Chicago's City Farm: Farming in the City

(Page 3 of 4)

November/December 2008
Letitia L. Star 
Article Tools
Print
Comments
RSS
Bookmark and Share

“I also enjoy interacting with the farmers and the amazing mix of people here,” she adds. “This includes chefs and people from the housing project.”

RELATED CONTENT

Restaurants rave

With City Farm’s convenient North Side location, popular Chicago area restaurants can follow the latest trends of buying local, organic and in season. Many chefs prize the quality that City Farm’s just-picked produce brings to their dishes. City Farm’s current restaurant roster includes the Frontera Grill, Scoozi!, Goose Island and many others.

Bruce Sherman is chef-owner of the Chicago’s prestigious North Pond Restaurant, one of the 15 restaurants that enthusiastically buy from City Farm. Sherman was named one of America’s Best New Chefs of 2003 by Food and Wine magazine. He’s also been nominated for the 2007 “Best Chef: Great Lakes” award from the James Beard Foundation.

Although he is committed to buying locally, he’s not willing to sacrifice taste and quality to do so. Fortunately, City Farm fits the bill.

“City Farm does great work and produces a great product,” Sherman says. “It’s rewarding and worthwhile, both professionally and humanely, to buy from them.”

Although it’s not required, restaurants can donate their kitchen clippings to City Farm's compost, says Wilson.

“The net result is that we provide green services to restaurants,” Dunn says. “We deliver produce and recycled firewood, and also take their fryer oil to fuel our trucks, pick up their recycling and composting. This is the direction we need to move in as a society, toward being more sustainable and less wasteful.”

Learning from the ground up

As part of its mission, City Farm provides education to visiting school groups and others interested in sustainable organic urban agriculture. In the past, City Farm also has hosted a picnic for the American Community Gardening Association and a dinner for the Slow Food organization. For some urban dwellers, it’s an enlightening experience to learn how food grows.

“We also teach classes to grade-school students on botany, ecology, gardening and global food,” Wilson says. “In addition, we’ve had about 50 interns from the Cabrini-Green housing project over the last few years.”

Winter wonderland

Despite the often harsh Chicago winter, a “hoop house” greenhouse allows year-round productivity.

Page: << Previous 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >>
Bookmark and Share
RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print
FEATURED ARTICLES
MOST POPULAR


Pay Now & Save 50% Off the Cover Price

First Name: *
 Last Name: *
Address: *
 City: *
State/Province: *
 Zip/Postal Code:*
Country:
 Email:*
(* indicates a required item)
Canadian subs: 1 year, (includes postage & GST). Foreign subs: 1 year, . U.S. funds.
Canadian Subscribers - Click Here
Non US and Canadian Subscribers - Click Here

Live The Good Life with Grit!

For more than 125 years, Grit has helped its readers live more prosperously and happily while emphasizing the importance of community and a rural lifestyle tradition. In each bimonthly issue, Grit includes helpful articles, humorous and inspiring articles, captivating photos, gardening and cooking advice, do-it-yourself projects and the practical reader advice you would expect to find in America’s premier rural lifestyle magazine.

Get your guide to living outside the city limits delivered straight to your mailbox. Subscribe to Grit today!  Simply fill in your information below to receive 1 year (6 issues) of Grit for only $19.95!

SPECIAL BONUS OFFER!

At Grit, we have a tradition of respecting the land that sustains rural America. That’s why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing to Grit through our automatic renewal savings plan. By paying now with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of Grit for only $14.95 (USA only).

Or, Bill Me Later and send me one year of Grit for just $19.95!