My First 2025 Visit to Green City's Indoor Market as Big Chill Subsided

Glimpse at What's on the Tables as We Turn Toward February

Photo by Bob Benenson

It's interesting how warm 24 degrees can feel at the end of the week that saw below-zero temperatures.

I love Green City Market's Saturday indoor location in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood, but as a non-car owner, it's a bit of a haul. Several blocks walk to Belmont Avenue, crosstown on the bus, several blocks walk down Rockwell St. to the market. No big deal when the weather isn't severe, but the cold spell kept me away the past two weeks.

(Instead, I caught the first couple of Sundays of the new South Loop Farmers Market at downtown's Water Tower Place mall, which requires much less time outside; you can read about here and here).

So even temps in the 20s on this past bright, sunny Saturday morning felt like a hint — okay, a whisper — of spring.

I figured it would be helpful to share a little photo display of what produce is available in late January. No big surprises, as we're still in the thick of root vegetables and other storage crops.

Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois) cabbages and carrots. Photo by Bob Benenson

Nichols onions and sweet potatoes. The fire extinguisher was not for sale. Photo by Bob Benenson.

Nichols root vegetables and winter squash. Photo by Bob Benenson

Alone among summer/fall tree fruit, apples store excellently over the winter. Nichols grows the biggest variety of apples among our region's local farms, so this late January display is no surprise. Photo by Bob Benenson.

Tomato Mountain Farm (Brooklyn, Wisconsin) is best known for the crop in its name, but it's one of my go-to carrot vendors. This time I got some of their beautiful, sweet winter spinach that's in the background. Photo by Bob Benenson.

Thanks to the magic of season extension, Jacobson Family Farms (Antioch, Illinois) had quite a bit of green to go with those root, root, root vegetables. Photo by Bob Benenson.

Photo by Bob Benenson

Finally, my market haul. First, a new one for me. Wedged between the bag of spinach and the radishes is baby fennel, which I'd never bought before and quite possibly had never before seen at a farmers market. The rest: white mushrooms from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin); farm-fresh eggs (yes, eggs) from Kankakee Valley Homestead (Walkerton, Indiana); spinach from Tomato Mountain; that fennel and radishes from Jacobson Family Farms; and parsnips and Evercrisp apples from Nichols.

Til next time...