The Chicago Botanic Garden sits on what used to be the Skokie Marsh, part of the ancestral homelands of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Tribes—and a place of trade with many other Tribes, including the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Menominee, Sauk, and Meskwaki. The marsh once served as a portage for Native Americans crossing between Lake Michigan and the upper Des Plaines River. However, it caused problems for white settlers with peat and clay soils poor for European-style farming, which flooded regularly.
From left: Smith, Willingham, and Coleman at Windy City Harvest’s Legends Farm, where they each have Incubator plots.
