Hi- Henry says that his pumpkin and winter squash crop is really small this year, and he anticipates that he will sell all of them tomorrow. Get there early if you want some. He will also be having the last of the tomatoes and peppers. He will have some green tomatoes tomorrow. He will be having his first rutabaga, sweet potatoes and parsnips tomorrow, and will be running a special on fennel. Henry says that the sweet potatoes he is bringing tomorrow are going to be small, and need to get used up soon. Henry will have his best lettuce of the year tomorrow. Get it while you can. Henry is going to have another hard frost tonight, and his lettuce is not going to be as good next week. Depending on how low it gets tonight, tomorrow might be the last day he has some of his more tender greens such as broccoli rabe, fennel, and Chinese broccoli.

I'll be really surprised if there is any corn at market tomorrow. There were at least three people selling it there last week though.

I got there too late last week for the blueberries, and I did not see any peaches. There was lots of raspberries, apples, and pears, and a few plums. SW Michigan is supposed to have frost this weekend, and I suspect this will be the last weekend for lots of tomatoes and for most of the raspberries.

BTW- The winter market will take place at the ecology center this winter. It will alternate with the market at Immanuel Lutheran. Hope this helps, Nancy

Henry is bringing some fresh turmeric and ginger to market tomorrow. Get it while you can. Henry will also have some small garlic braids too. Henry will be having some sweet potato seconds tomorrow. I love his Japanese sweet potatoes. Henry will also be having lots of two for specials tomorrow, including radishes, lettuce, turnips, potatoes, and sweeet potatoes. Henry pretty much picked all of his greens that are not super frost hearty, such as his lettuce and a lot of his other greens, and so get them while you can. There will not be a lot of greens at the pre Thanksgiving market. There are only three regular markets left.

Henry still has some pumpkins and winter squash left, but get there early to get them. He thought he was going to sell them all last week, but because of the cold weather, he did not have as many customers.

For those people who park in the garage, they did away with the one hour of free parking, and so in order to get free parking, you have to get your ticket validated. Unfortunately the machine that validates the tickets does not do well in cold weather, and they even tried last week, to put a heater next to it, to get it to warm up, but it did not help. Somebody is trying to get the validator working again, and so lets hope they are successful. It is supposed to be much warmer tomorrow than it was last Saturday. Hope this helps, Nancy

I still get frustrated when I see how long the line is at the crepe place. It was much nicer weather today. I got there too late for Henry's ginger and turmeric. All I bought from him was two heads of romaine. He did not even have any mesclun when I got there, and all of the Japanese sweet potatoes were gone. He just had a few conventional varieties of sweet potatoes left. Henry's sister Teresa is coming next week with some Asian pears and organic apples.

I got some corn today too. There were two different people there selling corn. I hope I did not make a mistake buying it

I also got some eggplant today. I am going to make some eggplant and ziti parmesan, and some baba gonaush if I have enough.

I finally found some ripe Stanley plums, and I bought some raspberries, slightly bruised pears and some cider. I wish I would have not bought the bananas at Aldi's, and the pears at Jewel yesterday. There are only two regular markets left.

Hi- Henry Brockman's sister Teresa is coming to market this Saturday. She is bringing lots of jam, applesauce, glass jars of tea, pears, Asian pears, dried herbs and apples. All of her 1/2 bushels of seconds are spoken for. You are supposed to order her jam, honey, and applesauce in advance, but I tried to post a link to her ordering form, and I could not do it. You have to order by noon tomorrow anyway. She will have apples, Asian pears, and pears available for sale on Saturday as well as well as the dried herbs and bottles of teas.

Henry is bringing lots of greens this week, as well as potatoes, roots, and sweet potatoes. He will also have braids of garlic. Henry says his greens are wonderful this week. He especially recommends the Chinese broccoli. He does not know how much longer it will last in the field. One of the sweet potatoes he is bringing this week is a new variety for him, Bonita. It is tan on the outside, and all white inside, and has a little chestnut flavor.

