Produce Farms near Tinley Park, IL

Monee

Baylor's Melon Market has run a South Side Chicago watermelon stand since 1955, based at 10100 S. Halsted with additional truck stops at 95th and Dan Ryan and 84th and South Lafayette. The season runs Mother's Day weekend through September, 9am to 7pm daily. Nearly seven decades in, it's still a neighborhood fixture for fresh watermelon and seasonal produce.

Lemont

Spira Farms grows Chicagoland's freshest microgreens indoors year-round in Lemont — harvested and delivered the same day, pesticide-free, in a USDA GAP certified facility, with a two-week shelf life that beats greens trucked in from warm-climate states. Started by the Borek family in 2018 after cancer struck the household, the farm composts all waste and packages everything in plant-based PLA.

Chicago

Manhattan

Farm2Veteran, home of the Fulcrum Farm Foundation in Manhattan, Illinois, raises livestock and operates a greenhouse and garden to provide free, farm-fresh meals to veterans facing food insecurity — over 500,000 meals provided so far. With veterans nearly twice as likely to lack access to nutritious food, the donation-supported farm gives its animals room to roam and grows a network of partner farms across the country.

Chicago

Baylor's has sold watermelon on Chicago's South Side since 1955, running a market at 10100 S. Halsted plus mobile stops at 95th and the Dan Ryan and 84th and South Lafayette. Seeded watermelon is the specialty they're known for citywide, though the stand carries other seasonal produce too. Open daily 9am–7pm, May through September — closed the rest of the year.

Chicago

Closed Loop Farms is a year-round urban farm at The Plant in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood, growing hand-harvested microgreens, herbs, edible flowers, and salad greens in soil using beyond-organic practices. The farm partners with local farms and chefs for home grocery delivery and wholesale, while creating reliable, quality work for its community.

Highland

Manteno

St. John

Chicago

Chicago Patchwork Farms is a BIPOC-led urban farm serving Chicago's West and Southside, growing nutrient-dense vegetables with organic practices across three locations including Chicago Ave and The Plant. All produce is offered on a sliding scale so no one is turned away, through seasonal farm stands, a summer CSA, farm dinners, skill shares, and volunteer days.

Chicago

Wilmington

Momence

Marys Berries grows berries on a small farm outside Momence, in the flat river-bottom farmland along the Kankakee River in eastern Illinois near the Indiana state line. Hours, varieties, and picking-season details aren't published online — call ahead before making the drive.

Plainfield

Bronkberry Farms in Plainfield runs from Earth Day to Halloween, moving from spring greenhouse season — custom planters, annuals, perennials, and vegetable plants — into summer's vine-ripened watermelon, sweet corn, and tomatoes, then fall hayrides and the annual Fall Fest. The general store stocks homemade pies, local honey, and jams, with bees, goats, and chickens to visit; twice named Best Retail Business by local chambers of commerce.

Wilmington

Jim Gorman's Vegetables is a produce farm on South Route 53 outside Wilmington, in Will County's stretch of farmland along the Kankakee River. It has no independent web listing, so what's sold and when is best confirmed directly with the farm.

Gary

Winfield

Hobart

Johnson's has grown fruits and vegetables in Northwest Indiana since the 1940s, with u-pick strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and vegetables running June through October. The adjoining Johnson's Fun Farm adds more than 30 family activities, and the calendar fills out with strawberry, blueberry, pumpkin, and sunflower festivals through the season.