Green City Market Serves up Early Spring Bounty

By Anthony Todd in Food on Mar 31, 2009 4:00PM

In the gray days of March, when the produce at the store is looking its most tired and our spirits really need an infusion of chlorophyll, we start to crave farmer’s markets. Fresh vegetables, flowers, being outside, and getting as much produce as we can eat for whatever cash happens to be in our wallets; farmer’s markets help revive us after the long, hard winter. Daley Plaza (our usual haunt) doesn’t open for another month and a half, so that’s clearly out. Luckily, Green City Market has come to the rescue.

Green City has moved indoors for early spring. You can find it most Saturdays from 8-1 at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park. It’s smaller than the mid-summer market, but for that bridge between winter and the growing season, it can’t be beat.

The prices were more reasonable than we had expected. We bought shortbread, goat stew meat, fresh pork sausages with garlic and basil, a pound of Portobello mushrooms and some caramels and spent less than $40. Not nearly as expensive as you might think for this time of year, and a great option for people who want to buy better, more sustainably-raised meat but don’t want to pay exorbitant prices. There was also homemade fresh pasta, sprouts, a wide variety of baked goods, Elk, Pork, Lamb, Goat and the first lettuces of the year, brought to you by Growing Home . Check it out next weekend!