destabee | First day of Summer Part I: The Chesterton European Market

The summer solstice and the first day of summer have not been reasons to celebrate in the places I have lived before. 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. Here Litha is actually a cause for celebration. The summer solstice marks a shift from spring to summer in terms of eating local though 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. I decided to celebrate the first day of summer with a quest for local produce and a bit of wandering. . 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.

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 with 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.

(To be continued Parts II and III due to length and photos.)