Logan Square Is Getting The City's First Urban Orchard

By Lauren Larson in Food on Sep 23, 2014 3:20PM

Plan courtesy of Altamanu, Inc

In the early 1800s, long before Longman & Eagle, Parson's Chicken & Fish, The Radler,and the rest of Logan Square's gustatory gems, the neighborhood supported several farms and orchards. Soon Logan Square will return to its agricultural roots when the intersection of Logan and Milwaukee becomes the home of Chicago's first urban orchard.

The Chicago Rarities Orchard Project (CROP) has been in the works for five years, as board members worked with the City of Chicago and the nonprofit organization NeighborSpace to secure land for an orchard.

"Everyone has been very supportive and it's exciting to see this project moving forward, but it does take time," says CROP founder Dave Snyder. "Nobody goes into orchards, because they lack the patience."

Beyond the challenges inherent to orchards, like finding an area with open soil and sufficient sunlight, CROP has also had to navigate the complexities of repurposing any urban space (see Leslie Knope's crusade for control of "the Pit" on Parks and Recreation.)

Snyder, who used to be farm director at Uncommon Ground, is no stranger to urban farming— he also manages Chicago FarmWorks, a half-acre food pantry farm, for Heartland Alliance.

Chicago has lagged behind other major cities in developing urban orchards, but projects like CROP and the Rogers Park Yard Sharing Network are raising interest in urban agriculture.

"It's exciting to see all these projects going and even more exciting to think of a time when they don't seem new or revolutionary, when the idea of sharing fruit produced in the city seems obvious," Snyder added.

Snyder says the trees will begin producing fruit in about five years, but he added that the project is "as much about education as it is about production." Beyond giving Logan Square residents a pretty park for apple-picking, Snyder and CROP's other board members hope the orchard will teach Chicagoans about crop diversity. The orchard will include fruits that are not commercially grown, like rarely seen apple varieties and pawpaw trees. Pawpaw pie, anyone?