Chicken Talk with Jennifer Murtoff

On Thursday, July 22^nd Jennifer Murtoff of Home to Roost gave a talk about raising chickens in an urban environment.  Murtoff brought 2 chickens in a travel pen.  Both were hens.  Roosters are illegal in Chicago; they crow all the time, not just in the morning.  You don’t have to have a rooster for hens to lay eggs.

Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Plymouth Rock, and Barred Rock are varieties that are hearty laying hens and withstand the cold.

Murtoff then went through the anatomy of a chicken and showed us the comb, wattles, ears, earlobes, keel, crop (where food is temporarily stored before going to the stomach) and the cloaca.  Eggs come out of the same hole (cloaca) as poop, but are protected by uterine tissue, so they are sanitary.

There are laws that address humane treatment of animals including chickens.  You can’t kill them yourself.  You must take them to one of six licensed slaughter facilities in the city.  You can get chicks at the feed store at Harlem & I55 or through the mail.

Young Root-Riot gardener Lauren feeds one of Jennifer Murtoff’s hens.

Chicks need feed starter (a special mixture) because their digestive systems are not fully developed.  They need a brooder box to keep them warm.  Murtoff recommended having a light bulb in a box for warmth and straw or a towel on bottom of box.  A thermometer will help keep the right temperature.

When chicks are ready to go outside they need a coop.  Murtoff recommends having a run, coop with a slanted roof with ventilation.  Seventy five percent of the cost of having chickens is the feed.  A 25 lb. bag of feed costs $10.95 and should last about 2 weeks for 2 hens.  Chickens can be fed table scraps but be careful as too many greens and potato peelings can cause an impacted crop.

Hens start laying eggs at about 20 weeks.  They produce one egg per hen per day, with a break in winter.  Peak egg production is up until about 2-3 years of age, and chickens can live to be as old as 10.  An owner must consider air predators (hawks) as well as ground predators.  An owner should protect feed from other animals.  Keep it in a sealed container.

An owner doesn’t know birds are sick until they are very sick (they try not to show it) so get to know what’s normal for your birds.  There are 3 avian vets in Chicago.  If chicken eat a nail or a tack or some other shiny object like glass, it can get stuck in the gizzard and they may die.  They are probably as much work as a dog.  Clean the coop every one or two weeks.  Also consider vet costs and how to handle end of life, end of laying cycle issues.  What will you do with your bird?

Chickens don’t need a lot of space, 7 sq ft per bird.  Wing clipping is optional, as hens don’t tend to fly off.  Take eggs out of the coop everyday.  You don’t want them to eat an egg because once they taste one they’ll do it all the time.  The best time to get chicks is in the spring so they are fully matured by winter.

For more info on raising chickens in an urban environment Jennifer Murtoff’s blog is: Home to Roost Urban Chicken Consulting.

The Chicken Cooperative Tour, Aug 1st

Our local Chicken Expert just sent this info…
The Center for Sustainable Community (in Stelle, IL) is hosting a coop tour on August 1. It includes a tour of their land, including the chicken co-op. CSC is an intentional community created by a group of Rogers Park residents. About 2+ hours south of Chicago, it is literally in the middle of “nowhere” — meaning corn and soybean fields — an oasis of communal living. Come and learn more about chickens, orchards, and gardens in a rural oasis.

For more information, see http://urbanchickenconsultant.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/center-for-sustainable-community-coop-tour-aug-1/.

Best,
Jen

Updated: Learn from Others: Visit Local Gardens, July 31st

Hello Everyone, (updated July 28th)

Saturday, July 31st is the date we dedicated to touring other community gardens. This is a part of our educational series at Root-Riot to help us learn from what others are doing. This will allow us to talk to other gardeners to get advice and ideas to help us in our efforts for the rest of this growing season and next.

