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As the farmers markets kick into gear, Sharon heads out for local produce and community-centric revelry.

Friday May 16, 2008.     By Sharon Hoyer

Lifestyle Feed

Opening day of Chicago's Green City Market threatened rain—a good omen for the farmers assembled. The trays of young herbs and potted tomato plants displayed just south of the market's 10th-anniversary sign will benefit from more tardy April showers, as will the crops for all the farmers markets to come. It's early yet in the growing season; the stands carry asparagus and fingerling potatoes aplenty, but it will be a few weeks before we see heirloom peppers and tomatoes gracing the tables.

The blustery Wednesday did little to discourage attendance. Food lovers of every age and description milled about the south end of Lincoln Park, sipping complimentary coffee, scarfing down breakfast from the Green City Crepe stand and sharing a general sense of camaraderie. It was a familiar scene, but what struck me the most as I wandered between stands, eyeing produce and smiling at the folks standing behind it, was that everyone seemed to know each other. Photos were snapped, new babies admired and backs clapped in warm recognition; it felt like—well, like a community reuniting on the first market day after a long winter. Granted, I was several miles from my Northwest Side neighborhood and didn't expect to run into anyone I knew, but I felt more like a visitor to a small town than an anonymous city dweller stopping for groceries in a major metropolis. These people weren't just sharing the same space; they were downright neighborly.

And what could be more appropriate? Eating a meal—like playing music—is one of the most personal activities human beings engage in that is best when shared. Food—like alcohol—is a social lubricant (especially for those of us who like to lurk around the snack table at parties) and barometer (should that first date be for lunch? Or dinner?); it's the one thing that every living person has in common. What better magnet to pull the residents of an area together than the weekly farmers market? A farmers market isn't only a food store: It's an event, held once or twice a week for limited hours. It can only cater to so many people at such and such a time, so you're bound to see familiar faces.

Chicago has about 30 weekly farmers markets between the months of June and October. The neighborhood of Englewood will hold its first market on Thursdays this year, filling a need for affordable organic food and providing cooking demonstrations of the produce available. Most important, it will create a new space for young and old members of the community to gather casually and share part of their week.

When I sat down to write this column, my intent was to talk about the political power of what we choose to eat; how it can be—as writer Jenny Kurzweil puts it—a way of saying no to multinational corporations; how we can take back our food from industrial agriculture and weaken the grasp that Monsanto, a multinational agricultural biotech corporation, has on the genetic makeup of our nourishment. Yet when I think back on the first day of Chicago farmers markets, the mood was not one of resistance but affirmation. Communities were being built; empires weren't being torn down.

In the spirit of sharing abundance, Centerstage has compiled a list of farmers markets around the city. If you don't see a conveniently located market, don't despair. Check out Local Harvest for complete listings of markets, co-ops and CSAs nationwide.

It took a move from the regimented lawnscapes of the suburbs to the congestion of a major metropolis for Sharon to look twice at what she puts in the trash, down the sink and into her own body. She reports fortnightly on her endeavors to change "greening" from calculated deviation to a practicable way of life. You can contact her here.