Past Shows: May-June
2009

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A plastic container from Mirel Bioplastics that breaks down in the soil after you plant it, and the plant inside it.


Miller Meadow Mess

 

The Master Gardeners Superwoman:
MaryAnne Spinner and Chris Kelsey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Try to think of them as small but delectable lobsters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


This is not Josh Mogerman. We couldn't find a decent picture of him, so we chose one of the NRDC's many supporters. At random. Luck of the draw, Leo.

 

 


Hostas are happening at Rich's Foxwillow Pines, all to benefit Heifer International.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Think the power's off when you turn off the light?


The flush of the future.



Take care of this tree.


. . . at Kilbourn Park


Shopping for the season at the Hyde Park sale.

 

 


Mike got a shot of this little guy while working with Lorna Gladstone in McHenry County this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 28, 2009

You know what happens when I'm allowed to do things like post things on my own website? I do stupid things like accidentally erasing whole entries. Like the one from June 28. Duh.

So let me at least tell you that what was in this space was a story about how individuals like you can have some input into how the seven county metropolitan Chicago area grows in the next 30 years. Just go to Go To 2040 for more information.

The other thing we talked about on the show that day was how the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago is encouraging its businesses to go green. More at Eco-Andersonville. Also, Andersonville now has its own farmers market, Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m., through September 9.

June 21, 2009

On May 10 I discussed the BPA issue with Environment Illinois's Max Muller and Chicago Alderman Manny Flores (1st Ward). According to the Environment Illinois report Seeking Safer Packaging, "Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in the epoxy lining of canned foods and beverages and in polycarbonate, a hard, clear plastic." Later that week, the city council would pass a ban--sponsored by Flores and Alderman Ed Burke--on BPAs for baby bottles and children's sippy cups.

As a side note, while researching this web entry, I looked around online for a story from the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times about the passage of this ordinance. Either Google has stopped being a reliable search engine or there ain't nothin' out there. Yet another example of how our once great newspapers are mere shells of their former selves. Meanwhile, a couple of interesting articles about BPA can be found HERE and HERE.

The chemical additives are one thing, and virtually indestructible plastics themselves are another. Enter a company called Metabolix that, in concert with Archer Midland Daniels, has created Mirel (TM) Bioplastics, which are "bioplastic materials made from plant-derived sugar, a renewable resource, that are durable in use but will biodegrade at the end of their useful life."

One of their projects is something they call a "Soilwrap," which is used as a plant container. If you've heard me talk about trying to recycling black potting plastic in the horticultural industry, this could be a solution. Mirel is working with the Chicago-based Ball Horticultural Company to market this new product.

Metabolixl Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bob Findlen, is in town to make a presentation to The International Plastics Showcase at McCormick Place and I intend to ask him a few questions about how the planet can get itself out of the mess we've created by over-producing non-biodegradable plastics, including their work with Ball Horticultural. I sure hope he has some good answers.

June 14, 2009

It's called the "Miller Meadow Mess," at least that's how the Friends of the Forest Preserves characterizes it. Personally, I characterize it as how, if we're not vigilant every day of every week of every year, the remaining open spaces in the Chicago area will be turned into landfills and strip malls.

Thank goodness there are organizations like Friends of the Forest Preserves and people like Benjamin Cox, its executive director, and ordinary citizens like Mary Dye, who use these natural areas and respect them.

A few weeks ago, Cox sent me information about Miller Meadows, including a story in the Chicago Tribune and a piece on Fox News Chicago. That's why they're both on the show today, to hold the Forest Preserve Distric of Cook County and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago accountable for the damage they've caused and to start the process of reclaiming this property that belongs not to special interests, but to all of us.

The Chicago Master Gardeners are back! Well, two of them--MaryAnne Spinner and Chris Kelsey. They are part of the Ask a Cook County Master Gardener program. Here's how it works: you click onto the above link, ask a question, and they get back to you with an answer within a few days. Pretty simple, eh? You know what? Even if you don't live in Cook County, I'll bet that they'll tell you what you need to know.

