Harvest Moon Farms in the News

As demand for locally grown foods heats up, farmers could get a boost from new state law

State council to make it easier to find homegrown food

Ann Meyer, Chicago Tribune
Minding Your Business
August 24, 2009

Aiming for the freshest food possible, chef John des Rosiers relies on a local farm for nearly half the ingredients on his restaurant's menu.

"The most important thing to me is the quality of the product," said des Rosiers, who opened Inovasi in Lake Bluff three months ago. "When something is picked and you get it the next day, it's inherently better."

Increasingly, it's not just restaurateurs who understand that local concept. Consumers also are seeking it in produce at farmers markets and at their neighborhood grocery stores.

Thanks to legislation signed into law last week by Gov. Pat Quinn and supported by the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force, finding homegrown food will be easier.

The legislation establishes a council to develop a fresh farm and food system in the state, and it creates a system that allows buyers for state agencies to pay up to 10 percent above the lowest bid when purchasing locally grown foods. It also sets a goal for state-owned agencies to increase their purchase of locally grown foods each year so that 20 percent of their food purchase is spent on Illinois-grown foods by 2020.

Currently, an estimated 4 percent of the money Illinois residents spend on food each year is for products grown in the state, and just several hundred of the state's 76,000 farmers are producing for the local market, according to a task force report.

"If we can capture more of the food dollars in Illinois, it will be a big boost to farmers and to businesses that distribute and process their foods," said Jim Slama, president of Oak Park-based non-profit FamilyFarmed.org and a task force member.

The number of Illinois growers participating in farmers markets has tripled in the past 10 years, but they don't produce enough for the commercial market.

"We need more local farmers to meet the demand," Slama said.

Chartwells Thompson Hospitality, which supplies 482 Chicago public schools, would like to offer locally grown produce on a regular basis, said Bob Bloomer, regional vice president.

"There's really not enough fresh, local stuff in the marketplace to service the schools," he said. He tries to find produce from nearby states, such as Michigan apples, and he uses fresh-frozen locally grown vegetables.

The desire for fresher food is noticeable at the grocery store as well, said Rob Cropper, vice president of Goodness Greeness in Chicago, which has been providing organic items to the retail and food-service industries for 19 years.

"Obviously, local is important to us," he said. "All things properly structured, you can get local [foods] from the farm to the fork faster."

Interest in locally grown foods is spurring development of new farms. Cindy Nawiesniak closed her pet-products business and launched Freedom Organix in Harvard, Ill., in 2005. Her 20-acre farm produces a range of vegetables on 4 1/2 acres, and she raises grass-fed beef and pastured poultry for eggs.

But Nawiesniak has to turn away customers.

"I could sell everything I could grow times about six, the demand seems to be so great," she said.

She delivers produce, eggs and meat each week to Inovasi, which is Indonesian for innovation. Next year, des Rosiers hopes to source most ingredients from Freedom Organix. The specialty produce helps to distinguish the restaurant, because few competitors offer white romaine lettuce, Hakurei turnips and Ishikura green onions, he said.

What's more, des Rosiers likes that Nawiesniak will grow vegetables specifically for his restaurant.

"I can come up with an idea, and Cindy finds a way to execute it. She'll do all of the work to make it happen," he said.

Still, earning a living isn't a given for small organic farmers. Nawiesniak, who has just one worker, expects to turn a profit next year.

But Chicagoans Bob and Jennifer Borchardt hope their farm in Viroqua, Wis., breaks even this year. Bob Borchardt continues to do video production to supplement the farm income.

Their 20-acre Harvest Moon Organics farm includes a 4,500-square-foot packing shed with walk-in cooler and commercial kitchen that lures some chefs to make the four-hour drive from Chicago. Besides selling at a farmers market and offering community-supported agriculture boxes to consumers, Harvest Moon supplies several Chicago restaurants, including Bluprint at the Merchandise Mart.

Harvest Moon grows specific varieties that Bluprint chef manager Sam Burman requests, and partners with area Amish farmers to bring their fresh eggs, milk and produce to Chicago.

When Borchardt's truck pulls up to a restaurant, often chefs greet him in the alley.

