not realize this, and they think the farmer is ripping them off, because Dominick's is selling blueberries for only $1 a pint, when they cost $4 a pint at the farmer's market. I have found out that you do better price wise, if you make a trip around the farmer's market, before you buy anything, to see who has the best prices. Lot's of times you can get some real bargains at the Evanston market if you get there 11:00am or later. John First often has bag sales an hour or two before he goes home. He will sell a bag of tomatoes for $5 or less. Nichols will also often have a dollar table an hour before they leave, where all there greens are $1 a bag, or they will sell melons for $1. Seedling will also mark their stuff down if they are ready to go home. I will also dicker with a farmer if whatever I want to buy is really picked over. Lots of times you can also get a good deal on peaches if you buy more than a quart. You can also get ripe or not perfect fruit really cheap. If I get there early I usually do not dicker with the farmer. I know some of the farmers there, and some farmers will not lower their price, and will sit there for a half an hour, when all they have left to sell is 3 quarts of strawberries. Last Saturday, I bought a quart of peaches, 4 ears of corn, 2 pints of blueberries, a pint of cherry tomatoes, a bag of mesclan and a melon, and I paid less than $20 total.

One of my sister's runs the farm which has been in our family since 1839, and she is definitely not rolling in dough. This year she was able to sell only 10% of the number of cherries she normally does. She had poor pollination, and then she had over 2 inches of rain as her cherries were about ready to be picked, so a lot of her cherries cracked, and then she had brown rot due to the hot weather. She definitely lost money on cherries this year, because the West coast had a bumper crop. She expects to do much better with her peach crop this year. Hope this helps, Nancy

Another point on the price/bargaining/timing issue.

If you have the space to freeze/pickle/can, then buy in bulk. I purchased a lot of green beans and got around 40% off the sign price because I asked for a bulk price. I spent about 90 minutes blanching and freezing green beans for the winter. I did the same with blueberries. When the sign says, "One for $4, Two for $7" I say, "How much for 10" and I usually get a great deal. Plus I've got a great stash for the winter.

eatchicago wrote:Another point on the price/bargaining/timing issue.

If you have the space to freeze/pickle/can, then buy in bulk. I purchased a lot of green beans and got around 40% off the sign price because I asked for a bulk price. I spent about 90 minutes blanching and freezing green beans for the winter. I did the same with blueberries. When the sign says, "One for $4, Two for $7" I say, "How much for 10" and I usually get a great deal. Plus I've got a great stash for the winter.

Absolutely true. The advertised ptice of Green Beans at Iron Creek Farm was 5 bucks a pound. I paid less than half that by buying a ton of them.

Kennyz wrote:Absolutely true. The advertised ptice of Green Beans at Iron Creek Farm was 5 bucks a pound. I paid less than half that by buying a ton of them.

LOL, you must have one helluva big freezer!

=R=

Hi- Back in June, I was making the rounds at the Evanston market, and John First told me that he would sell me a flat of strawberries for $15, and that they were going wholesale for $20 a flat. I told him that I did not have time to freeze any strawberries, and that was too many for me to eat fresh. I then proceeded to finish making the rounds, and soon realized that the three quarts that I was going to get were almost as expensive as the whole flat. I ended up buying the whole flat, and selling some of them to somebody else, and making strawberry muffins and strawberry pancakes out of most of the rest. My sister told me a few days later that strawberries were going wholesale for $23 a flat. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Somebody mentioned the New York Times article that said that one of the farmers at the Benton Harbor Market mentioned that he could get twice as much at the Chicago farmer's markets, as he could at the Benton Harbor market. FYI the Benton Harbor market is the largest open air cash to carry market in the country, but it is strictly wholesale. There is a lot less overhead involved in selling a whole pickup load of peaches to one person, than there is selling them at the Chicago farmer's markets. The problem is that there are not enough brokers at the Benton Harbor market to sell to. The chain stores want to buy from just a few factory farms, and that is why a lot of farmers come to Chicago. My sister has a fruit stand and upick farm right off of exit 39 of I-94 in Coloma, Michigan if anybody is in the area. Her farm is called Fruit Acres Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:My sister has a fruit stand and upick farm right off of exit 39 of I-94 in Coloma, Michigan if anybody is in the area. Her farm is called Fruit Acres.

I was just there on Wednesday and I've been there a few times in the past. I really like their stuff. And I bought what amounted to 5 big bags of produce -- plus an assortment of preserves, salsas and mustards -- all for $57.

