Transitional Market Season Becomes Official With Arrival of Winter Squash

Visit to the Lincoln Park Farmers Market Provided a Sneak Preview of Fall

Chalk art welcomes visitors to The Lincoln Park Farmers Market in the neighborhood of the same name. Photo by Bob Benenson

It is always a pleasure to drop by The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, the neighborhood market yin to Green City's bustling destination market less than a mile away. I took the opportunity on Saturday (September 12) to visit with Elsa Jacobson, the star market manager and dear friend, and give a tour to Sharon, a friend of Barb and me from our D.C. days who preceded us to Chicago by a couple of years.

First-of-fall-season sighting of winter squash at the market's stand of Jacobson Family Farms. Photo by Bob Benenson

I'm always on the lookout for new market arrivals, and the one in the photo above — showing the winter squash on display at the stand of Jacobson Family Farms (Antioch, Illinois) — is significant because it signals that we are officially in that transitional season, when our waning peak season summer crops share space with the just-starting-out late season crops.

Photo by Bob Benenson

That said, there was still plenty of beautiful summer stuff at the stands of Los Rodriguez Farm (Eau Claire, Michigan) in the photo above and other growers.

Photo by Bob Benenson

I was already well stocked, so my market haul was modest: cherry and heirloom tomatoes from Los Rodriguez, pickles from The Urban Canopy (Chicago), bagels from Lefty's Righteous Bagels (Evanston, Illinois), a soft pretzel from pHlour (Chicago) and havarti cheese from Stamper Cheese (Chicago).

And I can't go to The Lincoln Park Farmers Market with a stop across Armitage Avenue to visit my friends at Daly's Donuts, where I bought two of their delicious, seasonal raspberry streusel doughnuts. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Conor and Alejandra Daly and publishing an article about their startup success (and what nice people they are). Click the button below if you haven't had a chance to read it yet.

GET THE DALY'S DONUTS ARTICLE

And click the next button to view Local Food Forum's Chicago Region Farmers Market Tracker to make your buy-local plans for the week. While there has been a little attrition as some short-season markets have closed for the year, the vast majority of markets stay open at least through the end of September.

GET THE TRACKER

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