Posted Jul 28, 2025
Four Rivers Farm, situated in Old Mill Creek, Illinois, right at the Wisconsin border, was founded by husband-and-wife duo Sarah and Alyosha Bolocan following a long journey that began in downtown Chicago, where the two first met in 2006.
Coming from two very different backgrounds – Alyosha born and raised on a two-acre farm in eastern Moldova (formerly USSR) and Sarah in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California – it wasn’t until the two met in college, fell in love, and spent time with Alyosha’s family on his childhood farm in Moldova where the vision for an organic family farm began to take shape.
“When we got back to Chicago, I started connecting with community gardens wherever we lived, and began growing food,” Sarah shared in an interview with Green City Market (GCM).
While Sarah was focused on “farming every inch of city soil she could get her hands on,” all while raising three kids, Alyosha worked in Chicago’s restaurant industry, serving various roles, both front and back of house, where he was exposed and developed an appreciation for fresh, local ingredients and cooking seasonally. In 2014, when their friends opened a restaurant in Logan Square with a connected outdoor space, the two began cultivating a small-scale urban farm that provided food for the restaurant.
While the restaurant unfortunately closed during the COVID pandemic, it became another step in the Bolocans’ journey towards their dream of farming their own land. Almost 13 years after their passion to own a family farm was ignited, an amazing opportunity arose in which Sarah and Alyosha were approached about farming two acres of land on a 15-acre property in northern Illinois.
“It was a huge leap from a city garden to two acres in production, but we believed in ourselves,” Sarah shared.
Following a year and a half into managing the farm, another opportunity came up for the Bolocans to purchase the property, turning the Bolocans’ dream of owning a farm into a reality, and where Four Rivers Farm was born.
Today, Four Rivers Farm is a thriving farm where the Bolocans grow more than 200 varieties of vegetables and cut flowers, in addition to herbs, wild edibles, and even hardneck garlic for culinary use and seed.
As a Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) farm, Four Rivers’ growing practices reflect a deep commitment to sustainability and soil health, where they never use any synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers or genetically modified organisms. Sarah and Alyosha cultivate the land by hand, using raised beds, compost, worm castings, and heavy mulching to support a thriving biological ecosystem in their soil. Instead of herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic fertilizers, they rely on thoughtful, organic approaches like silage tarps, crop rotation, and beneficial nematodes to nourish strong plants and manage pests naturally.
“We’re only three years in as a farm, so we’re still learning what works best,” Sarah shared. “It’s interesting to see firsthand why these practices are important, but beyond the specific regulations, it’s all about learning to work with nature.”
For example, last year, the Bolocans cover-cropped a former invasive buckthorn thicket with sunflowers.
“Now you go outside and see hundreds of birds and pollinators,” Sarah remarked. “It’s really beautiful to see the land transform like that.”
Four Rivers Farm is truly a family farm. Currently, Sarah and Alyosha don’t have any employees, aside from seasonal help from Alyosha’s mother, who is visiting for the summer.
“She’s an experienced farmer from Moldova, so she’s helping with the kids and giving me tips in the field,” Sarah shared. “It’s been fun to learn from her.”
Their three children are also deeply involved. “Our 17-year-old is doing farmers’ markets with us and has been farming alongside us for years, against his will at first,” she joked. “But now it’s second nature to him. He knows the plants, the seasons, it’s all absorbed. And our daughters, who are 8 and 11, are getting there too.”
Like many farmers, the couple faces unpredictable weather and environmental pressures. Last year in June, they experienced 18 days of rain, leading to terrible fungal issues on their tomatoes, forcing them to pull the crop and plant winter squash and melon instead.
But their biggest ongoing challenge? Weeds.
“We’re farming on an old pony field, so we’re dealing with 100 years of seed banks in our soil,” Sarah shared. “Every time we till, we bring up more weed seeds. So we’re constantly deciding when to mulch, when to direct seed, and how to manage it.”
Four Rivers Farm first joined Green City Market in 2024, but their connection goes back much further.
“I shopped at Green City Market for over 15 years when we lived in the city,” Sarah shared. “It’s the market that sustained us. I was a regular customer, even when we were on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and using double value tokens back in the day. It felt really full circle to be able to come back.”
Their decision to apply as vendors was also tied to the Bolocans’ own values of farming and sustainability practices, aligning with Green City Market’s commitment to lifting up growers and food producers that prioritize environmental stewardship.
“We wanted to be at a market where every farm is selling what they grow, and where everyone shares the same standards, whether they’re organic or Certified Naturally Grown,” said Sarah. “The community at Green City Market is amazing. It’s been great collaborating with the other vendors, and it truly feels like we’re all rooting for each other.”
For example, last year, Four Rivers had an entire block cover cropped with daikon radishes – “way more than we could ever sell,” she added. But then Sidekick Ferments approached them with the idea to make daikon kimchi.
“It was so cool to see something that might’ve gone to waste become something delicious,” Sarah said. “That kind of collaboration is only possible because of the relationships we’ve built at Green City Market.”
The name of the farm itself, Four Rivers, is inspired by the bodies of water that shaped both Alyosha and Sarah’s childhoods and guide their farm’s philosophy to this day.
“Rivers have had such a profound impact on both of us growing up,” Sarah shared. “They’re always flowing, sometimes slow, sometimes rushing, and farming is a lot like that. It’s a way for us to remember that we’re always moving forward, even when it doesn’t feel like it.”
“People ask us about our name every week,” she added. “So we’re always keeping this philosophy in the forefront of our minds, reminding us of where we came from and where we’re going.”
To that end, looking ahead, Sarah is most excited for garlic season. Currently, they’re growing 12 varieties this year, ranging from sweet with a high sugar content to spicy (“burn your mouth off kind of spicy”!).
“It’s really fun to see people try them all,” Sarah said.
You can find Four Rivers Farm at both GCM West Loop (8 am-1 pm) and GCM Lincoln Park (7 am-1 pm) on Saturdays.
Learn more about Four Rivers Farm on Green City Market’s website and visit their website here.
At Green City Market, we believe farmers' markets are a powerful instrument of a local food system, and we're dedicated to creating widely accessible marketplaces for local food in Chicago where farmers can make a living wage and connect directly with their customers. Visit our calendar for upcoming market dates and support our nonprofit work to deepen support for Midwest farmers like the Bolocans here.