WBEZ eporter Lewis Wallace presented a piece on goats and chickens in Chicago as a lead-in to the upcoming Urban Livestock Expo. Check out her story and video here.
Momma and baby on the rain barrel
Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
6 Feb
FoxNews Footage – Pat’s People and Places
Pat Elwood on Fox 32 Chicago covered Home to Roost and Chicago chicken owner Barbara G. this morning! See the footage from Pat’s People and Places. There are three spot segments on the page. What a fun morning! Huge thanks to Pat and Barb for making this possible.
4 Feb
Help out with Bioneers 2013
A message from The Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago Core Planning Team
The 2nd annual Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago Event will take place November 1-3, 2013 at Roosevelt University, along Chicago’s historic lakefront! There are over 20 Bioneers satellite sites in the nation, and we are proud to be part of a larger group that brings messages of hope and change to our communities.
GET INVOLVED, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
January – time for hibernation, but far from inactive: roots grow, animals dream, and Bioneers plan. Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is still young and growing in Chicago, but we are already busy planning our 2013 gathering, and we invite you to lend your hands, hearts and minds to help spread the word and the movement.
We are currently populating our core planning committees, and would love for you to join us! The shorter days and colder weather provide fertile ground for dreaming and re-imagining our neighborhoods, our city and our planet.
Please read the committee descriptions below, and contact us if you would like to get involved at this early stage.
Outreach Committee: Help get the word out! Work with the Outreach Committee to decide on and prioritize target audiences; develop a plan to reach these audiences; and to oversee and direct the materialization of the plan (materials and events). The Outreach Committee also works with the Marketing Committee to coordinate marketing materials. To get involved, contact carolina@chicagobioneers.org.
Marketing Committee: What is the face of Bioneers in Chicago? Help us develop support materials and coordinate the preparation of communication tools such as our fundraising package, newsletter, press releases, PSA’s, ads, postcards, social media content, and the program guide. If interested, contact steph@chicagobioneers.org.
Fundraising Committee: Help us offer reasonable registration fees by soliciting gifts from major donors, attracting individual and in-kind donations, and running our online fundraising campaigns. Please contactlan@chicagobioneers.org to get involved.
Program Committee: Be on the team that creates the program for 2013! Contact presenters, review proposals, plan events leading up to November, and help ensure that we are providing the highest quality, most inspirational program possible. If interested, email pam@chicagobioneers.org.
Logistics Committee: Liaise with our host university and other committees to ensure all details run smoothly during the gathering; ensure tech support is available for presenters; and arrange lodging and transportation for out-of-town guests. Contact info@chicagobioneers.org.
Food Committee: What’s on the menu? From where is it sourced? Have we accommodated food restrictions of our attendees? What kind of packaging are we using? Is the food delicious?? If these questions are important to you, contact info@chicagobioneers.org.
Volunteer Committee: Looking for energized and committed individuals interested creating an even better second year! We are looking to fill several positions, described below. If any of them sound like your thing, contact elizabeth@chicagobioneers.org
- Assistant Volunteer Coordinator – Are you good at recognizing people’s strengths and delegating tasks? Work with the Volunteer Coordinator and develop a seamless all volunteer-based event!
- Green Team Coordinator – Green it! Mean it! Do you like making a difference? Work with GLBC and the venue to develop and implement the event’s garbage/recycling service etc.
- Workshops Coordinator – GLBC offers one of the largest array of quality speakers, workshops and activities possible. Work with GBLC to further its vision by helping to create at atmosphere that inspires solutions guided by nature for people and the planet.
- Main Stage Coordinator – Help set the stage! Work with GLBC to make this another world class event!
Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is a local, self-organized National Bioneers Affiliate Partner. To learn more visit: www.bioneers.org.
3 Feb
Urban Livestock Expo, 16 Feb., 2013
Interested in learning more about urban agriculture?
Come out for the AUA 2013 Urban Livestock Expo – FREE!
When: Sat, February 16, 10am – 1pm
Where: Garfield Park Conservatory (map)
Description: Open to all and FREE! AUA’s Winter Gathering will be all about livestock in the city! You’ll have the opportunity to learn key aspects of keeping chicken/ducks, bees, goats and rabbits, and discuss associated issues and needs for organizing, education, and problem solving.
THE BASICS of raising chickens, ducks, bees, goats, & rabbits in the city
• • •
INTROS to local livestock keepers & networks
• • •
SOURCES of info & supplies
Click here for the Expo_Poster.
31 Jan
8 February, 2013: Mad City Chickens Screening in Palatine
Come to a screening of Mad City Chickens on Friday, Feb. 8th, at 7pm at the Countryside UU Church in Palatine. For more information on the group’s activities, check out their Facebook page at Village Homesteaders of Palatine.
Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus…the backyard chicken. A mere few pounds of feather, bone, and muscle; a creature regarded by many as a rather humorous, though not so intelligent agent of food production. And yet make note of a most singular phenomenon now taking shape across suburb and city. From backyard eggs to the family’s new favorite pet, the urban chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance. Mad City Chickens weaves multiple stories and contextual issues on city chickens and their keepers in a non-linear fashion that one rarely sees in a documentary. From leading experts to urban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what’s fast becoming an international backyard chicken movement. (IMDb.com)
26 Jan
Arlington Heights Nixes Chickens Again
At a board of trustees meeting on February 22, 2013, Arlington Heights again rejected backyard hens. Mary Green, Matt Scallon, and a contingent of chicken supporters, including Home to Roost, showed up for the meeting and made a valiant effort, but to no avail.
Mary’s letter follows:
Dear Backyard Chicken Supporters,
Thank you all for your words of encouragement, and a special shout out to those who attended and spoke at tonight’s meeting!
The Arlington Heights Village Board voted to deny both my and Matt’s variance requests.
We were given our (brief) time to speak, but it was clear from the onset that some of the Trustees were offended by the fact that the issue was even being brought up again (Matt went before them in Feb. 2012). Some of them believed that the 7-2 vote at last year’s meeting indicated that the Board was voting against having chickens altogether. Period.
In fact, they hadn’t changed the language of the ordinance and that enabled us to bring our petitions up this time. There was a valiant effort by one Trustee to discuss how to define a “customary” pet, but overall their minds were made up.
I see the experience as successful in that we energized the discussion and had an opportunity to educate people about the benefits and misconceptions of backyard chickens.
Historically, many proposals brought before the Board in the past have been met with strong opposition (including paved roads and a sewer system). A movement like ours won’t go away, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and change will come.
~Mary
22 Jan
Reminder: Arlington Heights Chicken Meeting TONIGHT, 22 Jan., 2013
Join Mary Green and Matt Scallon on Tues., January 22nd at 8pm as they go before the Village Board of Trustees to request permission to keep backyard chickens.
They need as many supporters as possible to attend the meeting on the 3rd floor of Village Hall (33 S. Arlington Heights Road). Matt and Mary will both be speaking, and it would be great if a few residents could also speak in support of allowing backyard chickens in Arlington Heights. You can sign up that night before the meeting starts.
If you’re not inclined toward public speaking, you can write a short message in support of their efforts. Contact Mary (marysgreen@hotmail.com) for a list of the benefits and misconceptions around backyard chickens you can use in your letter.
9 Jan
22 Jan., 2013: Support Arlington Heights’ Chicken Movement
Join Mary Green and Matt Scallon on Tues., January 22nd at 8pm as they go before the Village Board of Trustees to request permission to keep backyard chickens.
They need as many supporters as possible to attend the meeting on the 3rd floor of Village Hall (33 S. Arlington Heights Road). Matt and Mary will both be speaking, and it would be great if a few residents could also speak in support of allowing backyard chickens in Arlington Heights. You can sign up that night before the meeting starts.
If you’re not inclined toward public speaking, you can write a short message in support of their efforts. Contact Mary (marysgreen@hotmail.com) for a list of the benefits and misconceptions around backyard chickens you can use in your letter.
Some local media are:
- Journal & Topicswww.journal-topics.com/site/forms/?mode=letters
- Daily Herald www.dailyherald.com/share/article/
- (Chicago) Trib Local www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/
You can also contact individual trustees through email addresses listed at www.vah.com/government/village_board/default.aspx
Green and Scallon are particularly focused on getting “yes” votes from Trustees Glasgow, Scaletta, Breyer, and Farwell, as well as from Mayor Mulder.
They’ll be presenting approximately 200 signatures; if you have any petitions with signatures, please return them to Mary asap!
Contact Mary for a form if you would like to solicit more signatures before the meeting: marysgreen@hotmail.com
8 Jan
8 January, 2013: Home to Roost on the Turi Ryder show
Tune in to the Turi Ryder show on Chicago-based WGN radio 720 between midnight and 12:15 for a live interview featuring chickens, Home to Roost, and relocating a flock from California to Chicago!
16 Dec
5 Jan 2013: Chicken-Keeping Class at the Garfield Park Conservatory
Raising Chickens in the City: Opportunities and Challenges
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Hours: 10:00 am – Noon
Where: Jensen Room
Cost: $15 / $10 GPCA Members and Volunteers
Is one of your New Year’s resolutions this year to get in touch with your “inner farmer?” Let us help! Jennifer Murtoff, president of Home to Roost Urban Chicken Consulting, joins us to share the reasons raising chickens in the city is both important and doable. Come join us for this informative class, where you’ll learn a bit about how to choose a chicken for your space, get coop plans, and more.
Please register by visiting the web page and clicking the “register now” button below. If you have further questions about this class, please contact Melanie Harding at x16 ormharding@garfieldpark.org. Please note that registrations cannot be refunded after Friday, December 27th. If you purchase a spot in this workshop after 5pm on Friday, January 4th, please either bring a printed copy of your email receipt, or show it on your smart phone at the door of the workshop.
Home to Roost 