From the category archives:

Seasons

How does your garden grow: Make your own compost

by Cassandra West April 24, 2011 Composting

Composting was long sort of a mystery to me. Making soil? Your own dirt? I didn’t get it. Even after driving to Milwaukee and taking a tour of Will Allen’s big composting enterprise, Growing Power, I was still wondering what was the big deal about dirt and worms. Then my friend Nancy told me about [...]

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In thick of winter, seed swap season heats up

by Cassandra West February 7, 2011 Community
Seed packets

The snow may keep coming down here in Chicago, but we know the growing season is coming, too. To help gardeners get ready, communities and organizations are hosting seed swaps this month. In the last few years, seed swaps have become popular in the U.S., and they’re growing trend in the U.K., where Seedy Sunday [...]

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Summer at the Hull-House Farm: Episode 3

by Cassandra West July 13, 2010 Seasons
Hull-House Heirloom farm near downtown Chicago

We’re back with our latest episode on the Hull-House Heirloom Farm, located at the University of Illinois-Chicago campus. When we checked in July 1 with farm director Ryan Beck, he was in the middle of talking with a group of students visiting from Northwestern University, explaining the rewards and challenges of managing an urban farm. [...]

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This is what fresh looks like

by Cassandra West July 7, 2010 Local food production
Thumbnail image for This is what fresh looks like

Those of us who are first-time urban farmers are always amazed at what we get from the soil. We go into this food-growing venture hopeful, expectant and not quite knowing what our efforts — and the Earth — will yield. So anything we harvest is a pleasure and a reward. I picked my first pepper [...]

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Hull-House farm (Episode 2): Some soup and signs of growth

by Cassandra West May 21, 2010 Community
Thumbnail image for Hull-House farm (Episode 2): Some soup and signs of growth

We promised a few weeks ago in a post about the Hull-House Museum urban farm that we’d return with regular updates on its 2010 growing season. We got back to the farm to record Episode 2 (see video below) this week after stopping in at the weekly (Tuesdays) Re-Thinking Soup lecture and lunch, a big [...]

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Wholesome Wave Foundation funds 'Link Bucks' at Farmers Markets

by Cassandra West April 28, 2010 Community

Link card users will get more beans for their bucks at Chicago Farmers Market this season thanks to a grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation to fund a Double Value Coupon Program. Experimental Station and the City of Chicago announced last week a program to accept Link (food stamps) at five city-run farmers markets starting [...]

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Bee Balm buzz at Garfield Conservatory's Green and Growing Fair

by Cassandra West April 25, 2010 Community

We met Mr. Brown Thumb (shy guy wouldn’t let us take his photo) and many other urban gardeners and gardening enthusiasts at Saturday’s Green & Growing Fair at Garfield Park Conservatory. More evidence, we see, that urban agriculture’s roots are getting deeper. You don’t hear the word wholesome much these days, but that’s the best [...]

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5 Chicago Farmers Markets to accept EBT/LINK this season

by Cassandra West April 22, 2010 Community

Five Chicago Farmers Markets have been authorized to accept EBT/LINK cards when the selling season kicks off on May 13, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events announced this week. EBT/LINK service will be available on these days: Tuesdays at Lincoln Square; Wednesdays at South Shore in the ShoreBank parking lot; Thursdays on Daley Plaza; Saturdays [...]

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