Urban and farming don't tend to be used in the same sentence. Hearing urban, the mind wanders towards city skylines, CTA trains bustling through the wind and people hurrying, stressed to get to their next destination. Farming on the other hand, is all corn fields and quiet sunlight. But the two have crossed paths, as have I.
Last fall, I began my first year at DePaul, in a city in which I had only visited once prior. I was scared and nervous and confused and overwhelmed. Chicago was and is so full of opportunities and I seemed so small. Everything was loud! beautiful, exciting, but it was also confusing and scary and hectic. My days ranged between loving and living in the current moment and longing for the security of the past. I struggled to find familiarity in the land of the new .
In high school, I found comfort in the community garden. It was my safe space, the setting years worth of growing .The 25 by 10 foot patch that sat outside my high school helped me cultivate tomato, cucumbers, knowledge of the environment, of others and of myself. So long ago, when I was a lost high school Freshmen, I found my calm there. I released my frustrations raking out the soil. My hands transferred my emotions to the plants. As I watered the plants, I began to explore what nourishment I needed to grow. The garden served as a space where I could think, I could feel and I could find what I was looking for. Soil is, and always has been, good for my soul.
And coming to Chicago has not changed that. When I found the tucked away garden on Belden and Bissell, I knew I felt the air of another transformative space. I spotted the big compost pile, the thrown away pieces of things that yet to be renewed. I saw the colorful wooden table and the radiant people who surrounded it. I met individuals who shared the same love for life and for the Earth. They welcomed me with kind smiles and open hearts. A community of people who on my first nervous day, offered me seeds, soil and a container, so that I could cultivate my own life here. They gave me familiarity and again, the opportunity to learn from the Earth and my environment. They helped me to plant and sow my seeds here.
Like plants in this world, we grow and change. We are dropped into situations and soils with unknown mixtures. We are given the light and the nourishment to become something beautiful. While we sprout up fast one day, we may be thirsty for help the next. We change with the seasons and the environments we live in. It is not always a fast process, but we get there with the help of others along the way. Thank you Urban Farming Organization for being my sunlight, my water and my soil.
-Allison Carvalho
