In a small on-campus plot lined with benches, trees and a short fence to keep rabbits out, volunteers are busy planting a summer garden. Dill sprouts from one section, carrot tufts peek out from another. Someone kneels at the edge of a bed, patting the soil flat with both hands.
This is the work of Phoenix Farms, a student-run gardening and beekeeping organization, cultivated by volunteers from the wider University of Chicago community.
The registered student organization (RSO) has been quietly growing tomatoes, radishes, cucamelons and flowers between the Smart Museum of Art and the Young Memorial Building for over a decade. Many people who walk past the garden every day probably have no idea it’s there, or that they’re welcome to step in and help.
Faculty, staff and community members have all pitched in before, and the students who run the organization are always looking for more volunteers. The group takes its gardening seriously, but its leaders say the mission is more than just produce.
“It's to provide a space for people in the Chicago community to connect with the way that we grow our food and have some hands-on engagement with the land,” said Phoenix Farms co-president and co-head gardener Mira Tensuan-Eli, also known as the organization’s “Queen Bee.”
Roots in the community
Beyond the plot at the Smart Museum, Phoenix Farms also has a greenhouse on top of the Biological Sciences Learning Center, where seeds are started each spring, and beehives at First Presbyterian Church in Woodlawn, about a mile from campus.
A branch of the organization grows oyster mushrooms year-round using spent coffee grounds from campus cafés. What gets harvested goes to the students and other volunteers who grew it. There's no formal membership and no fee to participate.
Phoenix Farms began as two separate RSOs—Harper Hives, focused on beekeeping, and Avant Garden, focused on gardening—that merged around 2018. The mushroom-growing branch came later, born out of student curiosity about mycology.
Volunteers participate for a variety of reasons, from a desire to learn something new, to an interest in reigniting a childhood hobby.
“We get a lot of people who are like, ‘I gardened a lot when I was at home and I want to be able to reconnect with that,’” said Tensuan-Eli.
In addition to connecting with the land, Phoenix Farms gives volunteers the opportunity to connect with each other. They’ve hosted make-your-own pickle events, using produce they grew themselves, led foraging trips for volunteers, and enjoyed fresh sourdough at what they call “Brom” (Bread Prom).
Phoenix Farms regularly brings together other clubs for joint events. Their communal “Big Soup” —a tradition involving participants bringing in ingredients to cook a large soup together—in collaboration with the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative and the Environmental Justice Task Force is among the most popular. These partnerships tend to grow organically, shaped by the connections of whoever is leading the organizations at the time.
The bees—and the honey
Though Phoenix Farms’ hives recently relocated from the Charles M. Harper Center roof—giving the bees a break to settle into their new home before producing again—the honey has a fantastic reputation.
The campus linden trees, which bloom in late May and early June, are a big part of why.
“It's well-known that some of the best honey comes from the pollination of the linden trees,” said manager of campus environment Kathleen Golomb. The hives at First Presbyterian are close enough to campus that the bees forage freely across Hyde Park and Woodlawn to find them.
What helps too is the campus environment. UChicago’s campus—a recognized member of the American Public Garden Association since 1997—is dense with flowering trees and shrubs, and the University does not use broadcast herbicides or pesticides anywhere on grounds, only targeted spot treatment in specific cases. For bees, it's ideal foraging territory.
“It's incredibly helpful to our pollinators that they’re not being affected, and the honey is not being affected either,” Golomb said.
When honey production does start up again, Phoenix Farms sells it at student organization fairs on campus and at the Hyde Park Farmers Market.
Lending a hand
In the spring, summer and fall, when things are in bloom, Phoenix Farms’ garden is a quiet green space that anyone can sit in or stop by.
“Whenever people remember that we exist, they’re super happy about it,” said Tensuan-Eli. “‘There’s a garden and bees here?’ And it’s like, yeah. We’re here.”
Volunteer gardening sessions, or work days, happen on weekend mornings once the season kicks off in Spring Quarter—and anyone on campus is welcome, no sign-up or experience needed. To be notified about upcoming work days, added to the mailing list, or kept in the loop on when the bees will be producing, email incoming co-presidents Sadie Foer (sfoer@uchicago.edu) or Aubrey Barb (abarb@uchicago.edu).
—A version of this story is published on the University of Chicago Intranet.