Sandra visited a few gardens that were highly recommended; west side, south side, and downtown.  Some had already harvested most of their produce and were in the midst of planting their fall harvest crops. Seriously, our gardens should be on the list of tours!
Our recommendations on the gardens suggested were based on having lots of vegetables still growing, Nearby locations and relatively easy to get to,Free parking, No admission fee

Two bus tours are now available: (updated July 23 6:00am)

1. Bus Tour West Side (updated July 23 6:00am)
   Mrs. Peery of the Austin Community Gardens is sponsoring a tour of some gardens in the Austin neighborhood. She has reserved a bus that will take folks on a tour of 5 gardens; some flower gardens and some vegetable gardens. The bus leaves at 10:00 AM promptly on the 31st and returns at about 1:30 PM. You will be treated to lunch after the tour. There is no cost. We will need a count of those planning on going by Thursday.Please respond to the evite or learn@root-riot.com
   
2. Bus Tour Chicago Park District – North Park Village Nature Center
   This is the tour mentioned in the updated evite (updated July 23 6:00am)
   Pulaski and Ardmore – 4000 west 5800 north
   The community garden on the site has 100 – 10’ X 20’ plots. The Nature Center houses lots of hands activities on for kids. There is a nature trail, a playground and plenty of picnic tables on 155 acres. They also have deer there that aren’t afraid of people! If there is interest one of the gardeners will meet us there for a tour. We will need a count of those planning on going by Thursday. Please respond to the evite or learn@root-riot.com

The above tour is by bus, for all other tours you must drive or take public transportation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Depending on the response to some of the sites we could agree on a time to meet there for an organized group tour. Or feel free to visit on your own.

Our own Root-Riot Gardens

• Root Riot Harambee (updated July 23 6:00am)
  (500 N Waller, Chicago)
  Lush vegetation in 35 beds, 2 budding flower gardens, completely enclosed fence and well-mulched paths.
• Root Riot Madison
  (Almost at the corner of Madison and Grove in Oak Park)
  Lush vegetation in 43 beds, bird and butterfly sanctuaries, new canopy and a 1000 gallon cistern.

Forest Park Community Garden

• Near Harrison on Harlem (Park on Harrison and walk through the alley or south on Harlem to the small park by the 290 West exit.)
  It’s a garden in the park with a picnic table, swing and a bench under shade trees. There is room for the kids to play in the grass under the shade trees. View their flowerbeds and newly installed water barrels in addition to their vegetable beds. There are a couple of beds growing watermelons vertically.

Northwest Chicago

• Chicago Park District – North Park Village Nature Center
  (Pulaski and Ardmore – 4000 west 5800 north)
  The community garden on the site has 100 – 10’ X 20’ plots. The Nature Center houses lots of hands activities on for kids. There is a nature trail, a playground and plenty of picnic tables on 155 acres. They also have deer there that aren’t afraid of people! If there is interest one of the gardeners will meet us there for a tour. Let us know by Thursday at learn@root-riot.com.
  
• The Peterson Garden Project
  (Peterson and Campbell, 3 blocks west of Western).
  This a new raised bed garden site. If there is interest one of the gardeners will meet us there for a tour. Let us know by Thursday at learn@root-riot.com

Downtown Chicago

• The Chicago Avenue Garden (Chicago just east of Larabee) has a community garden and is in the midst of creating an urban farm. They have a farmer’s market on Saturday.
• Growing Power E. Congress Parkway and Columbus Drive in Chicago (Across the street from Buckingham fountain on the northwest corner of the park).

NeighborSpace

• NeighborSpace owns property in a wide variety of neighborhoods and community areas throughout the City of Chicago. Click on the link to a map of over 200 of the gardens on the North West side of Chicago http://neighbor-space.org/gardens.htm

Hope you can make to one or more of the gardens.
Sandra and Louise
learn@root-riot.com

Harambee Theme Song

Were you there in the begining? Where you there when Sally and Dick got, what is now know as, the Root Riot Harambee gardners to sign the Haramee Song?  Well in case you missed it and wonder how it goes, here you go…

Refrain
Harambee, Harabee, Tuimbe Pamoja
Harambee, Harabee, Tuimbe Pamoja
Harambee, Harabee, Tuimbe Pamoja
Tujenge Serikai

Wengi walisema Kenya itakuwa matata
Repeat 3 times
Watu wote wasalama

Refrain
Watu wa Kenya hatuna ubaguzi

Repeat 3 times
Kila Rangi tunaipenda

Root Riot Update for July 24th.

