2023 has certainly been one for the books.
So much so that we’re just now getting around to sharing just how much of an impact the past year was for us!
Our farm and community saw a LOT of growth and we’re super excited to see what 2024 has in store for us. We did want to take everyone through the year with us just to see how far we’ve come with your support.
January
Natasha and Shomari headed down to Springfield, Il to attend the Everything Local : From Food to Flowers Conference. The conference supports everyone involved in Illinois Food, Illinois Farmers Markets and Specialty Crops.
The conference is a great way for us to meet other growers in the state and pool our resources to make sure that we are providing as many resources as we can to our community.
February
It was cold, and Natasha’s rotator cuff was torn, she was diagnosed with bursitis AND a frozen shoulder. Not much physical work happened, BUT lots of paper planning and layout of the farm took place. We had already tilled the farmland, installed weed barrier, and added 12 inches of mulch. The before was pretty humbling. That’s .25 acres of hand turned soil there. Don’t worry, we fixed it up before remediating it.
In November 2022 the entire farm was gutted in preparation for higher raised beds, and proper installation of weed control. While the farm looked VERY empty this month, it was only in anticipation of the bed building blitz we would be having the very next month. We also installed the starter fence posts for whenever we would finally get that fence installed.
March
March was a whirlwind! We joined community partners Community Food Navigator, Morton Arboretum, Habitat for Humanity, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, Contemporary Farmer and volunteers from all over Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to build 29 of 48 beds.
We also accepted delivery of our custom coop from Classic Creators – to house our newest chicks that were arriving early spring.
To round it out, Natasha headed down to the University of Illinois for the Jr. MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences) to meet youth that spanned the state of Illinois. It was refreshing to see the love of agriculture and its related
April
We continued to build the 24″ tall raised beds to complete our educational farm, and we did so with the help of students from DePaul University and Pritzer College Prep and the local chapter of The Sierra Club.
Our volunteer initiative took off and we found that days that were shared with others made for lighter happier work, even if was still tough.
Some volunteer days were even full of girl power.
The first of our newest flock members were delivered this month as well, and we had fun taking care of them for several weeks before transporting them outdoors to live in the coop!
We partnered with South Holland Public Library’s Youth Services department to host a seed starting class.
May
May is usually the time when we start sowing seeds and transplanting seed starts, but this year was different. We were still filling the beds that we built and managing media interviews and writing grants. It was a packed month. It was also the start of a soil journey that wouldn’t conclude until a visit from David Toledo of Contemporary Farmer a couple of months later.
We had volunteer groups again from DePaul, The Morton Arboretum, and Mo’s Movers! From chopping the wood we needed for our hugelkulter method of growing, to filling the beds with mulch, compost and soil, every person was cruicial to this month of growth.
We also hosted our first Adventures In Composting event on the farm where we showcased the different types of composting while educating our community members on the pros of composting food scraps at home.
We brought our composting worms to the farm, and spoke with young community members who were far more into our wiggly composting superheroes than a lot of the adults were. A storytime event with Amy Bartucci of Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition rounded out the day too!
June
June ramped our fundraising into high gear. In a second year partnership with Aramark Soldier Field, we prepared for our second concert of the year with Taylor Swift. It was a whirlwind 3 days and we raised almost $14,000 over the 3 night extravaganza.
Many props go out to our core volunteer group – Samantha Schultz (Director) Nathaniel Nicholes (Jr. Director) Gabriel Taylor (full-time volunteer) Mary B, Michael G, and West Pullman community member Lybia H. They showed up during our first volunteer season and hit the ground running with us this past season.
If you’re looking to join us this year, please send an email to volunteer@wesowwegrow.org and we’ll get you all set!
We had our first round of chicks raised by our broody hen, Beatrice. She’s a Welsummer and she was really wanting to hatch eggs, and we were really tired of getting our hands pecked any time we went to gather the eggs that were laid by he coopmates. When our second group of chicks arrived, we switched out the eggs with the new chicks and let nature take its course.
She made us proud and helped nurture more than 30 chicks to adulthood! We’re now keepers of 50 chickens and the eggs that they provide to our community.
July
July brought the Beyonce and Ed Sheeran concerts and more building on the farm. So. Much. Building.
The long awaited fence installation was started. and we tapped Revolution Workshop in to do the honors. The team worked hard to install a fence that would surround our .25 acre with a custom pergola and entry point for deliveries.
We learned a few things as the production went on, and can’t wait to use what we’ve learned in our new spaces that will be developing during the 2024 season.
August
August was the kickoff to the largest part of our Roots & Blooms project. With guidance from our artists in residence from The Black Bloom project, we set out plans for painting and mosaicing our raised beds to reflect the rich culture of West Pullman, Blacks in Agriculture, and the general beauty of all things that grow from the earth. This project is still in the works, so please make sure to keep and eye on our Events page to come and join us as we continue beautifying the space.
We also had the pleasure of taking part in the docuseries by the Illinois Farm Bureau Fields Apart: Rooted Together. It will feature farmers from rural and urband spaces in Illinois and will premiere the first month of 2024 at the Everything Local Conference in Springfield, IL. Check out the extended trailer below!
There was a lesson to be learned this month about our soil choices. Natasha got to work with David Toledo from Contemporary Farmer to test soil and really get into the nuts and bolts of soil health. We figured out that the growing medium that was installed in May on the farm just wasn’t cutting it and none of our transplants were thriving.
With David’s help we pulled up all of the plants – yes, 15 beds worth – remediated the soil and replanted everything. Good growing friends are worth their weight in compost. True story.
This was a month where we learned to trust that gut feeling a little sooner than later.
September
September was all about community. The 119th block of Union Avenue had their block party, and we were proud to be a community sponsor. We officially kicked off the Roots & Blooms program with the painting of our raised beds and hosted our first in a series of Movies on the Farm.
October
October brought cooler weather, our first full time volunteer, community clean ups, and Halloween!
We were thrilled to be able to host a Harvest Festival for the community and have the likes of our 21st ward alderman, Ronnie Mosley and the entire 21st ward staff as guests for the day. Costumes, pumpkin carving and an interactive sewing session for Roots & Blooms rounded out the day before we settled down for an evening of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark on film.
For the Harvest Festival we were able to snag pumpkins and cider from Jonamac Orchard in Malta, IL.
November
All we can say is GARLIC! All of our garlic got planted with the help of our volunteer Gabriel Taylor and board member Stephen Readus – 12 whole beds of garlic. More than 1500 cloves planted in one day.
Our garlic was purchased from Keene Garlic in Madison, Wisconsin, and we’ve loved every order that we’ve gotten from them. At some point, we may not need them for seed any longer, but until that day comes, they’ll always be our go-to!
December
We tried to end the year on a happy note and what better way to do that than creating unique Christmas ornaments and fresh wreaths with community members? That could probably only be topped by a community night at The Morton Arboretum for Illumination
We hosted the first of what we hope to be an annual workshop for wreath making and ornament making. We were led in these workshops by Sarah Batka of the University of Illinois Extension Office and our resident artists through Roots & Blooms
And with that, the 2023 season came to a close.
We were honored to serve you all in every way possible and look forward to more workshops, more community events, more sowing and growing in 2024.
Happy New Year!
beautiful
thanks for sharing