What's In Season Now - July (Everything!)

The Only Guide to Seasonality That Matters^tm

It's Good to Be a Locavore!

I told you at the start of July that it was not time for an update seasonality guide (June guide here). It's time. What's in season now at Chicago area farmer's markets, local superstore's like Cassie's Green Grocer, Johnny welcome to the party, come latelies, like Fox & Obel; Irv and Shelly's Freshpicks. Everything. The burden of local now is to eat everything one acquires. At this time, there's a lot in season. Unless your guide's talking grapes, it has a chance as being as accurate as the one below.

Ending Soon
If you want to eat these, eat them soon, they won't be around much longer: cherries sweet and tart; some lettuces, snow peas.

Limited Window
Get these now: apricots have been around for a few weeks; they won't be around much longer. Certain types of plums, like the metheny may already be gone by the time you read this. Things like carrots and zukes and potatoes will be here for a long while, but them in tiny versions, well them's the time to get them. Now. Related, now you may also find squash blossoms.

Other things early
Garlic's pretty ossified now but onions are still in their soft stages. Look for Vidalia-ish (store in the fridge) onions as well as immature versions of other onions. Green garlic may be gone, but garlic scapes are around.

Stoned on Fruit
In the Chicago area, we are lucky enough to be near the SW shores of Michigan, some of the primest territory for growing stone fruits. The breezes over the lake keep things just warm enough, while the existence of cold brings extra sweetness to the fruits. Look for early versions of peaches and nectarines--I have not seen white versions of either yet. Mentioned above, apricots, cherries, plums. With plums, various varieties will be around for ages, with the Stanley and the like not get going until the fall.

Uncommon Fruits
The benefits to shopping local is access to items that will not find their way into grocery stores. In our fruit aisles you'll find currents and gooseberries and tayberries. Try, try, try. See here and here for a gooseberry ideas.

Common Fruit
Hard to imagine with all of the summer fruits in season that now is also the season of the apple. Several varieties of apples come to fruit now; now, when you think you should just be munching a peach. Summer apple varieties tend to have a few things in common. Most, if not all, are quite puckery in the mouth. They tend to be soft and are often (typically) used for sauce. Most importantly, they are not apples to keep. In selling me a few apples today (for a daughter who somewhat unexpectedly* had a taste for apples) Lloyd Nichols warned me that they would only last a few days.

All the Rest of the Fruits of the Season
OK, don't forget the raspberries (black, red and golden), blueberries, and blackberries around now. Theses berries will peter out for a bit then will reappear into the fall.

All the Rest of the Vegetables
Can I name everything in the market these days. Maybe. Maybe because this is the time of year it's all here. All you think of as summer produce at least: tomatoes (the ones now are mostly grown in hoop houses or early varieties of cherries); eggplants, cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, summer squashes, sweet corn, cabbages, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, chard, collard greens, fennel, celery, beets, and the dreaded k word, kohlrabi (which we took to calling jicama in our house, especially after we realized we really liked it!).

Mushrooms/Herbs
As always, there's River Valley with their organically cultivated mushrooms. I have not seen any wild mushrooms of late, although someone, somewhere must have some chantrelles. You should find plenty of fresh herbs in your market.

Speciality Vegetables
Oh, there's more baby. Kinnikinnick Farm at Evanston and Green City; Green Acres at the Tuesday Federal Plaza market as well as Green City and Evanston; Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers at Oak Park and Green City; Sandhill Organics at Oak Park; Henry and his farmstand at Evantson; Nichol's Farm all over the place; these guys will have plenty more things than I thought of tonight. It's good to be a locavore.

Coming soon: the melons, heirloom tomatoes, more types of potatoes, more types of peppers, okra, fresh (shelling) beans. It's good to be a locavore.

*One of the things that warms my local heart is the ability of my kidz to never tire of apples.

What's In Season Now - July

Remember, everything you read about seasonality but this is wrong (wink-wink). I'm not gonna do a full update for July yet because things have not changed much since the last report. Moreover, the full glory of summer, the peaches, the tomatoes, the cukes, have not arrived. Still, a couple of great products have just shown up.

• True, freshly dug new potatoes. A lot of shoppers like to think of any smaller, red or waxy potato as a new potato. We should reserve the term only for the real thing. These are potatoes dug within a day or so of vending. Unlike other potatoes, they are not cured (about 1/2 down the linked page). They do not have to be red either. Any potato can be eaten "new". The tell tale sign of a new potato is peeling skin from the farmer washing the potato. I'll post some pictures soon. Also, unlike other potatoes, new potatoes should be stored in the fridge and eaten soon after purchase. They are best cooked/dressed lightly.

