Links of note

Jamie Oliver's TED 2010 talk was extremely inspiring and gives me hope that we are moving in the right direction. He "wish[es] for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." I for one, welcome this food revolution!

Also, want to give a shoutout to Slow Food Katy Trail to promoting our urban chickens workshops. Thanks guys!

US Rents-It and City of Columbia

Thanks to all of our supporters, without your help none of this would have been possible!
This week CCUA thanks the support of US Rents It and the City of Columbia Landfill and Compost Facility. For several weeks in a row, and more to come, Billy F. and Daniel have hauled compost to our new farm site at Smith and Fey. Without the help of Us Rents It and the City of Columbia Landfill and Compost Facility we would not have 140,000 + lbs. of compost at Smith and Fay.

http://www.usrentsit.com/
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/PublicWorks/Solidwaste/compost-mulch.php

Upcoming Hen Workshops! March 2010

Hey Everyone,

After the success of both our February 2010 Urban Chicken Workshops, we decided to bring them back again! They are to be held on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @ 7 p.m. and Saturday March 20, 2010 @ 2 p.m.! The location for these has yet to be determined, but I can assure you, as soon as I know, you will know also!

Hope everyone is doing well on this very wet Sunday morning!

Reasons to raise Chickens in your backyard

Check out this link: Urban Hens Workshop in the news!!!
http://mymissourian.com/

Article presented in it's entirety below, citation to follow:

Stilwel, Mary (2010, February 19). Reasons to raise chickens in your backyard. MyMissourian. Retrieved from http://mymissourian.com/

Reasons to raise chickens in your backyard

February 18, 2010

Shared by Mary Stilwell

Mary teaches a How-to Hens class at The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture

Mary Stilwell teaches how to keep hens at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture.

One of the best things about raising urban chickens is the joy of watching them; I love to watch the chickens. It’s just like a cat playing in the yard or watching your kids or an aquarium. They are little beings that you take care of and that are in motion and also give you eggs!

If you have never had a backyard egg before, wow! There is a difference – a big difference in color, in texture and in flavor. I actually didn’t like eggs very much and I would never voluntarily cook an egg until I had my own backyard eggs. Then I was like: Oh my God, eggs are good; this is yummy!

One of the other things that I like is that they use your waste and their waste is useful to you so it’s a circle, a cycle of life that you can actually create in your own backyard.

I love the joy that kids get from it and the community that is build around it. People’s kids will come to my backyard to feed the chickens, interact with them and pick them up. They get so excited that when they are playing with their friends in the neighborhood they will get them to come over, so I meet them and their parents. It is really a great community builder. That is one of the things that I am really excited about for Columbia.

There is another How-to Hens seminar on Saturday, Feb. 20th. More information can be found here.

Filed under: MyFood , MyOutdoors , MyPets. Editor: Julie Mabeck

Spring thoughts on a Winter's Day

Today is February 9th and it is currently very bitterly cold and snow covers the ground in our neck of the woods. Even with this prevailing Winter, I am dreaming of Spring. We have already had our first thaw of the year, which means only two more thaws and Spring is upon us! With this said, I do however know that the groundhog did in fact see his shadow last week, which means 6 more weeks of winter.

Given that this groundhog named Phil did see his shadow, I advise gardener's everywhere to get their hands dirty today! I will be going outside, yes outside, to mine some soil out of a soil container I keep up on my porch. I will use this to create some nice small pots for starts of plants, then I will go through my seeds and decide what I want to plant in my garden this year - I know the sooner the better on tomatoes because they are my favorite!

I might experiment with some greens in this long, skinny planter I have, but only if I can make the room for them in a windowsill. Anyway, just wanted to encourage everyone to start taking inventory of their seeds and be proactive on the gardening season, even in the dead of winter!

Upcoming CCUA chicken workshops!!

How-To Hens:

FACT: Your six hens could produce more than two dozen eggs a week!

Wednesday, February 17th at 7PM

or

Saturday, February 20th at 2PM

Where? 214 Saint Joseph Street Columbia, MO

$5-$20 sliding scale benefits the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture

Want to be an urban hen owner? Come to this workshop and learn all about the City’s new chicken ordinance, the benefits of raising backyard chickens, how to properly care for your hens, and much more! Contact Caroline Hargrove at cchargrove1@gmail.com for registration and info.

The city council passed the urban hen ordinance!

The urban hen ordinance passed the city council by a vote of 4-3. Check our calendar for upcoming workshops.