Vital Roadtrips - 2009 - Part I

To Bloomington

The more I wear a hole in my Priceline account, the happier I make my wife. She never tires of the road. We returned last night from various parts in Kentucky and Indiana (and almost Tennessee), and I know her wanderlust already brews. So, before recounting our experiences finding a water driven mill and eating amongst the chains, outposts, and hotels of Kentucky, let me start working on our next trips. Over the next few weeks (I swear), I will lay out some prospective road trips for 2009. Highest on my list right now, is Bloomington, IN.

We visit the lands around us, especially for the food. It allows us to sample and obtain regional dishes and specialities unavailable in Chicago. I mean how many places remark, like the Mammoth Cave Hotel, "we're out of chicken, it''ll take 45 minutes for more." We can meet our products, such as at the various distilleries in Kentucky. On the other hand, away from Chicago, we find communities much more advanced on the locavore path, e.g., Madison, WI. But we pick up dried beans in Michigan and bourbon ball candy in Frankfort, KY. Local is always where we find it. Bloomington seems like it will met our needs (extremely).

Farmers and artisans working for consumers fill Southern Indiana. Just look at this guide (pdf). At least two chefs have gained notoriety using this bounty. Daniel Orr though brought fame with him to Bloomington. He's no shrinking violet! He chef'd New York's La Grenouille to three stars many years ago. Now, he's back home in Southern Indiana, with the multi-complexed FARMbloomington. Orr combines local food with his well-traveled backgrounds. The menus sound about right, but I can easily relate to the skepticism raised on this blog. How much of a rivalry does David Tallent have for Orr. He's been on the high-end, local Bloomington scene since 2003 at his namesake restaurant. Buzz around his place is generally better or at least more consistent (typical). If we tire of dueling resume'd chefs, I can follow the advice of one of my favorite bloggers, Virtual Farmgirl and have big steaks and Yugoslavian foods at Janko's Little Zagreb.

We would not be hot on the Bloomington trail without a farmer's market in site. Bloomington reportedly hosts the largest farmer's market in Indiana. It does not pack up in the winter either. If the market carries half as much stuff as it did last year, it will be worth it. In other markets, Bloomingfoods seems worth a visit and maybe Sahara; I mean besides local food, Sahara prepares over 30 varieties of olives, olives being one of my favorite exceptions or exemptions or whatever we call non-local food these days.

A local brew would be in order, and Uplands sounds OK.

Of course we would be hot on the trail of regional specialities that may or may not be around when we visit Southern Indiana. The genius who thought to fry biscuits worked at the Nashville House (so they say), but they are at other places now too. The will be maple sugar a-brewin' around the end of February (cf). A good and decent Indiana persimmon is only ready to eat when it gets so ripe if falls off the tree. There are gathered from lawns all around in the fall. Because the fresh product would have a shelf life of a half-a-day, it usually frozen, with little effect for pudding or ice cream use. If American persimmons are under appreciated, what about Indiana's hickory shagbark syrup used by Wolfgang Puck and Rick Bayless. And who would leave without finding a pork tenderloin? It may not be served in a gas station, but Gnaw Bone still serves a famous version.

Bloomington, high on the Vital Roadtrips for 2009

Winter Markets Soon!

This weekend brings the Chicago area the first of two winter markets organized by my hard working friend Robin "Winter" and the team at the Churches Center for Land & People.

• Chicago / Beverly - Saturday November 8, 2008 - 9am to 1pm - - Church of the Holy Nativity - 9300 S. Pleasant Ave.. Chicago, IL 60643

• Elgin - Sunday November 9, 2008 - 1pm to 3pm - Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin
  39W830 Highland Ave., Elgin, IL 60124

A wide variety of local foodstuffs should be available at these markets:

• Grass- & grain-fed beef
• Pastured pork
• Free-range chicken
• Mushrooms
• Milled flour & cornmeal
• Goats' milk soap
• Natural tilapia
• Honey
• Basil & other herbs
• Swiss chard, lettuce, kale & other greens
• Onions, garlic & shallots
• Sweet basil vinaigrette
• Raw fibers, yarns & woolen goods
• Yogurt
• Potatoes
• Eggs
• Tomatoes & bell peppers
• Root vegetables
• Hot peppers
• Winter Squash
• Apples & cider
• Beauty & spa products
• Salsas, sauces & preserves
• Infused vinegars, herb blends & rubs
• Cheese & cheese curds
. . . and much more!

There is no reason local eating has to stop. By the way, I recommend that you sample the delicious brunch at the Beverly market, but also save room for two of my area favorites: Top Notch Beefburger and Cupid Candies.

Up Beet

For those looking for their Local Family update, the Local Beet is down for now and for maybe the next couple of days, as we roll out our updated design. I think you will be well impressed with the new look, so stay tuned at thelocalbeet.com.

I've already jotted down on the Beet, what I got at a last farmer's market yesterday (Eli's Cheesecake) as well as what came in the last summer CSA box. You should be able to see the notes as soon as the Beet is up again. I'll need those notes to update the inventory. It's a week behind.

I did update the preservation list after putting up some red peppers in the freezer this AM.

The Chicago area has at least two farmer's markets this weekend. Green City is not even thinking about closing yet, although it will be in its late fall location, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Bill Kim of the hot on the scene Urban Belly is doing a demo this Saturday. Evanston is also up and running for one last week. If I was not committed to the food pantry, I would really like to be here tomorrow.