Following 7 inches of rain overnight here is a quick (water soaked) update of what is going on in the Root Riot Network:

Harambee Workday Sunday 7/25   2:00PM

                We  are expecting cooler weather for this day.  Planned projects

• Reconnecting the fence
• Moving the mulch out of the way
• Preparing the second flower bed
• We are also going to be doing some general clean up of the site in preparation for being featured on a garden walk.

Chicken Class

                Jen Murtoff taught a wonderful beginner class on raising chickens at Harambee on Thursday night.  We had about 10 people in attendance with lots of questions, up close and personal encounters with two lovely chickens and a tour of a neighborhood chicken coop.   If you were not able to attend the class or have been thinking about joining the Chicken Nation, we invite you to schedule a coaching session with Jen.  You can learn more about Jen and her tremendous knowledge by visiting her website at www.urbanchickenconsultant.wordpress.com.  Thank you to Sandra and Louise for arranging Jennifer’s visit.

The message of Root-Riot is spreading

We have talked to three separate groups who are interested in starting a root riot!  Forest Park, Humbold Park and another West Side Chicago garden.

Water, Water Everywhere

Root Riot Madison is having their cistern filled regularly on Friday mornings. Thanks again to the Village of Oak Park for helping make us successful.

Not-For-Profit (NFP) Committee:

The Not-For-Profit (NFP) Committee is looking for participation to formalize the root-riot bilaws. Going through this process will help Root Riot define what kind of organization it wants to be and how it wants to be run. Everyone’s input will allow everyone to feel part of the process. Please review the attached draft bylaws and think about which committee you might like to serve on in the future.

West Side Garden Tour

Shrub Donations

We are still in the running for a donation of shrubs.  We will be notified sometime after Aug 15^th and are hoping to get enough of the shrubs to be able to sell to raise money for Harambee.

European Television Program

The program wound up being fairly short  but several root riot members were included in the piece as well as footage of Harambee.   If you speak French or German you will enjoy this piece: http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/arte-journal/3337540.html

Harambee Dedication Day Aug 15^th  at 3pm

We are in the planning stages at this point, but we are preparing for a dedication event for the Harambee Garden on August 15^th at 3:00pm.   We have our Alderwoman Deborah Graham in attendance and we have a maybe from Governor Quinn.

Garden Tour 7/31

Field Trip: Saturday, July 31 Things have settled into the garden. Don’t you wonder what other gardens are doing. Find a friend or two, and take one of the outlined tours and see what else is going on in and around the Chicago Land Gardens.
We need a head count! Please respond to the evite if you plan on attending! Thanks.

Black Oaks Tour

Presently we are considering August 24^th as a day for Root Riot to visit the Black Oaks Center  in Pembrooke Township.  This would be a great opportunity for us to learn as a community.   We will keep you informed as we get more of the details formulated.

NEXT MEETINGS

Please remember that garden meetings take place the second Monday (Madison) and Wednesday (Harambee) each month.   This will be August 9^th for Madison and August 11^th for Harambee.  Both meetings will begin at 7PM.

See you in the Gardens!!

Seamus & Amy

Funny Looking Tomato @ Harambee

FYI , it is safe to say this funny looking tomato is not a dangerous genetic freak engineered in some vacant lot on Chicago’s West Side.
These tomato plants donated by The Friends of Oak Park Conservatory are supposed to bare funky tomatoes that look more like peppers than tomatoes.

Some further info:
85 days. Lycopersicon esculentum Plant produces high yields of 6″ long by 3″ wide red tomatoes. Tomatoes have a excellent sweet flavor, grow in clusters of 3 to 5, holds well on vine, and has very few seeds. One of the best paste tomatoes on the market. Very few seeds. A heirloom variety from Poland.

Regards,
Dean + Christine

Not-For-Profit Meeting: Saturday, July 24 at 1 p.m. at Grace Episcopal on Lake Street

Dear Root Riot,

Last night, the Not-For-Profit (NFP) Committee met and went over the forms, came up with a list of priorities and created a timeline for tasking.  One of the tasks is creating a set of bylaws; I brought a draft and the NFP committee realized that it would have to be fine-tuned by the membership as a whole.  Going through this process will help Root Riot define what kind of organization it wants to be and how it wants to be run.

