It’s the time of year when our shadows gradually lengthen and berries ripen – the peak of our growing season. At the Ecolibrium3 Farm, we are excited to share what opportunities we have harvested over the course of the summer, and what seeds we hope to plant for in the future.
If you’ve taken a stroll down Superior Street in Lincoln Park, you’ve probably seen many businesses with flower beds filled with produce and plants. These plants were provided by our farm, with the intention of neighborhood beautification and creating green space within our community. The Eco3 Farm has also provided vegetable and herb plants to the Lincoln Park garden, Family Freedom Farms, Lincoln Park Resource Center, and the Northern Expressions Arts Collective. If you’ve come by the Lincoln Park Farmers’ Market, you may have seen our Summer VISTAs distributing plants and providing plants as part of our Stone Soup Project so that people can plant them in their own soil to cultivate their own garden. By providing these green spaces and eliminating financial barriers to gardening, we start to see urban agriculture taking shape in our neighborhood, building a more equitable and inclusive food system in the community.
We didn’t create these spaces on our own, however. We’ve had many volunteers and service learning camps assisting in flower planting and high tunnel set up at the farm. Our Pandemic Recovery VISTA Cassidy Laib has overseen all of the farm’s operations from managing the volunteers to arranging plant distribution, and much more. Summer VISTAs Sami Awwad and Cody Holubeck assisted Cassidy in running the farm. Bailey Soma, another Eco3 Summer VISTA, helped with our plant distribution. Cassidy and her crew have developed a drip irrigation system to establish conservation measures in our farming practices. They have conducted soil testing and determined next steps to developing the farm using regenerative agriculture principles. We want to give a thank you to Cassidy, Sammy, Cody, Bailey, and all of the volunteers for all the work they have done in keeping the farm running smoothly. Their work reminds us of the power of working together. With the help of our community, we are able to pull together and harvest something great.
Want to support work at the Farm? donate here!