Since MaryAnne and Chris were going to be on the show this week, I asked them a very simple question: "With all of the rain and the cool weather this spring, what's doing well and what's not?" Boy, did I open a Pandora's box. They've been sending me replies for days, including these:

  • August 14th, we'll get our first 80-degree day at the lakefront. August 15th, our first frost. Tomatoes will ripen by Thanksgiving, if in a greenhouse or Florida.  My caladium have now turned to mush. -MaryAnne

  • Growing well:  lettuce, pansies, ferns, lilies of the valley (nothing can stop them), lamium, a 9-foot tall Angelica, thousands of weeds
    Not growing well:  everything else
    Dead:  6 very expensive new basils ('Pesto Perpetuo'), 2 exotic dragonwing begonias ('Bellfire' and 'Looking Glass'), one dozen assorted caladium that I drug all the way here from Champaign-Urbana (cheaper there), 3 coleus 'Pink Chaos',  4 coleus 'The Flume', my brain. -MaryAnne

  • ok, my version:
    apart from [unhappy] tomatoes, peppers and other veggie cranks, i'd say the worst effect of the weather is that it seems there's more fungus amongus.  we've had questions on vinca rotting, for gawdssake. 
    besides the fungus, just about everyone likes the water, though (esp. weeds ;)).  for veggies, the bumper crops are the cool weather crops that are still with us -- lettuce, spinach, all those guys that would more typically have succumbed to the heat by now.  for non-veggies, maryanne pretty much describes it -- the shade lovers are cool with cool, as long as they're safe from drown-crown and rotty-spotties:  ferns, corydalis, spring bloomers like l.v. and dicentra, lamium and other ground covers, even your beloved ivy, mike!

    i have a southwest facing (albeit mostly shade) microclimate, so my coleus, basils and caladiums are hanging on (the caladiums just barely). 

    i don't think there are really many surprises here.  we're just off to a late start...  but it seems it's the nth year in a row we've had either late start or late Very Cold spell; probably better this long-drawn form than a killer frost, though.  i'm curious to see what catches up, and what gives up instead -- i'm gonna be righteous [unhappy] if i don't get figs this year, although anyone growing figs in chicago has little right to be righteous [unhappy] about crop failure --Chris

  • I chatted today with our (the Hair Girls) fave farmer's market pitch man, Chad Nichols of the wonderful Nichols Farm in Marengo (I love saying the word "Marengo") about the Clint Eastwood trilogy.

    The Good:  Lettuce (he had truckloads of it for sale), peas, kohlrabi.  He said that their kohlrabi had gone from zero to full-size in 3 weeks.  Wish I knew what the hell to do with kohlrabi, it looks soooo cool, like something from outer space.  Maybe play badminton with it?

    The Bad:  As Chris noted, Chad said they were having trouble with "anything that can get fungus".  Nichols' basil is a mess.  Strawberries are bland because they're waterlogged, a real pity.  I tasted Nichols' finest Honeyoes today and they were barely a cut above supermarket quality (or lack thereof), and last year they were gorgeous.  As a former wine geek (OK, I'm still a wine geek) I can extrapolate that grapes would also be waterlogged and tasteless, so don't expect any wonders from Illinois wineries....well, I never do in any weather.

    The Ugly: Not Chad, that's for sure.  Chris knows what I mean...     --MaryAnne

  • yep, that's what the fig leaves are for...  oops, was mike listening?!? --Chris

  • Geez, I forgot the radishes.  Can't forget the radishes, silly me.  Chad Nichols said they did well but are very mild this year, again because they took in water.  No wonder Joel finally let me put our home-grown radishes in our salads this month (he normally thinks they're too sharp, like Mike). --MaryAnne

  • You know what? I HATE it when I don't get all of the jokes. --Mike

And if you think that Chris and MaryAnne's reports aren't strange enough, try this one, courtesy of the University of Illinois Extension Home,Yard & Garden Pest Newsletter. I told you about this great resource a couple of weeks ago. Well, MaryAnne called my attention to a bizarre consequence of so much wet weather in Illinois: an invasion of crayfish! No, I'm not making this up. Check it out in the latest edition of the newsletter.