Everyone’s input will allow everyone to feel part of the process so please join us for a meeting to discuss the bi-laws on Saturday, July 24 at 1 p.m. at Grace Episcopal on Lake Street. If anyone can bring refreshments that would be great.  Meantime, please review the attached draft bylaws and think about which committee you might like to serve on in the future.

Thanks,

K.C. Poulos

Two Interesting Stories About Food Production

Here are the two radio pieces mentioned at the Wednesday Root Riot Harambee team meeting.

Both radio pieces were on WBEZ earlier this week (7/12/2010) about aspects of food production.  They touched on topics that have been discussed at the Harambee garden over the last couple of weeks, and I thought others might find them interesting.  You should be able to listen to both of them using the links below.

• Did Wall Street Cause A Food Bubble?
  This is the title of an article that appeared in this month’s Harper’s Magazine.  The author, Frederick Kaufman, was interviewed on the Public Radio show “Hear and Now”.  The author does a good job of translating a very esoteric topic – speculating on commodity futures – into an understandable explanation of why this might have caused the sudden enormous increase in worldwide food prices a few years ago.
  >> http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/07/rundown-712/

• Food Politics:  What Everyone Needs to Know
  The Public Radio show Worldview has a series called “Food Mondays”.  Today’s speaker was Robert Paarlberg, the author of a recent article in Foreign Policy Magazine called “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” and the book Food Politics:  What Everyone Needs to Know. His views are contrary to much of the conventional wisdom about organic and local food production.
  >> http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=43136

Submitted by  Harambee Root- Riot Regular Maggie Hein

RootRoot-Riot: Madison Street 7/12 update

Click 07/12/2010 Monthly Agenda (pdf)

The first meeting under the big top was a success! Great attendance and participation! Thanks to all of you who took the time to come out.

For the others who could not make it, just remember that meetings are the second Monday of each month and you and your friends, family, or other sustainability-minded folks are all welcome. Also, we think that last meeting was just a bit to long business-like. We are going to make the meetings shorter and more social from here on in.

To catch up the other folks who could not make, it here is a highlight of what was covered

Key Topics
1.Dedication Day 2.Featured Bed Lecture Potatos + Irrigation 3. Compost 4. Water, Water Everwhere Next Meeting: August 9th (Second Monday of each month) - It will be shorter and more fun! - Productive though it was, it was too much work for an evening!	5. Cistern Beautification Area Shade Structure 6. Summer Movie Series 7. Learning Series: Chickens July 21 + Garden Tours July 31. 8. Halloween Oct 31 Harvest Fest Sept 18 9. Not-for-profit 10. Chicago Tribune Article 11. Picnic Tables 12. Mulch + Planter update 13. OP Garden Resolution

1. The Root Riot Madison Street Dedication Day was very well attended!
Thanks to the organizing committee who very gracefully steeped forward and provided light snacks, refreshments and a lovely vegetable display. Thanks to the other Root-Riot Regulars who shared with others about the work that is being done in the garden. And thanks to the Village of Oak park for all they have done so far, as well as the use of the really large scissors to cut the ribbon!

2. Potatoes + Irrigation
Thanks to Jason Burk who gave a great “Feature Bed” lecture about potatoes, potato boxes, and soil amendments for potatoes. Jason also has an interesting idea for a local irrigation system for his bed. Let’s all keep on eye on what he is doing, and see what we can learn.

3. Compost
Are you the next Compost sommelier? A great, healthy discussion about what we are going to do with our compost bins, rolling barrow, yard waste, kitchen scraps was had by all. We did reach a general agreement! The Compost team will meet again and formalize the directions but her is the very basic for folks who are interested. First, we will add green and brown material to the rolling barrow. When that is full we will let it rest. Once it is sufficiently rested, we move it to the bin on the ground. Any questions? Good. Hold on to them. Let the Compost team do some more work and we will send out more info. Then ask questions. Ok?

4. Water, water, everywhere
The folks closer to Madison Street have a new water spigot closer to them. The 3 sister mounds are irrigated.
§          The “tan” hose goes to the spigot and typically should be in the “on” position at the Water cistern.
§          The “green” 3-sister mounds hose should be set to the off position.  I’ll coordinate with Stephanie about the water schedule so once in a while it will be “on”.

