NFriday wrote:I wish some of the people waiting in line for the food, would also buy some stuff from some of the farmers.

While I wish the farmers well in their sales, I don't mind the idea of people only coming for prepared foods. To each their own. If you don't cook much, most of the offerings aren't practical to purchase. I like the smell of cooking even though I only shop for ingredients myself. That crepe line at 11am was impressive. If there's an imbalance hopefully the market adjusts the cost for vendors based on whether they serve warm food, assuming there's already a discrepancy of some sort.

Hi- Due to the hot weather we have had this week, there will be loads of strawberries at the market tomorrow. I know they are more expensive, but they are way better than the California strawberries Jewel is selling this week for $.99.

This should be about it for the asparagus. Henry is bringing lots of lettuce this week. Henry had to pick all of his lettuce today, because it is supposed to get really hot again this next week, and he is afraid that it will all bolt if he waits to pick the lettuce. He is selling it 2/$7. Henry says his boston lettuce is especially good. He is also bringing some chicories Henry is also bringing the last of the spinach, rhubarb, peas and kohlrabi. Henry is bringing some broccoli and cauliflower tomorrow too. His broccoli and cauliflower did not do well this year, and so he does not know how much more he will bring to market this summer. Get it while you can. K & K Farms are coming tomorrow with strawberries. They should have raspberries and cherries in a few weeks.

Hi- Henry does not have any lettuce or spinach tomorrow. Nichols might have some. Henry has Japanese eggplant, zucchini, onions, kale, beets, carrots, swiss chard, and the first of his garlic and basil. He also has some black currents and some of Teresa's gooseberries and blueberries but come early for those. Henry is going to have a few cabbages too tomorrow, but his broccoli and cabbage crops are small this year, and get it while you can.

The manager of the Evanston market posted on her Facebook page that there are going to be strawberries tomorrow, but I would be really surprised if there are many strawberries left. Jewel still has strawberries for $.99, but the ones I got last night are really ripe, and I had to throw some of them out. Asparagus is done for the year. There should be some cherries tomorrow, and they are going to be better than any of the NW cherries that are in the stores right now. There might be a few blueberries tomorrow too, and K & K Farms should have some of their red raspberries. Hope this helps, Nancy

A friend in New Hampshire sent this list from a u-pick farm near her:

BLUEBERRY PICKING

We are just getting started and the patch is filling in nicely. Patriot, Blue Crop, Duke, and Blue Ray are the available varieties right now. There is a big crop to pick this season!

Price
$4.59/lb < 6.5lbs
$3.99/lb > 6.5+lbs (+/- 4 qts)

RASPBERRY PICKING

This will be the third week of raspberries.

Prelude, Nova, and Encore are all available now for picking. Call ahead for the daily picking details, picking conditions tend to change quickly and may not be available every day.

Raspberries should be available through most of July

Price $6.99/lb

CHERRY PICKING

Sweet cherries

Are all done for the season. Thank you everyone for a quick and efficient harvest. (They were priced the same as the tart cherries.)

Tart cherries

Montmorency will begin it's harvest Wednesday July 13th. Balaton will begin Friday July 15th. Our best crop of tarts we've seen in years. Picking should last for at least a day in each variety.

Price: $6.49/lb


STRAWBERRY PICKING
Are all done for the season! Thank you everyone for being part of our best harvest ever!

CIDER HOUSE

This is where you will find our very own hard cider, available for tastings on the outdoor patio and growler filling so you can take some home. You will also find locally made pies, the usual resale items and fresh baked donuts. Keep in mind donuts may not be available within 30 minutes of closing time. Visit the Cider House page for more info!

$6.49 for sour cherries? They can go to my sister's in Michigan and get them at her fruit stand for $1.49 a pound. Last time I checked her Facebook page on Wednesday, she had her black sweet cherries on clearance for $4.49 a pound, or ten pounds for $39.99. I know you can get them cheaper at Mariano's and Aldi's this week, but hers are way better. BTW- She will start upicking peaches on 8/13. She has 100% of a crop of peaches, and so she has lots of peaches to upick this year. She also has them on sale at her fruit stand probably in another week. She is located at exit 39 on I94 at Coloma.
https://www.fruitacresfarm.com/

It's a long drive from New Hampshire, though

I am sure there are not many cherries grown in New Hampshire, but in Michigan the processor pays I believe $1 a pound for sours. They used to pay $.20 a pound, until about four years ago, when Michigan had a really small crop of sours, and the processors were desperate to get them, and raised the price to $1. Michigan raises more sour cherries than any other state, and most of them are machine picked.

