Market Notes for July 26, 2025
Art Notes!
Evanston had its 4th annual Plein Air Festival last week, which attracted over 60 artists from all over the country. Saturday's "Paint Out" was at the Farmer's Market, and two of the artists worked on paintings of Henry's Farm stand. One of those paintings won first place for the day — and here it is, by artist Karen Beauprie, pictured above, just starting her painting around 8am last Saturday.
We are so happy that our longtime market friends Joe and Paul bought the original. If you’d like a print, Karen Beauprie (from Key West) has them available online.
Help us identify the people!
The artist worked on the painting for hours, but she based it on what she was seeing around 8am. (When Joe visited her at about 10am, she said it was hard because Henry keeps moving the things around and takes down tables and tents as vegetables are sold.)
So far we've identified Henry and some of the folks who regularly help him at the market stand. Let us know who else you can identify!
On the left: Paul, Elio, Mo (our friend talking to Paul, though the artist always put her own dog into her paintings, and she attached the dog to Mo).
Kevin is in the center (view of his back).
Joe is in the middle in the black apron and black hat talking to 2 kids. Anyone know who the kids are?
Rocio is behind Joe, talking to a customer. Let us know if you are that customer!
Henry is over on the right, talking to another customer, or perhaps Sumie.
The artist was pretty faithful to the style and color of what people were wearing (e.g. the person in the striped shirt), so maybe you will be able to identify yourself or someone you know. If so, let us know!
And you can get a high-quality print for yourself, too!
Food & Farm Notes
This is the first week for the delicious and versatile KENNEBEC Potatoes, which Henry is washing above. The smooth, white flesh is ideal for mashed potatoes, but also great for roasting, boiling, and frying.
It’s also the first week for ITALIAN SWEET PEPPERS, pictured below, & HALF-PRICE 2nds, too! For some reason (probably the terrible heat and humidity), there are a lot of Italian sweet peppers with blossom end rot. If you want a great deal, buy the 2nds for half price, then cut off the little bit of black at the tips, and you have perfect peppers!
MORE SWEET CORN, and these later varieties don’t have as many ear worms as the earlier varieties Henry harvested last week . . . although you may still see some evidence of worms!
NEARING THE END of . . .
ONIONS - Stock up, since they keep well.
FENNEL — This will be the last week until the side shoots that grow from the base where Henry cut the main fennel come in during late Sept.
RADICCHIO - These are the side shoots of the radicchio he harvested weeks ago, and are not heads like the first cutting, but more like loose-leaf radicchio. If you’ve been missing salad greens, get this delicious radicchio!
KALE is back, thanks to last Saturday’s nice rain
BEANS are also back. Henry’s bringing up all of his varieties, but has the most of the delicious, meaty Italian Flat Beans. He said after working on you all for the past 30 years, this is now the most popular variety he sells . . . and the best-tasting bean he grows!
Lots of beautiful aromatic SHISO — Henry recommends making a Tomato, Cucumber, and Shiso Salad!
More TOMATOES - and this will be the first week they are arranged by variety, so come by and pick out your favorites!
Henry’s COOL CUCUMBERS include the regular American Cucumbers, the long Japanese Cucumbers, and the bronze-skinned, crunchy Poona Kheera, an Indian heirloom Cucumber that you should try if you haven’t already!
Quick Cucumber Salad!
Food Notes: CUCUMBERS
Henry says you may think cucumbers are boring if you are used to the ones you get at restaurants or in the grocery store, but his are aromatic and delicious, like a summer fruit. That is not surprising since their family, the Cucurbitaceae), includes melons as well.
Quick Thai Cucumber Salad
For the Dressing
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 to 2 cloves garlic minced
For the Salad
2 large or 4 smaller cucumbers
2 scallions (Japanese negi) or 1 red onion
¼ cup Shiso, Parsley, Mint, or your herb of choice
Dressing: Whisk together all dressing ingredients to dissolve the sugar.
Salad: Slice cucumbers into chunks or ¼ inch rounds. Thinly slice the scallion or onion. Finely chop the cilantro. Toss it all together, optionally adding a handful of chopped peanuts or almonds.
Assemble: Drizzle dressing over cucumber salad and gently toss combine.
Indian Raita (Cucumber and Yogurt)
Raita is a common Indian side dish made with yogurt, spices, herbs, vegetables and sometimes even with fruits. It is an integral part of Indian meals, and is super easy, healthy and adaptable.
Basic Raita
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, parsley, or herb of your choice
1 Tablespoon chopped onion or scallion
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Chill covered, until ready to serve.
Farm Notes: We got Rain!
Henry’s Farm got a lovely 84/100 inch of much-needed rain on Saturday, for which we are grateful. You will see the results of the rain in the greens (kale and radicchio), as well as in the plump and juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, and much more at Henry’s stand this week.
We also had a brief thunderstorm around 6 this evening, which didn’t give us much rain, but did end the bean harvest, which will resume tomorrow. Henry is hoping for more rain tonight and in the coming days. After this week of brutal highs in the 90s, the vegetables need some relief, and the humans do, too!
It may rain this Saturday, but Henry says just grab your rain coat or umbrella and come on out! Right now, the forecast is for the rain to start around noon, so come early and it’s likely you won’t get wet. See you Saturday!