=R=

NFriday wrote:My sister has a fruit stand and upick farm right off of exit 39 of I-94 in Coloma, Michigan if anybody is in the area. Her farm is called Fruit Acres.

Thanks for the heads-up; I added it to the U-Pick Map.

Shouldn't fresh greens be cheap? They're hardly a luxury crop, or hard to grow, or delicate.

I was at the Arlington Heights farmer's market today, and several vendors had bunches of chard (some rainbow, some red) for $3.50.

Now, I paid $2.49 for a larger bunch at Whole Foods this week. Organic yet. Go figure.

I bought a bag of organic baby lettuces for $2.50 from Kinnikinnick Farms at Green City Market today. I also purchased a small bunch of organic collard greens for $1.25 from them today. This was before 8 this morning, so it was neither large amounts or "last call".

NFriday wrote:Hi- Back in June, I was making the rounds at the Evanston market, and John First told me that he would sell me a flat of strawberries for $15, and that they were going wholesale for $20 a flat. I told him that I did not have time to freeze any strawberries, and that was too many for me to eat fresh. I then proceeded to finish making the rounds, and soon realized that the three quarts that I was going to get were almost as expensive as the whole flat. I ended up buying the whole flat, and selling some of them to somebody else, and making strawberry muffins and strawberry pancakes out of most of the rest. My sister told me a few days later that strawberries were going wholesale for $23 a flat. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday - thanks for visiting us, and for the valuable contributions.

Wholesale or not, I do believe that there is a premium paid for shopping at Chicagoland markets, based on personal experience at markets and direct anecdotes from friends working at two local farms. But I think it's perfectly fair for farmers to charge premium rates at our city markets, and observe that they generally bring us their very best for the privilege.

While as I've said I'm never sure what the "right" price should be for certain items given the lack of competition or points for comparison, farmers market produce is affordable enough, especially for those of us with time and resources to plan out menus and type about them on the internet. If the process sometimes seems a luxury (of pleasure, local pride, or social conscience), there may be comfort to be found in that

1. we (in the main) choose to live in a city, with the supply benefits and drawbacks of concentrated urban life
2. with no large, year-round, central marketplace for local produce, we have nowhere to go but up (and prices have nowhere to go but down) if and when competition increases
3. as more and more people eat locally (and organically), prices should be mitigated provided there is enough land and labor for higer-demand, sustainable cultivation, which all evidence suggests there is
4. as has been pointed out in several threads recently, farmers are reasonable businesspeople and there are always deals to be had for those willing to look or engage in that time-honored practice of haggling, one of the cornerstones of the agricultural marketplace
5. some farms are making adjustments to bring much-needed local, fresh produce to areas without solid retail options at reasonable prices (e.g. Hyde Park Farmers Market, though it's far from perfect)

The concept of Farmer Fleeceyou therefore doesn't hold water for me, as much as I do admire the alliteration and can easily conjure a characterization. I am in full and quite optimistic support of local farms and farmers markets. For those of us with the time and resources, I believe that thinking about and taking consuming roles in these issues now can only benefit the broader community in the future.

Santander wrote:

Wholesale or not, I do believe that there is a premium paid for shopping at Chicagoland markets, based on personal experience at markets and direct anecdotes from friends working at two local farms. But I think it's perfectly fair for farmers to charge premium rates at our city markets, and observe that they generally bring us their very best for the privilege.

While as I've said I'm never sure what the "right" price should be for certain items given the lack of competition or points for comparison, farmers market produce is affordable enough, especially for those of us with time and resources to plan out menus and type about them on the internet. If the process sometimes seems a luxury (of pleasure, local pride, or social conscience), there may be comfort to be found in that

1. we (in the main) choose to live in a city, with the supply benefits and drawbacks of concentrated urban life
2. with no large, year-round, central marketplace for local produce, we have nowhere to go but up (and prices have nowhere to go but down) if and when competition increases
3. as more and more people eat locally (and organically), prices should be mitigated provided there is enough land and labor for higer-demand, sustainable cultivation, which all evidence suggests there is
4. as has been pointed out in several threads recently, farmers are reasonable businesspeople and there are always deals to be had for those willing to look or engage in that time-honored practice of haggling, one of the cornerstones of the agricultural marketplace
5. some farms are making adjustments to bring much-needed local, fresh produce to areas without solid retail options at reasonable prices (e.g. Hyde Park Farmers Market, though it's far from perfect)

The concept of Farmer Fleeceyou therefore doesn't hold water for me, as much as I do admire the alliteration and can easily conjure a characterization. I am in full and quite optimistic support of local farms and farmers markets. For those of us with the time and resources, I believe that thinking about and taking consuming roles in these issues now can only benefit the broader community in the future.

