Meet the Howards of Eden Place Farms
Meet the Howards of Eden Place Farms
Farmers, teachers, community leaders in a mostly Black South Side community
I Like Horses but I Feel the Same Way About Bud
This photo, which popped up as my Facebook memory today, was taken on April 8, 2018, and it’s one of my favorite slice of life pictures.
The scene is Murphy’s Bleachers, a legendary bar across the street from Wrigley Field at Sheffield and Waveland. As a promotion for the start of the baseball season the next day, the bar arranged a guest appearance from one of those beautiful Budweiser Clydesdales (I don’t drink their beer but I love those horses).
The woman bending down must have thought it would be fun to introduce her dog to the huge beast, but the pooch was having none of it. The dog’s “WTF?” demeanor is just priceless.
Just something a little light to end a busy work week.
Meet the Howards of Eden Place Farms
BIPOC Farmers the Focus of My Latest Article for Buy Fresh Buy Local
My latest article for Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois focuses on Michael and Amelia Howard, the inspiring couple whose Eden Place Farms on Chicago’s South Side has burnished their reputations as community leaders.
The Howards grow beautiful produce, but that is only part of what they say is their spiritual calling. Their weekly summer farmers market serves a community where it is otherwise not easy to find healthy, locally produced food. They teach aspiring Black farmers, a number of whom have started their own urban farms. They work with a local college to have students work on their farm, and host groups of schoolchildren to help connect them with nature.
The Howards have also overcome formidable odds at a time when the number of Black farmers in the U.S. is greatly diminished. Read their story on the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois website, then check out its essential directory of places that grow, sell or serve sustainably and locally produced food.
Farmers and Sellers: Get Listed for Free with Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois
Are you a farm, farmers market, farm-to-table restaurant, or grocery store that sells local products purchased directly from local farms? Get listed in Illinois’ most trusted guide to local food. Your listing is absolutely free. Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois is a local foods marketing project led by a coalition of organizations across the state working to promote local farms and food businesses like yours. Get listed and start reaching new customers today!