Farmer's Market!

One of the best things about summer is the farmer's markets.  Most of the Chicago neighborhood farmers markets have not started yet (they will open in early June), but some of the ones downtown and a few others have been open for weeks now.  I went to the one at the Daley Center on Thursday and was a bit disappointed as I remembered that the ones downtown are often more fairs then farmer's markets (ad of course you have to be pretty strategic about what you buy).  Today I hit up a little market off Armitage just east of Halsted, and then the mega Green City Market.  I'm embarrassed to say this was my first time at the Green City Market.  It's on Clark just north of North Ave.  GCM is huge with a tremendous variety, including all the grass fed and pastured dairy, eggs and meat you can imagine.  I walked away with two types of raw cheeses from Saxon Homestead Creamery (these are full milk fat from grass fed cows -- you can't get more authentic than this), goat meat, lamb kidney, lamb liver and lamb chorizo sausage from Mint Creek Farm (all totally free range grass fed) and turkey drumsticks from T.J.'s Free Range Poultry (completely pasture raised).  (I realize not everyone finds the thought of organ meat apetizing, but it is believed to be extremely healthy for human consumption -- something I'll talk more about another time.)  Mint Creek and T.J.'s also sell eggs from pasture-raised chickens and other vendors were selling milk from grass-fed cows (sadly it was all pasteurized but it's illegal otherwise).  I also picked up some amazing foraged mushrooms, farm-made pasta sauce, and some veggies.  

The meat was all frozen, which in some ways was unfortunate, but the only way to be able to buy any type of meat any time of year is to buy it frozen or to buy it from around the world.  Of course this is local, seasonal eating.  Asparagas was all the rage with things like tomatoes (that don't get going until later in the season) hard to come by (and not very good looking when you saw them).  

One of the things I was surprised to learn recently is that just like vegetables are seasonal, so are animals.  Farmers only slaughter certain animals certain times a year -- due to the times when they are born and then reach proper size and maturity for slaughter.  So if you want fresh chicken all year round, it can come from down the street when chickens are "in season" but 6 months later they will be coming from New Zealand.  So the freezer may be a decent compromise.  

I'm really looking forward to checking out the Green City Market in the future and exploring the neighborhood farmers markets as they begin to open over the next few weeks.