June 7, 2009

They're just waiting for the Gov to sign it. Congratulations to a bunch of folks on the passing of HB 3990--the Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act of 2009. There are at least two things you should note about its passage: first, the vote in the House was unanimous and second, it was accomplished on Saturday, May 30. (Okay, Saturday is my busiest day of the week, mainly because I'm preparing for my Sunday radio show, but what's the General Assembly's excuse?) It is now headed to the Governor's office for signing into law and since Gov. Quinn has been very supportive of this initiative since 2007, there is every reason to believe that he will sign it.

Debbie Hillman, who made an appearance on my show for our Rooted In Austin program, was one of the prime movers behind the bill from her position on the Illinois Local & Organic Food & Farm Task Force, and as co-chair of the Evanston Food Policy Council. In her own words,

"The bill primarily creates a new organization -- the Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council -- that will be commissioned and empowered to build a fully functioning local farm and food economy in Illinois. To begin this building process, the legislation also sets goals (non- mandatory) for local food purchasing by state agencies (20% by 2020) and state-funded agencies (10% by 2020 -- this includes schools). It will be up to the Council to facilitate the reaching of those goals."

Debbie says that kudos go to State Representative Julie Hamos, who wrote the legislation, and State Senator Jackie Collins, who was the lead sponsor in the Senate.

Whether or not you live in their districts, it wouldn't hurt to write a note of thanks to both of those legislators for a job well done on an important step towards food security in the State of Illinois.

And the award for "best accent on a green program" goes to: Ann Molloy from Neptune's Harvest. You've heard her distinctively Northeastern tones on my show for weeks, touting the benefits of Neptune's Harvest organic fertilizer. It's made from fresh North Atlantic fish, and pretty much everybody I know in the business thinks this is a terrific product. Ann gives us the full scoop...of fish and seaweed fertilizer.

Last year I emceed the annual benefit for Growing Home, fa great organization that provides job training for homeless and low-income people in Chicago. And they do it in the horticultural realm, with a real city farm that gives folks a chance to learn organic agricultural skills that helps them re-enter the workforce.

While the work that Growing Home does is amazing, what's even more amazing is that they asked me to emcee the event again (click on this link if you think you can stand my humor for a couple of hours while supporting a good cause). I'm baffled. I'm used to burning bridges. I must be doing something wrong. At least it will give me a chance to steal some recipes from this guy named Rick Bayless, who's doing the keynote speech. They tell me he whips up a good brat on the grill.

One of Growing Home's board members is Adam Schwerner, who is director of the the "Green" department of the Chicago Park District, the Department of Natural Resources (CDNR). It was created in 2001 and is responsible for ensuring the quality of the district's 7,300 acres of land...which is a huge hunk of turf.

CPD garnered was a first place Gold Award winner in 2003's Nations In Bloom, an international landscape beautification competition, not to mention the 2002 and 2003 Conservation and Native Landscaping Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a Chicago Wilderness prize for South Shore Nature Sanctuary and the Jackson Park lagoon rehabilitation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what have you done for us lately? I guess that's where I'll start. Seriously, I'm very pleased to have Adam on the show for the first time. Let's see if I burn more bridges.

May 31, 2009

If you think that our path to clean energy is a done deal, you're not paying attention. The moneyed interests in the fossil fuels industry still run the show, regardless of a Democratic president and despite the protestations of groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and staff people like Josh Mogerman, who warns that the Chicago area is "ground zero" for something called "tar sands." More on that in a moment.

As readily accessible drillable oil becomes a thing of the past, the petroleum companies, he says, will try to sell the public on "unconventional oil"--that is to say, oil recovered from tar sands, shale deposits and liquid coal. Let's expose these technologies for what they really produce--dirty oil:

  • Dirty because they require massive amounts of energy and end up spewing carbon dioxide into an already greenhouse gas-loaded atmosphere
  • Dirty because they irreparably degrade our natural areas
  • Dirty because they put us and other living things at risk

You probably didn't know that the United States imports most of its oil from Canada--about 19 percent--and fifty percent of that comes from the tar sands in the Alberta Province. Here are a couple of stories about these "alternative" fuels, tar sands in particular, and what they mean for you, me, and the environment:

The frog-a-ganza is history and the results are in! A couple of weeks ago, I plugged an event that was being hosted by the Spring Creek Stewards. Their Frog Monitoring Field Workshop on May 23 was put together by frog-o-phile Matt Hokanson. Well, today, he and fellow frog-maniac Diane Huebner join me in the studio to announce the results. You can see some of the photos from their evening of "frog fun" on the left and by clicking HERE.

