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Ch-ch-changes: Fall Crops Filter in a Third of the Way Through September
- Bob Benenson
- Sep 10
- 1 min read
Welcome Pumpkins, Winter Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts...
This photo — taken at the stand of Smits Farm (Chicago Heights, Illinois) at Green City Market in Chicago's Lincoln Park Wednesday (September 10) — captures the transitional season were in. In the forefront, the first pumpkins and winter squash I've seen this year. In the background, sweet corn, eggplants and other summer standards.
Across the market, at the stand of Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois), my first sightings of sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts.
There are still plenty of those peak summer crops on market tables, but not for long. Hate to break this news to you, but it's inevitable. Ya really oughta get to a market and claim your share real soon.
Nichols also is the market's apple champion, with the largest range of varieties in the region. Many of them are rarely seen artisan apples, many with very curious names. But popular varieties, such as the Honey Crisp in the photo above, are starting to pile up.
Temperatures on Wednesday were in the 70s, ending a stretch of lovely but unseasonably cool weather. Definitely a shirt-sleeves kind of day.
My small but colorful market haul: from Nichols, sweet potatoes, Honey Crisp apples, red bell peppers and lettuce, and field tomatoes from Frillman Farms (Berrien Springs, Michigan).
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