Whether you want to make the run to Madison tomorrow or not, the Harmony Valley web site gives a very good indication of just how much stuff is still out there this time of year.

Last, don't fret if you cannot make these last markets, you got plenty of options.

Find Farmer's Markets - Wisconsin

Readers of this blog know that I am enamored with the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Agri-happings site as a directory of farmer's markets in Illinois. I recently came across a good, not quite as good, site for farmer's markets in Wisconsin.

Eat Local Food

Miss Me?

Gosh, do I have stuff to blog about. A very fine day in and around Monroe, Wisconsin capped with an especially fine meal at L'Etoile in Madison; there's still the lingering memories of good food at Mado and bad food at Semiramis. I love Wisconsin. You can stumble into a place like Sorg's in the middle of nowhere and find the most incredible, near Kobe [ed. let's not exaggerate] porterhouse steaks as well as all the brats and other fine things you expect in this state. In the meantime, here's what we've been gathering:

Alp & Dell (Roth Kase Factory and Outlet - 657 Second, Monroe, WI) - 7/30/08

• Lots of cheese including Roth Kase Private Reserve

Maple Leaf Co-op Outlet (W2616 Hwy 11-81, Juda, WI) - 7/30/08

• More cheese including award winning Maple Leaf English Hollow Cheddar

Monroe Farmer's Market - 7/30/08

• Freshly dug Kennebec potatoes
• Pickles (i.e., kirby cucumbers)
• Elderberry jam
• Onions
• Garlic

Hoesly's Meat - New Glarus, WI - 7/30/08

• Dried beef (a deli cut, not jerky)
• Smoked brats

New Glarus Brewery - New Glarus, WI - 7/30/08

• Beer including Uff-da Bock; Organic Revolution and Belgian Red (cherry)

Willy St Coop - Madison - 7/31/08

• Sugar River yogurt

Sorg's Meat - Darien, WI - 7/31/08

• Polish sausages

Caputo's - Elmwood Park, IL - 8/1/08

• Michigan eggplant
• Michigan spicy wax peppers
• Michigan apples

Genesis Growers CSA - 8/2/08

• Eggs
• Wax beans
• Summer squash
• Jalepeno peppers
• Red cabbage
• Pickles
• Cucumbers
• Apricots
• Mesclun
• Muskmelon

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 9/2/08

• Genesis Growers - Arugula, purple basis, purple cauliflower, tomatoes
• Nichol's Farm - Wild plums
• Hardin Farm - Apricots, peaches, nectarines
• Stovers - Sweet cherries
• Catalina Farm - Tomato berries
• Skibbes - White peaches, white nectarines, tomatoes

Previous list of stuff here.

Still Mad for Madtown - Madison, WI

Schedule Your Staycation?

I am mad for Madison, Wisconsin. Not the least bit mad that my usual choice of stay, the Concourse, was out of my budget this trip, nor was I mad that Priceline found me no place within my budget at all. Instead, I turned to Plan B, Hotwire.com, which provides the uncertainity of a hotel name with the certainty of a price--with both Priceline's "name your price" and Hotwire, you do not know the name of your hotel until after you hit the pay button. Anyway, I'm mad enough to say OK to a $32 "two star-er" on Hotwire in West Madison. After all, my wife, who will not be known as the Condiment Queen, takes it as a matter of pride and principle to spend less that 12 hours in a hotel room, check-in to check out. How bad could the Rock Star Inn (i.e., Road Star) be. I mean it did not get featured in this apt cover story in this week's Isthmus. Answer: gross, but just barely tolerable. Vital advice: take slippers when ever staying in Hotwire 2 star hotels. Cheap room equals more food budget.

So, I'm not the least bit mad over the prices at Lao Laan Xang, Madison's foremost Laotian restaurant, which seem a bit high, about $16 for house specials. We hit Lao Laan Xang because my older daughter, on the verge of birthday, felt Laotian would cleanse her after two nights of Ann Boylen (i.e., our Wettstein's Organic Farm hog, so named because it's head had been lost). (Also, Mom and Dad had just watched Tony Bordain mope through Laos on the DVR.) To daughter's chagrin, we ordered more pork as well as catfish, not a fave either.

I'm madly in love with Laotian food, at least as served at Lao Laan Xang. I cannot say I know much in the way of Laotian food. I figured the best way to start was with the four house specialities on the Lao Laan menu. My younger daughter balked, something about house specialities and spice or what not through her off (and she was mad we were not at Old Fashion or the Washington (Island) Hotel Coffee Room). Utilizing her enormous skill to pick dishes she will later dislike, she opted out of the family plan for a private beef salad. Trouble brewed further as goaded by her sister, she switched her heat level from careful to adventuresome (the rest of us going for "native Lao"). Her lunch turned out to be mostly gobs of sticky rice. We on the other hand, loved-loved the beef salad, heavy with fish sauce and maybe something else that gave it a funkier taste than similar Thai salads. Of course the adventuresome spice level helped.

