Global Gardens Chicago

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Global Gardens Chicago

We are a non-profit organization and urban farm that supports 75+ refugees who grow organic vegetables for sale and home consumption!
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The mission of Global Garden Refugee Training Farm is to:

+ Improve access to fresh vegetables for newly arrived refugee families and their urban neighbors
+ Feed the souls of displaced farmers through reconnection with the soil and food production
+ Provide supplemental income for participating refugee farmers
+ Foster new, refugee-operated farms

12/09/2024

This week, we’re highlighting stories of our farmers’ resilience and dedication to our garden. Every donation this holiday season goes to helping them continue growing food for their families and our community. 💚

🌱 Meet Farmer Pak Suan! Originally from Chin State, Burma, he came to the U.S. in 2011 after years in Thai refugee camps. Pak Suan is known as the jokester around the garden, always cracking jokes and making the other farmer’s laugh. Pak Suan works the graveyard shift at Rivers Casino and then comes directly to the farm to harvest on summer mornings. His mother, Ciing Niang, also helps him grow and pick vegatables in the garden. Discover more about Pak Suan’s inspiring journey and our garden in this Chicago Reader article: https://chicagoreader.com/food-drink/albany-parks-hidden-refugee-farm/
Your support helps refugees like Pak Suan grow fresh food, provide for their families, and strengthen our community. 💚

Donate today to make a difference! 🙌

Link in bio 🔗

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12/04/2024

🙏Thank you to everyone who contributed to our campaign yesterday!
We appreciate you for making supporting your local refugee farm a priority this giving season especially in this time of uncertainty.

If you haven’t had a chance to give yet, we’re still collecting donations for our End-of-Year Giving Campaign. Currently, we’re at $1,751.09 of our $10,000 goal by December 31st. Give now to help us reach this goal!

🔗 Link in bio to donate!

12/03/2024

📣 Today is GivingTuesday—a global day of generosity and action! 🌍💛

Your support today can make a lasting impact on Chicago’s refugee community and local food systems. 🍎 Together, we can empower families, create sustainable opportunities, and build a stronger, more inclusive future.

Don’t wait—this is your chance to be part of something meaningful. Every donation, no matter the size—even just $5–makes a difference!

We’re currently at 12.5% of our End-of-Year campaign goal, and we’d love to get to 20% by end of day today, and with your help, we can!

💻 Donate now: https://donorbox.org/one-time-donation-168 or go to the link in our bio!
📢 Share this post to help spread the word!

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12/02/2024

📣 Giving Tuesday is just ONE day away! 🌟

This is your chance to make a difference by supporting Chicago’s refugee community and strengthening local food systems. 🌍🍎

Every donation (even just $5) helps create opportunities, empower families, and build a more inclusive future for all. 💛

Let’s come together and show the power of community! 🫶

Mark your calendar, spread the word, and be part of this global day of giving tomorrow.

Link in bio to make a donation!

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11/28/2024

At Global Gardens Chicago, we deeply believe in the power of nourishing our community and celebrating cultural dishes. One topic that often comes up is the absence of Burmese restaurants in Chicago—Wheaton is home to the closest one That’s why this year, we’ve been thrilled to pay our farmers to prepare dishes for you during our concert series with the support of , including many Burmese specialties! This year, we were also able to put on cooking classes led by two of our farmers from Burma and Thailand- Nge Meh and Ta Kaw.

Sharing meals is truly at the heart of what we do at Global Gardens. This summer, I (Jessica) texted Haley saying, “One of my favorite things about the farm is that if you stay long enough, it’s inevitable that you’ll be offered food.” That spirit of generosity is central to our mission.

