Weeding the tomato plants with a volunteer group.

This week is my last week at Growing Home, so naturally, I have been taking more time to pause and reflect on my CAPS journey. Last week, I spent time in our Learning Garden which serves as a hands-on experience for kids to touch and taste the produce we grow. The garden is the responsibility of my department to maintain, so I’ve spent a lot of time in that space over the summer pulling weeds, pruning beets, and harvesting all kinds of vegetables: tomatoes, radishes, green garlic, kale, swiss chard, and a few strawberries, (getting to sample a few along the way, of course). While working in the garden, I was surprised to see how tall our pea plants had grown from when we planted them a few weeks after I started my internship. These plants, which were once pea-sized seeds, had climbed to nearly 3 feet in just a few weeks. As cheesy as it sounds, I cannot help but connect my personal growth through the CAPS experience to the growth of these plants. Just as it’s difficult to notice a plant’s growth in real time, my own growth wasn’t always apparent day-by-day, but looking back through this summer, that growth is undeniable.

Our growing pea plants

I am so grateful for the people and experiences that have supported my growth over the summer. One of those experiences has been the opportunity to work in each of the departments at Growing Home, which gave me a full experience and understanding of the organization and the work that they do. I mainly worked with the Community Engagement department hosting volunteer and tour groups on the farm, attending community events, and, lately, I have spent my time to helping prepare for Growing Home’s first Back to School Farm Fest at the end of August. This preparation has included everything from making a promotional flyer to creating 70 seed germination necklace kits that will be used as the kids’ activity to teach them about the beginning stages of plant life. Although I won’t be here for the event, it has been fun to see it take shape and to see the corner of our office pile up with boxes of in-kind donations, especially the 60 backpacks, full of school supplies, that will be given to children at the event.

Outside of my department, I visited the office where our development team works and learned more about what our development team does to keep the organization running smoothly and to raise the funding needed to keep the organization operating. I was able to learn about the process of organizing a fundraising event and helped create some social media posts.

Being given a variety of tasks and experiences has been one of my favorite parts of internship at Growing Home. I’ve learned proper way to bunch pieces of kale to form a uniform bouquet, helped with resume and job search workshops, acquired in-kind donations from local businesses, prepared weekly cooking demos, and recently created a short video for a grant. As a self-identified planner and sometimes overly-cautious person, these experiences have shown me my ability to take on new tasks or challenges and succeed, even in unfamiliar circumstances.

Taking some time away from the farm to hammock and read with my fellow CAPS Fellow, Emily.

Overall, my CAPS experience has stretched my perspective, not only on the work that goes into running a non-profit, but also on the many injustices in our food system and the amazing work community members in Englewood are doing to overcome the challenges and barriers they have had to face.

Although I will miss working with the talented staff at Growing Home and spending time with the Chicago CAPS cohort, I’m happy to have made lasting connections with these wonderful people who have supported my growth this summer in the same way the metal cage supports the pea plants ability to grow taller and stronger. Going into the next semester, I’m thankful for the personal and professional growth I’ve made this summer, but just like the pea plant, I still have plenty more to grow.

Living in a new place can be an exhausting process of navigating the unfamiliar. The first few days are usually filled with trying to get comfortable in a new space. For me this included finding where to buy groceries every week, the route I would take to my internship every day, and a good, nearby coffee shop. These small forms of comfort and routine help create the space for an unfamiliar place to become a community.

On the morning of the first full day at my internship, the crowded processing room was full of applause, as everyone celebrated accomplishments and got motivated for the day. During the morning meeting we discuss the theme of week, which for my first week was “community”. As a result, I spent time that week reflecting on community and what it meant to me in the context of my recent, unfamiliar surroundings. In new places, community is something I think might feel absent at first but can quickly emerge and come together.

Before explaining more about my notion of community in a new place, it might be useful to explain more about where I am interning. My CAPS placement is quite different from many of the other CAPS placements and from most internship experiences in general. I am interning at Growing Home, Chicago’s first and only high-production, USDA certified, organic urban farm. Yes, that’s right, I’m interning at a farm. In the city of Chicago.

A view of the field on Honore Street, one of Growing Home’s two lots. Look closely to see the delicious and colorful swiss chard.

Upon telling people my placement, most did not know urban farms existed, or they assumed the farm was just a glorified garden. However, let me assure you, a garden will not produce 30,000 pounds of produce annually. At Growing Home, I work within the Community Engagement department which seeks to make the farm a space that is open and accessible for the surrounding, Greater Englewood community and other nearby neighborhoods, various organizations, schools and universities, and larger communities interested in urban agriculture within the city of Chicago and across the U.S. As the Community Engagement intern, I assist with our events and activities which include tours of the farm, weekly cooking demos, our annual block party, and tending to our learning garden which gives people an opportunity to interact with the plants and occasionally harvest a few vegetables to take home and try. Through these events as well as produce and seedling donations, the Community Engagement department helps improve food access in nearby communities where fresh and affordable produce is less accessible.

Tabling at a community event organized by a local high school where we served samples of a rice dish with kale from the farm.

Outside of Community Engagement, Growing Home runs a 14-week employment training program for adults who experience barriers to employment. During this program, participants work as Production Assistants on the farm and work through a job-readiness curriculum in the classroom.

Although I have only been in Chicago for three weeks, it amazes me how quickly I’ve begun to find a sense of community. Whether it’s among the Growing Home staff who have made me feel so welcome, and who are always willing to share their favorite ways to prepare the vegetables we grow on the farm, or the CAPS Chicago cohort who I hope to share many more adventures with in the coming weeks (especially more $1 Taco Tuesdays). So far, my time in Chicago and at Growing Home has taught me the importance of finding and creating community with those around you, and even though the time I will spend in these new communities is limited, I know the lessons I will learn and the relationships that form will extend far beyond my CAPS experience.