This is the next to last market, and a lot of the farmers will not be there for the last market on 11/5, and so get things while you can. Henry and Nichols are going to be there on 11/5. It is supposed to be in the 60's on Saturday, and so it will be perfect weather. I bought some sweet corn last week, but it was not that good, and so I will pass on it if anybody has it this week.

There should be some raspberries, pears, and grapes this week, as well as lots of apples. Does anybody know if any of the farmers sell seedless grapes? I like grapes, but I don't care for the seeds. I know there are some seedless grape varieties that are grown in Michigan. I would much rather buy them from one of the farmers, as opposed to buying them at Jewel. Hope this helps, Nancy

Seedless grapes were available at two of the three Michigan fruit growers who sold at the Lincoln Square farmers market this year. These grapes are usually vinifera-labrusca hybrids so flavor is quite different from the California varieties. I doubt that any of these grapes will appear at chain supermarkets because of tendencies to have uneven ripening in a cluster as well as weak attachment of stems from the main stem to individual grapes. Some grapes have vestigial seeds; grower cards have sometimes called them "sort of seedless."

I did get some Vanessa grapes at the last Lincoln Square market yesterday. Jupiter and Thomcord (Thompson seedless and Concord cross) are particularly flavorful but were over several weeks ago. Indeed, the seedless grapes have been pretty much through for the year by the time Concord is widely available.

IIRC at least 20 years ago Mick Klug started planting blocks of different seedless varieties. Some were winners like Jupiter while others were duds like Seedless Concord. Mick has retired, but his daughter and son-in-law still have the name and a pretty good selection of seedless grapes.

Lake breaking news. Henry is going to have heirloom peanuts in the shell that are supposed to be wonderful. He says to boil it in salted water for 20 minutes, and then eat it. Terra recommends that you make peanut brittle with it. Henry has also found out that a lot of his greens that he thought were goners when it got in the 20's have revived, including fennel, dill, cilantro, and fennel. He is also going to have lots of carrots tomorrow, as well as other greens and roots, and potatoes and sweet potatoes, and yes he is going to have lots of bags of mesclun. Last week he did not have any, and I bought some lettuce from him instead.

It does not sound like Henry is going to have any spinach tomorrow, but he says you can substitute lambs quarter for any spinach dish. Nichols should have lots of spinach tomorrow though.

I don't know if anybody is going to have any tomatoes tomorrow. All Henry had last week by the time I got there was green tomatoes. I think Lyons had some cherry tomatoes, and Talking Farm had a few heirloom tomatoes for $5 a pound

Teresa is bringing chestnuts tomorrow, as well as her pears, Asian pears, apples, and some bottles of tea and dried spices.

The fall fest is taking place tomorrow, and everybody is encouraged to wear a Halloween costume. There is one more regular market after tomorrow, but some of the farmers will not be there for the last one. There is also the pre Thanksgiving market at Immanuel Lutheran church, which will take place on 11/19. That is the market where you can pick up veggies that you have preordered from Henry. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I have bad news to report. I just got an email from Henry Brockman's sister Terra. Henry's daughter is having a baby sometime this winter, and Henry wants to spend some time with his new grandchild, but he can't if he continues to farm the way he is presently. Henry is seriously considering downsizing his farm, and getting rid of the CSA, or just having the CSA. The CSA is not accepting any new members right now though. If he gets rid of the CSA, that means that everybody can get his veggies, but he will not bring as many veggies as he currently does, and in order to get some, you would have to get there early. He wants people to vote on what they want him to do. I would vote on getting rid of the CSA, but I wish he would continue to run the farm to full capacity, and continue with both options. Henry is one of my favorite growers, and I spend at least $10 at his stand every week, and some weeks I spend lots more.

