Community Resources Repository

Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA) is a coalition of urban farmers, community and school gardeners, individual supporters, businesses, and organizations dedicated to advancing sustainable urban agriculture in the Chicago region.

The links and pages below constitute AUA's full Urban Agriculture Resource Repository, a comprehensive, vetted collection of local resources for urban agriculture including growing practices, city regulations, funding opportunities, food safety, and business considerations.

[Image: Farmer-to-Farmer Gathering at The Growing Solutions Farm]

Getting Started
Mini Resource Guide

Quick links to help you get started with your own garden or farm, connect with educational opportunities, and support local urban growers.

  • AUA’s Listserv is Chicago’s largest urban agriculture communication hub. This free resource is a community forum for the latest urban agriculture news, current events, job postings, opportunities for collaboration, and more. Anyone can join, anyone can share. auachicago.org/aua-list-serv

  • Chicagoland Chicken Enthusiasts

    is an advocacy and networking organization for urban chickens and hosts an online forum for advice, reviews, and articles. sites.goo- gle.com/site/chicagochickenenthusi/home

    Windy City Bees

    is a networking and meet up group of beekeepers to share good practices and mutual support. bit.ly/WindyCityBees

    Belmont Feed & Seed

    is Chicago's specialty store for people that keep pigeons, bees, chickens, small birds, and other poultry and farm animals in an urban setting. belmontfeedandseed.com

    Chicago Honey Coop

    delivers beekeeping classes and resources for individuals, community groups, and schools. chicagohoneycoop.com/classes

    Goat Guardian Guild

    hosts educational events at their West Side urban farm and across Chicago. glennartfarm.com/work-with-goats.html

    Home to Roost, LLC.

    offers poultry classes, phone consultations, school programs, assessments, health consultations, and even emergency house calls. 708-259-6877 htrchickens.com

    The Hive

    is a full-service beekeeping store that also offers educational classes on-site and across the city. thehivesupply.com

    West Side Bee Boyz

    offers classes and mentorship on beekeeping for both honey and native bees. facebook.com/westsidebeeboyz

  • Community based garden groups are a wonderful way to connect with like-minded individuals. See chicagocommuni- tygardens.org for one near you, or explore starting your own with your neighbors!

    Chicago Community Gardeners Association coordinates shared resources, facilitates communication amongst gardeners, and hosts educational and networking meetings. chicagocommunitygardens.org

    Chicago Park District

    provides ways to learn about joining or starting a garden on Park District land. chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facili- ties/community-garden

    NeighborSpace

    is the only non-profit urban land trust that preserves and sustains gardens on behalf of dedicated community groups. 773-826-3240 neighbor-space.org

  • One of the best ways to support the local food system is to purchase directly from urban farms in the Chicago region.

    Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) directly builds relationships with local farms through a season-long subscription for regular shares of freshly harvested produce. Learn more and find a CSA that works for you at: bandofarmers.org

    Chicago Farmers Markets are a great way to meet your farmers and participate in your local community. A list of city sponsored farmers markets is at: chicagofarmersmarkets.us and independent markets can be found through the Illinois Farmers Market Association at: ilfma.org/illinois-mar- kets/ilfma-markets

    Urban Farm Stands offer an opportunity to see urban ag in action. Visit cuamp.org to find an urban farm near you; inquire with them directly about hours and availability.

    Local Grocers & Food Cooperatives are an important year-round component in our local food system. See Zero Waste Chicago for a listing and search the internet for one near you - new organizations are being formed all the time! zerowastechicago.org/groceryshop

    Cottage Food operations provide market opportunities for local farms through value added products. Explore resources and regulations with Illinois Stewardship Alliance: ilstewards.org/poli- cy-work and University of Illinois Extension: extension.illinois.edu/cottage

  • Chicago Urban Agriculture Mapping Project (CUAMP) is an on-going collabora- tion between AUA, DePaul University, NeighborSpace, Chicago State University, and community-based organizations to publicly map all urban farms and non-residential gardens across the city of Chicago. Register the growing site you lead or own, and search for urban farms and gardens near you! cuamp.org

  • The Chicago Safe Soils Initiative is a collaborative project between University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Extension, and AUA to build tools to inform stakeholder decision-making and develop evidence-based guidelines to mitigate potential soil risks to food production in Chicago. Receive free soil screening for lead contamination from your urban garden, farm, or yard! See auachicago.org/soil for sampling instructions and additional details.

  • Interested in a career in Chicago’s local food system? Our diverse economy needs growers, teachers, health professionals and more!