"They come out and bring the stuff off the truck," he said. "They're excited to see what we have. "

Meet the farmer This is only the second year of business for Jenny and Bob Borchardt, who grow obscure heirloom varieties of practically everything at their 20-acre, certified-organic Harvest Moon Farms in Viroqua, Wisconsin. (That part of west-central Wisconsin, Jenny points out, has the highest concentration of certified-organic farmers of any county in the U.S.)

What to buy Sweet, substantial pattypan squash will soon be joined by French heirloom varieties from the 1800s at the Uncommon Ground farmers’ market (Fridays, 4–8pm, 1401 W Devon Ave, 773-465-9801).

Photo: Kate Gross

How to eat it Jenny recommends a simple preparation: Slice the squash—which ranges from baseball- to basketball-sized—into disks, brush with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss onto the grill.

Cheese bath defeats purpose of healthy dish

To get less fat with cauliflower, au gratin recipe's road better traveled

An update from reporter Misha Davenport, who is taking his maiden voyage in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this summer.

One of the reasons I joined a CSA was to eat a more healthy variety of vegetables.

After two weeks of dousing a head of steamed cauliflower in yet another gooey Cheddar cheese sauce it occurred to me that, though the cheese sauce was indeed delicious, it was high in fat.

My farm, Harvest Moon Farms, sent me an au gratin recipe with less fat. While its original recipe called for baking the entire head, I found the resulting dish a bit hard to serve and instead opted to break the head down into bite-size pieces before baking.

Beet chocolate cake savory and rich

An update from reporter Misha Davenport, who is taking his maiden voyage in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this summer.

Beets have been a staple in my CSA share box this summer. I was contemplating pickling my next bunch or making a borscht when my farm, Harvest Moon Farms, came to the rescue with a recipe for a chocolate cake made with beets.

The resulting dessert is one sneaky way of getting your kids to eat more vegetables. Though a bit more dense than the average cake, it is nonetheless rich and chocolaty.

One misstep on my part was using a vanilla cream frosting. The red beet color did bleed through. If you're going to frost the cake, stick with chocolate.

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Pickled kohlrabi brings out taste

An update from reporter Misha Davenport, who is taking his maiden voyage in a Community Supported Agriculture program this summer.

For the second week in a row, I found myself with two more heads of kohlrabi.

Having tasted pickled radishes once while living in Russia, I figured kohlrabi also could be pickled with similar, delicious results -- and I was right.

The recipe is from www.recipeland.com; I used a smaller pint jar and cut the kohlrabi into ¼-inch thick circles.

The pickled kohlrabi circles made a zesty topping for burgers.

Enrolling in Community Supported Agriculture program brings farm-fresh bounty to Chicago home

For this city dweller, joining a CSA is the best way to bring farm's bounty to his home

Local chefebrity Stephanie Izard once told me in an interview that the act of eating is one of the most intimate things we do. It mystified her why so few people bother to learn where the food they put into their bodies comes from.

I wish I could say that my decision to enroll in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program stemmed from that conversation, out of my desire to reduce my carbon footprint or from some higher, noble intention to preserve heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables at risk of extinction.

Unfortunately, it was my laziness more than anything else (sorry, Stephanie!).

For someone who writes occasionally about food, I am surprisingly unadventurous in my produce choices. The same 15 or so types of fruits and vegetables make an appearance in my shopping cart week after week.

I'm in a rut and I know it. A CSA, which requires members to pay upfront early in the growing season for a seasonal share in a farm and weekly drop-offs of a variety of produce, offered the chance to shake things up. 

The Web site www.localharvest.org is a good starting point for those interested in exploring CSAs.

An estimated 5,000 families in the Chicago area participated in CSAs last year. Jim Slama, president of FamilyFarmed.org, a group that advocates for local food systems, says he expects that number to go up again this harvest season.

"CSAs and the local food movement are both exploding," he says. "People want to be able to know and trust their farmer and thus know and trust their food."

I ended up selecting Harvest Moon Farms, 230 miles from Chicago in Viroqua, Wis. It offers a selection of fruits and vegetables, and one of its four drop-off points is Uncommon Ground, 1401 W. Devon, which is closer to my Rogers Park home than the nearest supermarket.

