Southside Blooms grows sustainable flower farms around Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) – South Side Blooms, the Enterprise of Eco House Chicago, has flower farms all over the south and west sides of the city. They prepare and sell them from their shop in Englewood.
The shop is almost completely staffed by young from the community, so CBS 2's Jamaica Ponder swung by to see how this homegrown idea turned into a beautification and reinvestment project for the city.
"So my husband and I co-founded Southside Blooms in 2014," said Hannah Bonham Blackwell. "It's a project of Chicago Eco House, which was our first initiative, and that has the mission to use sustainability to alleviate poverty. So we do that by taking over vacant lots and growing flowers on them to produce jobs for our kids here in the South Side neighborhoods and also West Side neighborhoods."
Bonham Blackwell said that it was her and husband, Quilen Blackwell's passion for service in their inner city that sparked their first encounter.
"It's kind of what brought us together on a blind date set up by a friend because of the projects that we were doing," she said.
Six months later, they were engaged.
After getting married, the two decided to move into the neighborhood, wanting to start a community-driven service project. They used their wedding gifts to purchase their first home.
"We decided to move in because we knew that it had to be a community based project and we had to show the community that we had a stake in it as well, that we weren't just coming in and trying to do something, but we didn't really want to live here," said Bonham Blackwell. "So, we started with just what we had, which was a house and we looked around. There were a lot of vacant lots."
Initially, the couple wanted to grow food on the empty land, but quickly realized that between regulations and Big Agriculture, the soil on vacant lots can also be precarious, and potentially filled with toxins making crops unsafe to eat.
"And so we said, 'Why not flowers?'" Bonham Blackwell said. "It's a $35 billion industry and we knew that that could ultimately lead to real careers for youth and not just gig work."
Bonham Blackwell said poverty was the root of a lot of the other issues facing the South and West Sides.
"Having an alternative that is attractive to a young person, like being able to make money right here in their neighborhood, we hope is, ultimately what will lead to really great change and that will truly see violence go down," she said. "We will see, you know, maybe other businesses opening, other things flourishing because of the money that we're able to pull in so really quickly."
In addressing poverty, Eco House also emphasizes the value of sustainability. They farm off-grid, using solar panels and rainwater irrigation on all their farms, allowing them to grow flowers without pulling from powerlines or using water from the city.
Since their first farm, they've just kept expanding.
Bonham Blackwell said they have farms in Englewood, Woodlawn, West Garfield Park, Little Village, Pilsen and just started a partner farm in Gary, Indiana. Their newest farm in Little Village is on the Cook County Jail campus.
"So out of that project of growing flowers, we decided that we wanted to have a way to sell the flower straight to the consumer and also expose the youth to the bigger floral industry that existed with events, weddings, all those things outside of just selling our grown flowers as a CSA or as bouquets," she said. "So we ended up opening Southside Blooms, which is the sort of flower shop facing part of our organization."
Dionta White started working for Southside Blooms over a year ago. He said he never imagined he'd be growing flowers on vacant lots, let alone selling them.
"I like the idea that you can walk around your community and see fields of flowers, because I was growing up in Inglewood," White said. "We had we had a center, but we had no like real flower farms in Englewood. Like, we never thought about making an empty lot into a flower field. Like, we never thought about that."
White added, "It was just crazy to see how like how much work you put into the community and it changed you. I mean, I actually did this like I actually planned it this very, you know, activist. It's crazy to grow stuff."
Bonham Blackwell said Southside Blooms can deliver positivity citywide, allowing all of Chicago to enjoy the beautiful flowers from their farms.
"Even though we are producing things here, we are able to send them out in other areas that are well resourced," she said. "One thing I think that is helping make us successful is that we are able to bring our product easily and affordably to people in the Chicagoland area."
With every purchase, there are more hours available for young people to work and continue to add value to their community, something White said he liked most about his job.
"I was raised over here, so it was great. I think it had the opportunity to give back to young people and give the children another way, like, you know, just to get some positivity back into Englewood," he said.
Bonham Blackwell added, "This project is all about it's all about preserving life. And so, you know, at the end of the day, the flowers are great, the sustainability is wonderful, you know, but all of this is about, you know, preserving life."
Southside Blooms is available by delivery only. You can order online at SouthsideBlooms.com.
Young people interested in applying to work with Eco House can visit their website with more information.