I’ll probably skip it tomorrow. Last week I got tons of asparagus, plus a few bunches of Henry’s overwintered spinach, not to mention a number of herbs from Teresa.

Teresa Brockman is bringing all of her veggie and herb plants this Saturday. When I got there this last Saturday at 9:30, she was out of all of my favorite tomato plants. She said they brought 90 sungold plants, but they were long gone by the time I got there. I will have to get there earlier this Saturday. I got lots of herb plants, some lettuce seedlings, and some Kale plants that she had B1G1F. All of her broccoli and brussel sprout plants were also B1G1F.

I was able to get there soon enough on Saturday to get the last of Henry's overwintered spinach. Teresa is bringing some of Henry's lettuce this week, as well as some of his spring lettuce, some sorrell, chives, burdock, and Jerusalem artichoke. This is the last time any of Henry's veggies are showing up for a while. Henry is doing better than everybody anticipated though after his accident, and he is going to try to ramp things up on his farm, so he can possibly return to Evanston sooner than he first anticipated. Henry's youngest son got married this last Friday, and Henry actually danced at the wedding reception. There should be lots of asparagus this Saturday. I noticed there are two new farmer's from Michigan. Barry's Berries from Covert was selling strawberries this last Saturday, but I just bought some California strawberries at Jewel last Thursday, and so I passed on them. They were $9 a pint, which is more than I am willing to spend anyway. Hope this helps, Nancy

Teresa Brockman sent me an email, and this Saturday is going to be the last market she is bringing plants. She sold a ton of plants already. She advises people get there early. She is running low on Sun Gold, green zebra, Rose De Berne and some of her heirloom slicer tomatoes, and she also does not have a lot of basil, squash, peppers, cukes and a few other herbs. Last week I asked her to bring back the preordering, so nobody has to get there at 7:30 to get their favorite plants, but she said that several people asked her to just bring them to market, so they could decide what they wanted.

Teresa is also bringing the last of Henry's cornmeal left over from last year. Henry has kept it in his freezer all winter, and so it is still fresh. He is not bringing any cornmeal this fall, and so get it while you can. She is also bringing lettuce, spring spinach, cilantro, radishes, green onions, burdock, arugula, chives and Jerusalem artichokes from Henry's farm. This is the last time you will see any of Henry's stuff there for at least a few months. Since Henry is doing much better than any anticipated, he is thinking about maybe ramping up production a little, and if that is the case then he will be back at the market earlier than he first though. BTW-Henry is looking for volunteers to help him transplant plants anytime in May. He says there are some nice BnBs in Eureka to stay at, or you can just come down for the day. He asks that people let him know they are coming so he can let them know if the soil is too wet for them to work in.

Strawberries are supposed to be earlier this year, and so expect to see them by the end of May. Like I said a few weeks ago, the peach crop is going to be way smaller this year, but the cherries and apples did not get hit by the cold weather we had in January. Hope this helps, Nancy

I did not realize that I have not posted about the Evanston farmer's market for over two months. Since Henry Brockman is still not coming there, I don't have as much to write about. I did go there Saturday, and Nichol's corn was really good, and I bought 8 huge red haven #2 peaches at K & K Farms for $5. They were good. I just had one. Their peaches are from Michigan, and I just assumed that they bought them from a farm North of them that had some peaches. I found out that those peaches I bought were from their farm. Apparently when it got really cold back in January, Fred sprayed the trees with water, and that helped protect the buds. Linda Koeningshof, the wife of Fred Koeningshof, who normally comes to market every week, broke one of her legs about four weeks ago, and so K &K did not bring up any stuff for several weeks, and then another family member started bringing up stuff. Linda has to go to the doctor this Friday, and hopefully she will be able to come to the market this Saturday.

BTW- Henry is doing better. He has been selling at the Peoria market, because it takes him 3 1/2 hours to drive his truck here, and his body can not deal with that. It only takes him 30 minutes to drive to the farmer's market in Peoria. Hopefully by the end of the month, he will be able to come back to Evanston. I used to buy a lot of #2 tomatoes that he sold for $2 a pound. There are only a few other people there selling heirloom tomatoes. Nichols is charging $5 a pound for their heirlooms, or three pounds for $12. Henry's potatoes are way cheaper too.