• Tiny summer squash. I was just reading in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Family book how vegetables do not ripen the way fruit does. They're there when they're there and ready when they are there. In other words a baby zucchini is no less and no more ripe than a mondo zucchini bread zucchini. Still, one tastes light and delicate and one, well, as I say, it's good for bread. This is the time for light and delicate.

On the downside, strawberries and asparagus are just, just about done.

Everything You Read About Seasonality is Wrong

Chicago Locavores

I'm all for fellow combatants fighting the good fight for local food, but I have a fatally low tolerance for seasonality guides that are off. For whatever reason, it makes me especially pissy when you send someone off to the market now looking for plums (plums are a fall fruit). I find it highly unlikely also that any area farmer's market will have horseradish now. I only like to show off a bit, but I really do believe that when it comes to knowing what's in season, I've got the best guide around to what's in season for Chicago area locavores.

The Chicago Locavore site also published a calender. I am not gonna edit it line by line, but in general, I find it, like most seasonality guides, to be quite off for Chicago farmer's markets. Some glaring errors: grapes in June; don't expect grapes until late September; kale in the heat of the summer, when kale's a cool weather crop; no turnips now when the markets are awash with them. Etc.

Seasonality guides tend to be off these days also because they are not recognizing indoor farming and winter markets, or are they? The calender noted above has some crops listed as in season in odd months like salsify for January--granted I have never seen a salsify plant in a local market, what do they mean by January. Is it a plant growing in January or a storage plant. I am not sure if the calender in general is referring to crops from storage, for instance when it covers potatoes in January or sunchokes in February it means storage right? but if it does, why are apples not listed for the winter months as keeper apples are surely around all winter. Likewise, the calender does not cover greenhouse crops that one can find through CSAs or winter markets. The shopper with access to those, or even a shopper who visits Cassie's Green Grocer, will find stuff in months not shown on this calender. Here's what was in season in April, March and February.

One final thought. I think a static calender, regardless of how good its sources are, is an imperfect vehicle for knowing what's out there. The problem is that seasonality changes each year based on weather and other factors. In general, our crops are quite behind this year because of the cold spring. In addition, the heavy rains have wrecked havoc on fields. A farmer today was telling me how her watermelons were destroyed in heavy rains and needed re-planting. When I am writing about seasonality, I am trying to base it on what's actually in season, on what I see at farmer's markets and what farmers and other vendors tell me. This means I may not be able to predict what you will totally see in a few months, but it will mean I should be able to predict what you'll see now.

The Raw Asparagus Food Movement

Eat Seasonal Food

I confess that there are years where I have tired of asparagus. The mantra of the seasonal eater is to gorge for the time being then forgetaboutit. This year it seems that we have not so much gorged on asparagus as maintained a steady path. A reason for this, I know, is that the cool and the rains of this year's spring delayed the crop. Last year, we were getting Genesis Growers Illinois asparagus by late April, so you could see how I could tire of it by June. This year, asparagus did not really get flowing until Mid-May. Another reason for my lack of asparagus ennui is that we have added a new preparation to our repertoire.

Or shall I say, lack of preparation to our repertoire. Asparagus supports a lot of cooking methods. It is equally good roasted, grilled, steamed, boiled or sauteed. None of these methods are especially difficult. Yet, how often are we avoiding these for the easiest method of all. No method. Raw. I think a lot of chefs, especially, looked at the deep purple asparagus found in the farmer's markets--Michigan farmers Stovers and Klug both carry--and said how can we maintain that. It's pretty hard to keep the purple once it's cooked, so the chefs did not cook. No one gagged. If you are afraid raw asparagus will be too tough or stringy, do not worry. When you get asparagus at the local markets the asparagus is not the least bit stringy, only the ends are too tough.

A mandoline or great knife skills can achieve thin slices that really accentuate the contrast between deep purple exterior and bright green interior. It's like a 60's black light poster. Still, if you cut them chunkier you will not lose any taste. Leave them whole and they make nice vehicles for dips. Sliced, use any available dressing, although I would advise you dress on the light side. This is not your wedge of iceberg.

Asparagus will not be around too much longer. Gorge now while you can.

