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Green Half-Acre is the Place to Be: Just Roots Farm Gets Even Lusher
- Bob Benenson
- Jul 20
- 2 min read
Huge Production on a Small Plot Proves the Power of Urban Farming
Given that I committed about 14 years ago to a second career as a Good Food advocate, it would seem hard to become even more impressed with the skills of local farmers and nature's extraordinary ability to renew itself every year to provide food for us to eat.
Nonetheless, my decision this year to get a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription with the Just Roots Chicago urban farming non-profit has opened my eyes a little further. Sure, I've been to many farms over the years, but I've never been called to visit one repeatedly across the growing season, as I am with my every-other-Saturday pickups at Just Roots' tiny farm in Bronzeville on the city's South Side.
Like many urban farms here and around the nation, Just Roots turns out tons of delicious and beautiful produce on a mere half-acre of land adjacent to St. James Catholic Church and the elevated train tracks carrying the CTA's Green Line. Every bi-weekly visit presents crops entering their peak growing season, while others tap out for the year.
I hope you enjoy my latest photo travelogue of the farm, and don't miss the bounty in my market haul at the end.
This patch of amaranth plants was the biggest revelation during my Saturday (July 19) visit. Two weeks earlier, there was only one plant sprouting its fuchsia-colored flowers. Now there is a whole row of them...
... plus some less common pink and gold varieties.
A little sea of frilly green tops signals a banner year for carrots.
Basil is growing strong.
There is room only for a small corn planting, but the stalks are now towering.
I'm guessing that most of our area's local food lovers are waiting anxiously for this season's crop of field-grown tomatoes. if you're one of them, take hope from these photos.
Lucky bees don't subscribe to the CSA. They enjoy self-serve.
And it's not just about beauty. Look at this value. Barely enough room on the kitchen counter for my CSA haul.
Clockwise from upper left: Italian parsley, sweet cherries (from Mick Klug Farm of St. Joseph, Michigan), Walla Walla onions, basil, chard and Swiss chard, cucumbers, kale, and purslane (often dismissed as a nuisance weed, purslane is actually a tasty and nutritious vegetable.
Can't go all in on a CSA subscription? Just Roots also stages a farmstand on Saturdays concurrent with its CSA pickups.
What will my August 2 visit bring? Stay tuned.
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