I'm not mad that I did not pay attention to the name of one house speciality, tum som to realize it was papaya salad (in Thai, "som tum"). The menu describes

pounded in a mortar, fresh garlic, chiles, shrimp paste, tamarind, lime, cherry tomatoes, Thai eggplant, fish sauce, unripe papaya

I had in my mind, nam prik, pounded dishes used as dips. Instead, papaya salad and a quarter of fried chicken. The other funny (not as in ha-ha funny) thing about this dish was about 25 minutes (at least) after we ordered it; the waiter came by and said they currently had no papaya on hand. They were in the process of getting some though. Would we like the dish with cucumbers they asked. We said no, papaya, just bring us the other dishes first. Without going into a detailed review of Lao Laan Xang, let me say that the restaurant showed why they needed the time and the money. Our dishes, the papaya salad with chicken, a catfish stuffed with herbs and grilled-steamed in banana leaves and a variation on that dish, the catfish with ground pork, all tasted complex and labor intense. Ordering Lao meant eating fire, but it also meant eating a range of intense flavors. Nothing was dumbed dumbed down for us. I'm madly in love with this place.

And not the least bit mad that our raison d'etre for Madison, the World's Greatest Farmer's Market^tm gave ground this weekend for Art Fair. All the more excuse to visit a new market. We highed early Sunday morning to the Northside market [ed., could not wait to get out of the Rock Star huh?]. As a known flamin' liberal, I got the cred to say this market mimicked the Democratic National Convention. The vendors: a Mexican, a few Asian, the organic, the lesbians (no stereotyping, they flew the rainbow flag at their booth), an African-American, the not bitter white working class, the yuppies with the yogurt enterprise. As a flamin' lib, I enjoyed the hell out of it all. The Mexican guy, who spoke nary a word of English had squash blossoms nearly the size of sunflowers and herbs like epazote and papalo--of course I had to buy. My wife and I had to buy something from nearly every vendor. We are madly in love with this market from its dairy to its fish farm called Pleasant Springs Hatchery to woman who makes caramels from local elderflowers and various jams at her Pamplemousse Preserves. I think I captured all our purchases here (scroll down), but don't be mad if I forgot something. You can do no worse if in Madison on a Sunday than visiting this market.

I am certainly mad that this post has gone on much longer than I wanted. I'm mad that the IGA market, Pierces, contains more local than any Whole Foods, but I'm not the least bit mad that we joined the Willy Street Coop (I'm just mad we don't get to use our membership more often). I'm mad for Old Fashion, the supper club-y place on the square and especially mad in the best of ways for an event my wife luckily, oh so luckily, found while reading the Isthmus, namely Pie-palooza, an eat local benefit. Eating local is as easy as pie they said. So, don't be mad if it takes me a bit to blog about it.

Chicago Area Farmer's Markets

Via my little friend, Stat, I know that there's several hits each day to this site on the phrase, "Chicago Area Farmer's Markets". Google brings them to a post from last year, with a link to last year's Chicago Tribune's listing of markets. So, as a public service to all those who find their way here looking for Chicago area farmer's markets; this is the best listing I know. It covers markets all over the Chicago area, not just city markets, and it also lists markets downstate.

I like all farmer's markets, but I can pick a favorite: the Saturday market at Oak Park, a true buyers market, with a full array of organic, local meat, and variety. I'm not immune to the charms of the Wednesday and Saturday Green City Market, especially for the chance to visit Green Acres Farms and Kinnikinnick, two farms not at Oak Park. On the other hand, Sunday's Logan Square market has some otherwise hard to find farmers, most using organic practices. Downtown shoppers can do no worse than Tuesday's Federal Plaza or Thursday's Daley Plaza; the Daley Plaza featuring my pal, Robin "Winter" and the not seen enough Illinois based Midwest Organic Farmer's Coop. Don't avoid the Hyde Park market if you live there. Mr. Ellis spends all winter cracking his black walnuts for you, and there's Indiana raised pastured pork.

I'm all for helping my friends like Jim the Vinegar guy and the market he organized this year at the Hines VA Hospital, but on the other hand, I am impressed with lecture series at the Eli's Cheesecake market. I'm all for helping emerging markets including my friend Loretta and her Maywood (twice a month) Saturday market as well as emerging markets I have no personal connection to like Englewood and Bronzeville. This Evanston market needs support and it serves the added purpose of being an evening market. That other market in Evanston, on Saturday's, I hear it's nice, it's the only place to sample the organic veg from Henry's Farm, but it's been years since I've been. 'nother one I hear is nice and I really need to get to, is the organically focused Geneva Thursday Green Market (What's with Thursdays!).

Gosh getting to them, look at the links, the directory. I bet you'll find a good market to shop, they're all over the place. Let me end, with the this little quote from the old Chicago area farmer's market post:

Buying locally grown food supports our independent farmers, preserves open land from development--and fresher food is better for you," said Veronica Resa, media relations specialist and community relations liaison for the Mayor's Office of Special Events.

Wither Blog Day? (+Newest Inventory)

(Updates below)

Last we met, I promised hours of blog fun as I assuaged my grief over being left out of the CTrib's locavore article. Yet, I could not bare to be in the Bungalow any more Sunday for fear that I might accidentally see the paper (and find out yet again that when Kerry Woods walks the first batter, no lead is safe). I did the only thing a good eat local guy could do to feel better, I went to a farmer's market. Of course as an avid eater, I also went for a local flavored brunch.

