Education — Community Gardening

A Summer Job Like No Other

If you think that no teenager you know would ever be interested in spending 20 hours a week in the blazing sun, surrounded by bees, snakes and compost…think again! Each year, approximately 35 high school students ages 15-18 work from mid-May through mid-October on two organic farms, earning their summer pay the old fashioned way. The Green Youth Farm program offers students the opportunity to learn all aspects of organic farming — from planting seeds and starts, to managing a hive of bees, to cooking with the food they grow and selling it at farm stands and markets. Students are paid a stipend for the 4 hours/week in the spring and fall and 20 hours/week in the summer they spend working at the farms, but the benefits they gain far outweigh the wages they earn. By the end of the season, participants have learned how to work together as a team, gained valuable job skills, learned to look at the food they eat in a whole new way, and grown their support system to include their supervisors, program coordinators, legislators, and their fellow participants.

The one-acre farm in suburban North Chicago is located in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve off Green Bay Road. The quarter-acre site is in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, at 3555 West Ogden Avenue. The Jr. Green Youth Farm is located at Helen J McCorkle School, 4421 South State Street. Click on the photos below to find out more about each farm.

award winners

In the fall of 2008, the North Lawndale Green Youth Farm received a first-place in Mayor Daley's Landscape Awards. Mayor Daley's Landscape Awards recongizes Chicagoans who help make the city green through environmental beautification efforts.

North Chicago Green Youth Farm

North Lawndale Green Youth Farm

Green Youth Farm is a youth leadership program that builds confidence, teamwork, problem-solving skills, knowledge of business and a sense of pride and ownership in students ages 15 to 18. "Since the program’s inception in 2003, we have watched young people be transformed through their participation in this program, which demands physical and intellectual effort, discipline and teamwork," said Patsy Benveniste, the Chicago Botanic Garden's director of education. "It also gives them confidence in their new-found strength."

Students grow fresh produce, herbs and flowers on a one-acre sustainable farm and quarter-acre urban agricultural site. Participants develop a business/marketing plan, sell produce at local farmers’ markets and manage U-Pick days at the farms, all as part of a motivated team dedicated to sustainable food systems and healthy eating.

"The high school students in this program come away with real-world work experience, a great deal of learning and the ability to make a positive impact in their communities," said Angela Mason, the Garden’s Manager of the Green Youth Farm program. "While weeding, watering, planting and harvesting, they learn about being part of a team. And they take pride in shaping the farm from the ground up."

Who’s right for Green Youth Farm?

Students from Waukegan High School, North Chicago Community High School, North Lawndale College Prep and the Manley Career Academy in Chicago participate in the program. They begin planting in May after school and on weekends, and begin their official summer schedule as soon as school lets out. Students work after school and weekend hours through October.

This program challenges participants in a hands-on, outdoor learning environment that requires physical labor in all weather conditions. Working well with others in small group situations is important. Students should have an interest in horticulture, agriculture, plant or food science, and a passion and commitment to learning.

Participants prepare food grown at the Farm in weekly cooking sessions. Cooking crews bring what they prepare to the North Chicago farm on Tuesdays to share with the planting and harvesting crews and community members and to discuss various healthy eating topics with guidance from professional nutritionists.

How it works

Job shadowing and field trips boost students’ understanding of sustainable gardening, vermicomposting, urban farming, nutrition and food preparation, and various green businesses. Training sessions, guest speakers and entrepreneurial activities provide learning and experience opportunities. Field trips to the Chicago Botanic Garden, Green City Market and Michael Fields Agricultural Institute open up the world of horticulture, plant science and the culinary arts. Several graduates of past years’ programs act as peer leaders, mentoring and leading the new participants.

For more information

If you are a student or parent interested in learning more about the Green Youth Farm program, contact Angela Mason at amason@chicagobotanic.org, (847) 835-8254.

The Green Youth Farm program is run by the Chicago Botanic Garden in collaboration with the Lake County Forest Preserve District, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, NeighborSpace and Chicago Public Schools. Green Youth Farm also is made possible by the generosity of the following organizations, agencies and individuals:

Major Support for this progam comes from the Abbott Laboratories Fund, After School Matters, Inc., Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, Chicago Tribune Foundation, Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust, Grace A. Bersted Foundation, Harris Bank, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Institute for Museum and Library Services, Kraft Foods Inc., Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation, Steans Family Foundation, The Siragusa Foundation, Walter S. Mander Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, and Sheridan Foundation.

Additional Support for this program comes from the Brinson Foundation, Clara Mosquera, Goose Island Brewery, HSBC, Home Depot, Jack R. and Ginny Hotaling, Junior Garden Club of Lake Forest, Kemper Educational and Charitable Fund.