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Windy Windy City Farmers Market Doubleheader on Saturday
- Bob Benenson
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Some Extreme Stuff Even in a Place with Shifting Weather Patterns
If you didn't already know how wind-blown this past Saturday (May 17) was, there's a big hint in this picture. Several stands at Green City Market in Lincoln Park — including this big Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois) stand — opted to keep their tents down lest they catch a gust, become unmoored and hurt people. Good call!
As we've written before, Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood has an unusual local food bounty from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday during the outdoor market season. That's because Green City Market and The Lincoln Park Farmers Market are located less than a mile apart.
Both markets have a lot to offer (including the opportunity to catch up with friends), so I often try to hit both; it helps that we live fairly nearby.
Now about the Windy Windy City in the headline. I'm sure many readers already know this, but the nickname "Windy City" doesn't apply to Chicago's weather conditions. Yes, as days such as Saturday prove, we have some very windy days here, but overall our wind speed average aligns with those of most cities.
Rather, from its earliest days as the Midwest's biggest city, Chicago had boosters whose brash advocacy of their town irritated folks in places such as New York City, who described Chicago's politicians and boosters as "windy" (in other words, blowhards). This rivalry intensified after Chicago's remarkable recovery from the Great Fire of 1871 and then the competition for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in which Chicago beat out New York.
The real winds of Chicago usually don't slow us down much, as the photos of the usual Saturday throngs at Green City Market underscore.
The market tables are gradually starting to fill up with a seasonal variety of produce beyond the front-running asparagus. I have to point out these epic heads of lettuce that are being sold by Wholesome Harvest (Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin), from whom I've been buying stuff for many years. One head = days worth of salad.
Back to the weather for a moment. While Chicago's ever-changing skies spawned the joke, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes," this past week has been kind of a freak show.
We had a couple of days of fog, not unusual in the spring as warming temperatures hit the still-cold Lake Michigan waters. Then on Thursday, temperatures spiked into the 90s, which in turn generated this...
Here in Chicago we didn't get a lot of rain out of these scary-looking clouds, but there was some vivid lightning that, it appears, was the demise of this beautiful tree I witnessed on Saturday walking from Green City Market to the Lincoln Park Farmers Market.
I wonder if that car was parked there when the tree came down — which would make the owner incredibly lucky — or pulled in later.
The real corker came on Friday evening, when southerly winds ginned up by an approaching cold front picked up loose soil from farms downstate that don't have windbreaks or cover crops and created a fast-moving dust storm that blew right through the city of Chicago. Weather authorities say it was the first time this had happened since the Dust Bowl days of 1934.
Then the gusty Saturday followed by a sharp temperature dropoff. The high temperature forecast of 53 today (Monday) is roughly 40 degrees cooler than the high on Thursday.
May in Chicago can be... interesting.
I did make it unscathed to The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, where the Saturday winds were less gusty than at Green City, which is much nearer the lake. Since I'd shopped at Green City first, my second stop was more of a social call.
That's friend Ernesto Rodriguez, whose delicious, traditional Mexican mole sauces, handmade salsa and organic tortilla chips (fried in coconut oil) are getting real popular.
I also said hi to Brian Greene of Pickled Prince, which as the name implies makes pickles as well as hot sauces and other fermented foods. That drink on the box is a new wrinkle... a pickle spritz, essentially a soda mixed with pickle brine. I happen to love pickle brine, and this drink was zesty and refreshing.
So, at last, the market hauls...
From Green City Market, purple asparagus from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan); from Kajers Greens (North Judson, Indiana), radishes and my first hakurei turnips of the year (hakurei, a Japanese variety, are the only turnips that are palatable raw); English muffins from Dorothy's Bakery (Chicago); spinach and cherry tomatoes from Nichols; and one of those mega-lettuce heads from Wholesome Harvest.
And from The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, green asparagus from Los Rodriguez Farm (Eau Claire, Michigan); garlic kale and broccoli microgreens from Meraki Urban Farm (Chicago); and a couple of bags of those awesome El Molcajete chips.
Now on to this week and whatever adventures it has in store. Stay warm, keep Chicago windy, and support our local farmers.
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