Our farmers are always eager to share their cultural dishes with the community, and we are incredibly grateful for their enthusiasm and willingness to share with us. Here are a couple of dishes we offered through our programming this year:

1. Haley serving tohu thoke- Burmese tofu salad at our Grand Reopening Event
2. Tohu thoke - Burmese Tofu Salad
3. Ohn No Kao Swe - Burmese coconut curry noodle soup
4. Mont Let Saung - traditional Burmese drink with coconut milk, palm sugar, and rice jelly
5. Farmer and chef of the previous dishes, Nge Meh with son Twe Reh
6. Ugali kwa mchuzi wa mbuzi- African fufu and Goat Soup and Laphet Thoke- Burmese tea leaf salad
7. Farmer Celestine- chef of fufu & goat soup
8. Cambodian melon and coconut dessert
9. Farmer Chiva and his Cambodian dish
10. Our Cambodian spread at our September concert
11. Farmer Ta Kaw teaching our cooking class on Papaya Salad
12. Papaya Salad ingredients
13. Text between myself and Haley 🫶🏻😊

In the spirit of community, we invite you to support ours by donating to our End-of-Year campaign: https://donorbox.org/one-time-donation-168

11/25/2024

is just around the corner! 🌟 This year, let’s come together to support Chicago’s refugee community and strengthen our local food systems. 🍎🌍

Every donation helps grow opportunities and create a sustainable future. 💛

📅 Mark your calendar for December 3rd and be part of the movement! 🙌

11/20/2024

🌱 Join us in raising $10,000 by December 31st to support refugee families growing culturally meaningful food, feeding their loved ones, and connecting with the healing power of soil. 💚

Your gift also helps provide fresh produce to food pantries, supports farmers selling at local markets, and funds organic seeds, supplies, and so much more. Together, we’re growing nourishment, community, and opportunity—let’s make it happen!

Link in bio to donate!

Pictured here: Farmer Nge Meh and son, Twe Reh at our annual farm picnic this year!

11/19/2024

We’re offering a couple more opportunities to purchase our produce before the end of the season and we’re offering wholesale pricing!

Head over to our website for more information and to place your order. Pick ups will be at our farm this week & next!

Sign up at the link in our bio!

11/05/2024

🍂 It’s the season to pick your own! 🌿

Come on down to our first-ever Global Gardens U-Pick Produce Days! Pick your own fresh greens & root veggies for just $3, herbs for $2, or grab 6 bunches for only $12! 🥬🌱

Hurry before we close for the winter—this is your chance to stock up on local goodness and support our farmers! 🧑‍🌾

Link in bio to sign up for one of our U-Pick dates!

10/27/2024

Hi all, this is Haley the Director and I wanted to share some photos with you. I recently got into medium format film photography, and I like these captures of our farm. Captions in order of pics: 1) farmer Ma Than Aye from Burma after watering her garden; 2) Cambodian farmer Saroth and her friend at our Cambodian concert in September; 3) farmer Celestine from Burundi watering her garden; 4 & 5) Cambodian concert 6) longtime farm friend and customer, Matt Gold, holding a pumpkin 7) Celestine selling vegetables. She enjoys growing a mix of vegetables used in her country, American vegetable varieties, and also Asian varieties such as long beans, which she discovered from our Burmese farmers

10/25/2024

🎉 Exciting News from Our Farm! 🎉

Since 2012, we’ve been proudly known as the “Global Garden Refugee Training Farm,” but today we’re thrilled to announce a new chapter 🌱 We are now Global Gardens Chicago!

We want to recognize our neighboring community garden, which has historically been referred to as “Global Garden”, will now be known as the Albany Park Community Garden. Their focus is on providing space for anyone to grow their own plants, while our mission continues to be connecting refugee populations with the joys of gardening, enhancing food security, and creating income-earning opportunities. You can follow the volunteer-run community garden at

🌍✨With a name change comes a new website! Visit us at globalgardenschicago.org. We would like to give a shoutout to Women Unite! for refreshing our website and helping us navigate this transition, and to Sara Kopke for creating our very first official logo.

We’re excited for what’s ahead and can’t wait to continue our important work alongside our community.

Let’s grow together! 🌿💚

09/26/2024

📣 Urgent Call for Volunteers! 📣

We still need your help at Apple Fest on October 5th & 6th! 🍎 Your support will help us reach our goal of $5,000, which will be matched by one of our partners.

Anyone 13 and older can volunteer, so it’s the perfect opportunity to get the whole family involved and make a difference in the community! 💪

🔗 Link in bio to sign up – let’s make this event a huge success together! 🙌

Can’t volunteer? That’s okay! Share this post to help us spread the word and support GGC!