You think I'm bitter, what about Mindy Segal and her nice little place, Hot Chocolate. The Trib sidebars restaurants serving local and skips her place entirely, noting instead such arrivistes as Osteria Via Stato [ed. perhaps you just have a"thing" against OvS?]. Ms. Segal's had local on her menu before it became word of the year. My brunch the other day was awash in local: Gunthrop Farm bacon, local strawberries, Nueske ham, and although not really thought of as such, the smoked whitefish on my wife's plate is pretty local to us. Besides the use of local on the brunch menu, Hot Chocolate serves one of the best selections of Wisconsin cheeses around town. I was decidedly less bitter after brunch. More so because Mindy also offers little bites of some of her sweets, for the taking by the cash register.

Still, only one thing could be-still my stirred up heart. We moved on from Hot Chocolate to the Wicker Park Farmer's Market. We could not possibly need more food (could we?). Our holiday weekend local:

Genesis Grower's CSA - 7/3/08

• 2 bags arugula
• 2 heads leaf lettuce
• The biggest head of Napa cabbage
• The K word a/k/a kohlrabi
• Kale
• Bekana - I love Vicki to death but I wish she'd not foster the bekana, an odd Asian green on us

Eli's Cheesecake Farmer's Market - 7/3/08

• Fava beans, strawberries, young onions (tropea/cipollini), sweet onions, baby shallots - Nichol's Farm
• Interesting talk - Lloyd Nichol's, Nichol's Farm
• Cheesecakes, both purchased and comped - Eli's Cheesecake

Fox & Obel - 7/5/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery, cream, sour cream, cottage cheese
• Trader's Point Creamery yogurt
• Grunthrop Farms ham

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/5/08

• 300 lbs or so of organically raised, local hog - Wettstein Organic Farm
• Sour cherries, apricots - Hardin Farm
• Basil, mint, eggs - Genesis Growers
• Asparagus, peas - Stover's U Pick
• Curly parsley - Nice woman farming a plot in Forest Park whose name I keep on forgetting!

Wicker Park Farmer's Market - 7/6/08

• Green garlic, with scapes (which is mostly not green anymore) - Nichol's Farm
• Black raspberries - Seedlings
• Carrots - Two nice people with a farm in ILLINOIS but whose name I also forgot

Green Grocer Chicago - 7/8/08

• Beets, carrots - City Farm
• Raspberries - Unknown Michigan farm

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/10/08

• Yellow summer squash
• Thyme
• New potatoes
• Sweet cherries
• Carrots, including some white carrots
• Scallions
• 4 chickens

Eli's Cheesecake Farmer's Market - 7/10/08

• Tropea onions, fava beans - Nichol's Farm

Northside Farmer's Market, Madison, WI

• Veg: organic cucumbers, seedless cucumber, garlic scapes, sugar snaps, snow peas, carrots, green beans, blue, tomatoes, collard greens, beets, cauliflower, summer squash, squash blossoms
• Fruit: blueberries
• Herbs: papalo, cilantro, epazote, parsley
• Fish: farm raised perch
• Dairy: Sugar River yogurt, Sugar River sour cream
• Pantry: Pamplemousse Preserves (elderflower caramel, rhubarb vanilla preserves)

Pierces Northside Market, Madison, WI - 7/13/08

• New Glarus Brewery - Edel Pils, Fat Squirrel
• Capital Brewery - Island Wheat, Rustic Ale
• Botham Vineyards - Upland Reserve
• Uncle Phil's Mustard

Willy St. Co-op - 7/13/08

• Wisconsin grown veg: pea shoots, chard, romaine, radicchio
• Wisconsin cheese: Widmer 2 year cheddar, Roth Kase Gruyere, Hidden Springs Creamery "Driftless" sheep's milk cheese, Antigo StarVechio
• Sugar River yogurt

2 Girls on a corner at State Street, Madison - 7/13/08

• Raspberries from their back yard

Liquor store on Washington St. on the way to I-90 - 7/13/08

• New Glarus Brewery - Spotted Cow
• Death's Door Spirits - Death Door Vodka

Whole Foods, River Forest, IL - 7/14/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery Milk
• Cucumber - some Indiana farm
• Blueberries - some Michigan outfit

Previous list of acquisitions here.

I'm Not Bitter - Blogday

I am NOT motivated to blog all day by my bitterness towards all things Chicago Tribune. I mean if I refuse to look at the paper this morning, the Cubs might have won yesterday. Besides, does Gerry Smith know I'm a Tribune vendor. It's just with the holiday and all, I'm very behind in my blogging. I've been blinded by bitterness, but I've got lots to say.

First, some link love. I hope you all have seen MikeG's video on local, the guy with the passion for roof tops and roof top gardens as well, Bruce, now has a blog. Check it out.

Other things that should show up today or soon:

Eli's Cheesecake hosts a farmer's market on Thursdays. They are also hosting a series of lectures on local food related topics (a series that seems to have slipped by everyone's radar). Last week Lloyd Nichols spoke. Next week it's Terra Brockman of the Land Connection.

Bitterness aside, I don't buy this quote from the CTrib's article

"Illinois does not have a lot of local vegetable producers, so when you go to farmers markets you see folks from Wisconsin and Michigan," Slama said. "It's a regional approach if you still consider yourself someone who eats primarily local food."