There are currently only three certified organic growers at the market. Henry, Lake Breeze and Talking Farm are certified. I buy stuff from Lake Breeze occasionally, including blueberries and asparagus, but they don't have nearly as much as Henry, and Talking Farm has way less than Henry does, and they are more expensive. River Valley is organic, but they are not certified. Nichol's is I think naturally certified raised or something to that effect. I think they spray their apples maybe four times a year, and they claim some of their produce is not sprayed, but I have never gotten a good answer from them as to if they spray for weeds. I believe they have 80 acres, and so it would be hard to totally hand weed.

Kinnikinick is certified organic, and used to sell at the Evanston market, but when the pandemic appeared, they decided to switch over to having people preorder their stuff, and pick it up at another site in Evanston. They currently have pick up at the Roycemore school, which is located at Ridge and Davis. I live right across the street from there.

Green Acres is IPM, but they also downsized their farm, and quit coming to Evanston a few years ago. Jon First who I also used to buy a lot from, retired too. There are a few farmers that have replaced some of the ones that have quit coming, but the majority of the new people selling at the market are not selling produce, but are selling gluten free baked goods, or other already prepared food. There are only so many people right now that want to farm. A pear grower in Michigan that my father was good friends with, just died a few weeks ago, at the age of 96. He was still farming this year. Nobody in his family wants to take over the farm.

I'd characterize the arrival of a new grandchild as fantastic news, regardless of its impact on anyone's business. Just my .02.

=R=

I am happy that Henry is having a new grandchild, but he is my favorite grower selling at the Evanston market, and I wish that he could continue with both the CSA and the regular market. People can vote for which they would rather have. A lot of people have already voted.

This is going to be the last regular market, and Henry will be having bulk specials on potatoes and sweet potatoes. This year he is raising a new variety of sweet potato called Bonita, which is white inside, and is supposed to be even sweeter. It is grown in the Caribbean islands. He is also bringing some Japanese sweet potatoes and some traditional varieties. I bought some of the Japanese sweet potatoes last year, and they were wonderful. Henry is also bringing lots of greens this Saturday. He said that it is supposed to get cold again next week, and he predicts that he will not have any greens for the Thanksgiving market. Henry is bringing lots of garlic braids this week.

There will still be lots of apples on Saturday, and K & K Farms should have some raspberries and cider too. They were out of raspberries by the time I got there last week.

Hi- Henry Brockman is not bringing as much lettuce tomorrow, but he is bringing some spinach he just picked today. He has chinese broccoli on sale 2/$6 tomorrow. He does not expect to have many greens for the Thanksgiving market, and so get them tomorrow while you have a chance. This is going to be the last market until November 19th, when the pre Thanksgiving market takes place at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Henry is going to send out his email concerning bulk orders for Immanuel soon.

Both Immanuel and the Evanston ecology center are going to be holding winter markets this winter. The market at the ecology center will not start until January, and in January, February and March will alternate with Immanuel on Saturday mornings. Immanuel is going to have two Saturday markets in December on 12/4, and 12/18. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- The Pre Thanksgiving market is taking place this Saturday 11/19 at Immanuel Lutheran church at 616 Lake Street. There is a parking lot on Sherman next to the Holiday Inn. You have to enter in the spot your car is located in, and then pay for parking.

It is supposed to be cold Saturday, and so Henry Brockman has decided not to set up his stall. Everything he has for sale, must be ordered in advance, and you will pick up the order on Saturday morning. He will have the orders in his truck. https://henrys-farm.square.site/
That is the link to pre order from Henry. The deadline to order is 6 am on Wednesday, but try to order before then. Some stuff is already almost sold out. Henry is going to have lettuce and spinach, which he never has for the pre Thanksgiving market, along with lots of other greens, root crops, potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic. His turnips and carrots keep for four months. He is going to start handing out the orders at 8:30. People with the last name starting in A-I show up between 8:30 and 9:30. People with the last name starting in J through R show up from 9:30-10:30. People with the last name starting in S through Z show up between 10:30-11:30 to pick up your order.

There will be some other farmers such as Nichols set up outside, and there will be more people set up inside the church. The market closes at noon.

