Urban Farming


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Urban Farming
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: August 02, 2014 11:52AM

There is an urban/city farm at Division and Clybourn; do you have a neighborhood farm, and what do you think of them?

http://cityfarmchicago.wordpress.com/

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Re: Urban Farming
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: August 02, 2014 02:33PM

There's a big community garden in my neighborhood, on land previously occupied by a church and a few apartment buildings. I don't participate, but I don't tell the folks who do about the stuff that's probably buried below the plot (underground heating-oil tanks, etc.)

I think it's a nice diversion and a good way to supplement the store-bought produce. It's a bit of a stretch to call it a 'farm', IMO.

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Re: Urban Farming
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: August 02, 2014 05:07PM

When I was a kid in the 40s, I remember a "Victory Garden" in Lincoln Park, which I presume, had at least a better soil content than what one may expect in a vacant city lot.

Chicago Victory Gardens
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5196



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2014 10:30AM by nordsider.

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Re: Urban Farming
Posted by: rjmachon ()
Date: August 02, 2014 06:17PM

I remember a "Victory Garden" on Foster Ave. just west of Kimball on the north side of the street back in the late 1960's. I believe it was there from the 1940's.

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Re: Urban Farming
Posted by: Dunning1 ()
Date: August 04, 2014 05:34PM

I live in the Schorsch Village neighborhood, and there used to be a lot of urban gardening in the city. I remember that the 3400 block of Natoma used to have a lot of greenhouses, and that lasted up probably until the 1960's. In my neighborhood you often see houses located on the back of the lot, or older houses with much newer houses flanked on either side. Often, people would grow vegetables on these additional lots that were used in the restaurants in the city. As property taxes rose, this type of domestic agriculture became unprofitable and the lots were sold off.

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Re: Urban Farming
Posted by: davey7 ()
Date: August 05, 2014 08:15PM

There were Victory Gardens on every vacant parcel in Hyde Park through the 80's, but they are mostly developed (in fact, all developed) now. Some of them had pretty vile soil - people had "enhanced" the soil with sewage fertilizer which had toxins in it, as I recall...

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