What's In Season Now - June

(Update below)

We are more than half-way through the month, and I am just getting around to posting my guide to what's in season. (Last month's guide here.) You may think I am lazy. You may think I promise more than I produce, but there is a good, decent reason for waiting this long. The market, the what's in season, starts to change big time around now. In other words, up until a week or so ago, the market looked mostly like May and even a bit like April. About now, mid-June, is when new crops start rolling. To a large extent, mid to late June is our season of "Spring" crops around here. The locavore should be able to find the following:

Last Leggers
Those harvesting asparagus from Illinois and points south like my friend Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers are mostly out of the crop, but those from further north, like the Michigan farmers, still have plenty. Expect to see asparagus in the markets through the month. The hearty, cool weather greens such as kale and spinach are likewise still around. Radishes don't thrive once we reach our summer heat, so get them now too. Rhubarb grows early and then lasts for a while. Buyers tend to gravitate to it when there is not much else around, but it will be around still.

First Arrivers
Strawberries have been in our markets for a few weeks now, expect a few weeks more. Like asparagus, the Michigan crops will last a bit longer. Cherries should show up before the end of the month and probably raspberries. Last week was the week that peas in their forms showed up, shelling peas, sugar snaps and snow peas. If you want your pea in leaf form, some farmers are selling the pea tendrils.

Farm Fresh
These are the types of crops you will see most of the season at various stands. Farmers started planting these crops as the weather warmed, and they harvest them as they bloom: broccoli, cauliflower, beets, arugula, fennel, swiss chard, lettuces (until it gets really hot), kohlrabi, carrots; zucchini and cucumbers (soon).

Alliums
Most of the onions are still young as in spring onions or scallions, but I expect fuller summer onions to be around soon. Garlic is maturing a bit, the green garlic stalks you may see have a more bulb to them, and you will now see the sprouting scapes in the market.

Mushrooms
Organic cultivator of mushrooms, River Valley of Wisconsin, shows up in tons of markets around Chicago. They will always have portabellas, baby bellas or crimini's, and white button mushrooms and most likely oyster and shitakes. They've had fresh porcini's. I've been told that they are local, but someone else was told they are not.

Asian
If you go to farmer's markets in Wisconsin and Minnesota, you will find many stands fun by Hmong farmers. They bring a variety of Asian vegetables to their markets. In the Chicago area, Nichol's Farm, Genesis Growers and Green Acres Farm grow some Asian vegetables. Green Acres Farm at Green City Market and Evanston will surely have the most, so if interested check their stand. Otherwise, you might be able to find some bok choy, baby or mature; tat soi, mizuna or napa cabbage at a market near you.

Italian
What Green Acres is to Asian, Kinnikinnick Farm is to Italian veg. At their stand at Green City and Evanston, expect to find Italian cooking greens that you will not see elsewhere. Nichol's grows rapini.

Herbs and Hot Peppers
Mint, cilantro, rosemary, basil, chives; these are the mostly likely herbs this time of year, but I've found lovage, oregano, cayenne peppers, lavender, sage and savory at various markets.

Old Stuff
Nichol's Farm is still selling last year's potatoes and they are still plenty good. There may be apples around, but I have not seen them. Ellis Farms, at their stand at the Hyde Park Farmer's Market (Thursdays) had shelled black walnuts (!).

A report on early July arrivers here.

Eat Seasonal

Rhubarb

The Epicurious map of seasonal foods got a few things right, for Illinois. Rhubarb is in season. Be trendy, make sweets from vegetables. Things eaten recently in the bungalow made with the season's finest.

Rhubarb Muffins

Pre-heat oven to 375

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar (we used vanilla sugar)
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 cups rhubarb, finely chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla
Turbinado Sugar

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and buttermilk. Add rhubarb and cranberries, do not over-mix. Whisk together dry ingredients in another bowl. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture. Scoop into greased muffin tins. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top. Bake at 375 for approximately 25 minutes.

Rhubarb Shlump or You may call it Grunt

First, make a rhubarb compote:

3 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 quart sour cherries (frozen)
1 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
Juice of 2 limes
Pinch of salt and cinnamon
Shake of fresh ground pepper
1/2 Cup of water

Combine all ingredients but for the blueberries in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until rhubarb starts to breakdown. Add blueberries cook for a few more minutes.

Make a batter:

1 cup flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbs melted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients. Add melted butter. Slowly add buttermilk to form a wet but not too wet batter.