It is true that when you go to farmer's markets in the Chicago area you will find farmer's from Michigan like Hardin Farms, who grow the best stone fruits or Walt Skibbies with an outstanding selection of apples and pears, but when it comes to vegetables, market shoppers are most likely to find Nichol's Farm at their market. They can also buy vegetables from Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers, Henry's Farm, Kinnikinnick Farm, Sandhill Organic; there's the Midwest Organic Farmer's Coop that Robin "Winter" fronts at Daley Plaza; hell there's City Farm who show up each week to the Logan Square Farmer's Market. And speaking of Logan Square, what about Farmer Rob and his Montalbano Farm. He's also at the Ridgeville Market in Evanston that needs your love. Of course, maybe you are not a market shopper, there's that small outfit out of Illinois serving the CSA needs of many, called, um, Angelic Organics. I could go on, but I have other things to not blog about.

Scotch Hill Farms, who oddly enough, are in Wisconsin, but show up at the Oak Park Farmer's Market, are seeking interest in a milk and cheese CSA. The CSA, with a delivery at Oak Park, would provide high quality local products such as Sugar River Dairy yogurt. Stop by their stand and tell Tony or Dela you are interested.

I've had Mado on the mind for reasons that will be revealed some other time, but 'cause of that, my wife and I decided to dine there last night. It's been good before, quite, good, but last night was the best meal so far. Still, despite Rob's promises, they're not serving bread. I'm not bitter about that either.

No, grapes are not in season yet, but the market is awash in new products. Concentrate now on the products with the most fleeting of season. Chad Nichol's tricked us into buying fava beans with this clever conceit, he grilled them for us. We bought a pound and a half. Unlike last year, the Chicago area locavore has apricots to eat. Grab 'em now.

Besides apricots and favas, we keep on getting other local foods, including a whole half-a hog (which my wife did a masterful job of squeezing it into the freezer). I'll be updating the inventory soon.

Hey you, don't eat local. Instead of a year on a 100 mile diet, try a lifetime of reasonable eating.

I have infusions to write about and pics from a lavish Shabbat dinner, but until all that, go read Valeree's blog, it's very good. She's not the least bit bitter.

MCA Farmer's Market

We Need After Hour Farmer's Markets!

We had the perfect Tuesday afternoon planned. I spent the morning ably in work, completing a case, but perhaps the day's events were foreshadowed by a software glitch that prevented me from sending out this report. Rick Bayless, by way of Macy's 7th floor, left a bad taste in my mouth too. It cost me over $10 for slices of chicken breast (I'm not sure if a whole breast made it on my sandwich), a small container of salsa from a jar and a watery diet Coke. I gotta certain amount of love AND respect for Mr. Bayless. He is very local ya' know, but I also find, well, they never call hm Rick "Value" Bayless.

They may call me "Mr. Farmer's Market"(although my family also calls me Mr. Thin Slicer and Mr. Mirth Provider but that's neither here nor there to the point at hand). No one loves farmer's markets more than me. I've driven in horrible storms to get to Madison's market; braved sub-zero weather for a market in Ann Arbor. I'll get out of bed at the crack of dawn to ensure my Saturday includes a stop at the Oak Park market. These days, I'm at at least 2 markets a week. Because I am Mr. Farmer's Market I can criticize the hell out of them.

Really, I said that wrong. I don't mean to criticize farmer's markets. I mean to criticize the idea of farmer's markets. And it's not even farmer's markets I am criticizing. What I mean to say is that farmer's markets are a problem for the locavore. OK, what I mean to say, is that you should not have to rely soley on farmer's markets to eat local. Make sense yet? All I'm trying to get to is that it would be helpful if farmer's markets had hours that facilitated more people eating local. Like, for instance, how 'bout a market that was open on the way home from work, so you could be inspired by the bounty and then cook dinner.

The market at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) is advertised as going to 6 PM. Back to my swimmingly planned day. The plan was that Mom and Older Daughter would take advantage of free Tuesdays to see the Jeff Koons exhibit, and Dad would get another market under his belt. I did a bit of recon while they got a head start on me--there's only so much high class porn masquerading as art [ed., don't forget floating basketballs too!] I need. It looked like a very adequate market. I was especially interested in buying new potatoes, basil and baby zukes. The problem, when we left the market around 4 PM, about 1/2 the stands were packing up. We did buy fruit from Ellis and Nofke who swore they'd stay to the end. The MCA market is also the only market in the the Michigan Ave/Streeterville area. I'd have better things to say about it if it kept to its schedule.

Just today I was telling someone that one of the key challenges of eating local was the tracking down of one's food. I caveat-ed that by saying I, personally, find pleasure in the hunt, but I recognize that not everyone else does. I want people to adopt local eating. I have less of a need for people to adopt local eating challenges. Local eating will become less of a challenge when there are more options for getting local food, including farmer's markets that stay open late.

What List?

We swore we did not need much. We really only needed, emphasis on the need, one thing: garlic. But who could resist white carrots from Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers? Our purchases were added to this list.

In other market spotting fava beans made their brief exposure here, at Nichol's Farm.

NB: Genesis Growers is at Green City Market Wednesday and Saturdays and Oak Park on Saturday. Nichol's market schedule here.

Acquisition Update

Hines VA Farmer's Market (more soon); weekly CSA box added to this list.

