In most places I have lived, summer temperatures had already grown old my mid-June and much of the harvest was over as things would be winding down for the crushing heat of July and August. This meant that there was little to celebrate when the Summer Solstice arrived. Here Litha (another name for the summer solstice) is actually a cause for celebration. Litha brings a shift from spring to summer in terms of eating local. This year we are a bit behind the norm in terms of harvests. Strawberries are just reaching their peak and cherries just beginning to ripen.
Though we are still weeks away from the abundance of summer produce you can feel the shift. In fact, today I picked my first tomato of the season today and spotted the first blossom on my pea vines. Before I start to wander here is a photo of my first tomato. It was produced by a husky tomato plant that I purchased at Home Depot in a standard 4 inch pot. It was transplanted into its home container on April 24.
I decided to celebrate the first day of summer with a quest for local produce and a bit of wandering. My day began with a couple cups of coffee and a few quick emails to students. Just before 8:00 a.m., I headed off to the European Market. My first purchase at the market was from The Cheese People. My refrigerator now holds a small slice of lovely Marieke Gouda made Thorp, WI; 4 ounces of Capriole fresh goat cheese made in Greenville, IN; a very small slice of decadence in the form of Bourbon Chocolate Torta also produced by Capriole, Inc., and a small piece of apricot brie.
Next I stopped at the Froelich’s booth. Froelich’s is located in Three Oaks, MI and sells baked goods as well as preserved fruit and vegetable items. Froelich’s is run by Colleen Froelilch who is the third generation of her family to engage in food service. The shop in Three Oaks is a combination bakery, gift shop, cafe, and market. The primary source of ingredients for her wonderful creations is the her family farm. She makes an amazing pumpkin butter but that wasn’t on my agenda for today. I am glad she makes the 30 mile or so trip to bring her goodies to Chesterton each week. I made my usual purchase of a rosemary flat bread. The rosemary flat bread is very good with goat cheese.
Next it was off to say hello to Phyllis and pick up some meat from Farm Direct Meat; no major purchase just a package of two chicken breasts and some ground beef. Chatting with Phyllis is one of the things that keeps me going to Chesterton’s market even if I rely more and more on other markets for the produce I don’t grow myself. My final stop at the European Market was the Lehman’s Orchard booth. I always stop there to say hello to my other favorite person at the market and to pick up dried berries and nuts. Since the dried items are 4 bags for $15, I rounded out my nuts and berries with a bag of dried tomatoes. They also had the first cherries of the season; so of course I bought a pint of those as well. Don’t they look wonderful? The cherries are a tiny bit tart but still yummy. I expect they will be even better next week. The asparagus in the photo doesn’t make an appearance until later in my day.
I left the European Market in Chesterton feeling happy with my purchases and my dose of pleasant social interactions. From the Chesterton market, I headed toward the Farmer’s Market in Valparaiso. As usual I took the back roads. There was lots of activity along the way including garage sales, boy scout camp outs, signs pointing toward parties, lots of people in parks along the way and it wasn’t yet 9 a.m.
Semagic 1.7.0.9U – I have been called many things (destabee) @ livejournal.com
After I played in the sunshine at Ogden Gardens, I stopped by the Valparaiso Farmer’s Market which was a complete disappointment. There were a few vendors selling plants, one selling homemade dog treats, and one selling roasted peanuts. Nothing I wanted or needed. So I headed off toward Johnson’s Farm Stand, Marilyn’s Bakery , and Remus Farms. Getting there was a challenge. Hobart, IN and the area immediately around it are a strange sort of Bermuda Triangle.
Marilyn’s Bakery and Johnson’s are connected. I started with the nursery portion of Johnson’s. U-Pick Strawberry season is underway and lots of special events were taking place (jam making demonstrations, live music, etc.). They were also having a buy one get one free sale on all plants in there huge, I mean HUGE, nursery. I found some sweet potato plants; the real food type not the ornamental ones, and bought some herbs. The herbs were mostly more unusual things like lime basil and pineapple mint. Along with my herbs I purchased a handful of stalks of rhubarb, 4 quarts of sugar snap peas, and 4 quarts of strawberries.
From Marilyn’s I purchased lunch in the form of a slice of veggie quiche and a fabulous white raisin and spice scone. The quiche was fine and the scone was very, very good. I also brought home a 6 inch strawberry rhubarb pie and a 6 inch angel food cake to go with my strawberries.
The next stop and final stop for my outing was Remus Farms. From Remus I purchased a dozen Creighton Brothers and Crystal Lake eggs , the asparagus (local) that was back in the cherry photo, the non-local potatoes in the photo with the rhubarb, some very non local but cheap avocados, and some cherry cider.
I splurged a little on cheese and plants but I don’t feel bad about it. Without those cheese and plants the cost of things was in line with what the grocery store would have cost and in some cases cheaper. For example, the 4 quarts of peas were only $4.69 and the avocados were 4 for $4.39. The grocery store would have been faster and more convenient but infinitely less satisfying and fun. Tomorrow is for planting the herbs I purchased today and some more seeds; baking bread; processing the strawberries, peas, and rhubarb; cooking my OLS meal for the week; and working on teaching things.
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March 14, 2009 at 8:24 pm
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