Cog Hill's Fairway Farms Hosts Inaugural Dinner

Local farming and sustainable food sources are nothing new to the Midwest, however an innovative project on the grounds of Cog Hill Golf and Country Club shows how golf courses can get in touch with the lives of their communities.

Introducing Fairway Farms

Fairway Farms is the brainchild of Angelica Carmen, a Lemont, IL resident and long-time employee of Cog Hill. For years Carmen, now 24, had a vision to build a farm on the property to express her passion for farm-to-table agriculture, environmental conservatism and giving back to her community. Cog Sustainability was born, which aims to use efficient and innovative solutions to initiate programs enhancing Cog Hill's environmental stewardship in all facets of the business. 

Located just off Archer Road -- you'll take the Parker Road entrance, which is what PGA TOUR players used for the Western Open and BMW Championship for years -- and parallel to Course Two at Cog, Fairway Farms features multiple rows of crops and vegetables maintained by Carmen's staff. There is also an apiary with two bee hives that yield local honey, sold minutes away in another section of the village.

Farm to Table Dinner

In August, Fairway Farms hosted their inaugural farm-to-table dinner, open to the public. Kristen (Mrs. GU) and I learned of the event via the Cog Sustainability Twitter account and knew this was an opportunity we could not pass up.

As you can tell by the gallery above, the evening was absolutely fantastic in all aspects. Carmen and her team at Cog Hill's culinary farm put on an incredible show, featuring a four-plate dinner, appetizers made from vegetables pulled straight from the ground, local music, and my favorite local brewery -- Pollyanna -- serving specialty beer brewed from basil grown on the property.

Angelica Carmen will appear on the Golf Unfiltered Podcast in the coming weeks to talk about her vision and dream in greater detail. In the meantime, be sure to follow Cog Sustainability on Twitter and Facebook to learn more about this amazing initiative.