The End of Inventory

Starting in December, 2007 I started tracking our inventory of local foods in the Bungalow. The intended purpose was to show how my family and I managed to stay local in the darkest months through a combination of winter marketing and stored foods. I proudly reported on our ability to manage. Since then, with market and CSA supplies, I've had less need to post on the inventory, and have not made an inventory post since early May.

Last night, in seeking some garlic for Asian night (Thai inspired recipes need garlic), I found all of the remainder of our garlic supply kaput. About twenty heads of garlic given over to dust, insects and various micro-organisms. When poking around the basement, I also found a bag of potatoes with the types of beards one grows if stranded on a deserted island. Both went into the compost bin, and they will soon be joined by sprouting onions. It was only a week or so ago that the last Michigan apples went into the camp lunch of my younger daughter. Our inventory served us well.

I have not done a great job of tracking/reporting on our local purchases from the CSA, farmer's markets, Cassie's Green Grocer and the like. For the duration of the market season, I have replaced the inventory tally on the sidebar with a running tally of the last two weeks (or so)purchases. I don't have the memory to re-create everything we have purchased lately, but here's a stab. It'll be more accurate after we get our CSA box later today.

Genesis Growers CSA - 6/19/08

• 2 heads of leaf lettuce
• Mesclun bag
• Asparagus
• Strawberries
• Savoy cabbage
• French breakfast radishes
• Daikon radish
• Kale
• Eggs

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 6/21/08

• Strawberries, sugar snaps, snow peas - Nicholl's Farm
• Cherries (sweet) - Hardin Farm
• Raspberries - Skibbes
• Peas - Stovers
• Mint, basil - Genesis Growers
• Garlic scapes, green garlic - Sandhill Organic
• Duck eggs - Wettstein's

Maywood Farmer's Market - 6/21/08

• Garlic scapes, organic chickens, dill - Midwest Organic Coop
• Strawberries - Unknown farmer

Whole Foods, River Forest - 6/21/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery Whole Milk

Genesis Grower's Farm - 6/22/08

• Zucchini flowers

Green Grocer - 6/24/08

• Tarragon
• Trader's Point Creamery Yogurt
• Barley

Genesis Growers CSA - 6/26/08

• Red "salad" turnips (with greens)
• 2 heads leaf lettuce
• 1 bag mesclun
• Kohlrabi (with greens)
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Sugar snap peas (a lot)
• Eggs

Hines VA Farmers Market (Maywood) - 6/26/08

• Raspberries, snow peas - Unidentified Michigan farm
• Strawberries (flat), sweet cherries - Hardin Farms

Kolatek's - 2445 N. Harlem - 6/27/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery 2% Milk

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 6/28/08

• Snow peas, green garlic stalks (with scapes) - Nichol's Farm
• Basil, white carrots, arugula - Genesis Growers
• Cherries - Hardin Farms
• Peas - Stover's
• Raspberries, blueberries - Skibbes

MCA Farmer's Market - 7/1/08

• Raspberries - Ellis Farms
• Blueberries, strawberries, new potatoes - Noffke Farm

Maywood, Mangos, Midwest Organic and Mado to Boot

This is Loretta Brown. My wife and her are on the Board of West Suburban PADS. She makes dolls, which you can kinda see in the background. She has also organized a brand new farmer's market for Maywood, Illinois. I am always happy to see and support new markets. As they say in Maywood, this one's farmtastic.




Maywood is lucky enough to also have in its residence the hardest working women in winter markets, who's slumming it this summer on behalf of the good people of the Midwest Organic Farmer's Cooperative, Robin Schimmer.



Robin's stocking the Maywood market with all range of good stuff, from local grain, to fruit and veg (local strawberries not pictured) to meats, even locally raised, sustainably farmed tilapia. If you can get one person to show up at your market, you can do no worse than have Robin and her variety of organic products from our own home state.




On this last weekend, Maywood offered two stands selling fruit. This farmer brought produce from Michigan.



Still, the world of local has not fully set in, and a man selling flats of mangos sold out his inventory first.

Mmm, our farmtastic day did not end at Maywood. We took the kidz for lunch at Mado, where Rob offers up sandwiches made with the same high quality farm-fresh ingredients as he does at dinner. While pork and lamb sammys tasted great, it pained me to look at the chalk board of dinner options and know that I could not have one. There was not a single dish on the menu that I did not want to eat. Rob had already driven my wife to buy duck eggs that day from the Wettsteins at the Oak Park Farmer's Market (yes, I confess we eat that market too, finding our first cherries!).
After lunch, I was counting all of the dishes I would attempt to re-create at home. Sugar snaps with pecorino and tagliatelli with garlic scapes, lemon and hot peppers are two that I have to try.

The Maywood Farmer's Market is on the first and third Saturdays until October, 7 AM until 1 PM. It's located at St. Eulalia Church, 1851 S. 9th Avenue, 9th and the Eisenhower.

Mado is at 1647 N. Milwaukee, Chicago. (773) 342-2340

Evanston's Ridgeville Farmer's Market

Save This Market!

