Growing at MCC

Inspiring students & community through the Center for Agrarian Learning and two degree programs.

02/22/2026

TODAY 🥕🫑🍎💐🐖🐔
Doors are open now until 3 PM. Come check out 12 different farms offering CSA subscriptions in McHenry County. Cut flower subscriptions, vegetable boxes, meat, and eggs - imagine the bounty of local goods you could have this season!

CSA Fair
FREE to attend
Other farm goods for purchase today

organized by and

02/07/2026

Wow! Thank you to all who came to The Great Seed (and soil!) Event at MCC today.
So …many …people! So many plant people in the County and beyond. Hope springs eternal, indeed.

Offered in partnership with U of I Extension Master Gardeners in McHenry County.

02/06/2026

Curious about CSA’s? Does receiving a regular box of local farm products appeal to you?

Join us Sunday Feb 22 ! 12-3 pm
Free

10 - yes 10! - local farms will be on hand with exhibit table to answer questions about their CSA options. Community Supported Agriculture is like a “membership” of sorts with lots of different delivery options, product mix, and payment options. There is certainly a good fit for you and yours.

In addition, Kids Fruits and Veggies To The Rescue!, (kids ages 4-10) will start at 12pm (ending at 1pm) at Duke’s the same day. Registration not required, but strongly encouraged as limited spots are available. Registration link in bio.

Grab lunch or a beer at Duke’s and visit the CSA fair!

01/22/2026

Here’s a little experimental, jazz, audio to go along with our experimental Winter spinach post…
Giant winter spinach from high mowing, performed beautifully early on, and now is bolting. Bolting in December! So it can’t be because of the heat. We are wondering maybe it’s that the transplant seedlings got a little stressed out before they went in? Maybe there have been too many fluctuations between cold and hot days in Nov/Dec?
farming is a constant learning process, and we love it on the MCC student farm!

11/14/2025

Last week Liberty Prairie in Grayslake , IL welcomed our farm crew on a tour focused on winter growing.
🌬️❄️🌱🌬️❄️🌱

We were so focused on the fun and the learning that we forgot to take photos of their impressive in-ground growing of spinach, kale, lettuce, and other hardy crops. Trust us, tho, that it was helpful to see their systems and to learn from Jeff and Jen Miller’s expertise.

THANK YOU and THANK YOU Jen and Jeff!
Deep winter growing is fascinating! 🤔😎😋

11/01/2025

The Green Living Expo at MCC is happening now through 3pm! After a break last year, this free event is back full force with vendors and activities, all focused on sustainability. 🌎🤘🌎🤘
Come be inspired and meet some excellent people :)

10/24/2025

A bit of the fall harvest from the MCC, Student Farm… all three of which came from . What you see here is Glass Gem popcorn, Eclipse dry beans, and Honeynut butternut squash. If it weren’t for the darn dear, we would’ve had quite a bit of that corn!
🦌🦌🦌🫣🫣😥

10/10/2025

Athletics is hosting the MCC Baseball Hall of Fame event this weekend for the 2016 season and our floral design program was asked to make the centerpieces! Courtney and her students from the Intro to Floral Design class made these masterpieces! Congrats to the players and nice job designers!

09/26/2025

Thank you Michelle from for sharing your knowledge about the seed industry with us. This past Tuesday evening we had a nice mix of local farmers and MCC students in the room - it was a pretty impromptu gathering and totally fascinating! #🌱🌾🌱🌾
Michelle has 24 states in her region and is super knowledgeable - we order from High Mowing every year for the MCC Student Farm (as well as from other companies like Johnnys and Albert Lea). Chk them out, is 100% certified organic.

09/09/2025

As founding members of the Northern Illinois Young Farmers chapter, we are SO happy to see this farmer-focused event in its 4th year!

DATE: September 19-21

New this year - a whole weekend extravaganza! Join us Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
OR… for just one meal or one workshop! It’s up to you.
Find more information at the link in our BIO

LOCATION: Hazzard Free Farm

5111 Ahrens Road, Pecatonica, IL 61063

THEME: Interconnectedness

Farm-ily started as a farm-to-table dinner for farmers, created by farmers.

Tickets in Bio! 🐝🥕💥🕺🏻🏄‍♀️

09/02/2025

Hops harvested! Last week we harvested four varieties of hops from the MCC Student Farm and they are drying this week in the back shed. Such an amazing plant the bines grow so tall, and even in a dry-ish year like this one, we have enough to donate to for a special brew! We are excited to be partnering with them.
Look for more details to come 🏄‍♂️🤸‍♀️🐝

06/17/2025

The Center for Agrarian Learning at MCC was very happy to host last Fridays “Community Forum” led by U of I Extension in McHenry County.
Within the first 10 minutes, I overheard a great connection made between Community Health Partnership of IL in Harvard, and the McHenry County Conservation District. It was a day filled with such networking!
We hope to host future events for community members to assess needs and obstacles and brainstorm solutions - there’s such great work happening in our County. Thank you Extension, and all who attended!

Address

8900 US Highway 14
Crystal Lake, IL
60012

Website

http://www.mchenry.edu/cal

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