Hi- I just got an email from Henry Brockman, and he is doing better. He says even though he is 60, he feels like he is 70. He is able to work on the farm all day, but by adapting the way he does stuff. He cut way down on what he planted on his farm after his accident, but back in July when he was feeling better, he decided to plant lots of fall veggies such as greens and lettuce. His tomatoes have not really kicked in yet, but he plans on returning to the Evanston market at the latest by 10/5. Henry is also having his annual farm tour on October 5th. The Peoria market he has been going to closes down the end of September. If his fall veggies kick in before then, he will return to the Evanston market earlier. He is hoping that he will have more tomatoes too, and they will kick in in a few weeks. He is planning on going to the Evanston market the rest of the season, including the Thanksgiving market that takes place at Emanuel Lutheran church.

I am anxiously waiting for Henry's lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and potatoes. I don't have a lot of tomatoes in my garden yet, and there are only a couple of farmers that also bring heirloom tomatoes. Nichols sells their heirloom tomatoes for $5 a pound. Henry usually has #2 heirlooms for $2 a pound. Nichols also charges $5 a pound for their potatoes. Nichol's though have the best sweet corn., and they charge the same price as everyone else does.

I went home to Michigan this last weekend, and I brought back some nectarines, red haven peaches, and some local corn. The corn was not as good as the corn I have been getting from Nichols. K&K Farms has some of their own peaches. They sprayed their trees when it got really cold back in January. I bought some #2's from them for $5 two weeks ago, and they were huge because they have a smaller crop. They have a full crop of apples and raspberries though. They raise 50 acres of raspberries. There are still lots of blueberries at the market, including some organic ones that are the same prices as the nonorganic ones are. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just checked my emails, and Henry Brockman is going to be back at the Evanston market this Saturday 8/31, and he is bringing lots of tomatoes. He will send out another email on Thursday, to tell people what he is going to be bringing. I had a feeling that due to the hot weather we have been having this week, that Henry's fall veggies that he planted over a month ago, would be here sooner than he expected. It will be good to see Henry again. I've really missed him this summer. Hopefully he will have some #2 tomatoes for a lot less money. All of the heirloom tomatoes have been $5 this summer, and Nichols have been charging $5 a pound for their potatoes, which are not even organic. Henry usually charges $3 a pound for his potatoes. Hope this helps, Nancy

I just got the email from Henry with the list of stuff he is bringing to the market on Saturday. It will be good to see him again. He said that the middle of July was cool enough to plant his fall vegetable seeds, and that is why his fall veggies are a lot earlier than normal. He will have lots of tomatoes, including some 1/2 price #2 tomatoes, and he will also have lots of potatoes, as well as summer squash, lettuce, beets, turnips, carrots, leeks, peppers, fresh soybeans, a few watermelons, and lots of garlic, including some #2 garlic for 1/2 price. The beets and turnips will include the greens. I think he will have some #2 potatoes and carrots too.

There should still be some decent peaches at the market this week, as well as blueberries, raspberries, apple, and plums. K & K farms actually has some of their own peaches this year. They were able to spray their trees with water in January when it got super cold, and they were able to salvage a lot of their buds. They are also the only farmer that sells #2 peaches. You get 2 quarts for $5. A lot of the peaches that are at the market come from farms North of South Haven that have more of a peach crop. A few of the growers have a farm that is North enough that some of their peaches survived. Most of the rest of the peaches are ones the farmers have purchased from farms North of them that have a crop.

I had to scrounge around to find some decent corn at Nichol's. A lot of their corn was small. I got some huge peppers from Nichols last Saturday that were 8/$10. Nichols should have some fresh soybeans too this Saturday. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just came back from the Evanston market. I spent $32 at Henry's. Henry was doing a booming business. I got there at 10:30, and he only had maybe 10 heads of lettuce left. He still had lots of his heirloom watermelon left. He was charging $1 a pound for it. I ended up getting an 8 pound melon. This is a yellow watermelon that Henry can't get the seeds for anymore, and so he asks everybody to save the seed from their melon, wash them off, and then return the seeds to Henry next week. Henry is doing really well considering he got run over by a tractor in March. He is not quite as spry as he was, but he had no problems picking up and moving around containers of veggies. You still have 30 minutes to make it to the market, and purchase a watermelon from Henry. Henry also had lots of tomatoes to sell too. His heirloom tomatoes were $4 a pound, and his #2 tomatoes were $2 pound.

