The Plant Has The Greens You Need | Chicago

The Plant, that innovative, in-the-works sustainable food hub in Back of the Yards, has been quietly picking up steam.

Renovations of the former meatpacking plant are continuing at a good clip, and the building's tenants include bakeries, indoor farms and a kombucha brewer.

And there's good news for your salads: The Plant's own aquaponic vegetable farm now sells produce to the public, at a stand at the Logan Square winter market at the Congress Theater.

Arrive as the market opens its doors at 10 a.m. for your pick of the farm's pristine kale, chard, arugula or salad mix ($4) and herbs (its basil, $3, is especially fragrant and delicate). Take home dried fennel seeds ($2) or bundles of lemon balm, spearmint and peppermint, ready for a tisane. There are flowery oyster mushrooms ($4) and pom-pom-shaped lion's mane mushrooms ($5), too.

The Plant's farm is a nonprofit that supports the operations of The Plant. For now, produce is only available at the Logan market.

But come summer, when the building's outdoor garden resumes production, you'll be able to purchase greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, vegetables and possibly tilapia, which are currently raised in-house as part of the aquaponic system, at both the farmers' market and The Plant.

Buy produce from The Plant at the Logan Square Indoor Winter Farmers' Market at The Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave.; logansquarefarmersmarket.org