Hi- I just checked Henry's bulk order form, and he still has lots left to order. You must submit your order by 6:00am tomorrow, as in Wednesday 11/16. He still has lots of turnips left. The only things he is low on is carrots, sweet potatoes and radishes. He is out of his #2 carrots and sweet potatoes. I am surprised he still has lettuce and spinach left, but he is out of the four heads of lettuce. He still has the two heads, and the eight heads of lettuce. He is out of the huge bag of spinach, which is the equivalent of eight small bunches of spinach. Henry is not having his ala carte market on Saturday. You must preorder in order to get anything from him. I assume Nichols will be set up outside though. It is supposed to be a high of 29 on Saturday though, and that is why Henry is only doing preorder. He decided it would be too cold for the veggies to sit out in the open.

Most of Henry's roots keep for four months in the fridge. I always buy 10 pounds of carrots, and 10 pounds of turnips from him. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- The indoor Farmer's market is taking place tomorrow, 12/3 at Immanuel Lutheran church from 8:00-12:30. Nichols, Jacobson's, Lake Breeze, Mint Creek, the cheese people the knife sharpener, and River Valley Ranch mushrooms are going to be there tomorrow as well as Fred's bread. There are going to be a total of ten vendors there tomorrow. You have to get there early to get eggs. Lake Breeze also has organic cider. I bought some at the last market. Nichols should have spinach tomorrow as well as lots of apples, sweet potatoes, kale, cauliflower, winter squash, brussel sprouts and potatoes. The church is located at Sherman and Lake next to the Holiday Inn. I tried to park in the parking garage down the street last time though, and they got rid of the location where you pay for your parking spot. You can only pay by app. now, and there are signs that you will get a ticket if you do not pay via the app.

There is going to be another winter market at Immanuel Lutheran church at Lake and Sherman, right down the street from the Holiday Inn in Evanston this next Saturday. I went to the last market last weekend, and since all of the farmers were inside the church, you could park in the church parking lot. I bought some brussel sprouts and spinach from Nichols.

I just received an email from Henry, and he is coming to the market this Saturday 12/17, but everything is going to be bulk order. He is going to send out the email with the order form probably this Tuesday. He still has a lot left. I might buy some black garlic from him. I love his black garlic. I just stir fried some of the purple Chinese cabbage I got from him at the Thanksgiving market. He is going to have some more Chinese cabbage this Saturday, but I think he is out of the purple Chinese cabbage I ordered from him last time.

Henry announced that he is getting rid of his Evanston CSA next summer. He asked people to vote for either just having the CSA at the Evanston market, or getting rid of the CSA at the market, and just having the regular market stand. 80% of the people voted to just have the regular market stand next summer. He says that he is not going to grow as much next summer though, and so that means you will have to get there early if you want any of his veggies. I assume he is still going to operate his CSA at his farm though.

Hi- Henry has his order form up for Saturday.

https://henrys-farm.square.site/

The deadline for ordering is midnight tomorrow. Some of the things he is out of already, but he still has beets, turnips, leeks, garlic, parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, burdock and elba potatoes along with a few other things. He is out of sweet potatoes. You can pick the stuff up on Saturday morning between 8:00-12:00 in the basement of Immanuel Lutheran church at the corner of Lake and Sherman next to the Holiday Inn in Evanston. Most of the stuff you have to buy at least five pounds worth. His black garlic is wonderful, and you can buy as little as 1/2 pint of that. The carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets and rutabaga keep for four months in your fridge. Nichols should be there this Saturday as well as River Valley and Lake Breeze organic. Lake Breeze has cider and eggs, but you have to get there early for those.

Hi- Henry still has lots left to sell. Maybe consider giving some of his veggies as Christmas presents. I am considering doing this with his Elba potatoes. He still has lots of beets left, and Cook's Illustrated has a new borsch recipe in their latest edition that I got recently. He has just added some golden beets. Midnight tonight is the deadline for ordering. You can pick it up anytime between 8:00-12:00 this Saturday morning at Immanuel Lutheran church in the basement.