If it's the end of May it must be "Hosta Happening" time at Rich's Foxwillow Pines in Woodstock, Illinois. It may seem a little strange to be pushing hostas at a business that specializes in dwarf and rare conifers, but when you consider that the Hosta Happening benefits Heifer International and has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to that organization...who cares? Heifer International is an international charity that leads hungry people to self-reliance through sharing farm animals.

The Hosta Happening has several hundred varieties of hostas $5 and up for sale. Heifer International staff and volunteers will be available to answer any questions about the charity on the day of the sale. Refreshments will be served. In addition:

  • 1:00 pm Presentation - ‘Conifers for the Shade Garden’ by Rich Eyre. Take a walk with Rich and learn what conifers and plants grow in the shade.
  • 9am-4pm New Hosta Book For Sale: The Hostapedia: An Encyclopedia of Hostas by Mark Zilis. 1897 photos of hostas Need we say any more?

Here's the best part. Margaret Eyre has personally divided many of the hostas. She is the "Hosta Queen,": ninety-one years old and going strong. Thank you, Margaret, for your work on behalf of Heifer. You rock my world.

I don't know why I didn't know it until this week but The Home, Yard and Garden Pest Newsletter is now FREE!

...um...don't know what that is? Well, it's something that will help you tremendously if you're even a cut above the most casual gardener. This newsletter brings you up to date on current events regarding plant insects and diseases. I have been following it for years though there was a $20 fee. That never bothered me but I knew that it was keeping others from registering. So now, when you see an insect or what you think is a disease and you're wondering whether other people have seen this, too, you can log on HERE (or the link above) and you might discover that others have been noting the same problem. It's a terrific service from University of Illinois Extension.

 

May 24, 2009

This entry is going to be shorter than most, mainly because I don't have a lot of guests on the show whose stories I have to tell and whose links I need to post. Today's show is a little different from the usual fare in that I'm welcoming back garden writer extraordinaire Beth Botts, formerly employed by the Chicago Tribune. You may or may not know that the Trib let her go a few weeks ago. If you want to know why the Trib, already in bankruptcy, might not survive, I can point to that kind of boneheaded decision-making. But that's just me.

However, true to Tribune fashion, they are having her be a "contributor" to the garden pages by writing a weekly column. That way, they can still have her expertise without contributing to a pension or health insurance. (Cynical? Me?) This week's advice is about dividing daffodils (hmm, maybe she'll come over and do mine).

Beth also has a new blogsite and she just became a new senior editor at Chicagoland Gardening Magazine. Hey, wait a minute! Does that mean that she's my boss now?? I'd better ask.

Anyway, we're sitting around during the show today, chatting about everything from plants to plastics to politics. If you want to join in the conversation, you're welcomed to call the station at 773-838-WCPT (9278), as you are any week.

May 17, 2009

I went to the third annual Chicago Green Festival at Navy Pier yesterday and I don't think I'm ever going to take off my little green wrist band. At least not until it disintegrates in the shower. Oh, okay, I removed it when I got home. So much for romanticism. By the way, there's still time to get to the Festival today until 6:00 p.m.

Anyway, if you're a greenie, it's the place to be, showcasing more than 350 diverse local and national green businesses. I snared me a couple of them to be on the show today. First up is Robin Pelfrey, who is a Master Distributor for GreenSwitch Group. Of course, my first question will be "What's the heck is a Master Distributor?" After that, it should be clear sailing. Seriously, GreenSwitch Group markets a switch that sends a wireless signal to your wall plugs, light switches and thermostat, cutting off the "phantom power" that continues to be consumed even when you're not using your computer and many appliances. I'll let her fill in the details, like how much it costs and how much you save.

Part Deux of Chicago Green Festival businesses on parade features inventor/entrepreneur Michael Schuster, who founded MJSI, Inc. He has come up with a several devices that can be retrofitted to reduce the water flow from toilets about 35%. He showed me one called HydroClean and perhaps the most amazing thing, aside from the fact that you can get it at a bunch of places, including Ace, True Value, Menard's and The Home Depot, is that it retails for about twelve bucks. I'm picking one up tomorrow.

