Urban farm cultivates development in East Garfield Park — but it’s no charity: ‘Let’s empower’

Alicia Nesbary-Moore checks the progress of celosias growing at Herban Produce in East Garfield Park. (Mariah Rush/Sun-Times)

Starting in 2016, many of Herban Produce’s customers thought they were doing a favor to co-owners Alicia Nesbary-Moore and Barry Howard, pitching in their dollars to support the fledgling two-acre urban farm in East Garfield Park.

“People were like, ‘Oh, we’ll take your lettuce because we feel bad for you,’” Howard laughed. “But we realized they should buy it because we have the best produce in the city of Chicago.”