Windy City Harvest: Chicago, IL
The Chicago Botanic Garden’s education and jobs-training program Windy City Harvest helps to bring food, health, and jobs to the community. More than 180,000 pounds of produce is grown every year on 15 farms, and they provide paid, on-the-job training for more than 200 people annually.
Reliable, high quality, and deeply rooted.
food. health. jobs.
How long have you been farming and what got you started?
Seventeen years ago, the Garden began a pilot project called The Green Youth Farm. Starting with 13 teen participants and one acre of land in North Chicago, the project helps youth learn and earn through sustainable growing. In 2005, The Green Youth Farm opened a second farming site in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Based on the success of the pilot project, the Chicago Botanic Garden established Windy City Harvest in 2007.
What are you most proud of or connected to on your land?
Windy City Harvest is proud to be connected to diverse partners for our 16 farm sites and job training programs – City Colleges, Health Care Institutions, Park District, County, Forest Preserve, NeighborSpace, Food Service Providers and Mixed Income Developers.
Share one story that you feel captures the heart of your farming operation.
Finding Justice Farm founded by Art & LaShawn who met in our Apprenticeship program. Art was referred to our Corps program from our partner PCC Wellness Center in Austin, he moved on to work with Windy City Harvest as a production assistant while completing the Apprenticeship, upon graduation, Art took a business class with our partners at YWCA and AUA and established Finding Justice Farm.
Define sustainability for your farm.
Windy City Harvest operations is a social enterprise to support program model and facilitation of produce getting to those who need it most through our VeggieRx program, markets, and partnerships.
Talk about a sustainable growing practice you utilize each season.
COMPOST – we fuel our farms with certified organic composted dairy manure, yard and food waste. This diverts waste in our local foodshed and is the secret to growing nutrient dense and delicious produce.
Farm on Ogden is a multi-use facility in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood featuring a 50,000-gallon aquaponics system, a 7,300-square-foot greenhouse, a commercial and teaching kitchen, aggregation space for Windy City Harvest Farms, a year round indoor market, and Veggie Rx. Veggie Rx packages, grown and packed on-site, are prescribed and distributed to patients who are at risk for diet-related diseases. Stop by to see the farm at work!