Harvest Moon is owned and operated by Jennifer and Bob Borchardt. Both are relatively new to agriculture; Jennifer Borchardt jokes that the farm is a result of a midlife crisis.

"After 18 years in higher education text book sales, I got burned out and wanted to turn to something more rewarding," she says.

It's their second year operating a CSA and while shares are still available through May, Borchardt notes they have already exceeded last year's numbers.

A full share of 20 weeks of produce is $695 and should offer plenty for a family of four. Half shares -- what I opted for -- are $450.

"It sounds expensive until you average it out over the course of 20 weeks and realize that it comes out to be about $5 a day for certified organic fruits and vegetables," she says. "Most people spend that at Starbucks."

The Borchardts grow 45 different crops on their 20 acres of land. In the three short years they have been farming, they have become known for hardneck garlic, a hard-to-find variety that is as tasty as it is temperamental to grow.

They also offer 20 varieties of tomatoes, seven types of lettuce and five types of cucumbers, just to name a few.

Many of the varieties being grown at Harvest Moon are from heirloom seeds, many of which are listed with the US Ark of Taste, an offshoot of the grassroots Slow Food movement.

The Ark program keeps a list of various foods on the brink of extinction . The list will give most a moment's pause, but the epicure just might lose sleep over it.

"Commercial produce was designed for trucking," Slama says. "Heirlooms are for eating. Nature designed them to be good tasting."

This year, the Borchardts also formed the Harvest Moon Farms Producers Guild comprised of six area farms, some of them Amish and unable to transport their foods to Chicago.

The farms are sharing in the resources generated by the CSA. Weather permitting, this should mean both a larger quantity and variety of food in the weekly share boxes.

Like many CSA farmers, the Borchardts are more than willing to help you along your culinary journey, too.

Don't know what to do with a purple haze carrot -- hands down the funkiest carrot I've ever encountered, it's purple on the outside, orange on the inside -- Aunt Molly's Ground cherries (an heirloom variety of cherry from Pennsylvania by way of Poland), or a Beaver Dam pepper?

Borchardt sends a selection of recipes, paired to what's in the produce box, via e-mail each week. After all, what good is fresh produce if you don't know what to do with it?

Harvest Moon's first food drop is scheduled for June 12. We'll be testing some of their recipes in the Food section all summer long and will include some dishes of our own as well.

For information on Harvest Moon Farms, go to www.harvestmoonorganics.com.