Is it possible to get a smilies function for quotes like this similar to Facebook's thumb's up?

Thanks Matt

Hi- Thanks a lot to the person who listed my sister's farm and u-pick on their Chicagoland upick website. Over half of our farm is peaches, and she has tons of them for people to pick or purchase at the farm stand this week. I am going to forward a link to your u-pick site to my sister. Thanks, Nancy

My pleasure! I haven't really gotten around to Michigan the way I ought to, it's nice when listings wind up in my lap!

We missed the farmers market last weekend and so ran out of peaches. I was shopping at Fresh Market on Dempster and was delighted to see Michigan peaches for under a dollar a pound. In a few days they ripened and we ate them, but they were nothing like the peaches we buy straight from the farmer and we only had a couple days to eat them before they went bad. At the farmers market we buy a different product than is available at the chains or even the smaller grocery stores.

We've been loyal shoppers of Kinnikinnick for over 10 years. Unlike the prewashed and bagged lettuce available at a supermarket, Kinnikinnick greens stay fresh for approaching two weeks. In this case we don't pay a premium because they don't charge that much, but if we did it would be well worth the extra time we get out of the product and, especially regarding arugala (sp), a far more intense flavor profile.

We drove to Mich last month, picked twenty pounds of blueberries at a dollar a pound and brought them home. Went into a Dominick's two days later and they were selling Michigan blueberries for .77 a pint....next to some organic ones that were five or six dollars a pint (from where I do not know). The berries we picked lasted a full three weeks and I'd argue tasted better than any we've bought this summer.

My first point which has been made by others better than me is that they are different products so the pricing query doesn't apply. Why pay more for a BMW when the chevy dealer is selling the impalas for a lot less?

But the more important point I wanted to make is the shelf life. Fresh off the farm seems to last a multiple longer and this added value has to be factored into the price. If it last longer, theoretically, there should be less waste.

Kennyz wrote:I have queried Bennisons staffers about why they store their stuff it plastic tubs, which seriously deteriorates the bread. Their answer wasn't very useful.

Perhaps Kennyz's inquiries resulted in a change in practices or maybe this was just a one-off, but two Saturdays ago (last Saturday in August), it appeared that all of Bennison's breads at Green City were stored at the market in large cardboard boxes without lids.

MCA Market Purchases yesterday- I always forget about this one but it still had good offerings when I arrived around 1:30 pm.

Lane End's Farms( I think this was the name)
Organic Mixed Lettuces- $2.50
Pint of Organic Sun Gold baby tomatoes- $3.00

Nichol's Farm
4 giant red sweet peppers- $3.00
6 ears of Bi-color/Mirai Sweet Corn- $2.00

I spent $10.50 for quite a bit of food. My veggie burger at Chili's cost about the same thing. Isn't as nutritious, nor will it provide food for more than 1 meal. I know price is always relative and 1 person's cheap is another person's astronomical, but I really don't know where else I would have gotten comparable goods for similar prices in the downtown Chicago area.

Matt wrote:

Kennyz wrote:I have queried Bennisons staffers about why they store their stuff it plastic tubs, which seriously deteriorates the bread. Their answer wasn't very useful.

Perhaps Kennyz's inquiries resulted in a change in practices or maybe this was just a one-off, but two Saturdays ago (last Saturday in August), it appeared that all of Bennison's breads at Green City were stored at the market in large cardboard boxes without lids.

So it seems. I noticed this this morning, and the Bennison's folks (jokingly, I think) thanked me for making their lives a pain in the ass.

Hi- I got a trally good deal at John First's stand at the Evanston market. They had $5 a bag. I got approximately 10 pounds of tomatoes, 2 eggplants, and 3 zucchini all for $5. When I first got there, the tomatoes were $2.50 a pound.