I wanted to remind people that the indoor farmer's market is taking place tomorrow 1/7 at Immanuel Lutheran church from 8:00-12:30. The indoor market is going to commence again on 1/14 at the Ecology Center. I am not sure how many actual farmers are going to be at the Ecology Center besides River Valley Ranch though.

Hi- I just received an email from Terra Brickman. Henry is planting lots of early stuff right now, including 1,000 lettuce plants, spinach, onions, potatoes, carrots, and lots of other stuff. Henry says this year he is able to plant more than he is some years. It is going to be dry this week, and so he should get lots more in the ground.

The real reason Terra sent the email is to warm people that the city of Evanston is again contemplating moving the farmer's market to Fountain Square. The city hired a consultant to come up with ideas on how to revitalize downtown Evanston, and bring the shoppers back. The city paid $245,000 for this report. One of the suggestions in this report is that the farmer's market be relocated to Fountain Square to bring more people into downtown Evanston. This idea was also discussed two years ago, but both the farmer's and the people who shop at the farmer's market, made it very clear to the city that this is a bad idea, and so everybody thought the subject was dead. Henry wants people who live in Evanston to contact their Mayor and alderman to tell them that this is a bad idea For those people that received the email from Terra, there is also a link where you can leave comments about the Thrive report. I did that, and I told them that people thought it was a bad idea two years ago, and they still think it is. There is not enough room for the farmer's market at Fountain Square, and a lot of the farmer's will quit coming to Evanston if they relocate over there. BTW- THey are only accepting comments about the Thrive report through today 4/10. Thanks, Nancy

Take it for what you will, but the city of Evanston published a few paragraphs on the subject on April 12th, via Evanston Roundtable. The main takeaway in bold:
"There are no immediate plans to move the Downtown Evanston Farmers’ Market."
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2023/04/ ... rs-market/

I saw that in the Roundtable, but everybody in Evanston that visits the farmer's market, needs to contact their Alderman and the mayor to let them know that they do not want the market moved. I know there is always a chance that Northwestern will either build something on the property, or sell the land for development, but so far that has not happened. The manager of the market anxiously waits for January, when Northwestern sends her out another renewal of their contract for that year. She would not be surprised if they decided one of these years to not renew the market location contract, but there are better places than Fountain Square that they could move to if that happened.

Everybody made it abundantly clear to the city two years ago, that they did not want to move the market to Fountain Square, but then the group that wrote the report that the city paid $245,000 for it to come up with ways to revitalize downtown Evanston brought up the subject again. I can't see that moving the market to Fountain Square will increase business sales in downtown Evanston, and if they do relocate there, half the farmers are going to drop out of the market, and half of the customers are going to go to another market. I already submitted my comments about the Thrive report, but Monday was the last day to leave comments. Thanks, Nancy

Farmers’ Market opens for 48th year

https://evanstonnow.com/farmers-market- ... 48th-year/

I noticed WGN filming this report this morning.

Hi- I was at the Evanston market this morning picking up my plants from Teresa which are fantastic. The tomato plants are huge, and some have flowers on them already. I also picked up some of Henry's spinach and lettuce. He still had lots of spinach and lettuce when I left at noon. He was selling it for $4 or 2/$7. He also had some baby turnips and some other stuff left. I was afraid he would run out before I got there, but maybe he decided not to downsize his farm this year. Teresa still had lots of plants left too. I think Teresa will be there again next week. Her plants are always super. I also bought some asparagus from Nichols too.

Did anybody see any ramps there today? I thought I bought some a few years ago from Stover's, but they did not have any today. Has anybody tried the avocado toast yet? There were several people on the market's Facebook page that really liked it, but I checked, and it was $10, which is too much for me to try it out.