All markets should have a blog this nice. The Ridgeville Farmer's Market in Evanston sez:

In creating a mid-week market, the Ridgeville Farmers’ Market hopes to make an environmentally sustainable lifestyle and connection to organic and locally-produced foods a realizable possibility for the community in south Evanston – as well as for Chicagoans from all over the city. Ridgeville Park is within walking distance from the South Blvd. stop on the Purple Line CTA, as well as the Main St. Metra station. The Recyclery of Evanston will be at the market on the last Wednesday of each month, offering free tune-ups and minor adjustments to those who travel via bicycle.

What's the word for me? Addict, junkie, deranged, enraptured, hobbyist, dilettante, ardourist, advocate, compulsive, zealot; In a ten day span I've been to eight farmer's markets. I like farmer's markets. Yet, I find them imperfect vehicles to support the locavore. Leaving aside the issue of selection, my biggest concern is the hours of the markets. Are markets really there when you need them? A lot of suburban markets are during the week but in the morning. On the other hand, many more markets are during the weekend, but this is the time when people tend to go out to eat. The Chicago area needs farmer's markets at various times.

The Ridgeville market is one, mid-week with late hours. I would love a market like this closer to me. Yet, my contention that markets like this are needed seems not to be holding. MHays on LTHForum.com wrote nicely about the market last year. She took pictures to back her up. She comes back this year to report her good works have not been well received. The market is down to four vendors. Another LTH poster noted the market was a bit sad. The area PTO is trying to revive interest. We need markets like this.

I'll try to visit soon. In the meantime, give this market a whorl.

Soon to be Less Obscure Farmer's Markets of Illinois

Maywood

Today's CTrib, at least my edition, features a nice big picture of my friend Robin "Winter" selling at the inaugural Maywood farmer's market last week. As the accompanying article notes, the market is helping fill the void in fresh produce in Maywood. Robin told me that she was successful in her first market foray, selling cheese, fish, and produce collected by the Illinois based Midwest Organic Food Coop. "They were there to buy", she said.

I had planned on visiting Maywood, but other committments kept me. I am anxious to visit their next market a week from Saturday. The farmtastic Maywood market runs on the first and third Saturdays through October at St. Eulalia Church 1851 S. 9th Avenue, Maywood.

Eat Local Meat

Cutting Instructions for 1/2 Hog

As I have mentioned before, the easiest and best way to ensure the eating of local meat is to purchase it in bulk, as whole, half or quarter animals. This web site can locate you farmers in Illinois for your whole hog, etc. You can find other sites on the Internet for sides of meat from Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Although we have plenty of beef and lamb from our previous forays, we (mostly I) decided to supplement, nay add, with a 1/2 hog from Dennis and Emily Wettstein's organic farm.

A processed cow produces nothing if not a lot of hamburger, and when every last steak, roast, soup bone and bit of offal from our cow is eaten, we will still, have, I believe, hamburger. (Next cow we get, my wife insists we ask for stew meat too.) The lady at Eureka Locker, who is processing our pork, told me that pork is not so wasteful. There is trim, but it has to be used in a tidy way. At least she wanted it tidy. None of this, make a bit of brats, a bit of fresh sausage and the rest as ground pork. Trim needed to be proportioned evenly. Here's how we portioned our trim and divvied up the rest of the 1/2 hog, which is coming in at around 150 lbs:

• Leg - boned, cured and smoked; after the smoking, they will cut two center ham steaks, leaving us two whole ham roasts. I plan on slicing at least one, maybe both of the ham roasts as lunch meats and re-packaging them in smaller baggies. Organic cure.
• Hocks (2) - cured and smoked (organic)
• Shoulder - One larger cut, 8-10 lb for a BBQ pulled pork; the rest of the shoulder cut into 5ish lb roasts
• Belly - 1/2 cured and smoked (organic), 1/2 left fresh, packaged in one pound cuts
• Spareribs - 3 or so lbs worth
• Loin - One larger roast and the rest cut into chops 1.5 inches thick. I had wanted to get the chops cut in range of thicknesses, some thinner. The locker woman originally said she could do that, but as we talked it seemed easier to go with one size fits all. Because I asked for bone-in chops and roast, there is no baby back ribs
• Offal - The nature of small America lockers does not allow for too much nose-to-tail eating. I am not quite sure all the reasons. We get the heart, liver and kidneys, that's it. See below for a bit of head talk. I wanted the feet for braises and the tail to use for beans or greens. Neither was available to us and forget about home made blood sausage or kishkes.
• Fat - We have to render the lard ourselves, but we get all the fat, including the kidney fat for leaf lard. It will be cut in 1 lb chunks and packaged in five pound bags.
• Trim - Italian sausage, bratwurst and packaged ground pork, which my wife did not so much approve she wanted more plain and less seasoned.

No one with a copy of a Fergus Henderson book could want a hog without its head, no? His latest tome, Beyond Nose to Tail Eating, has a stunningly, grossly attractive picture of a braised pig's head. Could I duplicate that? More likely, I am working on a trade with Rob at Mado. Anyways, I mentioned to Emily Wettstein the other day that I wanted the head. The head from a local hog can be had if requested. I requested. She forgot to mention that to the locker. Still, before I could get the least bit distressed, they realized their mistake and realized they were processing another hog next week. I could have that head. I asked the locker if they would split the head for me. They said no. If I wanted a hog head, I was getting a hog head. Smarty.