Grunt while you do this:

Have the compote at a gentle simmer. With a teaspoon, form walnut sized dumplings from the batter. Drop into compote. Cover tightly with foil. Cook approximately 15 minutes until dumplings are firm.

With Shakey-Shakey

Pre-heat oven to 350. Put how ever many stalks of rhubarb you have in a baking pan. Cover with a good amount of sugar, probably 1 cup. Pour in enough water but not enough to drown rhubarb. Bake at 350 until very soft, about 30 minutes. Parcel out rhubarb into bowls while still hot. Pour over shakey-shakey (condensed milk).

Everything You Read About Seasonality is Wrong

Epicurious's Seasonal Ingredient Map

I'm sure Gemma at Gaper's Block had the best of intentions when she directed her readers to this Epicurious guide to what's in season. And not every guide to seasonality is wrong. I mean I think this one has it pretty close. I have not, however, seen the mainstream food press ever get it right. The people who put together these guides typically get two things wrong. First, they assume stuff is in season around here well before it is. Second, they miss things that are in season when they are in season. Epicurious and about every other such guide does not guide the Chicago area locavore very well.

The Epicurious guide has the following in season in Illinois NOW, May: cherries, peas, cucumbers (!) and potatoes. Of these the only ones you'll find in Chicago area markets now are potatoes, and those potatoes you might see are last year's potatoes, still viable from good storage. Of course, for Wisconsin, the guide states for May:

The growing season is currently dormant here;
opt for items from storage, such as apples, pears, and root vegetables.

Funny when I was in Madison a few weeks ago things hardly seemed dormant (and not a pear in site).

Our guardians of foodie discourse do not pay attention to the neat things popping up on our lands in the Spring such as nettles, morels, ramps, watercress, sunchokes and scallions. Likewise, they forget that farmer's can grab their over-wintered crops for us such as parsnips, spinach and carrots. Most glaring, they have no idea that farmer's around here use just a wee bit of technology to goad Mother Earth into all sorts of crops such as Farmer Vicki's baby bok choy (gosh that was good), beets and kale. They make you look for what's not here and fail to see what is there.

The other problem, obviously, is that Illinois is a long and varied state and the climate in Little Egypt hardly matches what is here in Chicago. For all I know, farmer's markets in Cairo are awash in peaches right now. Still, a map such as presented by Epicurious should be representative of the entire state, certainly where most of the people are. Most of the people shopping farmer's markets right now, in this state will not find a cherry, not a local cherry.

Overflowing with Local

The Inventory Update

So, I was walking over to the Green City Market the other day, and who should also be pulling up. None other than market celebrity #1, Paul Virant. I say, "congratulations on the Iron Chef thing." He sez thanks, sez he does not know the exact air date. We both buy a lot of stuff.

OK, now that I mentioned that (hehehe), let's get to the inventory. Last December, I started tracking our inventory of food in the bungalow. The exercise was mostly to show how me and my family were able to eat local all winter through a combination of stored foods and winter shopping. Now, I need to write down the inventory just to keep track of all the food we have.


(Last inventory here)

Ramps - As I mentioned the other day, we have a lot of ramps right now. This on top of ramps in 3 meals last week: spring vegetable ragout, grilled, and in pasta with morels and asparagus.

Watercress - Used as a bed for grilled chicken, some remain.

Nettles - Purchased from a few farmers in Madison. Went into the ragout, some remain--I planed on using some in a stuffing for morels until we ran out of meals.

Mushrooms - Speaking of morels, we got a several good handfuls in Madison, both larger stuffers and other sizes. Also went into the above mentioned ragout and pasta, some also remain, ostensible to be stuffed. In addition to the wild morels, we have cultivated cremini's and oysters from Madison.

Herbs - Cilantro, lovage, rosemary, chervil, mint

Asparagus - Several stalks purchased/provided in the CSA and eaten this week, we still have a bit left.

Keeper onions - 2 more in our CSA box this week; keeping us in stock of onions required for cooking.

Garlic - Like onions, a locavore needs to stock enough garlic for not-so-bland-cooking, and we were able to do that. We still have plenty of garlic. To this store of garlic, we added about six stalks of green garlic purchased in Madison. I love the taste of green garlic, and it contributes strongly to the "spring" flavors in our current cooking.