	Farmer Interview - April 2009 Jenny & Bob Borchardt, owners of Harvest Moon Farms, are doing their part to conserve the heritage of our food by focusing on supplying Chicago with rare varieties of delicious, organic produce. The Farm Harvest Moon Farms is located in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin  near Viroqua. Jenny & Bob Borchardt’s 20 acre Certified Organic Farm is just  in its second full year of production. They grow over 60 different kinds of produce, specializing in heirloom and ARK varieties. Heirloom varieties come from seeds that have been passed down for at least 50 years and are grown in order to maintain genetic diversity in our food system. ARK varieties are identified by Slow Food International as endangered food species. By focusing on growing these endangered items hopefully they will continue to thrive for future generations. The incredibly fertile nature of their land combined with  their passion for heirloom and ARK varieties results in extremely tasty and  nutritious produce! Farming is not something that was passed down through the generations to the Borchardts. Bob works video production through his production company Cuisine Populaire while Jenny worked for 18 years in publishing. Jenny and  Bob have always been passionate about food, the importance of Organics,  and the health of the land around them, so it’s no surprise they would eventually turn their talents to farming. The farming bug first bit at a Farmers’ Market in Colorado. There they came across a Hardneck variety of Garlic and decided this was the best thing they’d ever had. They came back  to Chicago and couldn’t find anything quite like it. After Bob had filmed an organic food operation in Argentina around the same time, the couple decided  to start looking at properties. After looking at over 30 different properties over the past few years, things really started to come together when they found the property in the Driftless Region on the South fork of the Bad Axe River. This land is known to be incredibly fertile with a high amount of natural  organic matter. While this did prove great for future growing, there was plenty of work to be done in that first year. The land was completely empty so Bob began focusing on building, planning and logistics while Jenny turned  her eye toward the plants. Jenny started taking farm classes and worked a few  internships to get into the swing of things. The broad range of the Borchardt’s  talents has led to a great partnership. The couple works together on everything, forming a partnership that lets them focus their efforts on the different aspects of farm life. Bob focuses on distribution, sales and logistics while Jenny is working in the fields and supervising crop production. What makes Harvest Moon Farms unique in an area with lots of other Organic Farms is their approach to growing. The Borchardts don’t just grow produce and hope for sales. In order to be sustainable they initially focused on the restaurant industry. Jenny and Bob have had a great deal of experience in the  restaurant business. Bob’s grandmother owned a restaurant and his brother is  a chef. They decided to think in terms of how their food tastes and how it would end up on menus. In order to achieve this they also need to educated people on exactly what heirloom varieties are and how to use them. The couple  set up a full commercial kitchen in a barn where they test out different uses  for their unique product. They invite chefs in to experiment with their food in hopes of educating them on the importance of fresh, local food. Harvest Moon Farms is definitely an expanding operation and in addition to their sales to restaurants and Fresh Picks they can be found at Farmer Fridays, which is their only Farmer’s Market, located in the parking lot of Uncommon Ground, June through October. Another aspect of the farm which is still being worked out is their Farm to School initiative. This educational program is aimed at having kids work a day on the farm and cook in the kitchen in order to educate them on sustainable farming and the importance of local, organic food. Not only will this teach kids the basics on how their food grows but also how to work it into their everyday lives. Bob and Jenny were inspired for their program by the  work of Alice Walker at the Edible School Yard in Berkley. Bob visited Berkley and found the program to be unbelievable. Watching the children work on the farm and in the kitchen inspired Bob. “The kids forget about everything else and focus on the food.” They hope to have the Farm to School program up and running soon but there is still a lot of work to be done. Biggest Challenges Thankfully growing is not one of the biggest challenges for Harvest Moon  Farms. Its fertile location leads to rich soil and tremendous produce. For Bob and Jenny the biggest hurdle is more a logistical one. Getting the produce efficiently into the city through proper packaging and transportation has been a challenge. This year Harvest Moon Farms is teaming up with 6 area farms  growing Certified Organic and Certified Naturally Grown produce. By forming the Harvest Moon Farms Producers Guild they are not only able to offer larger quantities and varieties of products, but they are also able to  work together on distribution and transportation to reduce their carbon footprint. It is truly a benefit to all as the Amish farms can sell more of their products at better prices. Typical Farm Day A typical day on the farm will vary with each part of the season. As of right now the focus is on preparation and getting the land ready to start planting. Last week Jenny and Bob were at the farm performing a myriad of tasks for the new season. They began early in the morning preparing the fields for plowing and then split up to get as much done as possible. Jenny was busy with the thousands of plants in the greenhouse while Bob worked out space  management in the barn. They are expecting a lot more produce this year so it is important to make sure there’s a place for everything. The couple came  back together and foraged watercress growing throughout their land and  finished up the day meeting with the local farmers that form their Producers Guild. Best of Farming What Bob loves about the process is thinking back to the times when they’ve had reactions from their customers on how the produce really tastes. They receive emails from people telling them that a certain vegetable is the best they’ve ever had! For Bob this is the most gratifying part. When you look back on how much work it took to produce that piece of produce (the seeds, the planting, the packaging, the transportation) it makes it all worth it. Here at Fresh Picks we will be carrying a variety of Harvest Moon Farms’ unique,  fresh produce! Article From: Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks http://www.freshpicks.com/cms/?pid=1000350 __________________________ Farm Fresh Mojitos at Nacional 27

Menu From Nacional 27 - 5/01/09

Article From: Columbia Yatch Club, The Binnacle

Local chefs meet up with local farmers

Posted by Monica Eng at 5:30 p.m.

Originally posted: April 22, 2009

 On a sunny Earth Day afternoon Bruce Sherman was playing matchmaker. The North Pond chef was overlooking a room of chatting couples who came seeking local relationships. And every four minutes he would ring a bell that reminded them to change partners. But the Sherman shindig wasn't designed to make love bloom, but rather to introduce local chefs to local farmers and artisans who could supply their restaurants. 

