South Side to South Suburbs, Just Roots Non-Profit Covers the Ground

Bob Benenson
Sep 14
2 min read

Quick Visit to the Their Second Farm Provides a Friday Photo Opp

Regular readers may recognize Just Roots, the Chicago-based urban farming and food access nonprofit.

I became one of their community-supported agriculture (CSA) subscribers this year and I've posted photo essays about each of my bi-weekly visits to their half-acre farm in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. Every other Saturday since early May, I've traveled the nine miles between my North Side apartment and the South Side farm to pick up a big bag of their delicious produce, and to document both the beauty of the farm and the ever-changing growing season.

I was back in Bronzeville on Saturday (September 13) and got this CSA haul...

From left, lettuce, sorrel, Bartlett pears (from Mick Klug Farm of St. Joseph, Michigan), parsley, carrots, field and SunGold cherry tomatos, shallots, yellow squash, and green beans.

It wasn't a photogenic visit, though. We had heavy rain throughout the early morning, and while the rain let up just about the time I arrived on the farm, it was gray and soggy.

But thanks to fortunate timing, I do have Just Roots photos... only these are from the non-profit's second farm in Sauk Village, a suburb located about 30 miles south of the Chicago farm. A friend and I were heading to a dinner on a farm a bit farther downstate in Monee, Illinois, hosted by the Will County Farm Bureau, and we had time to swing by Just Roots for a few minutes on our way.

The Sauk Village farm — formally named the It Takes a Village Community Farm — opened in 2022, and it is located on the grounds of Grace United Church of Christ. At three acres total, it is still a very small farm, but it's about six times as large as the Chicago farm. That not only provides additional open-air growing space but also room for two covered hoop houses.