We pick up our 1/2 hog on July 5, 2008 at the Oak Park Farmer's Market. You know I'll have more to say. This year the Wettstein's will be at the market every week. If you cannot get the whole hog, you can buy your own parts, no head, each Saturday as well as organically raised lamb, chicken, beef and eggs.

Obscure Farmer's Markets of Illinois - An Ongoing Vital Information Feature

Hillside, LaGrange Park

I am an invariant picker-upper of free magazines, handouts, fliers, guides, directories, community newspapers and the what-not, as long as its (mostly) (almost always) free. My wife is forever now a believer in this practice after I grabbed a Jewish community paper once in LA and found an ad:

"To our Jewish Friends, Get 50% off admission to Universal Studios"

Or something like that. This free thing saved us nearly 100 bucks on a family outing. Some kinda local news thing introduced us to Danny's neck bones in Melrose Park and Danny's got us to Abruzzo's, and now we eat at Abruzzo's about once a week, and now my wife is picking stuff up too. The stuff she found yesterday, I cannot even remember what type of organ it was, some West Suburban version of Grit, had an ad for the Hillside Farmer's Market. And since our best attempts on Saturday and Sunday did not yield any strawberries, we decided to make the short trek from Oak Park to Hillside for the market.

Vital Information is here to report back this was not one of our area's better markets. There was one vendor. I actually know this operation, or I have seen it before at other desperate-ish suburban farmer's markets. I'm have not performed a very detailed background investigation, but there is some type enterprise that purports to sell produce from "Southern Illinois". I can recognize them by their signs. They have a range of produce that is not fully seasonal to our area, the stand in Hillside had both tomatoes and jalepenos today amongst other fruits and veg. The quality is such that it has the look of an actual, non-industrial outfit, but not the look of a farmer with a passion like Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers. If this was not enough to scare me away, the prices were pretty high too. Want more, after all of that, they did not have strawberries either. The only selling point of this market, really, was the chance to buy food outdoors. To be nice, I did buy, a box of sugar snaps and a box of grape tomatoes, together for $5. I will not go back, but if you do want to see for yourself, the web info is here.

My wife and I were market un-sated, let alone bereft of strawberries. I grabbed the Blackberry and whipped to my handy-dandy every day a market guide. I had thought there was a market in LaGrange Park or LaGrange not too far from where we stood, and the Agrihappenings page confirmed--anyone know the qualitative difference between LaGrange and LaGrange Park? I expected a bigger market. LaGrange is an upscale, older community, kinda like Oak Park with a bit less enthusiasm for Obama. I expected a Nichol's. I did not expect a Skibbes. Or just a Skibbes. Still, if it was gonna be one farmer manning one stand, I'm glad it's Mr. Skibbe, one of my go-to guys at the Oak Park Farmer's Market. Truth be told, it was one woman manning one stand for Mr. Skibbe, but she had all of Mr. Skibbe's produce: several types of lettuces, green onions, rhubarb, asparagus and gosh darn yes, strawberries. (For the sake of completeness I will also note that they had clearly marked Kentucky tomatoes.) We purchased two quarts of strawberries.

If I was in need of Michigan fruit, as I happened to be today, and I was in LaGrange Park, as I happened to be today, I would stop by this market--location and other info here. Otherwise, there's a reason these places remain obscure.

Every Day a Market

Happenings in Ag

By this weekend, a good amount of farmer's markets are going. Several media organizations have put out lists of farmer's markets. The best one remains the Illinois Department of Agriculture's calender of "Agrihappenings." It includes markets in Chicago, the suburbs and downstate. Moreover, it includes, markets run by a variety of groups. You get what for a lack of better word I'd call real farmer's markets as well as French Markets and their ilk. There are the markets run by the city as well as markets run on their own, such as the Logan Square Farmer's Market. You might be surprised how many markets operate each day around the state. This calender will help you find out.

And if you want to call out your favorite market, want to taut an unsung market, or otherwise let the world know about a market other than Chicago's Green City, drop me an e-mail (address to the right) or leave a comment.

It's Good to be a Locavore

Oak Park Farmer's Market - May 31, 2008

It's good to be a locavore because it's going to be a very good year at the Oak Park Farmer's Market. I chatted briefly with the River Valley Mushroom people, and they echoed my beliefs. They were very happy to put a stand up in Oak Park this year.

Know what that is? Unami central. Genuine porcini mushrooms, with a few morels in the back. I mean morels are pretty darn cool, but fresh porcini's. See those that often. I had to spring for all of them, that's about $20 worth of glutamatial glory. I'm thinking fresh pasta, Wisconsin Parmesian (Antigo) and the porcinin's sliced thin.

I did not see Sandhill Organics last week. I was a bit worried with our new mushroom bounty and the woman farming Forest Park that we left these guys to fend for themselves. Nope. A lot of lettuces that looked like this today at $2.50 each as well as chards and radishes both in rainbow assortments.








Farmer Vicki's Genesis Grower's was not gonna let you ignore her and her stuff.

Neither was Nichol's Farm who applied their trademark variety to the green onion business, kept on pushing the old 'tatoes and caught up on the wild watercress craze.













Of course rhubarb and asparagus were everywhere.









A very good year indeed. See you next week, when the market opens at its regular time, 7 AM; Pilgrim Church, 460 Lake Street (between Elmwood and Scoville) and runs until 1 PM.