At this Chef's Collaborative organized meetup, there were familiar farmers from Genesis Growers, Seedlings and Kinnikinnick Farms as well as newbies like Harvest Moon and Three Sisters Garden.

There were also familiar sustainable chefs from Uncommon Ground, Lula Cafe, Naha, Perennial, Carnivale and Mado, joined by less usual suspects like chef Rick Gresh from David Burke's Primehouse. Gresh wasn't here looking for local beef since they have their own herd, "But we also serve the hotel so I want good ham, eggs, poultry and vegetables," he said. "And I just want to take the restaurant to a more sustainable level."

After Sherman laid out some basic rules of courtesy for farmers to chefs and vice versa the speed dates began and the place was humming with four-minute chats on baby greens, artisanal cheese, pigs feet, arugula and fresh eggs. It looked as though some beautiful friendships were blooming before our eyes.  

"I think when you know the farmer who grows your food, you treat it with more respect," Sherman said proudly surveying the scene. "You'll cook it better, you'll season it better and it will taste better."

If that's all true, Chicago should be in for one heck of a dining season.

Article From: The Chicago Tribune

www.Chicagotribune.com

Harvest Moon

By: Kate Thomas

February 15, 2009

I meet Bob and Jennifer Borchardt in a parking lot in Edgewater. As soon as I walk through the gates I realize this is no ordinary parking lot; long wooden tables are crammed with buckets of colorful organic produce from the couple’s Wisconsin farm, Harvest Moon. An area is set aside for dining under the stars and a bartender is handing out miniature flights of organic sangria. This is Farmer Fridays at Uncommon Ground on Devon, one of the most intimate farmers’ markets to hit Chicago and it’s fast becoming something of an institution.

What’s all the more remarkable is that this is Harvest Moon’s first growing season. Drawn to farming by her love of food, last year Jennifer abandoned an 18 year career in publishing to learn organic farming from scratch. A side table is laden with the fruits of her labor. Buckets of heirloom Brandywine tomatoes sit beside bowls of golden beets and clusters of Aunt Molly’s ground cherries. Violet Queen cauliflowers, Napoli carrots – dubbed ‘candy carrots’ by organic guru Eliot Coleman – and yellow tomatillos complete the picture. Everything smells and looks great.

“I needed a new challenge” Jennifer tells me, as she slices juicy tranches of golden-fleshed watermelon for customers to sample. “I had been working in publishing for years and years and I was excited to try something new. Bob and I have always been passionate about working in the food business, promoting the importance of organic produce and looking after the land around us. Starting an organic farm seemed the right thing to do” she says.

The seeds of change were planted two years ago. “I found an exotic head of garlic on a trip to a farmer’s market in Telluride. When we came back to Chicago we tried to find something similar. Then we thought, why not try to grow our own?” Jennifer smiles.

At around the same time, Bob, who devotes most of his time to production company Cuisine Populaire, had recently returned from filming in Argentina, where he was taken aback by the variety and availability of fresh, local produce in markets. Next came an ad on Craigslist for a farm in upper Wisconsin, prompting the hunt for the perfect property, finally establishing Harvest Moon in Viroqua. Now Jennifer works in the field, supervises crop production and along with her husband, delivers their CSA boxes and fresh produce to customers and a growing number of acclaimed Chicago restaurants. Coursing through this is their desire to boost sustainability in the small farm community and encourage local buying wherever possible.

The couple has travelled extensively, and Bob’s European, Asian and South American food and wine related filmmaking adventures shine through in speciality crops like d’Avignon radishes and Morado Gigante garlic.

“One of the things is that there’s obviously a very large green movement in this country – and in others, too – and this was a way for us to treat the land with as much respect for longevity as possible, and to actually find a way to be in the food business. It’s great that I can be away filming in Tokyo and come back to have some downtime on the farm in Wisconsin” adds Bob.

Beyond the educational program they are ready to launch and Bob’s films, which explore culinary training and gastronomy, the couple is bringing a new approach – and a splash of culinary wisdom combined with responsible growing techniques – to conventional farming methods. Inspired by Brillat-Savarin’s classic culinary bible ‘The Physiology of Taste’, their culinary approach to growing has led to a synergy with chefs, and a nurturing of the relationship between the soil and the things that find their way to our plates.