09/21/2024

Hi all, it’s Haley the Director and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking on this panel for Chicago Humanities Festival with my dear friend Dr. Molly Doane. I worked with Molly in 2017 for a few years on a research project through UIC’s anthropology department and The Field Museum about how community gardens enhance the wellbeing of Chicagoans. I found Global Gardens through this project, and never left! This panel makes everything feel very full-circle-y, and I’m honored to be a part of it. You can buy tickets at the link in bio.

09/17/2024

We’re excited to share that we’re a part of the volunteer grant program! This means that if you sign up to volunteer at Apple Fest on October 5th or 6th, we’ll receive a donation for each hour you volunteer.

It’s simple: just fill out the volunteer application at the link in our bio and be sure to write in “Global Gardens Chicago” in the form so they count your hours towards our cause.

You’re welcome to sign up with family and friends too—the more, the merrier! Hope to see you there 🍎🤗🍏

Address

4815 N. Sacramento Avenue
Chicago, IL
60625

Website

http://globalgardenschicago.org/

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Videos

🌱 Global Gardens 2024 Recap (so far) 🌱 🌟 63 refugee families served 🥕 $25,642.42 donated to food pantries 💰 $102,454.56 earned by our amazing market farmers 🌽 Infinite veggies enjoyed! Thank you to everyone who made this incredible season possible—we couldn’t do it without you! 💚 Help us continue this vital work by supporting our End-of-Year Campaign. Every contribution makes a difference! 🙌 Link in bio to donate! #GlobalGardens #RefugeeFarmers #CommunityImpact #SupportLocal #ThankYou

We have so much gratitude for our community that came to support us last week at our fundraiser! If you weren’t able to make it, you can still support us by donating at the link in our bio! This event made possible by Cigna Health.

⚠️There’s still time to sign up for Apple Fest this weekend to support our farm! ⚠️ Each shift we fill at @lsrcc_chicago Apple Fest earns our farm a donation. We’re looking for 10 more people to sign up to reach our goal of raising $5,000 in order to get a matching donation from one of our funders! Anyone age 13 or older can volunteer! Link in bio to sign up—just make sure to write “Global Gardens Chicago” so your volunteer hours go towards our goal! Can’t volunteer this weekend? No problem—sharing with someone who can is very helpful too!

A very special performance from our last concert of the season last Saturday featuring @crossingbordersmusic and our farmers, Saroth and Synith! Saroth and Synith both made some amazing Cambodian dishes for the event as well. This is Synith’s first year and Saroth’s second year as family gardeners and we’re so happy to have them. 🥬🌳 We’ve had such a blast singing, dancing, and grooving with you all this year and hope you did too! If you want to keep the groove going, please join us for our Harvest Moon Fundraiser on Thursday, October 17th at 6:30pm. Link in bio to purchase tickets 🔗

How incredible was @surabhiensemble at our August farm concert? We loved having them last month and hope you did too! Thank you to everyone who has come to one of our farm concerts this season! You’ll have one last chance to experience a concert at our farm on Saturday, September 14th at 4-6:30pm. Doors and farmer-made food at 4pm and music by @cambodian_museum & @crossingbordersmusic (featuring one of our farmers!) at 5pm. Link in bio to RSVP! Concert series sponsored by @conagrabrands

Are y’all ready to groove with us this Saturday for next farm concert? Doors and farmer-made food is served at 4pm with music by @surabhiensemble starting at 5pm! Link in bio to RSVP!

We always have fun at our farm concerts no matter the weather! Come out to our next show on Saturday, July 13th from 4:00-6:30pm! Link in bio to RSVP 🎶🎸

I posted this several years ago, but had to bring it back because I love it so much. These are a few Bhutanese farmers singing songs as they harvest vegetables. I’m using it to grab your attention and tell you that there is limited time left to vote for us for Best Local Farmer and Best Urban Farm for the Chicago Reader’s Best of 2024. Follow this link, which leads to the Food & Drink category, and then scroll down to the farm subcategories: https://chicagoreader.com/best-of-chicago/2023-ballot/?fbclid=PAAaYXNJwfc-4FMNnxqqspOBiBxP-fFsRrZRGwXFUwtwH-d4HHNfkJ9nY3oYU_aem_AYFmavcQG9SB_2U-vKYgdCxprY6yBC4zaQKqo-nApTd18qP307VD46dGSzf_Fm62wUs#// It takes less than a minute. Thank you so much and please share with your friends!