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Not Blowing Smoke: Peak Growing Season is a Thing of Beauty
- Bob Benenson
- Aug 3
- 2 min read
Take another virtual walk through Chicago's Just Roots Urban Farm
When you drive up to the Just Roots non-profit's urban farm in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, the first things that will catch your eye are these gorgeous amaranth flowers.
I go there every other Saturday to pick up a big haul from my subscription with their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The sight of the amaranth plants that already had flowered prompted me to write an article two weeks ago just about amaranth, an ancient grain that is native to hotter climates and rarely grown this far north. And the amaranth patch blossomed explosively over the ensuing two weeks, especially the gold and pink varieties.
Click the button below if you want to take a deeper dive on amaranth.
The biggest in-season development is that their tomatoes, while still green, have grown to almost full size. Some of our region's rural farms are already turning out ripe field tomatoes, so I'm guessing that my CSA pickup on August 16 may have some of these beauties.
If you look closely you'll see a partially hidden tomato that has already gained some red color.
City corn!
It would be easy to lose yourself in the natural beauty and healthy hyperlocal produce on this highly productive half-acre, except that every few minutes, an elevated CTA Green Line train passes to remind you just how urban this urban farm is.
And there are splashes of floral colors (besides the amaranth) that make the visual experience even brighter.
I'd love to linger, but busy Bob eventually has to get back home with his green CSA bag stuffed full to almost bursting. This time there was so much stuff, I decided to separate my haul into two photos.
From left, Swiss chard, sorrel, Italian parsley, butter lettuce, red and white onions, and carrots. (A thrift and health reminder: If you can get root vegetables with their greens, make sure to eat the greens. They take a little processing work, but they are super-nutritious, and it's like getting two vegetables for the price of one.)
Japanese eggplant (destined for ratatouille with some of my pre-existing summer squash surplus) and kale
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