Howard Street Farm Celebrates Its Second Year

Just past McCormick Boulevard on a mostly industrial stretch of Howard Street, the  two-acre Howard Street Farm celebrated its second anniversary this June.

An Evanston-based nonprofit, The Talking Farm, founded the operation at 3701 Howard St. in Skokie after years of discussion and search for a plot of land that was big enough to sustain farming yet wasn’t damaged by industrial use. The Howard Street Farm is not just a working produce farm but also a site for educational and volunteering opportunities.   

On Monday, Evanston Township High School students volunteered at the farm in a program that will continue weekly throughout August.

Operations manager Linda Kruhmin led the students on a tour of the site. She pointed out garlic scapes, berries, chocolate mint and various other plants as she explained the planting and growing process of the food they eat.

Kruhmin walked them through a 9,000–square-foot demonstration garden of raised beds, display gardens, hoop houses, compost and native Illinois plants. They also examined the farm’s newest additions: berry patches and vegetables.

One year ago, the land had just been cleared for planting. Now it is full of flowerbeds and fields of vegetables.

Next on the list for the farm’s development are woodlands. Kruhmin said the trees on site will become an “edible woodlands,” with 40 different kinds of plants.

Judy Mendel, former administrative manager for The Talking Farm, now volunteers at Howard Street Farm. She initially became involved for sustainability reasons, but those reasons have multiplied, she says.

“I feel like I’m really doing something here,” she said. “We went from having an idea… to a farm.”

Mendel wanted to spread awareness of locally grown food coupled with community engagement. “Food touches everything. If we didn’t need it to sustain us, we wouldn’t need family dinners. It makes community,” she said.

The Howard Street Farm has received a positive reaction from businesses and the community as well.

Eight restaurants have shown interest in purchasing Howard Street Farm’s crops, and Kruhmin is excited to provide food for them once an ordinance from the Village of Skokie allows it.

With the ordinance, she will also sell to farmers markets and hopes to have a small farm stand on site. “So three or four days a week people could come directly here for the stuff that was picked that day,” Kruhmin said.

ETHS supervisors were excited to take the students somewhere close to home that could open their eyes to a different view of the area. Supervisor Peter McGraw said most of the students didn’t think you could have a garden like Howard Street Farm in Skokie or Evanston.

“I think anytime kids from an urban setting can see gardens and fresh food and plants and vegetables… it’s good for them. Just to give them a different perspective,” he said.