the farm itself, just off of storefront-lined lawrence avenue, interrupts the cityscape, appearing like a lush jungle apparition. 

although the farm has “training” in its official name, linda seyler, the director of the farm, says that there’s not much that she or farm manager haley lerand have to teach them. 

“they were farmers in their home country. they’re the best farmers i’ve ever met,” seyler says. 

their training does, however, focus on preparing farmers for chicago’s climate, as well as introducing new crops that the farmers might not be familiar with, such as swiss chard. 

than naing oo, one of global garden’s market farmers, says “kale, chard, spring onion, they love the cold.”

lerand says that farmers might not be immediately excited about growing more typical american produce, but that it eventually grows on them. in fact, she says some market farmers might not have even tried eating some of the american vegetables that they grow. 

naing oo, on the other hand, is curious, and although he didn’t initially like arugula, he’ll eat it after pickling it in a brine of water, dried rice, and salt. 

naing oo has been selling his yields as a market farmer for two years now, but has been farming with global garden since its inception in 2012. 

farm essentials for a global community

before coming to the u.s., naing oo spent 20 years in a refugee camp in thailand. he is karen (pronounced kah-ren), an ethnic identity that is a point of contention in myanmar due to karen people’s ongoing persecution in the country. most farmers at global garden – about 75% in fact – are refugees from myanmar (previously burma). many of them dislike being referred to as burmese, a term that challenges their people’s sovereignty.

farmers like naing oo have brought traditional fruits and vegetables to chicago to grow in their garden, while also integrating local cultivars. known as his “signature” are chinese long beans, which he likes to prepare in a salad with fish sauce, lime, and other veggies.

in late september, he had picked his plants bare, taking what he could before the end of market season.

amaranth is another popular crop with the farmers, including naing oo. it is indigenous to the americas, but is mostly seen as a weed.

“if you had a corn or soybean farmer come and visit they would look at us like we’re crazy for cultivating it,” lerand says. but she explains that amaranth is more nutritious than spinach, and farmers often use it for stir frying.

another common fruit on the farm is bitter melon, which lerand says is most commonly used for medicinal purposes. farmers might eat it with eggs, or if they’re really brave, on its own, because, as seyler says, “it is really bitter.”

naing oo makes a soup with water, garlic, bitter melon leaf, and squash flowers steeped in hot water, which he says is good for digestion. he says he isn’t much of a cook though, and likes to bring the ingredients home for his wife to make.

also on the farm, naing oo likes to grow thai chilis, a popular farm snack that farmers tend to eat on its own raw or wrapped in bitter melon leaf to eat with their stir-fried vegetables and rice – common in lunch boxes. 

lerand says that there’s lots of sharing of cuttings and seeds on the farm, creating a sense of community. naing oo was able to get hingala seeds, a plant that’s native to myanmar, from another farmer at global garden. 

“and pretty soon, you have people from all different cultures growing a particular plant, which is really cool to see,” lerand says.

sustaining in spite of it all

but things don’t always work smoothly on the farm. seyler says that they expect a lot of turnover at the garden, as she says there’s “a natural loss of participants.”

“they end up moving out of chicago, because it’s expensive to be here and hard to figure out how to buy a house here, and they don’t need our little garden plot anymore,” seyler says.

she also cited the previous presidential administration for the reduced participation after former president trump put caps on the amount of refugees who could enter the united states. even this year, the biden administration has missed the mark on refugee admissions, with only 20% of the allocated spots being filled.

while the farm wants to prioritize newly arrived refugees, most farmers have been with them for years, with the newest family joining three years earlier. seyler and lerand are happy with the community space the farm has also been able to provide.

lerand says that she and seyler have hopes of finding another plot of land in chicago to expand farming opportunities. global garden refugee training farm is not the first refugee agricultural project in the u.s., but it is important that spaces like this one continue to be created for farmers like naing oo so they can stay connected to their traditions.

co-founded by tobias peggs and kimbal musk, square roots trains its “food entrepreneurs” to grow local produce in its indoor, climate controlled, hydroponic vertical farms.

the company’s website describes the project as, “an urban farming accelerator—powered by human ingenuity, technology, and a deep love for local, real food.”

each “modular farm” takes two acres worth of farmland and fits it into a storage container. the project’s vertical farming method is highly efficient in terms of space, which allows this acreage to be compartmentalized into such a small area.

square roots aims to close the disconnect between consumer and grower as well as increase access to local, healthy food sources.

these vertical farms can be placed just about anywhere and can be accessed year-round as well.

square roots offers a network of mentors as well as experts that work with its food entrepreneurs. anyone can apply to be a square roots food entrepreneur as the company plans to expand to other cities and prepares for future growing seasons.

according to an article written by founder kimbal musk, the company is focusing on recruiting millennials to join its team. this provides a highly unique opportunity to recent college graduates. square roots encourages those with experience in everything from agriculture to nonprofit work to apply. 

the company’s inaugural group of food entrepreneurs for its first season consists of ten people with varying backgrounds and goals for the project. this group is part of square root’s first campus in brooklyn.

apply here to be considered as a square roots food entrepreneur in the future.

eating out-of season fruits and veggies takes a toll on your health, your wallet, and the environment.

