About
Mission & Aims
We are Phoenix Farms, a small nonprofit organization that maintains a food forest in Woodlawn. We’ve been operating for a few years now on God’s Little Acre, a lot on 64th and Kimbark, in partnership with First Presbyterian Church.
Phoenix Farms seeks to promote access to fresh, sustainably-grown fruits and vegetables for our local community. Our food forest is open to the public and we encourage everyone to pick and eat our produce completely free and at any time. Produce not picked by our community is donated to First Presbyterian’s Free Food Market. We continue to work to make our space a safe spot where neighbors can stop and learn about food production, native plants, and pollinators.
Hours & Location
6400 S Kimbark Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
Plot across from First Presbyterian Church Main Entrance. Food Forest open 24/7.
Community
Board members and contributors
Current board members
Elena Gdula
Current board member and former Metcalf intern
Elena is a current board member and former Metcalf Intern through the University of Chicago for Phoenix Farms NFP. She works on-site with general Food Forest upkeep, planting and pruning crops and plants, updating the website, and fostering community relationships. As a Geophysics and Environmental Sciences major with a big passion for sustainability and conservation, Elena enjoys gardening, cooking, and educating others about the importance of our environment.
Marek Piechowicz
Current board member and co-founder
Marek is an amateur beekeeper and helped to found the Phoenix Farms NFP. He enjoys tending to hives, talking about the importance of pollinators, and cultivating pollinator-friendly gardens.
Grace Martin
Current board member
Grace is a UChicago alum ('19) and current Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School. A lifelong gardener and Chicagoan, she got involved with Phoenix Farms during college as a beekeeper. After serving as a Peace Corps agriculture volunteer in Cameroon, she joined the Board of Phoenix Farms Nonprofit to continue the mission of bringing healthy, sustainable food systems to Chicago neighborhoods.
Jules Eng
Current board member
Jules is a recent UChicago alum ('23) who has a passion for all things sustainability and food. An amateur gardener and honey taster, she is interested in bringing equitable food systems to the Southside.
Iman
2026 Summer intern
Iman (she/her) is a Cognitive Science graduate at UChicago ('26) and an incoming Master in Management candidate at UChicago Booth School of Business with a drive for positive community impact and on-the-ground initiatives. Iman founded the UChicago Cultural organization, the East African Student Association (EASA), in 2023, and since then, she has also been working in a Radiology Lab in Mitchell Hospital aimed at improving prostate cancer diagnostics. Iman delves into topics of interest, having attended study abroad programs in Paris and Florence for Philosophy and Art, respectively. Iman hopes to converge her work experience and upbringing in agriculture-centered Kenyan society to facilitate Phoenix Farms' goals as a 2026 Summer Intern.
Former board members, contributors, and interns
Asher Jaffe
Former Metcalf intern
For over 2 years, Asher worked on-site at our Food Forest and helped build and strengthen relationships with nearby people and organizations throughout Hyde Park, including First Presbyterian and Kumunda Community Garden.
With a strong passion for gardening and the environment, Asher hand-picked crops and plants to be planted within our lot, including complementary plants to our fruit trees, and helped maintain the general upkeep of the Forest as our former Metcalf Intern through the University of Chicago.
Yasmine Baldo
Spring 2025 Metcalf intern
Yasmine Baldo, a third-year Environmental Science student at the University of Chicago, thrives on holistically blending her passions for biology, research, public health, and environmental justice. Beyond her studies, she finds inspiration in graphite sketching, exploring nature through hiking and trail running, and expressing herself musically with the clarinet and guitar.
She has contributed art to the University's Logan Arts Center through the Organization of Black Students and founded the East African Student Association. It is these passions that propelled her spatial and community-driven research efforts for Phoenix Farms as our Spring 2025 Metcalf Intern.
Tess Teodoro
Former board member
Formerly co-president of the UChicago student branch of Phoenix Farms, Tess is passionate about environmental justice in her adopted home of Chicago. She joined Phoenix Farms as a Journeywoman Beekeeper in 2018 and was part of the inaugural board that incorporated as a federally-recognized nonprofit in 2020.
From talking about honeybees while on-the-ground in Woodlawn and Hyde Park to expanding our community partners across the region as we grow our food forest initiatives, Tess loves working towards more sustainable, equitable, and livable urban spaces in the Midwest.
Partners
Our Partners
Phoenix Farms RSO
UChicago's premier beekeeping (Harper Hives) and gardening (Avant Garden) RSO. Comprised of a mixture of undergraduates, graduate students, and university employees; boasts the highest hives in Illinois south of the Chicago Loop and a garden with some of the most unique crops in the city.
5801 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
First Presbyterian Church
Beehives are housed at First Presbyterian Church, where both students and members of the church conduct hive inspections, and congregants lead blessings of the bees.
6400 S Kimbark Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
Campus Composting
Through the Phoenix Sustainability RSO, Campus Composting works to reduce organic waste produced by the University community through public education about waste sorting and the implementation of composting infrastructure on and off-campus. Phoenix Farms compost bins are provided to PSI for use at events, and finished compost is returned for use in planting at our Food Forest.
Support the work