01 · Produce · Seasonal vegetables, Detroit MI
Seasonal vegetables from three Michigan counties, apples from a fourth.
Seasonal vegetables and fruit for Detroit kitchens: heirloom tomatoes from Kent County, Michigan apples by the pound or the half-bushel from Ottawa County, and local greens and roots from Macomb and Washtenaw. Priced per lb or per bunch at the week's board price, set aside by request, paid at pickup.
Heirloom tomatoes, Kent County
Three varieties, mixed in the case. Brandywine is the big pink-red one, often over a pound, soft-skinned and sweet. Cherokee Purple is dusky, almost brown at the shoulders, with a smoky taste people either ask for by name or never order again. Green Zebra stays green when ripe and is sharper than both. You can ask for one variety or a mix.
These are heirloom tomatoes grown in Kent County and picked ripe, not shipped green and gassed. That is why they crack and why they don't keep. Plan to eat them within four days. Never put them in the fridge unless they're cut.
Tomatoes come in on Tuesday and Friday. Order by the day before and we set yours aside. For canning tomatoes by the bushel, the half-bushel runs about 25 lb and needs two days' notice so the farm can pick for it. Say whether you want slicing-ripe or sauce-ripe; sauce-ripe is softer and it's what most canners want.
| Varieties | Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra |
|---|---|
| County | Kent County, Michigan |
| Unit | Per lb · half-bushel about 25 lb |
| Harvest window | July to September, delivered Tuesday and Friday |
| Storage | Counter, stem side down, out of sun. Eat within 4 days. |
| Half-bushel notice | Two days ahead |
Weekly board priceper lbWeighed at pickup. Half-bushel (about 25 lb) priced on the confirmed weight at the same per-lb rate, ordered two days ahead. We give you the week's figure when we call.
Michigan apples by the half-bushel, Ottawa County
Northern Spy is the reason most people call. It's a hard, tart, late apple that holds its shape in a pie instead of collapsing into applesauce, and it's getting harder to find because it takes years to crop. Honeycrisp is the one to eat out of hand. Jonagold sits between: sweet, big, good raw and fine in a crisp.
All three come from Ottawa County orchards. No waxed imports on the same shelf, so there's nothing to confuse them with.
A half-bushel of Northern Spy is about 21 pounds. That is two pies and a winter of sauce, or too much for a small kitchen, so ask. Most households do better with 3 to 5 lb and a second order in two weeks. Spy keeps for months in a cold garage or a crisper drawer; Honeycrisp bruises if you pile it deep, so don't.
| Varieties | Northern Spy, Honeycrisp, Jonagold |
|---|---|
| County | Ottawa County, Michigan |
| Unit | Per lb or per half-bushel, about 21 lb |
| Best use | Spy for pies and sauce · Honeycrisp raw · Jonagold either |
| Storage | Cold and humid, 32–40°F. Spy keeps longest. Keep away from greens. |
| Half-bushel notice | Two days ahead |
Weekly board priceper lb · per half-bushelHalf-bushel is about 21 lb, single variety or mixed. Confirmed at pickup, paid at the counter.
- Lacinato kale, Macomb County, per bunch
- Rainbow chard, per bunch
- Carrots, Washtenaw County, per lb
- Beets, per lb
- Cut the day before delivery
Local greens and roots, cut the day before
Lacinato kale, the dark flat-leaf kind some call dinosaur kale. Rainbow chard with red and yellow stems. Carrots and beets pulled with the tops on and the dirt still on the roots. Macomb and Washtenaw County farms cut them the day before they reach us, so a bunch collected on delivery day is about 24 hours out of the ground.
We leave the soil on. Washed roots look better and go limp faster. Rinse them when you use them, not before.
Twist the tops off carrots and beets when you get home; the leaves pull water out of the root. Beet greens cook like chard, so don't throw them away. Kale holds five or six days wrapped in a damp towel in the fridge. Chard gives you three.
| Greens | Lacinato kale, rainbow chard |
|---|---|
| Roots | Carrots, beets, sold with tops |
| Counties | Macomb County and Washtenaw County, Michigan |
| Unit | Per bunch for greens · per lb for roots |
| Harvest window | Cut the day before delivery, spring to late fall |
| Storage | Fridge. Kale 5–6 days, chard 3. Roots weeks with tops removed. |
Weekly board priceper bunch · per lbGreens per bunch, roots weighed at pickup. Confirmed when we call, paid at the counter.
Before you order
What the produce list can and can't do for you.
Short answers to what people ask most about fresh produce in Detroit from a counter that doesn't deliver. Two days' notice for half-bushels. One day for everything else.
How far ahead to ask
Per-pound orders: the day before the delivery you want. Tomatoes land Tuesday and Friday, so a Monday request gets Tuesday tomatoes. Half-bushels of tomatoes or apples: two days ahead, because the farm picks them for you.
What changes week to week
The board price, and sometimes the varieties. Green Zebra runs out before the others in a hot August. Northern Spy doesn't start until the others are well along. When we call, we say what's actually in rather than what the page lists.
Who this is not for
If you want produce delivered or shipped, this isn't it. We don't ship perishables and we don't hold an order past the agreed pickup day. Restaurants buying cases every week are better served by the farms directly, and we'll give you their county if you ask.
How the price works
The price on the board is the week's price. We confirm the weight at the counter, then you pay. Nothing on this page is a quote. If a half-bushel comes in at 23 lb instead of 25, you pay for 23.
If something is wrong
Open the bag at the counter. A split tomato or a soft apple gets swapped before you leave. That's covered in the freshness guarantee. Once it's home, we can't tell what happened to it.
Where the farms are
Every tag names its county. How we pick farms, and what we refuse to carry, is on the sourcing page.