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This Year's Age of Asparagus Dawned Early in Chicago
- Bob Benenson
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Unseasonably Warm Weather Produced a Big Debut for a Favorite Veggie
After I visited Chicago's Green City Market last weekend, I saw the weather forecast predicting a streak of unseasonably warm days, and speculated whether asparagus — the first mass-consumed vegetable to hit our regional markets each year — might just make a super-early debut this year.
The photos show the answer. I guess haunting farmers markets for many years has given me some perspective of how the outdoor growing seasons work around here.
After six consecutive days of high temperatures mostly in the 70s, even topping 80 in a few places, Friday night storms ushered in cooler — meaning more normal for mid-April — temperatures. While this may slow down the asparagus surge a bit, it increases the likelihood that ramps, plants that love cooler weather, will be able to extend their season for a while.
Other early season crops spotted on Saturday:
The early arrival of hothouse grown cherry tomatoes from Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois) suggests that they like warm sunny days just as much as the outdoor grown asparagus does.
Big and beautiful organic lettuce from Wholesome Harvest (Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin).
And my April 18 market haul: Black rye from Dorothy's Bakery (Chicago); a bowl of those Nichols cherry tomatoes; ground beef and eggs from Finn's Ranch (Buchanan, Michigan); Nichols carrots, asparagus and apples; purple asparagus and ramps from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan); and still more asparagus from Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan).
Did I mention that Barb and I really love asparagus?
Now, a scheduling note to readers:
The Chicago region outdoor farmers market season will soon hit full swing. While there will eventually be markets open somewhere in the region on every day of the week, the weekends will be when most markets are open and most shoppers are shopping.
To make sure our Farmers Market Tracker reminders are most useful for the most people, I will be publishing the weekly updates on Thursdays.
This is not in the least a slight to our many weekday markets. The Farmers Market Tracker, updated weekly, is permanently pinned to the Local Food Forum homepage, and every article about our outdoor local food season will have a link to the Tracker.
And finally, so you can plan, next weekend brings the season openers for two popular seasonal markets:
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, 724 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
SUNDAY, APRIL 26
Frankfort Country Market, Breidert Green, Frankfort
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Have a great Good Food week!