NORTH LAWNDALE — Nestled in between the Central Park "L" station and busy West Ogden Avenue, a site that was once home to an abandoned laundromat is now giving local teens the opportunity to grow.
Developed on a quarter-acre lot, the North Lawndale Youth Farm provides a part-time job for a dozen North Lawndale teens each summer, allowing them to earn money, stay out of trouble and help their immediate community in the process.
The youth farm, a Chicago Botanic Garden Windy City Harvest program, has been so successful since its 2005 launch that the program expanded in 2012, adding a second site down the street at the Lawndale Christian Health Center, allowing more growing space to meet the increasing demand for farm fresh produce, said Eliza Fournier, director of Windy City Harvest's urban youth programs.
This growing season, the teens are seeing the literal fruits of their labor — the plot's fruit trees have produced a large yield for the first time.
Stephanie Lulay says the program benefits the entire community:
Alex Banks, a senior at Manley Career Academy High School, is working at the North Lawndale Youth Farm for a second summer. "It's a summer job, but more than that, it's an experience," Banks said. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
"Last year, those trees really never sprouted. So to see this year, the apples and pears, it's exciting," said Alex Banks, a senior at Manley Career Academy High School in North Lawndale.
Banks, who is working on the farm for a second year, and first as crew leader, is working 20 hours each week Monday through Friday from the end of May to beginning of October. If she completes the full season, she will earn a $1,600 stipend, Fournier said.
"It's a summer job, but more than that, it's an experience," Banks said. "You get experience working with your hands, different stuff that you're not used to. It's a real live experience."
Genesis Vargas, Asia Willis, Clavonne Hilliard and Keely Coates are learning how to grow produce at the North Lawndale Youth Farm this summer. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
This summer, teens are growing chard (top left), garlic (top right), pears (bottom right) and harvesting local honey at the North Lawndale Youth Farm. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
The stipend for teens and farm materials is made possible through funding from After School Matters and private donations.
Asia Willis, a 16-year-old who attends North Lawndale College Prep, said she has not only learned how to grow and harvest food, she's also learned a healthier way to eat. She's now a big fan of turnips.
"Before this, I would eat junk. But they've taught me to look at the back of the bottles, ... to look at nutrition [information]. I've learned basically a healthier lifestyle," she said.
Teens working on the farm recently led a demonstration on healthy eating for beneficiaries of the Women, Infant and Children's (WIC) program, showing participants how to make a healthy smoothie from kale and apples that were produced on the North Lawndale farm, Banks said. The crew also shared a carrot cake this season fashioned out of purple carrots from the plots they tended.
Healthy lessons aside, the small farm becomes a second home for many of the teens who grow up in low-income households, said Fournier, who has worked for Windy City Harvest for more than a decade.
For many, the farm is a safe, calm space that they can feel connected to, away from the stresses of school, violence and chaotic urban life, Fournier said.
"Having a connection to nature helps mitigate stress," she said. "When they're here, they can kind of put [the rest of the world] to the back of their mind."
And the lessons learned on the farm really do stick with the students, Fournier said.
"Everyone doesn't have the healthiest life when they're a teenager," she said. "But to be Facebook friends with [the graduates] later and see how they are feeding their kids, how they're feeding themselves, their majors in college, ... that's what matters."
Genesis Vargas and Keely Coates, both of North Lawndale, prune a raspberry plant at the North Lawndale Youth Farm Monday. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
The teens are growing a variety of produce this season on the plot, including: cucumbers, kale, chard, tomatoes, onions, carrots, potatoes, squash, leeks, apples, pears, raspberries, cherries, garlic, a variety of peppers and harvesting local honey.
Farmers market
Since its inception, the North Lawndale Youth Farm has supplied produce for a farmers market in the neighborhood, too.
Starting in July, Windy City Harvest's Lawndale Market features fresh produce at the Green Tomato Cafe, 3750 W. Ogden Ave. The market is open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Wednesday through Oct. 7.
"The farms share produce with all the market," she said.
This year, the North Lawndale youth farm teens hope to raise $7,000 from sales at the market, which will help offset some of the costs associated with the youth farm program, Fournier said.
Windy City Harvest also operates farms in Washington Park, the Loop and Lake County. The produce is sold at more than a dozen markets and restaurants, including the Pilsen Community Market, Yvolina's Tamales and Grocery and Belli's, both located in Pilsen.
The North Lawndale Youth Farm is located on a quarter-acre lot near West Ogden and South Central Park avenues in North Lawndale. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
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