Article From: The Local Beet

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   A Locavore's Beet

By: Jennifer Olvera

 

A dark, cool attic filled with locally grown rutabagas, celery root, potatoes and apples. A pantry that’s anchored by plucked—then canned, pureed or dried—summer tomatoes. Sides of beef, pork and lamb from a nearby farm, nestled into a chest-style freezer.

To Rob Gardner, a business research consultant and editor of thelocalbeet.com, eating locally has become both a way of life and a taste preference.  Gardner, who defines himself as a locavore, eats,when possible, only food from surrounding states and stores what he can for good eating in the winter months.  He's one of a growing number of Chicagoans concerned about their carbon footprint since most food travels an average of 1,500 miles before making it to mouths.

“It all started when I moved to Oak Park in 2000,” he said, recalling trips to the town’s farmers market where he’d chat with growers and delight as he watched produce progress through the season. “I started thinking about what it might have been like to live here 75 years ago, before canned tuna was available.”

And while being a locavore (a.k.a. “localvore” or “locatarian”) isn’t an easy endeavor for Chicagoans (especially this time of year), it is becoming increasingly possible to score the majority of one’s diet relatively close to home.

“My standards have evolved a lot over time as I became motivated by a sense of adventure and challenge,” admitted Gardner, who chronicles his experiences on vital information.blogspot.com. “It really takes a couple of years until you know how much you need to put away and store. You make mistakes.”

During the barren months,Gardner frequents winter markets, such as those offered by Churches’ Center for Land and People or packs up his family and hits the road, planning trips based on where he can find local food. “We were just up in Madison last weekend and went to the indoor market to buy basic necessities,” he said, thankful for the use of hoop houses.

Of course it’s a much different affair for locavores from spring through fall. That’s when Gardner partakes in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) from Illinois-based Genesis Growers, while hitting neighborhood farmers markets like a fiend.

“We have limited garden space in our yard, but I think I’ll give
growing stuff a shot this year,” he said.

Jennifer and Bob Borchardt, Roscoe Village residents, have always been environmentally conscious.Three years ago the couple bought a farm in Viroqua, Wisconsin, and last year they launched a certified organic CSA program called Harvest Moon Farms.They’re also gearing up for their second annual Farmer Fridays at Uncommon Ground on Devon, which begins the second week in June where they sell fresh from-the-farm produce to the public and also provide seedlings for the locale’s roof top garden. 

Both the Gardners and Borchardts are committed to the movement, but they are reasonable about the challenges.Gardner, for example, refuses to beat himself up when a trip to a nearby grocery store becomes requisite.

“One of the biggest problems people run into when they’re trying to eat locally is they attempt to flip their lives upside down and burn out,” said Bob Borchardt, who aims for a 250-mile rule whenever possible. “It’s better to start slowly and look at this as a long-term life change.”

Of course, given the economy, there’s the cost factor to consider; artisanal products simply don’t come cheap. Gardner compensates by buying in bulk. “When it comes to meat, the price per pound  is significantly lower,” he said. “But I’ve also learned to treat meat like a luxury item, the way the rest of the world does.”

Investment and extra effort aside, the benefits of eating locally are plentiful: you help fuel the local economy, enjoy fresher-than-fresh produce and find an important way to connect with the seasons and community. Buying locally also provides farmers a reason to stay in business rather than selling off their land to developers.

And for RobGardner, when the food comes from the farm straight to his attic, pantry or freezer, on many days eating close to home is literally within reach.

Article From: Edible Chicago

An uplifting aspiration

UNCOMMON GROUND | Rooftop garden feeds patrons and will teach others about organics

Uncommon Ground has reached new heights in its efforts to bring food production back to earth.

In late July the folks at the Uncommon Ground restaurant, 1401 W. Devon, opened their 2,500-square foot organic rooftop farm. The lofty mission is to deliver organic produce for the downstairs restaurant and to use the garden to teach adult volunteers and children how to grow food organically in an urban, roof-top environment.

