USA - CHICAGO - VIDEO: How a Lawndale Farm Yields Harvest Through the Winter

By Leah Hope

October 21, 2025

The Lawndale indoor farm project partners with ComEd, Electric Power Research Institute, Young Men's Educational Network and Garden 2 Table Pipeline.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A farm experiment yields a harvest through the winter, and it is in the middle of Lawndale.

An empty lot in North Lawndale is host to a micro farm, more specifically, an agricultural pod inside a metal container. The produce grows vertically and hydroponically where light and temperature are controlled year-round.

"It grows a lot faster," said Keondre Owens with Young Men's Educational Network. "Sometimes, we have kale leaves that are just 3 pounds itself, and I'm like, what's going on here?"

This indoor farming project is courtesy of several partnerships with ComEd, Electric Power Research Institute, Young Men's Educational Network and Garden 2 Table Pipeline. On Monday, they celebrated the end of a yearlong pilot program that was so successful the indoor farm will continue.

Dr. Shemuel Israel with the North Lawndale Greening Committee was a chiropractor who volunteered at the outdoor gardens then was asked to operate the hydro pod. Israel says they give away 60 pounds of fresh kale and collard greens each week, but initially, it was just kale.

"It was softer, it was more tender than what grow outside, so the community learned to eat kale," Israel said. "Some people ate it raw. Some people made kale chips. Some people mixed it with their greens."

He and Owens keep the indoor farm running year-round.

"If you can grow this much in here, imagine if you had another one you could grow anything anywhere," Owens said.

The outdoor gardens grow peppers. But this time of year, they are being cleared and prepped for the first frost. Soon, the farm operation will be all inside the pod, sharing healthy produce with neighbors and showing a new generation an appreciation for growing your own food.

This type of hydroponic growing is also happening in Bronzeville, Englewood and DeKalb.