Oak Park Farmer's Market 5th Try
7/2/05

It was a very good day to be in Oak Park. At 8:30 or so, the market teemed with people, circling the stands, gathered around the musicians, sitting at the metal tables. Across the street the little league played their all star game, and with banners hanging and a roaring crowd, the whole area felt alive. The early season heat dissipated but left behind a reward of fruit and vegetables.

Blink, and the market will look very different. Although one vendor carried big water-logged left over strawberries, those things were of the past, as was asparagus. Replacing the early season crops were tons of cherries including dark bing and paler Queen Ann (with no shortages of sour cherries in this market) plus blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, tayberries, and quite surprisingly, white peaches. On the vegetable front, Nicholl's Farms had the first, fresh dug, new, new potatoes. I got a basket. (Although when I got home I realized I had only enough 'taters to accent some dish.) Nicholl's was also showcasing their variety with three colors of cauliflower. Around the market, there was bundles of zucchini, baskets of fava's, bunches of beets. Green beans piled high. Even jalepeno peppers to buy. Blink and it's summer in Oak Park.

See ya next week.