05/15/2026
oFarm Updates: ‘Growing Thru History’
“You can expect these history blips to range from: the site we farm on, the neighborhood, and just some regional histories. Either way, some of y’all have been with us from the beginning and some of y’all are just arriving to the space, so let’s take a moment to get to know it a little better together.
*Oh and just a little due diligence, I am not a historian and some, if not most of these histories, will be from oral tellings or first hand encounters, they are just one section of a much larger image and I am always open to hearing and updating the stories told here.
Well to start, lets bare minimum get y’all acquainted with the current 2026 rendition of the farm area! The Urban Canopy farm is located on the south side of Chicago, right on the cusp of Englewood and Auburn/Gresham, cross streets for reference 75th/76th and Racine. An idea of the farms surrounding from the shed’s perspective: the north side buds up along an active Norfolk Southern train line(foamer4lyfe), the west side buds up to the Thurgood Marshall Library branch, the south side shares a parking lot with an apartment building Anchor House, and to the east side of us is an elder home building Continental Plaza. Finally, in the middle of all that is a shipping container, lots of wood chips, blocks A, B, C, and D, oh and a tire pile?? If you aren’t able to build up a visual, just know the farm is tucked back behind quite a few buildings and lots of unmanaged, mostly invasive, wooded area, where we’ve built up blocks and beds on an abandoned parking lot over many years.
Consistent commentary from the community and neighbors is, “We had no idea a farm was even back here!”. Now y’all got some context and next maybe some insight??
Check back in next month for ‘Growing Thru History’ where I’ll dig a little deeper into who needed this abandoned parking lot. Until next time!
xoxo
gossip grower”
