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In the year Starting in 2016, many Herban Produce customers thought they were doing co-owners Alicia Nesbari-Moore and Barry Howard a favor by pooling their dollars to support the two-acre urban farm in East Garfield Park.
“People were like, ‘Oh, we’re going to take your salad because we feel bad for you,'” Howard laughed. But we realized they should buy it because we have the best product in the city of Chicago.
In a time apart from most urban farms in the Chicago area, the co-owners are determined to develop a real business with Herbalife products. It wasn’t always like that. For two years, the two-acre farm operated as a non-profit.
“I found myself in positions that looked like philanthropy, and I didn’t like that feeling,” says Nesbari-Moore. “People wanted to categorize me as a community gardener on the West Side — like, ‘They’re on the West Side, so do business with them.'”
Instead, she told her, “Do business with me because I offer a high-quality product, and because it’s local and you’re supporting the local economy.”
So in the year In 2018, the farm, located at 2900 W. Van Buren St., became a for-profit organization serving restaurants around town.
“We wanted to change the narrative from this feel-good-for-you-poor-world to ‘Hey, let’s power it, let’s show you’re trying to create a real business here,'” Howard said. “East Garfield Park has a lot of good people and a lot of empty land because of the crowd digging.”
Howard, who said he wanted to “reveal” the area to friends, visited the Garfield Park Conservatory after exploring the area and found empty lots.
Outside one of the buildings at Herban Farms in East Garfield Park at 2900 W. Van Buren St.
Most urban farms choose to operate for-profit because agriculture itself is often not financially sustainable, Howard said.
Instead of relying solely on growing fruits and vegetables in their 15 lots, Herban Produce also looks at other avenues. They offer tours and rent an indoor event space as well as an outdoor space set on two acres of land.
The farm rents out an upstairs space on Airbnb, where visitors can have an immersive on-site experience.
Another initiative is their Market Box, a weekly delivery of some farm-fresh produce, along with a few food items, to subscribers.
Following the growing seasons of the Midwest, Herban Produce plans to host a full fall festival with a pumpkin patch and cider to give city kids a chance to pick their own pumpkins.
The fields are full of flowers, which Herban produce is sold to local florists. Sunflowers grow tall, along with lavender plants and flamboyant pink-red celosia.
“These are fun because they taste like candy,” Nesbari-Moore said, nibbling on a generous cherry. “They taste like pineapple.”
Alicia Nesbari-Moore, owner of Herban Products, holds a ground cherry in her hand. The fruit is sweet like candy and tastes like pineapple.
In the produce lot, bright green beans, lettuce and tomatoes grow under Nesbari-Moore’s watchful eye.
“People don’t understand how much labor is involved,” she says. “It really makes you think about the way we take food for granted.”
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has tested their efforts. Previously, the farm had a constant partnership with restaurants, but due to the lack of labor, few are willing to maintain the relationship.
Now, Howard says, the farm has partnered with about seven Chicago restaurants.
Alicia Nesbari-Moore checked out some underground cherry growth at Herban Productions.
While the farm is constantly looking to expand and grow, Nesbari-Moore says the amount of pressure on urban farms due to gender issues in the city is unrealistic.
“One thing about urban farms is that we’re very small,” she said. “Two acres of land in the city is big, isn’t it? That’s unheard of to have that much square footage, I understand that. But I still don’t have hundreds of acres of land that my colleagues have at a lower level. So the idea that these urban farms can solve food problems and system problems is unrealistic.
Ultimately, Howard hopes businesses that can thrive in neighborhoods like East Garfield Park will help revitalize communities.
“I think, ultimately, if more people visit and support businesses like this, now you’re basically solving some of the violence and other problems that are out there,” he said. “I don’t claim to be a sociologist, but violence is a sign of poverty, not a sign of people.”
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