Kinnikinnick Farm

Our farm is a small, family owned, organic farm located 85 miles northwest of Chicago. The farm is tucked away in the gently rolling hills of northern Illinois, just a few miles south of the Wisconsin state line.

Over twenty-five years ago, when we were still living and working in Chicago, we bought an abandoned farm on 170 acres. Five years later, after the last of our four children left for college, we left the city and began a new life on that farm.

We were eager to see if we could turn our passion for vegetable gardening, good food, and weekend country living into a rural livelihood. We named the farm for the Kinnikinnick Creek that runs along its southern boundary.

We started out with a half-acre organic vegetable garden 18 years ago. It has grown into a 30-acre organic market farm. We sell organic produce to some of Chicago’s best chefs and restaurants and direct to the public at the Evanston and the Chicago Green City Farmers Markets.

In addition to organic vegetables, the farm produces eggs, raises chickens, and is the home for a small herd of sheep, hogs, 6 dogs, a rabbit named Bandit, and Shelly, our family’s Nubian milk goat. Of course, we can’t do all this work ourselves and have employed five to eight people during the week to get everything done.

The farm has become a sturdy and complex intensive growing system. If you are interested in farming or in the movement for sustainable and local growing or in just preparing and eating great food, you will find much to observe and learn about and enjoy while you are visiting us. Sincerely,

David & Susan Cleverdon