Free Republic

Straw hat in hand, Tyrean “Heru” Lewis jumped out of his pickup truck along busy Shackelford Road in North St. Louis County and walked into the treeline, where he had something special to show. On the other side, uniform rows of vegetables — lettuce, radishes and bok choy — sprouted on half an acre. The land is not on a remote country farm, but just 17 miles from the Delmar Loop in the heart of the metro. As Lewis, founder of Heru Urban Farming, checks the crop he gets excited about its progress, raising his voice over the sound of...

Urban farming is usually thought of as a niche business for high-end food produce. In Chicago, it has taken on a new meaning. Police in a helicopter stumbled upon what may be the largest outdoor pot farm in the city’s history. Planted in rows and spread over an area the size of two football fields, as many as 1,500 plants averaging 6 feet tall were growing amidst heavy brush in an industrial area on the city’s South Side. “This would not be visible from the street,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy at a press conference today. “It’s surrounded by...