One of the first gardening books I ever possessed was the Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening. Now you might not expect a book from The Reader's Digest to be a go-to source, but that's exactly what it was for me. That volume was a wonderful tool that guided me through my growing pains as a novice gardener. I couldn't even tell you where that book is now, but I'll bet it's a little beat up and dirt-stained because it got used so much.

I am happy to say that that terrific book has been updated and revised as The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening. Even better, perhaps due in part to co-editor Fern Marshall Bradley's past work with Rodale, the book is all organic. It's a monster, and I mean that in a good way--not only featuring 2,500 color photos and illustrations of more than 700 plants, but also articles on dozens of topics, like how to plant a lawn and what you should know about soil. There are lists and tips and how-to's throughout this 576-page extravaganza.

Let me put it this way. Folks who are just getting into gardening often ask me to recommend books that will give them a comprehensive overview of gardening. The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening has just lept to the top of that list.

One other thing you should about Fern Marshall Bradley--which has absolutely nothing to do with horticulture. She's a contra and square dance caller. Check it out.

If you're are a regular listener (which sure beats being an irregular listener--okay, bad joke), you've heard me play commercials for a product called Better Than Rocks. This invention is the brain child of Sarah Atkins. It's recycled plastic (something I truly appreciate) that you put it in the bottom of your plant containers to reduce the weight and hold soil in. She's here to explain how she came up with the idea and what may be next on the drawing board. If she can find even more uses for all that excess plastic with which we litter our planet, more power to you, girl!

 

May 10 , 2009

140 newly planted trees are coming to your neighborhood! That is to say, if your neighborhood happens to be somewhere near 5200 to 5500 South Western Boulevard. That’s where you’ll find Openlands TreeKeeper volunteers monitoring the planting and showing you the proper way to mulch trees this Wednesday morning, May 13, from 9:30 to 12:30 (weather permitting).

Glenda Daniel of Openlands says it's actually a much bigger deal than just slamming some trees into a boulevard. The Western Boulevard Tree Planting is a partnership of the Chicago Bureau of Forestry (yes, if you click on the link you'll see that it's part of Streets and Sanitation)and Openlands with funding from American Express and is part of the Chicago Trees Initiative. Basically, the initiative is an attempt to get community-based and non-profit groups, governmental agencies, developers and urban planners, and pretty much anybody in the City of Chicago who cares about trees to get on board. The goal?

  • Plant more trees
  • Improve tree maintenance and conservation
  • Educate and empower urban forest stewards
  • Advocate for tree funding and protection

Works for me. Meanwhile, Glenda and I are here to tell you why piling mulch up against the trunk of your tree is a very, very bad idea. It seems that no matter how long and hard you say something like that, there are still people out there who are going to defy you. It's almost as if the whole world was populated by teenagers.

The Green Goddess of Kilbourn Park is also on the show. She is Kirsten Akre, who manages the Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse. To be fair, I think she is called a Green Goddess by the person or persons who write the Kilbourn Greenhouse blog. Still, all you have to do is look at the list of plants available at The Annual Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse and Community Garden Plant Sale to think that her unofficial title may be accurate. By the way, the sale is next Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17 from 10am to 3pm. If there's anything left over, the Half Price Sale will be Wednesday, May 20th from 5 - 7:30pm.

Proceeds go to improving the facility at Kilbourn Park. I'm especially pleased that they are encouraging you to recycle. Bring your own plastic flats or cardboard boxes to hold your plants. If you have extras from last year, bring them to share with other shoppers. After the sale,you can return your plastic flats so they can use them again at next year's sale. No wonder she's considered a goddess.

Pop Quiz: What's Chicago's oldest community garden sale? As Alex Trebek would say, "Ohhhh, I'm sorry. That answer: The Hyde Park Garden Fair. Would you like to try 'Community Gardens' for $1000?" Anyway, I guess that when you get to be Fifty Years Old (if I ever live that long, please shoot me) you get to have a sale that offers 50,000 high-quality, hand-selected plants--or 1,000 plants for each year of existence.