I was a happy shopper at the various farmers markets I went to in Chicago, and now that I live in a small town in the middle of horse and farm country, I couldn't wait to see what kind of produce we could buy here. First, it's kind of neat to be able to take a short drive to the farms that also have tables at the farmers markets and take a walk around the spot where the food is grown. As far as prices and selection, just like Chicago, it depends on which table on which day at which site you go to. Overall, we've had some great deals. But there's one story in particular I have to share. I'm doing some freelance work for a CPA with an office at the main intersection of small town USA. It's got a stoplight, but seriously, in Chicago, it barely rates a stop sign. Not a lot going on, but pretty cute. Anyways, people still go door to door out here. They sell jewelry, ask for (legitimate) donations/fundraising, bankers and insurance guys passing out cards, all kinds of stuff. There's a farmer from a much much smaller town that's just down the road from the small town I now live in, he goes door to door with a big mail crate filled with vegetables from his farm. That's right, the farmers market comes to me! He's in town every two weeks with a new supply of veggies etc. I think I'm his favorite customer. Not only do I drop a minimum ten bucks every time he drops in, but I'm so damn happy to see him bring in fresh food and (to me) it's so cheap, I'm pretty sure no one on his route appreciates his visits as much as me (or my wife, who works across the street). Now he calls me the day before, tells me what he's got, and takes my order. Here's my last one.
A dozen eggs (from chickens he raises himself); 3 bucks
9 tomatoes; 3 bucks
2 bags of mixed greens; 2 bucks
1 bag of mustard greens; 1 buck
2 bags of basil, 1 sage, 1 dill; 4 bucks
3 red peppers, 3 green peppers; 2 bucks
5 banana peppers, 10 cayenne peppers; 2 bucks
3 purple onions; 1 buck
6 squash (med-large), 6 zucchini (huge); 4 bucks.
I also put in an order for a whole chicken that he slaughters at the end of the season that he raises himself (ten bucks).
On the horizon, he's hoping to harvest some bok choy, which he had success with last year. Also, he's told me that he's hoping to have broccoli with the next order.
I think I'm missing something or two from my last order, but you get the idea.
Several tables at the various farmers markets sell beef and pork that they raise themselves and have slaughtered at the next town over (or another one, also very close). We have an apple and peach orchard within easy driving distance (everything seems like easy driving distance after half a lifetime in Chicago). There's an Amish community not far away, and so I can always get fresh baked goods at the various farmers markets. Two different sites have someone who pickles and jars/cans various foods and jams. One site has a woman who sells quilts, which, I have to say, are pretty cool (I never would've thought as the young juvenile delinquent I once was, that I would ever think I'd hold such a positive opinion of quilts, but there you go). I've purchased various melons here that could easily store a Jewel-purchased melon inside of it.
I can't help but want to buy something from every table at certain markets, and since we eat so many vegetables and make so many sauces, we do buy a lot. It's pretty rare that if we do drop a little bit of a cash at a table that they don't throw an extra tomato or squash into our bag as thanks, something that always embarrasses me a bit because I don't think they get that I appreciate them way more than they should appreciate me. I almost feel like I should be giving them an extra tomato or squash as I leave their table. I dunno; it's all in all a pretty cool experience for me.
Something I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around is this whole thing about seasons. What do you mean I can't get these tomatoes much longer? Why is the farmers market ending? It's like by moving into the middle of farmland, I feel like I should be able to get fresh grown vegetables and fruits whenever I want. I blame Jewel and Dominicks for this.
Anyways, I know it was a long post, but most of my friends are ambivalent about this kind of thing, and I figured you guys probably could appreciate the lay of the land here more than anybody.
Cheers.

Hi- I wasn't sure where to put this, but I heard on the radio a few days ago, that anybody that has a LINK card, can go to any farmer's market in the state that take them, and receive twice as much. In other words, if you normally spend $10 at the farmer's market, you can buy $20 worth of produce if you use your LINK card, and only be charged for $10. You have to go to a farmer's market that accepts the LINK card. I know Evanston does, and some of the farmer's markets in Chicago do, but the majority of the city sponsored markets do not yet. All the city markets were supposed to start accepting the LINK card, but so far that has not happened yet.

This new program is state sponsored. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- I wasn't sure where to put this, but I heard on the radio a few days ago, that anybody that has a LINK card, can go to any farmer's market in the state that take them, and receive twice as much. In other words, if you normally spend $10 at the farmer's market, you can buy $20 worth of produce if you use your LINK card, and only be charged for $10. You have to go to a farmer's market that accepts the LINK card. I know Evanston does, and some of the farmer's markets in Chicago do, but the majority of the city sponsored markets do not yet. All the city markets were supposed to start accepting the LINK card, but so far that has not happened yet.

This new program is state sponsored. Hope this helps, Nancy

Thanks, Nancy, and well done, State of Illinois.

