Whew. Big piece of work for the summer out of the way. Looking forward to starting some of this stuff in the basement soon. That is the next step, getting the basement set up for seed growing!
Strawberries, rhubarb in full effect at the market this week and asparagus still around in profusion. Nichol’s Farm had the first sugar snap peas of the season. They also had some salad greens.
Slowly we’re getting there…it’s going to be a great summer.
Same as Federal Plaza in that there wasn’t much to be had veggie-wise (no surprise). Nichols Farm was there again and my friends at Labriola were there with their fantastic bread. I picked up a loaf of marble rye which smells fantastic. I’ll post some pictures once I get them off of my cell phone.
Well, there wasn’t much to see but damn was it good to see the market back (not to mention it was a perfect day weather-wise). Nichols Farm was back and one of the few with any actual vegetables. They also had out lots of potted herbs, etc. I bought some asparagus and fingerling potatoes from them.
The rest of the market was basically bakeries and things like that.
Not much else to say in the first week 
I’ll be posting updates throughout the season. Below are some photographs.
They’re back! The city of Chicago downtown farmer’s markets started on Tuesday at Adams and Dearborn. The season is under way!
I was listening to a news report about the beef recall today and the person doing the story stated that the whole thing might call into question the safety of the food system. Gee you think so? I would have though the tainted spinach might have done that. Or any of the other recalls of food in the past.
What the hell are people thinking?
Here is a great one.
I’ve been reading a lot of food-related books lately: Pollan, Kingsolver, etc. and the CNN story just makes me glad that I don’t eat beef.
Best quote:
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.
(This one makes you feel good too):
Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.
Watch the video for some real fun.
And this is the company providing meat to school lunch programs and the fast food industry. Man do we really need reform in the school lunch arena.