About the Farm
Hi, I’m Riah! After moving to Chicago in 2018, I picked up gardening as a stress reliever from my fast-paced job at a hospital. In 2021, I took a leap and decided to take my love of growing and start a farm. To go from gardening to farming has been a bit of a learning curve, but oh-so-worth-it. After spending well over a decade working in healthcare, I am loving returning to my creative roots (I studied art for many years) and feeling at home amongst the flowers. I hope the flowers from the farm will bring you as much joy as they have given me.
Chicago
Many of the farm’s flowers are grown right here in the city! What started as a small, single garden plot has expanded over the years to include more that 12 different growing beds. This space is used for growing many of the farm’s most beautiful flowers.
Monee
In 2021, Flying Penguin Farm found a place to spread its roots to in Monee, IL. The land had been conventionally farmed on for many decades, and what was unknown at the time was that the long-term use of chemical pesticides and herbicides had depleted the soil of nutrients and organic matter. Initial soil test results said it had a “degraded soil” that was “damaged.”
The main focus in Monee, therefore, has been to work on restoring the health of the soil. To bring soil back to life has certainly been a challenge, but as the soil has slowly improved, it’s been wonderful to witness exactly how the health of the soil directly affects the health of the flowers.
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