Category: Urban farming

The Talking Farm

Walk The Walk With The Talking Farm’s Urban Farm Dinner

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Farm dinners have become a popular facet of “agritourism,” with farms working with chefs to bring “farm to table” dining back to the source. Dozens are held each year just in the Chicago food region alone. But most of the participating farms are well out in the country, requiring a day trip or an overnight stay. That location is what makes The Talking Farm’s dinner on Sept. 10 distinctive. The farm is just outside Chicago’s city limits and a short Sunday drive for most residents of the metropolitan area.

Growing Young Farmers: Jen Rosenthal Seeking To Say “This Land Is My Land”

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Jen Rosenthal is one of the most talented urban farmers in Chicago. Now if she could only find a piece of land of her own to continue and expand her Chicago urban farming career.

Frontera 30

Chef Matthias Merges’ Success Built On Base of Social Conscience: A Frontera 30 Story

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Matthias Merges is a leader in Chicago’s culinary community. Matthias also, from very early on, has been deeply committed to making Chicago and its communities better. So it’s not surprising that Chef Rick Bayless, was eager to have Matthias participate in the Frontera 30th Anniversary Celebration, a joint fundraiser for his Frontera Farmer Foundation and FamilyFarmed, which will be held at The Art Institute of Chicago on Sunday, April 30.

Frontera 30

Matthias Merges and Good Food, From Trotter’s to Solo Stardom: A Frontera 30 Story

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Matthias Merges is one of the most important figures in the rise of Chicago to its status as a world-class culinary capital. after a 14-year stint at Charlie Trotter’s — the last 12 of those at the world-renowned restaurant’s chef de cuisine — Matthias went out his own in 2010, and soon after opened Yusho, focused on Japanese street food, and it quickly became the flagship of his extensive Folkart restaurant group. Matthias will be a participating chef at the Frontera 30th Anniversary Celebration fundraiser on April 30 at The Art Institute of Chicago

Windy City Harvest: Growing Good Food and Good Food Jobs

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Windy City Harvest operates four training programs on 13 farm sites that, according to Director of Operations Kelly Larsen, “all aim to create a pathway of opportunity within local food” for urban farmers, including youths from economically challenging circumstances. Larsen will share her experiences and expertise in growing Good Food and Good Food jobs in urban communities tomorrow (Thursday, March 16) as a panelist at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference at Chicago’s UIC Forum.

Chillinois Young Farmers Coalition

Big Chillinois: Young Farmers Coalition Cultivates New Generation In Chicagoland

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

With the average age of farmers in the United States pushing 60, growing a new generation of young farmers is a regional and national priority. One of the most encouraging recent developments in the Chicago area is the creation of Chillinois Young Farmers — the northern Illinois chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition — which is providing a much-needed voice to this important constituency. FamilyFarmed is pleased that “Chillinois,” representing the national organization, will be participating in our Good Food Festival on Saturday, March 18 at Chicago’s UIC Forum.

Urban Ag Bus Tour

Chicago Urban Farm Bus Tour Back by Popular Demand at Good Food Festival

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Chicago is home to some of the most innovative and inspiring urban agriculture projects in the United States. And FamilyFarmed is providing the opportunity to visit three of these sites on a curated Urban Ag Bus Tour — taking place on Saturday, March 18 during our Good Food Festival.

Growing Young Farmers: Tell Us Your Story

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

FamilyFarmed is officially launching a Growing Young Farmers series on this Good Food on Every Table site. And we are crowd-sourcing for some of the great stories that we know are out there.

Cultivating Food — and Jobs — in Chicago’s Urban Fields

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Chicago is a national leader in the urban agriculture movement, and FamilyFarmed recently conducted a bus tour of four of the leading sites that are growing food — and jobs — on the city’s South Side.

New Whole Foods Store on Chicago’s South Side Spurs Hope for Rebirth

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

There was an air of promise that surrounded Wednesday morning’s grand opening of the Whole Foods Market store in the troubled Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.

Cycling Up Urban Ag and Home Growing With Fleet Farming

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Urban agriculture is on the rise. So is the interest of many homeowners in growing their own food. Now Fleet Farming, a startup company with national intentions, wants to accelerate both trends — and it involves bicycles.

Urban Farm to Table is Grower Jen Rosenthal’s Tomato Jam

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Urban agriculture in on the rise, in many cases providing jobs, opportunities and access to Good Food for residents of underserved communities. But the farm Jen Rosenthal manages on Chicago’s South Side has particular social significance: It is on a site once occupied by apartment towers of The Robert Taylor Homes, which had grown so troubled-plagued that its residents were relocated and the buildings torn down.

Uncommon Ground: 25 Years as a Chicago Farm to Table Leader

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

There are few people in the restaurant business who have kept farm to table real better — or longer — than Chicago’s Helen and Mike Cameron. They opened Uncommon Ground in 1991 and ever since have been blazing trails in providing diners with locally and sustainable produced food. Read about their ahead-of-the-curve experiences and their 25th anniversary events in the latest installment of our “Farm to Table: Keeping It Real” series.

Chasing Chickens Around Chicago, Or How a Chef Supports Local Farms

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Sourcing locally is a commitment that is both rewarding and frustrating for a chef. But metro Chicago’s White Oak Gourmet
is committed, even if it means chasing chickens (okay, chicken delivery trucks) around the city. Read Chef Tom Leavitt’s reflections on building relationships with farmers in this contributed column.

Chicago’s Darius Jones, Farm Aid Hero: The Life-Changing Power of Urban Farming

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Farm Aid publishes a series of profiles on its website of “Farmer Heroes.” Their most recent profile is of Darius Jones, a young Chicagoan and friend of FamilyFarmed, for whom the “hero” title is apt. A troubled youth that resulted in him being incarcerated also set him on the path to the cutting edge of urban agriculture in his hometown.

Grown in Detroit stand at Eastern Market

History-Laden Eastern Market Delivers 21st Century Economic Vitality to a Recovering Detroit

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The Good Food movement is playing a major role in Detroit’s rising reputation as a “comeback city.” Eastern Market, one of Detroit’s oldest and most historic institutions, is at the core of these efforts to build a thriving local food system, and it recently opened a community kitchen to provide resources for food entrepreneurs.

Accelerator Fellow Urban Canopy Goes Upstairs and Outside to Promote Farming in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

You would be hard-pressed to find a business that is more local, more community-based, and more dedicated to revitalizing economically challenged neighborhoods than Chicago’s Urban Canopy.

Academy for Global Citizenship Artist's Depiction

First Person: No, Really, #ThanksMichelleObama

Posted on by bob.benenson@gmail.com

Teens around the country have caused a buzz by tweeting photographs of unappetizing school lunches along with a sarcastic message: #ThanksMichelleObama. That hashtag attempts to put a negative spin on the very positive work Mrs. Obama has made her personal cause as first lady of the United States: to improve child nutrition, health, and fitness.

Justin Vrany of Chicago's Sandwich Me In

Chicago’s Sandwich Me In: Good Food with a Side of Sustainability

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Justin Vrany’s Sandwich Me In — which serves local and sustainably produced food and has a zero-waste principle — is so busy that he is in the process of hiring a sous chef to help him with the load.

Elevating Good Food with Rooftop Farmer Jen Rosenthal

Posted on by bob.benenson@gmail.com

Jen Rosenthal’s first full year as the rooftop farmer at Uncommon Ground restaurant can be fairly described as a big success. By the time the roughly half-year growing season ends in a few weeks, Rosenthal and her team of mainly interns and volunteers will have harvested nearly a ton of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, greens, beans, herbs, and other produce, most of which is used in the restaurant downstairs.