Dried hot peppers - In talking about the need for stored garlic and onions in cooking, I remembered that I have never noted that our inventory has always included a stock of dried hot peppers, local peppers. Some of these we have dried ourselves, some have come from Farmer Vicki, and some we have purchased in Madison.

Cabbage - There is a head of red cabbage from the winter lying somewhere in the basement fridge; I doubt it will be eaten. On the other hand, from Farmer Vicki's hoophouses, we got two lovely heads of red cabbage this week. These will be eaten soon.

Carrots - Yes

Parsnips - See last report

Potatoes - Used a bunch of red potatoes last week in the spring vegetable stew and grill roasted our remaining La Ratte; that leaves us with about 3 lbs of russets and about 5 lbs of reds. Nicholl's Farm is selling last year's potatoes now in their market stands and I may or may not add some potatoes if we run out.

Apples - There may be crops coming to market but no fruit yet. We have bags of red and yellow local apples, but last week we only ate non-local fruit.

Lettuce - As I mentioned, we bought a big head of butter lettuce in Madison. We ate this during the week. At present, we have last week's CSA head of lettuce and this week's head of CSA lettuce.

Spinach - We bought a bag at one place in Madison then at another place and then we got a bag in our CSA. Lotso spinach.

Arugula - From Madison

Burdock root - 1 lb - No change

Beets - OK, here it comes: we got the beet. God, do we have the beet. We used last week's beet greens, but we did not use the bottoms. Several more beets in this week's CSA, greens included. Many beet.

Kale - No change

Radishes - No new ones, but a few leftover

Turnips - I believe I have been forgetting turnips in the last reports, but we have received several turnips in our Spring CSA.

Misc. - One small bok choi, one large bok choi; sunchokes (just when we threw out the last, we pull some in).

Local Pantry - Cheeses (tons of cheese as a result of being in Madison), yogurt, eggs, noodles, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, granola, grains, milk

What's in Season - May

Before It's June

As I just posted, May is finally starting to bring some farmer's markets, and with such, the ability to add local to your table gets a bit easier. May is a time for mixed product around here. We can roughly divide our what's available into 4 categories.

The Esoteric
The earliest spring crops are mostly still there, and unlike the last couple of months are entering a bit into the markets. Over at LTHForum, shoppers have found ramps at Whole Foods. Likewise, Irv and Shelly have them to order. Other foraged type crops include morels, garlic mustard, dandelion, nettles and watercress. See if you can find these real spring around Chicago.

The Classics
Yes, local asparagus can be now had. Irv and Shelly have. I know Cassie was working her hardest to get some too. Spring onions ("scallions") are around. Rhubarb should be available too/soon. A couple of other early crops you might find are sunchokes and burdock root. Hopefully, we'll see strawberries.

Greenhouse Crops
Spring farmers like my pal, Farmer Vicki, are working their hoophouses with abandon. Their crops include lettuces, chard, bok choi, kale, carrots, spinach, beets, and the ever present sprouts. Fresh herbs this time of year include cilantro* and sorrel.

Stored Crops/Frozen
Over-wintered parsnips are around, maybe a few over-wintered carrots. In these cases big is better. Michigan apples are sill hangin' in; I saw them this week at Caputo's in Elmwood Park and Cermak Produce in Chicago. Likewise both places had Wisconsin potatoes. There's keeper onions lollygagging around too.

Meat and eggs.

*The saying goes, what grows together goes together, but cilantro is most vexing (to me). It's a cool weather herb and mostly in season around this time of year. Yet, when I think, what does cilantro most go with, and I think salsas, especially salsa crudo's or fresh tomato salsas. These, surely, are not in season for a while. I got a nice bag of cilantro last week in my CSA. Twice this week, my wife prepared on of our favorite cheats, guacamole. The avocado, lime and serrano chile may have been non-local, but at least we found a use for the cilantro! (local onions too).

Who's Got Ramps?

A Good Produce Is Hard to Find

I'm generally down with Top Chef (although the Chicago part seems rather missing from Top Chef Chicago). My main bugaboo, especially with the show this year, is the quality of ingredients. As much as I'm a Whole Foods shopper, call me crazy if I think Top Chefs should be shopping there. Do ingredients matter to the Top Chefs? Even when the chefs went to Green City Market, their subsequent creations did not play to the quality of the ingredients. Is this a trend? A sign?