It seemed like the crowds were not very large today. Gotta B Crepes was there today, and their line was short compared to most weeks. The Evanston market is going to be part of a USDA program this summer. Only three farmers markets in the US are going to be part of this program. I get the impression it is going to try to get people to eat more fruits and veggies, and they are going to be giving away prizes. More info will soon be available on Evanston market's Facebook page. Hope this helps, Nancy

I got the last bunch of ramps from Nichols this morning. Also, for the garden, got cilantro from Teresa and variegated sage from Geneva Lakes. (And, yum, goat loin chops from Mint Creek.) Stover’s had the thick asparagus - got two of those bunches.

I thought I saw trimmed ramp bulbs at Lake Breeze. Geneva Lakes (NE corner of the square) had bundles that were comically thin bulbs.

NFriday wrote:I also picked up some of Henry's spinach and lettuce... I was afraid he would run out before I got there, but maybe he decided not to downsize his farm this year.

I also had thought he announced at some point that he was only growing for CSA members this year and wouldn't have a normal stand. Sounds like it was a typical presence today?

It's not my intent to spread rumors, but it seems like you had heard something similar based on your comment. The email communication he sent out made it seem like business as usual. I don't get up to Evanston nearly as much as I used to and if Henry's stand was absent (or preorder/CSA only), I'd have even less of a reason to make the trek.

I'll probably be up next week to browse Teresa's plant starts (didn't get my pre-order for those before the deadline this year so I got some from Talking Farm instead)

My impression was that Henry’s didn’t have as extensive a selection as he has had in previous years, but he still has good vegs.

Hi- Henry polled his customers, and gave them the option of either just having the CSA, or just having the regular market with no CSA. The great majority of the people that responded wanted just the regular market. Henry still had lots of stuff left when I left the market at noon. I noticed that the line at Gotta B Crepes was nowhere near as long as it was last summer. I ordered all of my veggie plants from Teresa, and they were wonderful. The tomato plants I picked up today were huge, and some of them already had flowers on them. Maybe Henry had so much stuff left over today because he did not have the CSA. I guess I'll have to get there earlier next week to get the ramps from Nichols. Their asparagus was good.

I just came back from the Evanston market, and Henry still had tons of bags of spinach for $4 or 2/$7. He was out of lettuce when I got there. He also had some huge overwintered leeks for $4 a piece. I bought two. I am going to make some potato leek soup. Henry had some bok choy and radishes today. He will not have any more until this fall because of global warming. Because winters have gotten warmer, Henry has an overabundance of flea beatles, and so he has been forced to raise his radishes and bok choy in the hoop houses with the tomatoes.

Teresa had some of her plants B1G1F, but the majority of her plants were still $6. Her sun gold plants were really small. The sun gold plants I got from her last week were at least two feet tall, and had flowers on them. She still had lots of peppers and eggplant, but she was running low on basil and some of her tomatoes. Nichols are done with ramps for the year. They still had lots of asparagus.

I made a batch of spinach, ricotta cheese and noodles on Thursday. It was not my all time favorite. I don't think I will fix it again. I might make some spinach soup out of one of Mollie Katzen's cookbooks this week. Henry said he will have more lettuce next week.

The market will not have any strawberries for at least two weeks. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I went home to Michigan for a family reunion this last weekend, and so I did not make it to the Evanston market Saturday. I heard that Linda Keoningshof finally made an appearance there on Saturday. My Sister said that Linda did not appear at the market on 6/16 like I expected her to, because her raspberries were not ready to pick. I just looked at the Facebook page for the Evanston market, and apparently the USDA was giving out homegrown strawberries to sample, to try and encourage people to buy strawberries at the market. I don't know if this is only going to be a one time deal or not. There should be some cherries this Saturday, and maybe a few strawberries. The strawberries that I purchased for $6 a quart at my sisters fruit stand, were ripe. I still have a quart to go through. I got to pick all the cherries I wanted to on my sister's farm for free. I brought back four pounds of cherries, and gave away a pound of them to one of my friends who had never had Rainer cherries before. They should start picking peaches the middle of July, and upicking peaches the middle of August. At least we got some much needed rain, although not as much as I hoped we would. Hope this helps, Nancy