One Mile Meal - Chicago
Experimental Station
September 1st 2007
One Mile Meal is an adventure! We started our expedition with a little train hopping… We were staying with friends in a neighborhood of Chicago called Ukrainian Village. It was a 12-mile bike ride to Experimental Station, our base of operation for One Mile Meal – Chicago. The train broke up our ride, quite literally, when it stopped blocking the crossing at Racine Avenue. Looking both ways along the tracks, we could see that this train was looooooooooong and didn’t know how far out of our way we’d have to go to ride around it. So we thought we’d hop over… I jumped up on the link between two train cars, Ally handed the bikes up to me one at a time and I carried them over to the other side. Luckily the train didn’t start up again during this maneuver so we were safely on our way again before long…
Down at Experimental Station, we started out with a brief visit to the garden just across the street and talked with Larry, who grew up in a family of farmers but had gotten away from it until his daughter expressed interest two years ago. In his second season at the Dorchester Community Garden, he expressed wonder and confusion at the site of some plants thriving while others withered away… but he was obviously having some success with beautiful cucumbers and green beans to show for his efforts.
We wanted to make sure to check out more of our mile than the easy-access garden right outside the ES door, so we headed out to Washington Park to see what was growing naturally in the area. The green space was pretty amazing. If you looked in the right direction you could believe for a second that you were in the middle of the country! We found greens such as plantain, lady’s thumb and dandelion, burdock root and golden rod, among other wild edibles.
While in the park we also spotted some fishermen and went over to ask whether they were fishing strictly for recreation or for food. All of the fishermen we talked to said they eat the fish they catch. Frank said if he catches more than he can eat himself, he often gives the extra to elderly people he knows. The fish didn’t seem to be biting that day, so we didn’t take any fish back for our dinner, but we were excited to find the unexpected food source in the city.
Back on the street, we asked for directions and found most locals unfamiliar with gardens in the area or certain that no one on their block gardened. Eventually we did stumble upon a cooperative house with a garden in the front yard. Corrigan came to the door and was excited to show us the garden he tends with the help of his housemates and tell us about the three housing coops that form the Qumbya network. He generously shared some of his garden goodies with us and we headed back to the Experimental Station to start preparing our meal.
Washington Park had provided us with quite a bounty. Corrigan’s cultivated veggies started to round out our ingredient list and a last-minute contribution from Sara, our new friend who garden’s across the street from Experimental Station sealed the deal on a tasty one mile meal! Our dinner companions were an enthusiastic and talkative bunch, with a strong interest in foraging, so our time in the park definitely paid off. Thanks to the Experimental Station and Pedagogical Factory for hosting One Mile Meal!