Tempel Farm Organic’s mission is to employ sustainable business practices coupled with organic agriculture that enriches our soils, feeds and teaches our children and our neighbors, and provides us the knowing pleasure that we are responsible stewards of the land with a focus on earth’s future. We will grow high quality produce, flowers and poultry for our local customers and ourselves. We will strive to educate our customers about the advantages of locally raised, organic food as well as the many benefits of supporting local, family farms.

In the winter of 2005 Chris and Tania Cubberly took the Stateline Farm Beginnings course in Rockford, Illinois. It proved a  priceless resource for them, and sustained their passion for farming even on the coldest Chicago evenings.  Farm Beginnings brings together new young farmers, established farmers, and experts in the field of sustainable food production, with the express goal of teaching a new generation of producers, and providing them with the knowledge and experience of experts in the field of sustainable agriculture.

For a period, Chris worked for Matt and Peggy Sheaffer on their very successful organic vegetable and flower farm, Sandhill Organics. At Sandhill, he learned bed prep and seeding, weed and insect management, cover cropping, harvest techniques, and received intangible but invaluable experience under the mentorship of the Sheaffers.

Chris and Tania are now transitioning 65 acres of Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, Illinois for production of organic  fruit, vegetables, flowers, eggs, and poultry.   Organic certification should be completed by 2011, but in the meantime production will continue to produce as if certified.  They offer weekly CSA shares, and sell their goods at summer farmers markets in Grayslake, IL, and in the Logan Square market in Chicago.

In October 2008, Chris and Tania represented Slow Food Chicago as delegates to the Terra Madre Congress in Turin, Italy.

Chris and Tania Cubberly
17000 Wadsworth Dr.
Old Mill Creek, IL  60083
Email: Chris Cubberly
www.tempelfarms.com