I do think that for the most part, home cooks, let's not call us chefs, have the edge when it comes to ingredients. We can subscribe to CSAs. We can hit the markets. How many Top Chefs are getting access, right now, to crops like I'm getting weekly from Farmer Vicki. But, but, but... but, but, but; there's one thing right now that they have, and I covet. Ramps.

First there was Hat Hammond making us ramp-envious. Now, we got Janet Olvera in yesterday's Sun Times (h/t)

In case you were wondering, the Spence Farm ramps don't make it to farmers markets -- only to select Chicago restaurants and a few grocers in Fairbury, including Dave's Supermarket, to which the farm supplies seasonal produce. After all, keeping it local is a mission for the Travis family.

Of course, there's no farmer's markets right now for Spence Farms to market. Last year, Whole Foods was carrying, for several weeks, ramps from Harmony Valley Farm, but as far as I can tell, they have not shown yet. I'm guessing some ramps will be at the Dane County Farmer's Market when they go outdoors next weekend. Otherwise, for now, it's advantage top chefs.

What's in Season - April

On Your Own

The newest list of seasonal and available local products is below. April's a mixed blessing for the local food lover. It is the first month that this list grew (compare to last month or the month before). On the other hand, the outlets for local food are somewhat sparse right now. Aside from the Geneva local superstore, there's no area farmers markets (that I know of) this month.

Last week, Cassie had Wisconsin potatoes; Irv and Shelly have the ever present sprouts and a few other items, but outlets for local foods are not ample this month. Lucky folks like me have Spring CSA subscriptions. Farmer Vicki made the first delivery of her Spring CSA yesterday. Farmer Vicki, at least, however, has limited space for her Spring CSA. The best place for locavores* this month, for sure, will be a few hours northwest of Chicago, the Dane County Farmers Market in Madison, Wisconsin, which goes outdoors on April 19. I'll be there.

Meat

Beef, lamb, chicken, pork

Fish

farm raised tilapia and trout
trout
smelt
commercial Great Lakes fish - pike, whitefish, perch, white bass, carp

Field crops

asparagus
rhubarb

Greenhouse crops

beets
turnips
spinach
chard and other greens
lettuces
arugula
herbs
sprouts and microgreens
mushrooms
burdock
radish

Storage crops

onions
potatoes
carrots (also greenhouse)
parsnips
apples

Wild and weeds

ramps
morels
watercress
dandelion

*I was using the spelling "localvore" in respect for Drake's site, but since he's gone long dormat (hopefully he'll be up again) I'm going to the more common spelling.

What's In Season Now

New Products Spotted!

The localvore has a few new things to try these last weeks of March:

Spinach - "frost kissed" spinach from Snug Haven Farms has been available all winter on and off from Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks. It's on now and should on for the rest of the month. Snug Haven was also selling last week at the Dane County Farmer's Market. I also expect them to be there through the end of the month.

Watercress - Something from the ground! Watercress really is cress from water. It grows right up against many streams and creeks and such in these parts, and has actually peeked its little green heads up out of the ground already. At the Dane County Farmer's Market, there's a man who specializes in these types of things, wild-ish/forest-y kinda products (he got my kids to buy some slippery elm). If you cannot make it to Madison, you might be able to forage some of your own.

The previous edition of March's What's In Season Now is below.

This month, we will not see local asparagus, peas or green garlic [all items on the Chez Panisse menu this month.] We do have a couple of interesting items this month. March is generally maple syruping time in the Midwest. Here's a listing of some maple festivals [most of these are past]. In addition, those little wild onions that gave Chicago its name, ramps (try Google), will begin their short season in March. Read about past ramp digs at Spence Farm here and here, and consider the Rampfest on March 28.

Beef, lamb, chicken, pork - Winter markets; farm direct, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Grains - Winter markets, farm direct
Eggs - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Farm raised tilapia - Winter markets
Farm raised rainbow trout - Grocery
Great Lakes fish - pike, whitefish, pearch, white bass, lake trout, carp - Grocery, speciality stores
Microgreens, sprouts and related - Winter markets, Freshpicks.com, grocery
Lettuces - Winter markets, farm direct
Carrots - Winter markets, farm direct, Freshpicks.com
Potatoes - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery, Freshpicks.com
Apples - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery
Herbs - Winter markets, farm direct, Freshpicks.com
Mushrooms - Winter markets, Grocery, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Onions - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery
Burdock root - Freshpicks.com
Horseradish - Freshpicks.com
Radish - Winter markets (limited quantity)

Those interested in February's What's In Season, see here.