tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2680664903011977089.post3034722815385951131..comments2023-07-10T01:43:24.380-07:00Comments on Urban Chickens Network blog: Urban Chickens and sustainabilityAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13767145783844206988noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2680664903011977089.post-76198092890590708132009-02-23T04:30:00.000-08:002009-02-23T04:30:00.000-08:00Seems like this is a good spot to put all the urba...Seems like this is a good spot to put all the urban chicken news I've been saving for you.<BR/><BR/>Here's the <I>Portland Tribune</I> <A HREF="http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=123429037473569000" REL="nofollow">version</A> which is the mother ship of the <I>Lake Oswego Review</I> and will sometimes have a more complete version of the article.<BR/><BR/>In a related bit of news, here's a link to the Growing Gardens upcoming <A HREF="http://www.growing-gardens.org/portland-gardening-resources/workshops.php" REL="nofollow">schedule of classes, workshops, and events</A> in Portland which includes Urban Chickens as well as how to grow organic urban gardens (and how to cook the food harvested as well). The schedule includes the date for their annual Tour De Coups. This is a great organization which installs raised bed gardens with all the needed supplies (including soil and seeds), or patio pots if there is no yard, along with 3 years of support for low income residents so good food is not an elitist out-of-reach endeavor. From what I can tell the fees from the classes help pay for what they do (though I'm not positive here as they have a sliding scale).<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile I saw a note in <A HREF="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Happy-Homesteader/Worthington-Needs-Urban-Chicken-Movement.aspx?blogid=1510" REL="nofollow"><I>Mother Earth News</I></A> about chickens in Worthington, Ohio which led me to the column in their <A HREF="http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/26/ANN26.ART_ART_01-26-09_B2_90CM552.html?sid=101" REL="nofollow"><I>Columbus Dispatch</I></A> news.<BR/><BR/>There's also a great article in <I>Mother Earth News</I> about how everyone can <A HREF="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/Raising-Chicks.aspx" REL="nofollow">raise chickens</A>.<BR/><BR/>Finally there's a piece in <I>Edible San Francisco</I> on <A HREF="http://ediblesanfrancisco.com/wordpress/2009/01/15/from-beak-to-feet/" REL="nofollow">raising pastured layers and boilers</A> and the issues growers face. This article helps illuminate why there are such cost differences -- and also why the <A HREF="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26666" REL="nofollow">National Animal Identification (NAIS)</A> would be such a burden (as well as a generally bad idea while being a boon to big agribusiness as they would only have to get one tag per hatching while people like you would need one tag per bird; and yes it would apply to you and every other urban chicken farmer so this might be something good for you to blog about...).<BR/><BR/>Now, to another point, I can't remember where I read it but once I did it all made sense. These chicken laws are not about the urban/rural divide. Otherwise there might not be so many large cities that don't seem to have such an issue with it. I did always wonder why NYC is okay with chickens but not the cities around it. Well, it's an immigrant thing. It's not so much the chickens that the laws were meant to keep out of town but the people who owned them. I think a lot of people have lost touch with the whys (and in many ways that's a good thing) and don't even understand the importance of the laws to them (or I hope anyway).Bad Wolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09301265731268400648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2680664903011977089.post-67500355899797603452009-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:002009-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:00I don't raise chickens in my urban condo's "back y...I don't raise chickens in my urban condo's "back yard" but I'm listening to a rooster crow right now.<BR/><BR/>See my craigslist post for more about why...http://asheville.craigslist.org/pet/1010655741.htmlEditorious/adj., thoroughly reviewed by a professional editorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878735702068601509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2680664903011977089.post-31708355917522052932009-02-15T13:18:00.000-08:002009-02-15T13:18:00.000-08:00It's because of Portland's unique culture, and the...It's because of Portland's unique culture, <EM>and</EM> the fact that it's a larger city. In a more tightly-packed urban area (whether people care about sustainability or not), we're used to being good neighbors when it comes to gardens and other practices.<BR/><BR/>Having grown up in a smaller city like the ones having to battle over it, I'd say that they are so against chickens because they are more suburban. Suburbanites want the appearance of rural-type living (no dense crowded cities for them!) but without any of the real rural attributes (like chickens). In other words, suburban populations, despite having more space, are actually more touchy about a few backyard chickens.Steven Wallinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700832436199142664noreply@blogger.com