(photo: rhett maxwell/wikimedia commons)

but how bad can eating out-of-season produce really be?

the cost of growing and harvesting out-of-season produce is much higher than regular season growth. that watermelon you are about to buy in the middle of november was probably grown in a heated greenhouse thousands of miles away. the increased cost of harvesting and bringing that produce to the united states means that your grocer has to raise prices in order to curb production costs.

according to the natural resources defense council, “the smog-forming emissions from importing fruits and vegetables are equivalent to the annual emissions from 1.5 million cars.” purchasing imported, out-of-season produce only contributes to this environmental cost.

eating fresh means enjoying the nutritional value of that produce. but once a fruit is harvested, it begins to lose the benefits that fresh produce has to offer. after a fruit or vegetable has been picked, shipped, and put in a grocery store thousands of miles from its origin, its vitamins have deteriorated quite a bit.

are there alternatives to out-of season fruit?

instead, look for your fruits and vegetables in the freezer section the next time you’re at the grocery store. frozen produce is a great choice during the non-growing seasons.

frozen fruits and veggies were packaged while fresh. studies suggest frozen produce may have higher nutrient content than regular produce. this is because freezing prevents nutrients from leaching out of the produce.

not only do frozen fruits and veggies offer health benefits that regular, out-of-season produce does not, but it is also a financially conscious option. going frozen means avoiding the increased cost of out-of-season produce typically seen during fall and winter.

(photo: maryland pride/wikimedia commons)    

some companies that sell frozen produce even make a point to be environmentally conscious as well. some companies take their unused trimmings and use them as compost, while others throw them out.

less travel to get food to the grocery store means a lower environmental cost, so also make a point to research where your frozen munchies are coming from. companies like green giant grow most of their frozen goods in the united states, for example.

during fall and winter this year, opt out of out-of-season fruits. instead, spend some time in the frozen section to see what options are available to you.

in a world full of monster-green juices, pricey juice cleanses, and upscale organic juiceries, it can be hard for cold-pressed juice to stand out from the rest of the crowd. especially you’re a misfit. 

misfit juicery is a d.c.-based, cold-pressed juice startup founded by recent georgetown graduates philip wong and ann yang. the two friends took an entrepreneurship class together, and after spending a summer in rwanda, returned with a vision to change the food system for the better. the concept is simple, yet ingenious — make juice, but with ugly produce. surplus fruits and vegetables bound for the landfill are repurposed into fresh, healthy beverages that are sourced locally. they gather up twisted carrots and dimpled apples to create delicious, aptly named concoctions such as offbeat and 24carrotgold.

their website claims that misfit “is not a juice company,” instead a socially conscious effort that is packing a punch against food waste. their main opponent is what misfit juice refers to as “produce prejudice,” or our obsession with perfect-10 fruits and vegetables. consumers, grocery stores, and other retailers are the culprits — their high standards of aesthetic value discriminate against produce that’s been bruised, blemished, or banged up. for some, it may seem ridiculous. we are literally judging food by its cover — color, shape, and size — like it’s some botanical beauty contest. but it’s in our nature. you may have heard the old adage that we “eat with our eyes,” and science has shown that this is largely true; the visual cortex composes a substantial portion of our brains, and visual stimuli can actually affect taste. the downside of this biology is that it leads to perfectly good produce ending up in the trash can.

misfit juicery is selling wholesale at 50 different locations in d.c., and was recently named one of “fifty+ under 50: #foodheroes that transformed dc’s food system.” “people are psyched about the brand, and i think we want to get our brand and message out to as many people as possible,” co-founder philip wong says. “at the same time, i really want misfit to be not only about the juice, but also about reimagining how people engage with food.”

although it’s drawn quite a following, co-founder philip wong believes that there’s still a long road ahead: “it helps that we’re getting a lot of attention around it, but with the scale of the issue, there’s a lot more to be done.” he cites further that households share the blame in the annual 70 billion pounds of discarded food, and that waste can come from a multitude of sources such as meat consumption. “there’s agricultural waste, food waste in the home, but also something like eating meat is super wasteful. you put so much water and energy into a cow and get 10 percent of the calories out of it. there’s waste all over the food system right now. in terms of what’s going into our food, we’ve still got a long way to go.”

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about the project

this is part four of a six-part series. waste not wednesday is a community engagement project created by ayse muratoglu, a 2015-2016 emerging leader for food security for the land o’lakes global food challenge program. the yearlong program takes 10 college sophomores who will work with land o’lakes experts to explore issues of food security, and find ways to feed the world. to learn more about the global food challenge, join the conversation at http://foodchallenge.landolakesinc.com/