"There's a lot of green roofs in Chicago," said Helen Cameron, co-owner of Uncommon Ground during a roof top tour. "But they are not necessarily geared for full-on production and as an educational tool. We made an enormous investment with the idea of producing food for the restaurant. That's the biggest difference between us and other green roofs."

The uncommon farm is built on recycled deck material 20 feet atop the street. The farm currently has arugula, beans, beets, collard greens, cucumbers, peas, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes and watermelon.

Uncommon Ground Executive Chef Brian Millman said, "We just used the peppers from the garden and stuffed them with chorizo. When things from the farm are ready, we'll incorporate it however we can. I come up once a day to see what's ripe and ready. We work a lot with local farmers and it's one thing to go to the farmers markets and get produce knowing it was picked a day or two before. But to be able to come up here and immediately put it into use is mind-boggling."

The restaurant seats 160 inside and another 40 on an outside ground level cafe. The Uncommon Ground on Devon also has a 1,500 square foot performance space. Millman said the rooftop produce also will be used at the original Uncommon Ground at 3800 N. Clark St.

The rooftop farm also has a pair of beehives that produce 40 to 50 pounds of honey for the restaurant. Cameron met her beekeeper Liam Ford at the Hideout block party; after all that's how Chicago works.

Farm equipment includes 28 cedar planter boxes, designed by Cameron and the Organic Gardener in Evanston. The planter boxes were built by the restaurant's construction team. They have digitally programmed irrigation systems for water efficiency. Another 12 earth boxes were delivered from the Growing Connection, a group affiliated with the United Nations. The enclosed organic boxes are used as an educational tool and growing system for places worldwide. Cameron is working to have the space certified as an organic farm through the Midwest Organic Services Association.

"I don't want any use of chemicals," she said as a butterfly fluttered across the skyline farm. "It is also designed to create a zero carbon footprint. We will experiment with a variety of different plants to see which produce the best in this environment and really angle our growing process towards that, growing as much as we can use in the restaurant." A portion of the farm is shadowed by five 4' X 10' solar thermal panels that heat up to 70 percent of the restaurant's water.

The Uncommon Ground rooftop farm is not open to the public, although owners Helen and Michael Cameron are known to offer private tours. (Once the details are worked out for the public classes, they will be held on the rooftop.) A table with an umbrella sits on the northeast side of the farm for gardeners to have lunch or a cool drink.

Building the farm was no picnic.

Volunteers from the community and the restaurant carried six tons of soil to the roof. As is the case with all rooftop gardens and farms, the use of vegetation keeps the restaurant cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, which reduces energy use. Eventually the restaurant will build a large catch basin to collect rainwater from the roof to be used at ground level. "We're trying to be very efficient with our resources," Cameron said.

Michael Cameron said the construction process was the biggest challenge for the restaurant. Including structural elements, the project cost roughly $150,000. "My structural engineer said we could probably land the presidential helicopter on the roof," Michael Cameron said. "With the new building codes and city requirements the beams that support this farm are the same beams that support that high-rise over there," and he looked at one nearby. "We resupported the entire building. We dug down five feet and put in all new posts and beams. That was all to support what we wanted to do on the roof.

"This has been one giant experiment. We are definitely winging it on what we can get up here."

Think of it as a happy hour with growing power:

"Farmer Fridays" have been drawing hundreds of people since it was launched in late June in the parking lot of Uncommon Ground, 1401 W. Devon.

Between 4 and 8 p.m. every Friday the restaurant features fresh picked, organic produce from Harvest Moon Farm from Viroqua, Wis., as well as locally produced items including chickens, eggs, pickles, fruit and handmade goat milk soap.

Uncommon Ground also offers a changing list of free tastings of beer, wine or organic cocktails from its drink menu. Local emerging musicians, artists and theater groups perform in the parking lot.

The Farmer Fridays series runs through Oct. 31, ending the season with a Harvest and Halloween Party with costume contests for children, adults and even dogs. Also expect pumpkin carving, entertainment and a special BBQ menu.

For more information, contact Uncommon Ground at (773) 465-9801 or visit www.uncommonground.com.

Article From: Chicago Sun-Times

Article From: Plate Magazine:Special Requests Issue September & October 2008 pg 86