Fresh Organic Lettuce From Chicago's City Farm
Friday, June 26, 2009 at 8:51AM 
Yesterday afternoon, the OrganicNation crew took a trip over to City Farm to see if we could score some fresh lettuce. In previous years a farm stand on Clybourn Street sold veggies to the public on certain days of the week, although it wasn't open when we arrived. The summer interns working the farm made an exception, cutting some lettuce straight from the ground for us.
City Farm was started by Ken Dunn of The Resource Center nonprofit in 2000 on a city-owned parcel at the intersection of Division Street and Clybourn Avenue. He laid a layer of clay between the existing asphalt and dirt and piled a couple feet of compost on top of that. The location that we went to yesterday is adjacent to the Cabrini-Green public housing project, which is being transformed into a mixed-income development with luxury condominiums.
The tiny farm produces almost 100 different vegetables, and they sell them to some of the city's best restaurants.
Because land values are rising in the area, it's a sure bet that City Farm will again have to move (they moved once already, in 2002). Under the agreement they have with the city, when the city has a buyer for the current 1.25-acre lot, they'll pick up and move everything to a new location.
-Mark
Reader Comments (1)
I love organic food I began eating organic when i went into the drug rehab center. Its hard to find places that have organic food in my area.