City Farm

City Farm, a program of the Resource Center, is a farm designed to operate on city-owned vacant land with the capacity to move as soon as the land is sold for development. It sells primarily to restaurants, but also operates a seasonal market stand and recently started a CSA. It runs an After School Matters program in the summer.

City Farm is a sustainable vegetable farm bordering Cabrini-Green and the Gold Coast. The farm boasts thirty varieties of tomatoes as well as beets, carrots, arugula, gourmet lettuces, herbs and more. All produce is grown in composted soil generated from various sources, such as restaurant trimmings from some of the city’s finest kitchens.

See also: Resource Center

Resource Center

The Resource Center is has many programs including recycling, City Farm, the Creative Reuse Warehouse, perishable food recovery, and (formerly) Blackstone Bike Works.

For 35 years, the Resource Center, a non-profit environmental education organization, has led the way in demonstrating innovative techniques for recycling and reusing materials. Chicago’s first and largest non-porift recycler, the Resource Center operates four community drop-off sites and provides recycling collection services throughout the city.

With the cooperation of grocery stores and restaurants, the Resource Center collects food that they no longer wish to sell for various reasons; a recent expiration date, surplus stock, or damaged produce. Typical donations include slightly dented canned goods, lightly bruised fruit, and day old bread. They pick up donations from stores and deliver the food to homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the same neighborhood. Unique to their Perishable Food Recovery Program is that they are able to handle food that cannot be stored for a few days. They deliver food to the recipients immediately after the pick-up as opposed to gathering all the food, repackaging it, and distributing it a few days later. Additionally, they target small businesses who may not participate in larger food recovery programs because they dispose of small quantities of food.

Other programs include composting education and operations and garden assistance for Chicago residents.

They have been devoted from the beginning to the economic and educational revitalization of city neighborhoods through recycling, urban gardening, composting, and other programs that reclaim and reuse resources.

See also: City Farm

Green Youth Farm

The Green Youth Farm, a project of the Chicago Botanic Garden, offers students the opportunity to learn all aspects of organic farming — from planting seeds and starts to managing a hive of bees, from cooking with the food they grow to selling it at farmstands and markets (and to the Garden Café, where the chef incorporates the fresh organic produce into many menu items available to Chicago Botanic Garden visitors).

Students are paid a stipend for four hours per week in the spring and fall and 20 hours per week in the summer working at the farms, but the benefits they gain far outweigh the wages they earn. By the end of the season, participants have learned how to work together as a team, gained valuable job skills, discovered a whole new way to look at the food they eat, and grown their support system to include supervisors, program coordinators, legislators, and their fellow participants.

The one-acre farm in suburban North Chicago is located in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve off Green Bay Road. The quarter-acre site is in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, at 3555 West Ogden Avenue. An additional farm was added in 2009 — the Washington Park Farm at Dyett High School at 555 E. 51st Street added an additional three-quarters of an acre of growing space to the farms.

Finally, Chicago Public Schools has hosted one more Jr. Green Youth Farm since 2006, currently located at Helen J. McCorkle School at 4421 S. State Street. This Jr. Green Youth Farm serves 10 to 12 middle-school students after school and for a six-week program during the summer.

Uncommon Ground

Uncommon Ground, a restaurant with locations in the heart of Wrigleyville and Edgewater, is open daily for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, and features contemporary American bistro cuisine with an emphasis on seasonal, regional, organic ingredients. National music acts perform nightly in an intimate acoustic listening room while art openings feature local Chicago artists monthly.

In 2008, Uncommon Ground became certified as the first organic roof top farm. Their produce is used in both restaurants and is sold at their weekly farmer’s market, complete with local musicians and artists displaying their goods.

The roof top farm is built on the 2500 square foot deck and is made from post-consumer recycled materials (654 square feet of soil). The beauty of the roof top farm is embellished by a variety of flowers and companion plants. They will be planting some seed varieties that have been included in the Slow Food movement’s “Ark of Taste.” (“The Ark seeks, first and foremost, to save an economic, social and cultural heritage of fruits and vegetables…”).

The restaurant supports other local farmers by purchasing organic plants at farmers markets.

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Chicago Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA) is a coalition of organizations and individuals open to anyone interested in learning about, networking and advocating for urban agriculture in the Chicago Area.

The group meets quarterly and maintains an array of committees dedicated to improving the state of urban agriculture in the city of Chicago.