Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: City

Eight Evanston residents braved dreary, wet weather Sunday to plant a bed of seeds at Twiggs Park for The Talking Farm project, an initiative to create an all-natural produce farm in Evanston.

The 3,000 sq. ft. "mini-farm" at Twiggs Park is now only a compost pile and freshly tilled rows of earth. But Linda Kruhmin, a co-chairwoman and executive board member for The Talking Farm, will someday blossom into the first organic farm in Evanston.

"We laughed about it, because the idea of a farm in Evanston was pretty outrageous," Kruhmin said.

But that didn't keep residents from becoming interested in Kruhmin's vision of an organic community farm in a city with more brick than green.

"In September 2006, we held a forum with a panel of people from the community, and the response was overwhelmingly positive," she said.

Twiggs Park is a temporary location because farm board members are still involved in legal negotiations to lease a 3-acre plot on the corner of Skokie Boulevard and Chicago Avenue, Kruhmin said. The Twiggs Park site, located at Simpson Street and Dodge Avenue, will inform residents about the proposed farm and teach volunteers how to grow crops, she said.

"It's really a demonstration plot," she said. "We're spearheading our educational mission while we're in negotiations to lease the actual site plot."

Residents responded to the farm concept enthusiastically, Kruhmin said. Volunteers spent the past month clearing Twiggs Park, contacting local businesses and creating classes about sustainability that will be held at the mini-farm once seedlings begin to show. Individual donations have supported the project thus far, but Kruhmin said they are communicating with local businesses to move the farm forward.

Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe, 1823 Church St., and Pick a Cup, 1813 Dempster St., have contributed waste to the compost pile. Kruhmin said the committee now wants to involve schools, residents and Northwestern.

Continued...

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