Dear Chicago-land Green & Eco-living (CGE) and Chicago-land Veg-living (ChicagoVeg) members,

While Vegetarianism and the Green/Environmental movement are two different movements, they have a lot of crossovers. In spite of the fact that the majority of people become Vegans/Vegetarians because of either health reasons and/or ethical reasons, there are a lot of people who mostly do it specifically to support saving our planet (http://www.earthsave.... ). I am not saying that all Vegetarians are Environmentalists and all Environmentalists are Vegetarians. There are a large number of Vegetarians, however, who do support the Environmental movement, just as there are a large number of Environmentalists who believe in vegetarianism.

Thus, the purpose of this email is to invite CGE members to consider joining ChicagoVeg if you are interested and to invite ChicagoVeg members to consider joining the CGE group as well.

While ChicagoVeg is the largest Vegetarian meetup in the Chicago area and CGE is the largest eco-living meetup in Chicago area, this would make both group even stronger than they are now. Both groups will remain having separate events with occasional join events when appropriate (i.e. Green Festival, GMO discussions, etc.).

I believe that some CGE members might be interested in this ChicagoVeg upcoming event: http://www.chicagoveg...
I also see that some ChicagoVeg members might be interested in this CGE upcoming event: http://www.eco-living...

If you are not a member of both groups yet, please consider joining them at http://www.chicagoveg... and www.Eco-Living.us

Thank you for participating!

- Vadim

Vadim, I have just joined the CGE and am primarily interested in learning how to farm (without moving to a rural environment just yet). This group was the closest I could find to a like-minded group in Chicago. I had first determined that I should create my own Meetup group specifically for urban farmers, but perhaps you (and other members!) could advise me: Are there enough members of CGE and ChicagoVeg who would be willing to support/teach me in my endeavor to learn about and start doing my own food-growing? Do people in these groups actually know about growing their own food? Soil conditions and crop seasons? Natural and organic "pesticides"?

I welcome your thoughts!
Thanks,
Sara

Sara,
I embarked on a journey to learn to grow some food last year and I grow tomatos in my apartment. All my plants are potted, I live in a high rise and do not have a yard. I'm not sure I know everything there is to know about urban farming, but we could definitely exchange notes and help each other sustain our interest in growing food, if you like.

Siri.

Siri, that sounds great! I was curious if it was possible to grow food (not just herbs) in a high rise. Let's definitely talk about this. I won't be ready to start growing things until I move in October, so I plan to use the summer to educate myself. Should be fun!
Sara

Sara - First of all I am very happy to have you in our group - Welcome!
Second I would post a discussion on our message board to hear opinions of other members as well as get a sense how many people might be interested into discussing this specific topic. If we will have enough people who are interested we could consider to setup a specific meetup event related to this.

Here's a short list of some simple, easy ways to get started in urban farming. And, yes, plenty of city folks including myself have been doing just that for years before it became the norm!

Some good places to visit and talk with folks who know:

* CSA (Chicago Sustainable Agriculture) is prime example of urban farming/gardening.
* Farmer's Markets - They can show & tell you what's in season.
* Take a garden tour and/or visit an organic farm.
* Visit a good, full-service garden nursery staffed with experts for advice.
* Browse websites of any State Land-Grant University w/Agricultural Extension Programs.
* Botanical gardens & conservatories have ample information and resources.

* Newer programs include renting/purchasing a plot within a large community garden.
* More tenants are becoming involved in roof-top gardening with their landlords.

Previously on this message board, I have provided some links. If you need more specific information you can email me with you're questions. I'm a Master Gardener with over 15 years of experience in my own city backyard!

There's plenty of programs/workshops on composting, rainbarrels.....if there's enough interest.

Note: I'm planning a "Community Garden Tour" where we will visit several projects. So stayed tuned...

*Please follow any updates and further discussion of these topics under the meet-up idea thread:

See: "IDEAS FOR OUR NEW MEETUPS" pinned at the top of the message board.

Thanks everyone!