I get the feeling that my editor at Chicagoland Gardening Magazine, Carolyn Ulrich, has something to do with the sale. Maybe it's because she lives in Hyde Park and she's a gardener. I'm just guessing, here. Anyway, she twisted my arm (it still hurts) and she's bringing George Rumsey, current chair of the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference, to the studio. By the way, the Conference benefits from the sale. So do I, by having Ms. Ulrich let go of my arm.

Okay, I need to get serious for a moment. You may have heard about the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA in the news recently, and it problably wasn't good news. It's a substance that's used to make the lining of most food cans and hard clear plastic containers, including baby bottles and toddler's sippy cups. I'm sure you can see where this is headed. I'll continue, anyway. BPA is known to leach from those containers into the food and beverages they contain.

The result: possible developmental problems, heart disease and diabetes, according to a report, Seeking Safer Packaging, released by Environment Illinois. I'm happy to have Max Muller, Program Director for Environment Illinois, back on the show to talk about a City of Chicago ordinance introduced by Aldermen Ed Burke and Manny Flores that would prohit the sale of BPA-containing products that would affect children.

This is significant in that, while Canada has banned BPA from baby bottles, the only other jurisdiction in America that has had the courage to touch this is one county in New York State. Let's see if the City of Chicago can step up to the plate.

Last but not least, if you love frogs (and who doesn't?), have I got an event for you. The Spring Creek Stewards are hosting a Frog Monitoring Field Workshop at Spring Creek Forest Preserve from 5-10pm on Saturday, May 23, 2009. The guy who has put it together is Matt Hokanson, who calls it "a night of frog fun" I hope that's not code.

Anyway, come out to the northwest corner of Cook County (Higgins Road not too far from Route 59), where you'll to do some restoration activites, break for snacks, then hang out and listen to frogs mating calls. On May 31, I'm having Matt and friend of the show Diane Huebner on the program to give us a report on what they, uh, heard.

By the way, all agest are welcome. It's a great excuse for a kid to stay up until 10 o'clock. If you have any questions, call Matt at 708-408-2933 and don't forget to tell him I sent you.

 

May 3 , 2009

Welcome to “Rooted In Austin.” First, I want to thank all of the food and community experts who are joining me today for the broadcast at the Third Unitarian Church in the Austin Neighborhood, on this, my first WCPT broadcast outside of the palacial Pulaski Road studios (in the biz we call it a "remote" broadcast but please don't anyone outside of the biz).

It is indeed a stellar lineup for a very worthy subject: how we feed ourselves and how that affects us personally and our communities in general.

Here's the cast of characters:

  • Host: The Reverend Brian Covell
  • State Representative Julie Hamos, 18th District, sponsor of HB3990, legislation to provide access to healthy, local food and improve the farm economy in Illinois
  • Debbie Hillman, Coordinator - Illinois Local & Organic Food & Farm Task Force
  • Orrin Williams (a Chicago Magazine 2009 Green Award winner), Case manager, Growing Home and Executive Director, Center for Urban Transformation
  • Jennifer Hirsch, Ph.D., Research and Operations Director, Cultural Understanding and Change, Division of Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo) at the Field Museum
  • Dinah Ramirez, Executive Director, Healthy Southeast Chicago
  • Martha Boyd, Program Director, Urban Initiative, Angelic Organics Learning Center
  • Tim Wilson, Director, Urban Agriculture Resource Center
  • Frances Cox, activist, Austin neighborhood
  • Robert Urso, President and CEO of PCC Community Wellness Center

While we're on the subject of food, you should know that one of the best ways for you to eat healthy is to join a CSA, or Community Supported Agriclture. CSA farms are usually small, often family farms, growing food sustainably and committed to fresh, high-quality products. What you do is buy a share of the farm's crop at the beginning of the season and until the farm shuts down in the fall you receive regular shares of fresh, nutritious crops. Here's a comprehensive list, courtesy of FamilyFarmed.org.

Another thing you can do to eat healthy is to buy your food at one of the many farmers markets in and around Chicago.

Here's a list of Chicago farmers markets.

Here's a list of Chicago and suburban farmers markets.

 

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