Oak Park Farmer's Market

On Saturday mornings in the summer and fall, I load the kids in the car and head to Oak Park, Illinois. The Oak Park Farmer's market offers high quality artisan meats and cheese, and fresh produce, in the parking lot of the Pilgrim Church, at the corner of Lake Street and Elmwood Avenue.

My kids favorite first stop at the Oak Park Farmer's Market is for donuts, made in and sold out of the church basement. Skip the boxes of a dozen pre-packaged donuts, and wait in line for the donuts that are still warm from the fryer.

While you're eating your donut, sit at a table and listen to the live music, usually bluegrass. The market also occasionally offers cooking demonstrations.

After we stop for donuts, my 6-year-old son begs for a stop to buy a baguette from Red Hen Bread. He's developed a taste for the European-style baguettes this bakery produces them. When the Oak Park Farmer's Market is closed, you can buy their baked goods at their shop on Lake Street, in Oak Park.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are available seasonally from the vendors at the Oak Park Farmer's Market. What you'll find depends on when you go.

In May, you'll find radishes, greens, rhubarb, and asparagus. Strawberries appear in June and are followed by raspberries and blueberries. Peaches, cherries, and melons appear in midsummer. In fact, one of my favorite summer treats is a large and juicy muskmelon, grown in Indiana. Midsummer vegetables include beets, summer sqush, beans, new potatoes, and tomatoes. In the fall, you'll see apples, pears, and more raspberries. Winter squash and pumpkins appear in the fall. Sweet corn shows up in July and August.

All season, you'll find beef from Heartland Meats. Another vendor at the Oak Park Farmer's Market, Wettstein Organic Farms, sells whole chickens and fresh eggs, described to me by a fellow Oak Park Farmer's Market patron as "the best eggs in the world." I bought two dozen, and they were very good. You will though, need to come early for eggs, because they sell out.

For cheese, look for vendors selling aged Wisconsin cheddar and offering samples. Also watch for honey and home-style jams and jellies.

The Oak Park Farmer's Market is open Saturdays, 7 AM to 1 PM, from late May to late October. The Oak Park Farmer's Market is entering its 35th season in 2010.