When we think of co-ops, it’s usually food or grocery cooperatives like Chicago Market that come to mind. But cooperatives can be any type of business, really—the key characteristics are adherence to the seven international cooperative principles centered around common values pursued through jointly-owned, democratically-controlled enterprises.

Behold, the Chicago area’s newest co-op: Collective Resource Compost Cooperative! A familiar name, Collective Resource has been around for thirteen years and an active Chicago Market Business Owner for much of that time. On July 1st, the company became a hybrid co-op owned by its workers, customers, and supporters.

Our Owner and Uptown Farmers Market photographer Rick Baer and his wife Candace visited one of our market farms recently. Here's his report back from Los Rodriguez Farm in Eau Claire, MI, along with some beautiful photos in the slider above.

Candace and Stephanie

One of the many fantastic things about cooperatives is that we as Owners get to decide what our community-owned business values.

Last year, the Chicago Market Board of Directors undertook a process to create a value statement to reflect the Co-op’s ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The result is a recently approved addition to our list of Values: Justice.

We're excited to announce we've found a new, permanent home for the Uptown Farmers Market!

The last stage of waterproofing our basement is complete!

Our previous blog post showed work in progress and here are photos of the last steps.

[Before and after!]

We're in the middle of more basement construction work and want to share it with you!

Our lease with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) includes the basement portion of our location at Wilson and Broadway. The Co-op's store design plans call for transforming that lower level into storage space, restrooms, offices, and conference rooms (click here for pdf of the basement plan).

Being ready for this basement use means we need a drain tile system in place along the inside perimeter of the basement that routes water to sump basins where pumps will move it out to the city's sewer system. 

[Team U.S. Waterproofing was out to do the work.]

This post originally ran in Macaroni Kid.

Labor Day typically marks the unofficial "end" of summer. But farmers markets are still going strong! Many of them—including the Uptown Farmers Market—run through the end of October with farmers and vendors bringing loads of fabulous fall produce and other locally prepared products directly to us as consumers.

While farmers markets present excellent opportunities to introduce kids to food values, they are also hubs for community connections between neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, and even musicians. As we all work to reestablish social gatherings while staying safe, bringing families together at farmers markets is a great way to showcase the diversity and richness of our communities.

This post originally ran in Macaroni Kid.

Chances are you’ve shopped at a farmers market and maybe even have a regular one in your neighborhood that you visit every week. In addition to offering access to fresh produce and locally prepared foods, farmers markets are also great opportunities to help kids learn about food and food values.

The Uptown Farmers Market wouldn’t be possible without our awesome sponsors. And we're proud to tell you a little bit more about Becovic. Located in Uptown, Becovic is sponsoring the Uptown Farmers Market because they believe it is a way for the community to gather while sustaining our local makers and growers and supporting our Co-op.

As we continue to celebrate Chicago Market’s exciting funding news, we have another key milestone to share in the development of our store—the first on-site physical work to prepare the inside of our building for construction!

Our lease with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) includes the basement portion of our location at Wilson and Broadway. The Co-op's store design plans call for transforming that lower level into storage space, restrooms, offices, and conference rooms (click here for pdf of the basement plan).

[Photo of a worker wearing an air filtration mask giving a thumbs up sign]