An article that appeared in your newspaper regarding the agricultural school quoted a neighborhood resident saying that the farm has not been farmed; the farmstand has not been open. These comments are not true.
I’ve been employed by the Chicago Board of Education for the last two years as the Land Laboratory manager. In both 1992 and 1993, the land lab has been plowed, disked, planted, cultivated and harvested. More than 4,000 lbs. of fresh produce, including tomatoes, peppers and squash, was donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository during our end-of-season gleaning. The farmstand has been in continuous operation.
The problems experienced by a home gardener are experienced on the land lab, but in greater proportions. During a late freeze in May of 1993, we lost over 2,000 tomato and pepper plants; a tractor couldn’t be driven in the field because of muddy conditions until the end of June. This not only severely hampered planting and cultivation, but it set us behind schedule on weed control.
I can’t recall how many people came into the farmstand last year to purchase produce because their own vegetables were small, not ripening, or rotting on the vine.
When anyone says that the farm and the farmstand have not been in operation, they are wrong.
