Cecil County Couple Challenges Zoning Law for Pet Goat

An interesting article was published in The Baltimore Sun this morning regarding a goat turned pet in Cecil County, MD. The Balunsat couple purchased Snowbird for several hundred dollars through a newspaper advertisement and have raised her alongside several other animals since she was just a kid.

Snowbird, who lives in a home with less land than zoning laws require for animal husbandry, was not the original complaint. A rooster was - and the family already got rid of it (seemingly without objections). Neither the law or the family involved are concerned with whether or not the goat (or chickens, dogs, etc) qualify or act as working animals - or about the natural needs/purposes of/for the animal in question. 

The idea of farm animals in urban areas has been a hot topic lately as many urban and suburban neighborhoods are circulating petitions to allow residents to keep chickens for the purpose of fresh laid eggs. University of Maryland Extension sheep and goat expert, Susan Schoenian, points out the separation human beings have had from farm animals and processes and that there is a growing movement back towards that connection. 

But this particular case does not appear to be affiliated with the growing "backyard farmer" movement - which begs the question: What is it that draws human beings to animals? Is it for food? Survival? Companionship? Or a need to nurture? 

To keep up with Snowbird's story, 'like' her Facebook page.

Still Undecided About GMOs?

Me too.

On one hand, Genetically Modified Organisms seem great. Altered seeds like Bt Cotton produce plants that protect themselves from their biggest pest therefore reducing the need for insecticides. On both hands, Roundup Ready seeds that allow big farms to spray entire fields with herbicides, which is convenient for them and reduces the need for tilling and the accompanying soil compaction, but has also eradicated Vitamin A-rich weeds in nations whose people depend on them. Then there is Golden Rice - Monsanto's promise to feed and nourish the Vitamin A-deficient folks. While I remain undecided on modified seeds and the controversial patent laws that accompany any discussions around them, I just discovered a whole other wing of GMOs to ponder: Bird Flu Resistant Chickens. Popular Science reports:

Generating flu-resistant birds may be more effective than giving vaccinations to an entire flock, said Dr. Laurence Tiley, a veterinarian and lecturer in molecular virology at the University of Cambridge, England, one of the authors of the chicken study. Vaccinated birds may not develop flu, but the virus can still replicate in their bodies and be transmitted to other unvaccinated fowl, he explained in a podcast with the journal Science, which publishes the study tomorrow. Besides, just like with human influenza, there are plenty of strains, and vaccines don’t cover all of them.

The new genetic modification is basically the opposite — birds will still get sick and die, but they won’t pass on the virus to other birds, a major advancement for animals that generally live in very close quarters. The lack of transmission also means the virus will be less likely to spread to people.

Read more here and here.

Homestead Gardens Pics

  

"Pavlov's Chickens"

 

"With Cold Weather Comes Sweaters"

 

Homestead Gardrens - Because Life Should Be Beautiful

Love The Femivore's Dilema

Peggy Orenstein wrote a fabulous article for the NY Times about a new crop of women in Berkeley, California who are taking the kitchen and backyard garden to another level and raising their own chickens. It's about so much more than that though. The article explores the feminine predicament faced by so many educated stay-at-home moms who want to embrace their new positions outside of the "work force" without, as Orendstein put it, "becoming Betty Draper." The innate desire for self-sufficiency, autonomy, sustainability, fullfillment and a feeling that live is made - not merely purchased. My paraphrasing isn't doing it justice...

"...Hayes pointed out that the original “problem that had no name” was as much spiritual as economic: a malaise that overtook middle-class housewives trapped in a life of schlepping and shopping. A generation and many lawsuits later, some women found meaning and power through paid employment. Others merely found a new source of alienation. What to do? The wages of housewifery had not changed — an increased risk of depression, a niggling purposelessness, economic dependence on your husband — only now, bearing them was considered a “choice”: if you felt stuck, it was your own fault. What’s more, though today’s soccer moms may argue, quite rightly, that caretaking is undervalued in a society that measures success by a paycheck, their role is made possible by the size of their husband’s. In that way, they’ve been more of a pendulum swing than true game changers.

Enter the chicken coop.

Femivorism is grounded in the very principles of self-sufficiency, autonomy and personal fulfillment that drove women into the work force in the first place. Given how conscious (not to say obsessive) everyone has become about the source of their food — who these days can’t wax poetic about compost? — it also confers instant legitimacy. Rather than embodying the limits of one movement, femivores expand those of another: feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly. What could be more vital, more gratifying, more morally defensible?..."

Raising chickens for eggs alongside your tomatoes may not be for every mom, but it is certainly lovely to read and dream about. And I hope it is alright that I reposted a photo by Katherine Wolkoff from the article. It is such a perfect photo I couldn't resist.

Read the entire piece here.

"Chikin 4 Brekfust"

Eww... (again). But the cow in her footie pajammies is quite cute, no?

Chicken for breakfast every day but Sunday

Apparently this isn't a "new" thing - fried chicken for breakfast that is. Does anyone else find it odd? I know other meats make regular appearances at breakfast and of course eggs but... something about this made my stomach turn.