Women Breaking Ground Across Local Food
Beauty Springs Anew
“Sky’s the Limit,” Says Woman Farmer
FarmWeekNow.com published an important article featuring one of our region’s most prominent women farmers: Traci Barkley of Sola Gratia Farm in Urbana. And Barkley has some very encouraging words for women who already farm or aspire to.
The article quotes Barkley saying “the sky’s the limit” for women in agriculture, noting the opportunities in areas such as specialty crops, greenhouse growing, biotechnology and flower farming.
She added, “Even though the farmer has almost always identified as the man in the family, I look back to my grandmas and they were farmers. I think often women don’t get the recognition or acknowledgments as farmers.”
Click below to read the full article.
“Go Time” for Three Sisters Garden
Tracey Vowell helped Chef Rick Bayless source from local farmers as the executive chef at his Frontera restaurants — then about 20 years ago became a local farmer herself at her Three Sisters Garden in Kankakee, Illinois.
I met Tracey about a decade ago at Green City Market, where for years she represented for independent women farmers, and where her sweet corn was one of the year’s most-anticipated crops. She switched to full-time home delivery in the Chicago area at the start of the COVID pandemic.
Tracey has weathered the challenges that most farmers have faced, such as droughts, floods, wind, long winters, record-breaking heat, and the pandemic disruptions… plus a true crisis in early 2022 when a fire at a neighboring farm destroyed equipment and products she had stored there. And yet she persists.
I love receiving her weekly Three Sisters Garden newsletters, in which Tracey reports on her farming experiences across the year. Her latest, about the true arrival of spring weather this week, is shared below with a link to the Three Sisters Garden website.
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This week is certainly a welcome and quite lovely change, signaling for us that it is finally go time.
Lots of cooler weather crops are making their way to the field. Broccoli, cauliflower, those arrowhead cabbages, giant kossack kohlrabi. Tomorrow, we finally get in our first planting of field greens... late but better than never.
Those sweet spinach shoots are in their last offering for Saturday, and we expect spinach to wrap up within a week or so.
Green garlic is growing fast, both in the hoophouse, and in the field. I had a simple omelette for dinner tonight, with a good handful of chopped chives mixed into the eggs, and well-aged gouda with a few spinach leaves for a filling. Delicious.
To me, eggs may be the best way to highlight the delicate oniony flavor of chives, especially these tender young first shoots of the season. We are watching many of the other herbs getting themselves together, but they are not quite ready for the list yet.
And now, I am back to the field until dark.
-Tracey
Urban Growers Collective’s CSA Shares
Urban Growers Collective (UGC) — an urban farming non-profit with a powerful social mission — is headed by two women who are leading lights in Chicago’s food justice movement: Erika Allen and Laurell Sims.
UCG is now selling shares in its annual Collective Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which features produce from its flagship South Chicago Farm and smaller farms spread across the city’s South and West sides. While the Spring CSA is sold out, grab this opportunity to participate in their Summer, Fall and Winter subscription programs.
According to UGC, you will receive a weekly box overflowing with fresh, locally grown produce, now with options for pick-up and delivery. They add, “Thank you for your direct support of our local BIPOC farmers.”
Their full share box includes:
12 items—enough to feed a family of four over the course of a week
A variety of microgreens or salad mix from Urban Eden
1-2 bunches of seasonal leafy greens (Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard, and more!)
Salad Greens (Spinach, Arugula, UGC spicy mustard mix, Lettuce Mix plus more)
Either 1-2 culinary herbs, tea bundles, edible flowers
Seasonal fruit from Seedling Farm or UGC’s own orchard
2-3 varieties of Seasonal Produce (Carrots, beets, kohlrabi, turnips, squash, and more!)
The half share includes:
6 items—enough to feed 2-3 over the course of a week
A variety of microgreens or salad mix from Urban Eden
1 seasonal leafy greens bunch (Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard, and more!)
1 bowl of salad greens (Spinach, Arugula, UGC spicy mustard mix, Lettuce Mix plus more)
1 culinary herb, tea bundle, or edible flowers
Seasonal fruit from Seedling Farm or UGC’s own orchard
1 variety of Seasonal Produce (Carrots, beets, kohlrabi, turnips, and more!)
Click below to learn more and subscribe.
Advancing Health and Well-Being in Hospitality
“Advancing Health and Wellness in Hospitality” is a day-long special event on Friday, April 28, at which restaurant industry leaders will discuss how promoting employee health and well-being is becoming a top priority for their industry. And women in hospitality will be at the forefront of the discussion.
One of the panels is titled “Let’s Talk Womxn. Recharge. Renew. Rebuild,” and it features these women who strive to make their workplaces — and the world — a better place:
Jodi Fyfe, The Paramount Group and Eden restaurant
Beverly Kim, Parachute and Wherewithall restaurants
Tigist Reda, Demera Ethiopian Restaurant
Heather Bublick, Soul & Smoke restaurant
The event takes place at Kendall College/National Louis University, 122 S. Michigan Ave. Click below to learn more about the event and purchase tickets to attend live or virtually.