Summer solstice greetings to all who celebrate… and all who do not, because the solstice is SCIENCE.
Here’s the after 5 PM plan chez B-K for today, a day that promises to be one of the hotter summer solstices on record for this area:
Fill up the tiny kiddie pool
Get into it because it’s so freaking HOT
Get out of it because that water is COLD
Water the vegetable garden with the pool water
Eat leftovers
Make a fire
Burn some stuff
Contemplate
Eat cold treats
In the immortal words of my grim 10 year-old eldest, Cody, back in 2002: It’s all downhill from here.
From The Guardian:
“Transporting food from where it is produced to our dinner plates creates at least triple the amount of greenhouse gas emissions as previously estimated, a new study suggests.”
Same article:
“Fruit and vegetables had the highest food miles emissions because they often needed to be refrigerated and consumers demanded out-of-season foods.”
And:
“Our study shows that in addition to shifting towards a plant-based diet, eating locally is ideal, especially in affluent countries.”
While we’re on the subject…
I’m a weekend warrior for a farm. [OK, an orchard.] My job? Find, manage, and work with the market day crew; five of us (including my daughter, Lilly) work alongside Lisa Mileur (and sometimes her daughter, and occasionally her nephew) at Urbana’s Saturday farmers market.
Market days are quite the hustle*. I’m up at 5:20, and am dressed and out the door by 5:35. I pick up Lilly, we grab some coffee, arrive onsite at 6 along with the other crew, and go about the business of setting up tables and tents, writing and hanging signs, broadcasting the day’s wares on various social media platforms, getting fruit out of the truck and onto the table and, once the market opens at 7, into the bags of people who eat.
There is, for me, extremely deep satisfaction in seeing a truck full of peaches at 6 AM empty out completely by noon thanks to the efforts of a few ass-busting humans and market shoppers willing and able to invest in locally-produced fruit.**
It’s physically demanding work, and it’s harder on my feet and hands than it was when I started 7(?) seasons ago, but… I love it.*** I love the structure to the hours there, the cadence to the day. It’s fun teaching the squirrelly teenage crew how to count back change and talk knowledgeably about stone fruit to shoppers and how to handle it correctly, and it’s also fun watching them put said coaching into practice. And I always, very nosily, find myself wondering what people are doing with the fruit. Are the macerating them for a dessert for a backyard gathering? Perhaps they’re cutting them up and adding them to yogurt in the mornings. Maybe, and who could blame them, they’re eating one or two whole, over the sink. Grilling them? Possibly. Sharing with a neighbor? I love it. Losing track of them in the fridge and throwing them away/composting them? I hope not, but I’ve been there.
Here are some quick and personal farmers market observations from central Illinois:
Attendance is up and crowds are starting to look a little bit like they did in 2019, though they’re still not there yet… and 2019’s attendance was not nearly as strong as early to mid 2010s.
Lots of SNAP benefits are used at our market and other area markets—we’re super lucky to have a robust fresh foods/farmers market SNAP program here, managed by The Land Connection. [full disclosure: I’m a board member and Lilly works there]
Farmers are doing their best to not raise their prices too much, but they’re raising them. They have to. So far, patrons are ponying up. You’re awesome, patrons.
Our market has a surplus of non-food vendors. My guess is they’ll dip out of the market first if people change their buying habits and/or the price of gas gets too high.
I really miss Blue Moon Farm as a vegetable one-stop, but Meyer Produce, Moore Family Farm, and Sola Gratia Farm have really stepped up and are filling the void as best they can, and smaller veg producers like Avery Farms, Roth Countryside Produce, and others are also offering some really beautiful food. Meat, dairy, and eggs are plentiful (thank you, Triple S Farms, Prairie Fruits Farm, and others).
Fruit’s having a moment! We had a great strawberry season, I saw cherries at the market for the first time in awhile, there are some blueberries, and peaches are just underway. Up next: Blackberries and raspberries.
Big business is disrupting the view at our market, though. I find corporate trucks and displays to be quite rude, out of place, and hypocritical at markets focused on local. #cropsnotcorps
I’ve shown you mine. Now you show me yours in the comments.
++++++++++++++++++
LOTSA (Lisa’s Open Tabs, Saved Aggressively)
LOCALS: I recommend this upcoming event at Bluestem Hall Nature School
Because sometimes you need to calculate square feet from square inches
Ya work in higher ed, ya think about stuff like this
CURRENT FAVE: Doomer Optimism podcast
Oh my god, CREEM magazine is back
New neighbor: This small-batch coffee roaster
Make the shortcake & sub peaches for the rhubarb part
*But let’s be real: Lisa and her family and her in-orchard squad are doing the real work, and have been for decades, on the farm and in the restaurant kitchen at their place in Murphysboro, Illinois
**Local is defined by UMATS as “grown in the state of Illinois”
***Working for the farm and seeing my friends venture outdoors saved my depressed and scared ass in the summer of 2020. We were wearing masks and everything was weird, but we were at the farmers market, shouting through those masks and making eye contact.
Until next time…
I've always wondered what time Lisa Mileur and her family have to get up to make the 3+ hour drive up from Murphysboro. I appreciate those peaches--and everyone who brings them to us, including you and Lilly--so much. Also, be sure to check out Green G Farm in Villa Grove, grower of the best green beans (and lots of other great stuff).
From an urban farmer...THANK YOU for supporting your local farmers in all sorts of different ways! People like you truly make a difference in how we do our work.