Yet, 2020 was good for the farms in many ways.
“More people were staying home, cooking at home, trying different things,” said Gretchen Hann, who with her parents owns Hann Farms on the Far South Side, which has both a farm stand and “you pick” strawberries.
But it also meant a certain amount of pressure on the fields.
“People just wanted to do something,” she said. “We had an extreme issue with parking. People were parking in Mom and Dad s front yard, in the barnyard, anywhere they could find. So we set aside some ground and sowed some rye and mowed it, so now we have a much bigger parking area. As long as we don t get a monsoon, we should be in good shape for parking this year.”