Things Are Growing Great at MA Center Chicago!

We have been planting row crops and cultivating them without pesticides or chemicals for years at MA Center Chicago. With 142 acres of rich land, some of which has produced crops for many years, MA Center is just about perfect for farming. We began with a 1.5-acre plot of Echinacea purpurea (roughly two hundred thousand plants) and a small mix of other varieties. A wide variety of medicinal and culinary herbs as well as plants harvested for their dye properties and vegetables have been grown since we began in 2014. In fact, we have grown up to 35 varieties of herbs and flowers on approximately 2.5 acres and 35 varieties of fresh organic vegetables on a one-acre plot. We also have orchards with nearly 300 fruit trees, a bee colony, and compost production. We even have a sugar maple tree onsite, and during the spring season, the sap is harvested daily.

The 2019 planting season was officially launched with Br. Shantamrita Chaitanya presiding over the first phase of the herb farm seeding run. With the testing of different herb varieties over the past years, it has been determined that tulasi, and natural dye plants such as Japanese indigo (for indigo blue dye), and madder root (for red dye) will be grown on a larger scale. Alongside these plants, we plan to grow about a dozen other medicinal herb varieties that can be used in teas, tinctures, body care products, etc.

During phase one of our 2019 seeding run, about 6,000 each of Krishna tulasi (Ocimum tenuiflora) and Japanese indigo (Polygonum tinctoria or Persicaria tinctoria) and 3,600 Madder (Rubia tinctorum) seeds were planted, as well as a few flats of smaller-scale varieties. As a result of these plantings, we will have a busy spring and summer this year at MA Center Chicago. Interested in supporting our farming efforts? Contact us today to see how you be a part of what’s growing at MA Center Chicago.