Corner Farm is a meeting place, a classroom, an outdoor laboratory, an art gallery, and a much-needed green space in our neighborhood. Our goal is to cultivate not just a garden, but also a community.
Core Beliefs
Community
Corner Farm is a place to engage with our community and work shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors. There are no locked gates at Corner Farm, we are an open green space that anyone can enjoy whenever they want.
Urban Agriculture
We grow the farm as a model for sustainable urban agriculture. Together, we learn and implement organic growing methods, create compost from our neighbors’ scraps, and explore small-scale, DIY agricultural systems.
Food Access
Everyone should have access to healthy and sustainable food. But fresh food can be hard to get. We grow produce and work with our partners to get it in the hands of neighbors in need.
Education
Corner Farm is a place to learn about food hands-on — where it comes from and how to grow it. The farm serves as an outdoor classroom for students, their families, and the community.
Experimentation
From art installations to mushroom inoculation workshops to community events among the plants, the farm is a place to imagine and explore possibilities. If you have an idea and a plan to make it happen, we’ll support you!
History
The Altgeld/Sawyer Corner Farm was started in 2008 by a small group of Logan Square neighbors. On a city lot that stood vacant for the previous 30 years, we envisioned a community space for exploring urban farming and artistic expression. The first iteration of the farm featured a small collection of vegetable beds and variety of fiber plants which were used for paper making.
In 2009, we partnered with Christopher House, an education center for local families, located just across the street from the garden. The fresh food we grow is donated to many families in need, and we help provide an educational space for the young students of Christopher House.
Since then, we’ve turned the vacant lot into a community green space that provides fresh foods to Christopher House’s food pantry and a community resource that helps neighbors come together to benefit Logan Square.