Nestled between the projects of Chicago's Cabrini Green and the gleaming condos of the Gold Coast is a surprising piece of land.  Where you’d expect concrete, there’s an acre of compost, and where you’d expect blue-toothed suits, there’s farmer Tim Wilson  

"We're squatting here and having a great time," said the farmer turned tour-guide of City Farm, a plot of land the Resource Center uses for growing, selling, and teaching.

Saturday, while shepherding 60 urban agriculture enthusiasts through rows of greens and a hoop house full of 30 pepper varieties, Wilson and Martha Boyd fielded questions about the history of City Farm, the challenges and opportunities of urban growing and what it means to be a mobile farm.

The farm's rat-killer-in-training, a little gray kitten, brought up the rear.   

One challenge is the potential toxicity of urban landscapes, Wilson said. 

Underneath City Farm's compost sits 20 to 30 feet of potentially toxic brick rubble. To try to separate contaminants from crops City Farm created a clay barrier between the brick rubble and their compost, Wilson said.

Another current issue facing the farm is recent state legislation making it illegal to sell their compost, Wilson said.

Despite the challenges, urban gardening also offers unique opportunities, Wilson said.

For example, City Farm recognizes their neighborhood teens as a resource. They've trained about 50 teens looking for summer and after-school work in the last two years, Wilson said.

In addition, demand for their produce is high. Wilson estimates they could have 10 acres of city land and still not meet the needs of restaurants in the city that crave local produce.

Besides questions about marketability, visitors asked about the future of City Farm. Wilson explained the farm has already moved three times and is currently looking at new locations around the city. While the farm's geographic adaptability makes it a model for other urban growers, eventually staff would like a permanent locale including a community center for urban agriculture, Wilson said.

"If anyone is a wealthy landowner, see me afterward," Wilson said.

The morning tour attracted over 60 people and kicked off the Urban Farm Field Day, an event organized by Martha Boyd of the Angelic Organics Learning Center in conjunction with the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT). 

After the farm tour, participants met at Chicago's Green City Market to hear from the market's Farm Forager Sheri Doyel, who assists with an extensive application process for potential market vendors. The process includes demonstrating that the interested farm uses sustainable practices.

Twenty-percent of the vendors are certified organic, and by 2012 the market will require third party certification for all vendors (though not necessarily USDA organic certification).

"It's a radical thing for a market to do," she said.

After Doyel's talk, farmer and vendor Dennis Fiser of Tomato Mountain Farm spoke about his experiences with Green City. Following Fiser, the Chicago Public Library Summer Reads program sponsored a reading and discussion about honey and beekeeping featuring author of Robbing the Bees, Holly Bishop.

For more food for thought on mentioned organizations, check out the following web pages:

City Farm

Angelic Organics Learning Center

Green City Market