Your Community
Chicago Botanic Garden Green Youth Farm
Community:
North Chicago
Focus Areas:
- Food Access
- Nutrition / Food / Gardening Education
- School Programs / Youth Education
- Workforce Development
Organization Mission:
We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life.
Description:
In partnership with the Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves and the Forest Preserve District of Lake County, the Green Youth Farm in Lake County was started in spring 2003 on just over one acre of land in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve. The program was founded as a pilot to examine the feasibility of expanding the Chicago Botanic Garden’s school and neighborhood gardening education to serve teenagers in an extracurricular setting.
Currently, the farm serves up to 25 teens every season and hosts two farm stands every week during the peak of the growing season. As the largest and most established site, the Lake County farm also provides supplemental food to community markets at the other Youth Farm sites. This site hosts many all-program workdays, in which participants from the city can experience working in a more traditional farm-like setting away from the stressors of urban life.
Social Media:
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