Our History

Liberty Prairie (formerly Liberty Prairie Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Grayslake, Illinois. Located halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, our work focuses on sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship at the urban edge. 

Founded in 1994, our legacy is characterized by collaboration and ingenuity. We are a component within the Liberty Prairie Reserve, a distinctive open space sanctuary under public and private ownership. This collection of land owners shares a common goal: to preserve and restore the area’s natural and historical landscape of woodlands, wetlands, prairies, agricultural fields, and farmsteads. We play a crucial role within this patchwork collection of land owners as the only local, organic farm in the Reserve.

Liberty Prairie is located on land that was part of the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Odawa, Anishinabeg, and Potawatomi nations. Many other tribes—such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Meskwaki, and Menominee—also called this area home. Across the farm, we embrace the responsibility to act as conscientious stewards of this land not just for today but for generations to come.