I’m sure there will be some confusion for a while as people get used to the multiple places that the water can be shut off. Be patient, and think it through you will get the hang of it as time goes by. When in doubt, I’d say shut it off as we only have so much water in the cistern. We can also put up signs as time goes by.

It is everyone’s responsibility to keep an eye on the water cistern level. We did have the Village fill up the Cistern earlier in the month. Please keep an eye on the water level and let me know when it gets low so I can give The Village a heads up that we will need more. ( I know it is hard to see the water level…let me know if there are any tricks out there for figuring it out.)

5. Cistern Beautification Area
Quite a bit of work over the last month in the area! How amazing is it that one trip to purchase some dirt and a paver or two would end up giving us enough pavers for a nice surface around the cistern and pavers for our major walkway. Let’s be sure to thank the folks @ Lake Street Supply (1810 West Lake Street) for their thoughtfulness, as well as the Water Cistern Beautification crew who donated sand, time, and the general backbreaking labor that we all come to love on Root-Riot jobs.

6. Shade Structure
The white shade structure is may have to come down. We have figure out what permit we need to keep it up longer term. On the other hand, it took us just about an hour to put up, so it is pretty quick if we have the magical number of 10 people. With the light sprinkling of rain during the meeting, it sure was nice.

7. Summer Movie Series
The summer Movie Series is slowly taking off the ground. We have two churches that are interested in sponsoring the series and we will work on coordination and communicating movies and times as the details are finalized. The pdf of the list of movies we are thinking of are on the web site on the Learning Calendar.

8. Learning Series
Sandra and Louise have several sessions lined up.

• You should have received an evite for a tour of some of the local gardens on July 31st. Please respond to that if you are interested.  There will be more updates to the Learning Calendar in the next few days please check out http://www.root-riot.com next week for more details.
• Updated: Changed from Wednesday to Thursday:
  Also, July 22nd, thursday 7:00 pm at Harambee, “The Chicken Lady” will bring her chickens and talk to folks about what it takes to have and maintain them. There is also a possibility of a tour of a local chicken coop.

9. Halloween Oct 31 + Harvest Fest Sept 18:
§   Sunday, Oct 31st we will be at the garden handing out Tricks and Treats. A few folks volunteered to help organize the day, Jen P, DeAnne T, and Jill N. If you would like to help please let them know as “many hands make light work” and besides that, it would be better to have a few people in the garden on Halloween to make sure no tricks are played on us.

§   Saturday September 18th is date for Harvest Fest.
Hold the date! Let’s all put that in our calendar and we will organize around it closer to the date.

10. Not-for-profit
Cherryl has organized all of the interested parties and we are moving forwards.

11. Chicago Tribune Article
Pete brought and article form the Sunday Tribune Magazine about it being the perfect time to start a late-season garden. If you have the Tribune Sunday magazine take a look at the gardening article. Pete’s quick summary mentioned a 60-70 day lead time before first frost in mid-October means new seed should go in the ground by early to mid-August.  And some veggies will survive the first frost and be harvestable until late October or even Nov. until the ground freezes.

12. Picnic Tables
We are still on the look out for large community gathering picnic tables. If one person walked into a landscape supply company with the intent to buy a few stones, and essentially walked out with ~50 free pavers, think of what could possibly happen when you are out and about sharing your garden experience with others. Perhaps someone will give you a nice sturdy picnic table or two. You never know. Please be sure to bring up the idea.

13. Mulch + Planters
The Village still has us on their list for planters and mulch. They are still working their way out of the work the storms gave them. Eventually, we will see a mulch pile in the back that we can spread around a bit and cover up some of the mud there.

14. OP Garden Resolution
Oak Park Board of Trustees is passing the attached resolution regarding community gardens.  Everyone is encouraged to attend to show their support.  Resolutions are the first order of business so you won’t be there very long. Meeting starts at 7:00. Monday the 26th.

–
Amy Beltemacchi

http://root-riot.com

grow@root-riot.com
847.812.6958

Root-Riot: A rhizomatically spread network of urban gardens, growing local food, fostering resilience, creating community, one planting bed at a time.