Garfield Produce: Chicago, IL
Garfield Produce Company cultivates high quality microgreens on the West side of Chicago, creating local job opportunities in East Garfield Park.
How long have you been farming and what got you started?
We have been farming since 2014. What got us started was a desire to provide job opportunities in the low-income neighborhood of East Garfield Park. We were volunteers through our church at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, a local non-profit serving that community. After observing the economic challenges and needs, we wanted to start a business that created accessible, sustainable work opportunities.
Our first business partner was convinced of the strong future for indoor hydroponic growing. After an initial assessment of the business model, we decided to pursue it. My husband Mark is an operations and finance guy and I’m an attorney by trade—we laugh at being such an unlikely pair of urban farmers!
Describe the flavor of your favorite product and what’s your favorite way to prepare it?
My favorite product and our top seller is Rainbow Mix. It includes 5 nutritious vegetables—radish, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, and mustard. It has beautiful colors and a rich taste. I love the versatility. It’s great as a standalone salad, a garnish, or as a delicious add to sandwiches — a mainstay and classic!
Share one story that you feel captures the heart of your farming operation.
We have many stories about growing, but the personal stories are where my heart goes. Our first employee had been living at Breakthrough’s homeless shelter. He had a good work background, but life circumstances had brought him into incarceration and homelessness. He had interned with us, and the day we got our business license we hired him. Three days later, we were able to serve as a reference for him to obtain an SRO and move out of the homeless shelter. It was small, but it was his. We were so excited see the business make a concrete difference in a life.
Garfield produce microgreens are available year-round!