I just checked the Facebook page for the Evanston farmers market, and they are going to be having some corn and peaches tomorrow. I don't expect them to have lots of corn tomorrow, and it will probably be better next week. I saw somebody selling corn there last week, but it was $1 an ear, and did not look that great. It was way too immature. I am going to miss Jon First's corn. Nichols corn is good, but it is usually more expensive.

Henry is bringing a few of his new potatoes, as well as garlic, amaranth, swiss chard, and lots of beets and carrots. He is also bringing the first of his leeks and tomatoes, and lots of onions and zucchini.

There should be lots of raspberries, cherries, and blueberries tomorrow too. This might be the last week for the black raspberries. When I was in Mariano's on Tuesday, they had blueberries from Peru. I think strawberries are finally done for the year.

BTW- There is going to be 100% of a crop of peaches in Michigan this summer, and so please go to the farmer's market to buy your peaches this summer, unless you plan on going to Michigan to upick peaches. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Lake Breeze Organics was giving away free bags of lettuce today, and they had organic blueberries for $5 a pint, which was cheaper than most of the other growers there selling blueberries. Lake Breeze did not have prices on any of their stuff though, and the only reason I knew the lettuce was free was because somebody asked how much the lettuce was. The new farmer from South Haven that is near Henry, had blueberries for $6 a quart today. I got the $.99 blueberries at Jewel on Thursday, and they were from Michigan, and they were okay. I also got some black cherries and rainers from Jewel that were on sale. The rainer cherries were okay, but the black cherries I did not care for. I bought a quart of rainers from K & K today, and they were really good, but they were more than what Jewel was selling them for. I also bought a quart of Early Star peaches from K & K. That is one of the peach variates my sister Annette bred. Hope this helps, Nancy

I went to Ravinia for a CSO concert last night with some friends of mine, and I brought the last of the cherries I had from the farmers market, as well as some of the cherries I purchased at Jewel. There were only four cherries left out of a whole quart, and people were commenting how good the cherries were. Those people are not used to only eating really good cherries.

I was only going to get a few ears of corn from Nichols because the ones at the top of the pile were picked over. Then Todd Nichols came over and poured a new crate of corn on top of the pile, and those were much better, and so I got 6 ears for $5.

Hi- I am just here to vent. I had periodontal surgery on Wednesday, and I have stitches in the section of my mouth they worked on, and so I had to pass on corn today. I decided to make some potato leek soup, and the potatoes at Nichols are $4.99 a pound, and so I passed on them, and paid $4 for a bunch of leeks, and bought two pints of potatoes at Henry's for $7. I was tempted to buy some more Michigan cherries that were really good last week, but they were $14 a quart, and it is going to be a few days before I can eat them. I bought two pints of organic blueberries from Lake Breeze for $5 a pint, which are cheaper than most of the other farmers there, and they are really good.

Henry was supposed to have some seconds of Yukon Gold potatoes for 1/2 price, but they were all sold out by the time I got there. I don't know why Nichols think they can get away with selling all of their potatoes for $4.99 a pound. Their tomatoes were $6 a pound, when Henry's organic tomatoes were only $5 a pound. Nichols had all of their tropical melons for $4, but they were all really small, except for one large one that had a cut. I ended up buying that one.

I really like to help out the farmers, but it seems like prices have gone way up since the pandemic started, and especially for Nichols. I miss Jon First. There is somebody there selling blueberries for $6 a quart, but they are not as good as the ones at Lake Breeze.

NFriday wrote:Hi- I am just here to vent . . .

LOL, join the club!

In all seriousness, I hope you feel better soon, and thanks for the report.

=R=

The tropical melon that I bought from Nichols on Saturday was not bad. It had a cut in it, and it had a section where somebody poked a hole in it, but I decided to take a chance on it, because it was over twice the size of any of the other melons. It is large enough for four large servings. I love their tropical cantaloupes. Henry was supposed to have a few melons too, but he was out of them by the time I got there. I bought a huge heirloom zucchini from Henry Saturday, and I am going to make some cold buttermilk and zucchini soup. I am also going to make some potato leek soup, which I love. One of the pints of potatoes I got from Henry contained Peter Wilcox potatoes, which is supposed to be loaded with antioxidants.