I noticed that Nichols were also selling lettuce, and they had lots of lettuce to sell. I also noticed that one of the growers was selling red haven peaches. I questioned them about that. There is no way those could be red haven. I am sure that those were not their own peaches either. Hope this helps, Nancy

Henry Brockman is coming to the Evanston market again tomorrow. He is bringing lots of tomatoes. His #1 tomatoes are $4 a pound, and his #2 tomatoes are $2 a pound. The #2 tomatoes are riper, and need to be used up fairly quickly. He might still have a larger container of #2 tomatoes for $18. He asked people to special order them, but if there were some that were not picked up, he might be able to sell them to you. He is not going to have as much lettuce this week, but he is going to have other salad greens. Last week I got there at 10:30, and he only had ten heads of lettuce left. Nichols had a ton of lettuce last week. Henry is going to have more #1 and #2 potatoes, and the last of his zucchini and beans. Henry is also going to have a lot of winter greens such as kale.

While I was at Nichols, I saw somebody buying some potatoes. Their potatoes are $5 a pound, and Henry's potatoes are $5 a quart, or 1/2 price for #2 potatoes. The corn at Nichols was picked over by the time I got there. The corn is the only thing I got there. I also got some nectarines and blueberries from K & K farms. Somebody had a sign for red haven peaches last week, but I am sure that they were not red haven, and they were probably not their own peaches. Hope this helps, Nancy

I just checked my email, and Henry just sent a late breaking email. He is going to have six stacks of tomatoes, and lots of basil, as well as Japanese turnips, choi, and some Southern mustard greens that some of his customers have requested. This is referred to as slick mustard. He is going to have a two for sale on the basil. He is not sure how much longer he will have basil. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Henry is going to have over 2,000 pounds of tomatoes tomorrow, and he is going to have lots of lettuce and some mesclan too as well as lots of greens and potatoes. I am going to be working for Henry tomorrow, starting at 4:15 helping him set up. I will be working until at least 7:15, and longer if he gets busy, and so everybody come and buy lots of Henry's tomatoes and other stuff, and say hello to me if you come early. Peaches are over for the year, and corn is winding down. I bought corn at Nichols last week, but I then noticed that Geneva Lakes had much better corn. K & K Farms should have lots of raspberries. They had Stanley plums last week. They looked good, but they were more than I was willing to pay. Hope this helps, Nancy

I worked for Henry Brockman for three hours today, starting at 4:15. I helped him unload his truck and set up. He had 2,000 pounds of tomatoes to sell and when I went back to the market at 12:00, he still had a ton of tomatoes, although he did not have a lot of lettuce and greens left. I really got a workout helping unload his truck. He was selling heirloom tomatoes for $7.00 a quart, and I saw another farmer selling them for $10 a quart, and those were not organic.

For anybody that is a member of Wild Onion Market at 7007 N. Clark, I checked their website, and you can nominate somebody to be a vendor there. I am going to nominate Henry. I got some mesclun, lettuce, and lots of tomatoes from Henry, and I went back to the market at 12:00 and got some corn from Geneva Lakes. All of their corn was wormy, but you just cut off the ends, and it is edible. I was going to buy some cantaloupe or watermelon, and I did not really see any I wanted Hope this helps, Nancy

Nichols has a fantastic selection of apples every year. So many varieties I've never seen anywhere else. Even better than an annual heirloom apple sale done at the Chicago Botanic Garden every fall. I had a New Hawaii with breakfast this morning. Deliciously crisp and very sweet.

AaronSinger wrote:Nichols has a fantastic selection of apples every year. So many varieties I've never seen anywhere else. Even better than an annual heirloom apple sale done at the Chicago Botanic Garden every fall. I had a New Hawaii with breakfast this morning. Deliciously crisp and very sweet.

I totally agree! They also provide short descriptions, which I find very helpful. I picked up a few pounds at the Daley Center market last week. My only problem is not remembering the varieties I selected.

The GP wrote:

AaronSinger wrote:Nichols has a fantastic selection of apples every year. So many varieties I've never seen anywhere else. Even better than an annual heirloom apple sale done at the Chicago Botanic Garden every fall. I had a New Hawaii with breakfast this morning. Deliciously crisp and very sweet.

I totally agree! They also provide short descriptions, which I find very helpful. I picked up a few pounds at the Daley Center market last week. My only problem is not remembering the varieties I selected.

Yeah I knew I wouldn't remember so I took a photo of the descriptions they have.

Tomorrow is the last day you will see Henry Brockman's tomatoes and peppers. He will also have some green tomatoes. He got hit by frost Monday evening. He is going to have the peppers on sale for I think two quarts for $6. He is also going to have the radishes on sale 2/$6. He is going to have garlic braids for the first time tomorrow, and he is going to have lots of greens and winter squash and sweet potatoes. He is going to have some #2 winter squash on sale.