Sowing seeds at School!

What is better than a seed starter event? Two seed starter events! Kevin Toma, a current Harry S. Truman student and UHC member, led a class on tomatoes, which started with a great turnout from the college’s Veteran Club, Environmental Club, and the Vice President of the Student Government Association. Participants learned how to plant and care for tomatoes while taking their own tomato plants home.

April 24, 2024.

Seed starter 101!

No experience? No problem! Join us on April 15th at Budlong Woods Library for our first monthly workshop series! Alex Barnes, a current UHC board member, and SIU graduate, will teach you the basics of growing and caring for tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers. All materials will be provided and the workshop is completely free, but you may bring a small recyclable container. Not only will we be giving workshops at Budlong Woods Library, but we will also be establishing a seed library, supplying seeds, and assisting in updating current landscaping. The seed library will be for free, public use to help make a greener Chicago.

April 15, 2024.

Bloc’s blox made from the block!

With biofiber-reinforced concrete fresh in the mind, UHC has a plan. UHC decided to create biofiber-reinforced concrete blocks to facilitate the installation of planter boxes for The Bloc Chicago, a nonprofit that works with Chicago’s youth. This is UHC’s first iteration of the Blox. From the bottom, you can see the organic material UHC used to create their Blox. The Lamb’s Quarter is pounded into a fiber and spread throughout the concrete mix while the long Phragmites rest in the middle of the concrete, acting similarly to rebar and providing tensile strength to the Blox. Not only are plants used in the concrete mix, but other reclaimed materials from the block, like scratch-off lottery tickets and shredded plastic, are used too!

March 19, 2023.

Tulip planting brings beauty and community engagement to 63rd street!

A group of eight volunteers from Urban Habitat Chicago endured the frigid November cold to meet in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood to plant tulip bulbs along 63rd Street. Their goal was to beautify the area and to help foster community engagement. The volunteers worked from Western Avenue to Cicero Avenue, covering a distance of three miles. 63rd Street was transformed by the vibrant and colorful tulips. A spokesperson for UHC said, “It’s heartwarming to see the community come together and take ownership of their surroundings. We hope to continue this project and create more opportunities for engagement and beautification.” The project’s success was due to the Greater Southwest Development Corporation and their generous donation of tulip bulbs.

November 2022.

Back on the bloc with more blox!

UHC has delivered more of our bio-fiber reinforced Blox to the Bloc Chicago, a non-profit organization that serves Chicago area youth through boxing, tutoring and mentorship. UHC has established two more planter boxes to enable Bloc’s fighters to continue to grow more healthy vegetables. While there, UHC performed some light maintenance on existing planter boxes and provided the Bloc with more seeds.

April 27, 2024.

Sowing seeds at the library!

UHC’s first event at Budlong Woods Libary was a huge success with a major turnout. Around 30 library neighbors learned about seed anatomy, soil science, and the basics of starting and caring for tomatoes, peppers, and other nightshades. Participants were eager to learn and had tons of great questions that Alex Barnes, an SIU grad and UHC board member, expertly answered. Stay tuned for our next library event!

April 15, 2024.

imperial towers community garden maintenance!

The Imperial Towers Community Garden is well known for its dedicated community members. In 2019 they were able to transform their hot, and gray rooftop into a lush oasis filled with beautiful flowers and vegetables. These dedicated tenants learned quickly and have produced bumper crops since the garden’s construction. We consider this a major success not only for the tenants but also for adding a bit more beauty to Chicago. On March 23, 2024, the UHC crew braved the cold to maintain their planter boxes so that the tenants may continue to be successful during the upcoming growing season. Maintenance included delivering fertilizer for each planter box, sanding, and applying a light coat of linseed oil to the planter boxes.

March 23, 2024.

Biofiber-reinforced concrete!

On January 21st, UHC team members collected Chenopodium, colloquially known as Lamb’s Quarter or Goosefoot, for use in a biofiber-reinforced concrete mix. The Chenopodium was collected from their surrounding neighborhood and then processed for use. Some of the stem fragments were kept intact while the rest were pounded into a fiber. With careful mixing of cement, sand, and processed Chenopodium, UHC was able to create stronger concrete. UHC members reused containers to use as a mold for the concrete.

January 21, 2023.

Congratulations to Imperial Towers Community Garden for winning the Chicago Excellence in Gardening Award!

The Imperial Towers Community Garden is an example of what happens when a well built garden and passionate community members meet. They flourish! Tenants of this building approached UHC about transforming their rooftop into a garden, even though they didn't have much growing experience to begin with. The space quickly converted from a hot, gray, flat expanse of cement to a lush, green oasis bursting with colorful flowers and fresh vegetables. The dedicated tenants learned quickly, and have produced bumper crops every season since the garden's construction in 2019 (the gardeners took a break in 2020 due to COVID). We at UHC consider this garden a monumental success, having enriched the lives of residents at Imperial Towers and added just a little more green to this city, and could not have asked for more devoted gardeners to work with.

Read more here.

Eat your weeds!

While this pandemic have inspired many people to start gardening, whether for production of food or simply to relax, do not underestimate the “weeds” that has been growing right under your nose! Most people would not think twice about pulling and tossing them, but as long as they have not been contaminated, they are perfectly edible! Rachel interviewed Mike and wrote up an amazing article. Check it out here.

Neighborhood Youth Corps, 2020

On July 31st and Aug 1st, UHC participated in the Neighborhood Youth Corps event co-hosted by Chicago Police Department and Chicago Housing Authority. This program is targeting high school students to receive training on a variety of “life skills” to prepare them as they enter adulthood. Mike engaged 40 students and taught them essential skills such as shelter erection, fire starting, and more!

You might thing: why is erecting a shelter and starting fire important for people now-a-days? While we all enjoy the modern convenience of microwave, central air, and supermarkets, during times of need, be able to erect a shelter and start a fire to make food makes a world of difference and keeps one from waiting to be saved by others. Also, fire is present everywhere in our lives, from combustion engines (cars and electricity) to our stovetop. If one can understand the requirement and be able to start a fire, we think this person is well on his/her way to tackle many other great things in life!

UHC Builds a Garden with DePaul Students

DePaul students have added a small lot on their campus to the long line of community gardens aided by Urban Habitat Chicago.

Located at 925 W Belden, the Depaul Garden is open to all students of the college. Work is generally done on Saturdays in the afternoon, and is facilitated by students themselves. They have been fortunate enough to receive a grant from their school along with many donated plants and seeds. It features raised beds of vegetables and herbs, a sizeable pollinator garden, mulberry trees, and raspberry bushes. Students who participate in the maintenance of this garden can earn volunteer hours, take home produce, learn about how to grow their own food, and help create yet another green space in Chicago.

Along with students, volunteers from Urban Habitat Chicago have been attending every week to help set up beds, plant seedlings, and answer questions. This type of work is at the very heart of UHC -- we are invested in Chicago’s youth, and hope to inspire as many of them as possible to make agriculture part of their urban lives.

Click through images to see the garden! And visit here for a write up from Tyler!