Illustration description: The illustration is of a garden, in the foreground are plant beds with different tall plants and vegetables, 4 plant beds on the left and one on the right with a sign that says “Spices, Tea & Herbs”. In the middle…

Illustration by Estefany Figueroa of the vision for the Cicero Community Farm

By Nat Carreño

Since it’s early beginnings, Cicero has been an industry and manufacturing town. Cicero's proximity to several rail lines influenced many companies to establish manufacturing here very early on. As the years have passed not much has changed. Present-day Cicero, is 5.5 square miles, which is less than one-sixth of its original 36 square-mile area. Across this 5.5 mile radius, the official Town of Cicero Zoning Map illustrates that just about 50% of the town is dedicated to commercial/retail property, industry, and manufacturing. The other 50% is zoned for residential properties . If we were to break these numbers up, that would mean that Cicero currently dedicates half of the town to industry and the remaining 2.75 square miles for it’s 84,000 residents.

When my family moved here from Chicago, we realized the immense privilege of what it meant to have a yard. Cicero is a suburb where a predominantly Latinx immigrant community can have an opportunity to have a yard, if they can afford it. So the option to be greener becomes the choice and responsibility of the property owner. Sadly, that's where Cicero’s commitment to environmentalism ends. The municipality itself, despite all of the available land, does very little to emphasize the importance of revitalizing nature in order to create a haven, or resources for the community.

All over the country, there are examples of municipalities that have used vacant land to create food and natural spaces in the name of supporting the overall health of the community. For example here in Chicago, there is the Urban Growers Collective (UGC). This is an organization with a large parcel of land on 90th and Mackinaw in South Chicago. UGC is an urban farm incubator for local farmers with a goal of providing foundational food security to communities of color that have, because of environmental racism, been prevented from accessing the benefits of locally grown produce.

So in April 2019, a group of Cicero community members (myself included) came together to start Cicero’s first community garden project. All of us who make up Cicero Community Farm are people from the neighborhood. We grew up here, we were students of District 99 and 201 and we are patrons of Cicero businesses. We came together in 2019 to acknowledge that in all of the years of living here, we have never seen an initiative take place in our community that was centered around plants and reconnecting to nature. Empty lots are scattered across the municipality, some of them remains of torn down factories. Yet, instead of seeing more greenery and nature all we’ve seen are more and more factories being built. To put it simply: we came together because we believe farms, gardens, and nature preserves, should be as common as any community based resources we rely on now like, grocery stores, places of worship, health services, libraries etc.

Images provided by Nat Carreño from the Cicero Community Farm

We’ve since lost access to the parcel of land we used in our first season and our journey to access a new lot in the community has been very difficult. Up until this year town officials left our emails and phone calls regarding our plans to build in the community unanswered. Sadly, we found ourselves having to rely on other organizations, and peers for support on acquiring land, and resources to get started in the neighborhood. The pandemic has made us open our eyes to all of the different ways we can build community, create support, and share space. Cicero Community Farm is a grassroots community led initiative.All we want to do is be a stable presence that the community can rely on for food, environmental awareness and recreational time in nature with their families. The need for culturally competent food and nature access in our community will only continue to grow.

So why not let community members be a part of how we gain access to food and nature?

Author’s note: The Cicero Community Farm reviewed the process of filing for intent to utilize vacant land with Rosa Raygoza, the Executive Assistant to Cicero Town Project Manager, Craig Pesek, on January 27.

Pesek had not responded to previous emails. The Town Board will make any final decisions on land access.

Follow the Cicero Community Farm (CCF) on Facebook and Instagram for future updates. You can also support efforts to acquire green spaces in Cicero by sending a letter of support by email to cicerocommunityfarm@gmail.com.

Nat Carreño has lived in Cicero for 18 years, they currently volunteer with Cicero Community Farm.