Hot Hot Heat

It's been a bit of a melty week here at Market HQ, but it has not been without Cool Things Happening. Here's one thing that got me all excited:

Urbana's market is definitely a trendsetter in the use of internet technology.

Those words appeared in the current issue of Growing For Market in their cover story about farmers' markets and social media like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Our use of Facebook and blogs was discussed in the article, which was AWESOME. thank you to everyone who checks this blog, who follows on Twitter, who is a fan on Facebook, and who looks at our photos on Flickr. You're proof that this crazy experiment is working!

The other is the contest Care2 is doing to encourage people to show their favorite farmers' market some love - right now Urbana is in 12th place, but I know we can do better (what on earth are Flint, MI and Durham, NC doing to get that many votes?). Click here to help your Market out! The winning market receives $5,000, too, which is a lovely bonus to just knowing you're 100% excellent.

On to this week's proceedings:

Summer was certainly ushered in with great fanfare this week, complete with heat and humidity more appropriate for early August than the third week of June. Yes, it means the end of late spring fruit like strawberries, but the loss of strawberries paves the way for the arrival of other summer fruit, like raspberries, black raspberries, blueberries, and:



All hail the appearance of the summer stone fruit! Local trees suffered greatly in this past January's freeze, but southern IL is picking up the slack. The lovelies pictured above were brought to us by Mileur Orchard out of Murphysboro, IL - they'll also have apricots, nectarines and, later in the season, apples. Let's hear it for stone fruit! Woo!

Actually, let's hear it for summer produce in the house!

arugula, asparagus (the last!), basil, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cilantro, cucumbers, field greens, garlic scapes, green beans, green onion, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, leeks, parsley, peaches, potatoes, radishes, spinach, sugar snap and other peas, summer squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips, zucchini

This weekend's Market will offer a record number of vendors (over 80 at last count), a Bloodmobile, Blues, Brews, and BBQ steps away in Downtown Urbana, righteous heat & humidity, and plenty more.

See you out there!

PS: Sadly, our coffee sponsor is no longer able to provide the Market with free coffee. There are vendors within the Market and two retail establishments adjacent to the Market (Common Ground Food Co-op and Art Mart) that have excellent coffee - please patronize them!