    Whether you're a seasoned grower, newbie, or just passing along info, see our jobs board for opportunities.

    auachicago.com/jobs-and-solidarity-board

  • Christy Webber Farm & Garden
    2833 W. Grand Ave. 312-829-8200
    cwfng.com

    Gethsemane Garden Center
    5739 N. Clark St. 773-878-5915
    gethsemanegardens.com

    Johnny’s Selected Seeds
    johnnyseeds.com

    Fasel & Sons Garden Center
    10841 S. Cicero Ave. 708-422-5335
    faselandsons.com

    Kilbourn Park Greenhouse
    3501 N. Kilbourn Ave. (773) 685-3359
    kilbournparkfriends.org

    Seed Savers Exchange
    seedsavers.org

  • For information and good practices for complying with Chicago’s composting ordinance, see: auachicago.org/resources

    Lake Street Landscape Supply
    1810 W. Lake St. 312-226-0760
    lakestreetsupply.com

    Midwest BioAg
    (800) 327-6012
    midwesternbioag.com

    Crop Services International
    800-260-7933
    cropservicesintl.com

    Christy Webber Farm & Garden
    2833 W. Grand Ave. 312-829-8200
    cwfng.com

    E-Z Tree Recycling
    7050 S. Dorchester Ave. 773-493-8600
    e-ztreerecycling.com

    Midwest Organics
    (312) 550-2464
    compostmatters.com

    Cowsmo Compost
    cowsmocompost.com

  • Lake Street Landscape Supply
    1810 W. Lake St. 312-226-0760
    lakestreetsupply.com

    ReBuilding Exchange
    1740 W. Webster Ave. 773-252-2234
    rebuildingexchange.org

  • Brew & Grow
    3625 N. Kedzie Ave. 773-463-7430
    brewandgrow.com

    Chicago Roots: Hydroponics & Organics
    4020 W. Irving Park Rd. 773-545-4020
    chicagorootshydro.com

  • Depaul University Department of Environmental Science & Studies
    1110 W. Belden Ave.
    Email jmontgom@depaul.edu with 'soil testing' in the subject line

    STAT Analysis
    2242 W. Harrison St. 312-733-0551
    statanalysis.com

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    1011 Plant Sciences Laboratory, 1201 S. Dorner Dr. Urbana, IL 61801
    bit.ly/SoilScreeningUIUC

    Loyola Environmental Testing Laboratory
    6349 N. Kenmore Ave. 773.508.2056
    bit.ly/SoilTestingLoyola

  • Whether you’re looking to learn about growing your own food, continuing professional development, or starting a career in urban agriculture, the following organizations cover an incredible range of educational and networking opportunities.

    Advocates for Urban Agriculture
    Visit our Programs Overview page to learn more about programs for Soil Health, Chicago Water Access, and Farmer to Farmer Mentrorship.
    auachicago.org/programs-overview

    Angelic Organics Learning Center serves prospective, beginning, and experienced farmers through training in regenerative agricultural practices, business planning, and financial manage- ment at their sites in Chicago and Caledonia, IL. learngrowconnect.org

    Bionutrient Food Association-Chicago Chapter offers grower and consumer education, provides soil interpretations and prescriptions, and hosts soil, seed, and inoculation workshops. bionutrient.org/site/chapters/US/chicago-il

    Chicago Botanic Garden leads a wide range of classes, workshops, and certification courses at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Windy City Harvest urban farm sites. chicagobotanic.org/urbanagriculture

    Garfield Park Conservatory hosts classes, workshops, and lectures on topics such as beekeeping, composting, and gardening. garieldconservatory.org

    Midwest Fruit Explorers is a non-profit organization of amateur backyard fruit growing enthusiasts that coordinates lectures, workshops, events, and more. midfex.org

    Openlands offers workshops on planning a school garden, eco-explorations for youth, and resources for teachers in developing outdoor curriculum, learning, and nature education. openlands.org

    Permaculture Chicago Teaching Institute hosts events, workshops, certificate programs, and design services for urban permaculture design. permaculturechicago.com

    Peterson Garden Project promotes pop-up victory gardens and educational resources whose primary purpose is to teach people in urban settings how they can grow their own food. petersongarden.org

    Plant Chicago cultivates local circular economies and food production through education, research, and small business support. plantchicago.org

    University of Illinois Extension serves Cook County by offering programming and resources around conservation, school gardens, cottage food and nutrition, and Masters courses in urban farming, gardening, and naturalism. web.extension.illinois.edu/cook

    Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion at University of Illinois Chicago provides training and resources on food systems, wellness, nutrition, and container gardening. auachicago.org/resources

    Urban Growers Collective offers agriculture, small business development, and equity building workshops to prepare growers to develop community food projects, commercial urban farms, and more. urbangrowerscollective.org

    Many of the above organizations ofer a component of job skills training, and organizations like Chicago Lights, Chicago FarmWorks, Growing Home, Sweet Beginnings, and Sweetwater Foundation ofer workforce development for youth, and for adults with barriers to employment.

  • Learn about grant and funding opportunities for your urban agriculture projects.

    auachicago.org/grants-and-funding-opportunities

Chicago Urban Agriculture

Informational Resources

More in depth resources, media, and documents for download. Feel free to search by keyword or filter by category.