Credit Claudia Lenart

Part of a series on local food and suburban farming. Chef Zak Dolezal of Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen in Crystal Lake said using locally grown food has many benefits. It’s sustainable...

Credit Claudia Lenart

This is an update on a series about local food and suburban farming. Long Grove leaders voted in favor of a plan to allow residents to keep chickens, at the Nov. 8 village board mee...

Credit Queen of the Sun

Part of a series on local food and suburban farming. We can thank the honeybee for four of every 10 bites of food we eat, so for area beekeepers, their efforts aren’t just about th...

Credit Claudia Lenart

For Mark Leider, beekeeping is a hobby, a business and an environmental mission. The Libertyville resident says his primary motivation in beekeeping is to help the honeybees survive....

Credit John Emrich

Keeping chickens isn’t just for farmers anymore. While there aren’t statistics available on backyard chickens, a rise in popularity is evident by online chicken forums and news reports of...

Credit Claudia Lenart

Part of a series on local food and suburban farming For John Emrich, the foray into the local food movement began 10 years ago when he started juicing. He realized that to get the mo...

Credit Claudia Lenart

At an American Farmland Trust conference held in 2000, farming was proclaimed dead in Lake County, recalled Vickey Ranney, founder of the Prairie Crossing conservation community. Elev...

Credit Claudia Lenart

Prairie Crossing Developer Vicky Ranney has watched a vision of a housing development built around a farm grow into a thriving community over the past 18 years. Now Ranney and Prairie Cro...