Find a list of markets that take LINK here:

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172

20 Chicago (strictly defined) markets on the list.


PS - Somewhere, Farmer Fleeceyou is scowling & waving his fists in the air ...

Roger Ramjet wrote:Thanks, Nancy, and well done, State of Illinois.

Find a list of markets that take LINK here:

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172

20 Chicago (strictly defined) markets on the list.


PS - Somewhere, Farmer Fleeceyou is scowling & waving his fists in the air ...

Not at all. In fact it's probably just the opposite. It means more business for them and a new customer base. I've been to markets that take them. At the ones I've been to farmers don't take LINK cards directly. There is a specific LINK booth set up and the LINK cardholders use their cards and get some type of scrip dollars to use for their purchases. I assume that the farmers hand in their scrip at the end of the markets and get reimbursed somehow,probably by check.

Hi- That is how they do it at the Evanston market. The farmer totals up the vouchers he receives and then they are collected at the end of the day. I am not sure how soon they get paid. One time last summer when I was at the farmer's market there, somebody was going around collecting the vouchers, and one of the farmer's handed her $150 worth of vouchers. I was pleasantly surprised how many LINK sales this farmer made.

I know the state also has a program where they give coupons to be used at the farmer's markets to income eligible seniors too. It seems like it is something like $20 in coupons they give out. The federal department of Agriculture might be involved in the program too, because my sister that has the farm in Michigan says that seniors come into her fruit stand with those coupons too that they have gotten at the local senior center.

Artie wrote:

Roger Ramjet wrote:Thanks, Nancy, and well done, State of Illinois.

Find a list of markets that take LINK here:

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172

20 Chicago (strictly defined) markets on the list.


PS - Somewhere, Farmer Fleeceyou is scowling & waving his fists in the air ...

Not at all. In fact it's probably just the opposite. It means more business for them and a new customer base. I've been to markets that take them. At the ones I've been to farmers don't take LINK cards directly. There is a specific LINK booth set up and the LINK cardholders use their cards and get some type of scrip dollars to use for their purchases. I assume that the farmers hand in their scrip at the end of the markets and get reimbursed somehow,probably by check.

Thanks for the useful additional information. I guess I should make it clear that the comment re "Farmer Fleeceyou" was intended to be humorous - the image (created in the post from which this thread's title derives) is that of a mean cheeseparing skinflint who only comes to Farmers' Markets to rook the cityfolk. This fictional caricature would be annoyed by the LINK cards because they probably mean more paperwork for him - and because he's just plain mean! He is not a real person.

This has been something near and dear to my heart, when my friend James Beard/Emmy award winning chef Michel Nischan thought of and then even more astounding, made it happen through his NPO Wholesome Wave. Here's a link to a story I wrote in 09 regarding this program, that began in his parking lot and now is being embraced nation wide in 100's of markets. A true visionary (and a great bass player).

http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2009/11/13/nourishing_neighborhoods/

Roger Ramjet wrote:Find a list of markets that take LINK here:
http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172

Some are better than none, but more would be better. It'd be nice to see Waukegan and North Chicago added to this list.

Katie wrote:

Roger Ramjet wrote:Find a list of markets that take LINK here:
http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172

Some are better than none, but more would be better. It'd be nice to see Waukegan and North Chicago added to this list.

Hi,

I didn't find any information of any farmer's market in North Chicago. It's over 10 years since it last had any major grocery store there, too.

Waukegan seems to have a number of farmer's markets.

Regards,

Hi- Katie is just saying that there are no farmer's markets in Waukegan that accept the LINK card. That is a shame, because I am sure there are a fair number of people in Waukegan that have a LINK card. It is the same in Chicago. I do not know if any of the city sponsored markets in Chicago accept the LINK card. One of the farmers that comes to Evanston, used to sell at one of the markets downtown at Federal plaza. They were there on 9/11, when they were told that they had to get out of there in an hour. Helga told me that because she and her husband sold at Federal plaza, they were told that they had to sell produce a few times a month at one of the food desert farmer's markets, and they sold under $100 all day. If the market had accepted LINK cards, I am sure they could have sold a lot more.

The city of Chicago does not make the farmers do that anymore, because they got so many complaints from the farmers, and some of the farmers were just paying their weekly rental fees for the food desert farmer's markets, and not showing up. Hope this helps, Nancy

HI,

I knew what Katie intended, though I really wondered if North Chicago would have a farmer's market when it did not have a full grocery store. Clearly Waukegan there is a chance, if it is not already implemented and simply not on this list.

Regards,