As the Oakland dialogue continues around urban farming, in particular the role of animals in urban agriculture, I am struck by the overlap of concerns that come up on supposedly “opposing” sides. I say this because there appears to be many shared concerns among those of us that keep food producing animals and opponents.
 
For example, a vegan friend of mine recently shared that she understood and respected my effort to reduce consumption of factory farmed animals by raising my own. My friend also believes in choice and doesn’t believe everyone should be as she is (which is why we are friends).
 
We tossed the various pros and cons back and forth and had a great dialogue. Among her many insightful considerations was her point about where chicks are purchased from. She pointed out that hatcheries are factory farms so purchasing your chicks from them defeats the effort. I thought this was a great point.
 
Fortunately I get my birds from local sources. I did once order a group order of chicks from a hatchery. I even talked about it on this blog. After that experience, I have sought only local sources. Even feed stores purchase from hatcheries so local farms are the best source, whether they are urban or rural.*
 
What I enjoyed most in my conversation was how we can make such different choices about what is right for each of us yet have the ability to communicate, share mutual beliefs, respect those differences, and make decisions that can meet the needs of all, rather than only her or me.
 
*If you know of a local source of chicks, ducklings or turkey poults, or you hatch your own (a wonderful option), don’t forget to consult a livestock veterinarian to determine the necessary vaccinations.

Well, its been about seven years that Dipak and I have kept our chicken coop. The maturity of a flock and years of use of a coop and run really shifts a persons practices from backyard chicken enthusiast to seasoned chicken keeper practicing agricultural techniques on a smaller scale. I guess this can be said about most complex undertakings after years of practice. You develop your callouses, you become more efficient and you discover new things- sometimes exciting, sometimes not. This is how I felt upon a major coop clean up. With the rains coming, I wanted to clear a thick layer of compacted dirty from the run. Its rich soil saturated with droppings and can be of some real use elsewhere in the garden. I also want to ensure odor control.
 
Upon digging, I noticed that the poultry wire running downward and into the ground (to prevent digging predators from getting to the birds) has decomposed and is beginning to open. Oh man. This means fence mending. Seems like this is one of the key chores in long term livestock keeping. My new chore on the horizon is to remove the 18″ of dirt from around the perimeter of the run (which the coop is within) and mend another section of wire to the run.
 
Let this serve as a word to the wise: each new habitat you are contemplating will mean another layer of maintenance. Think carefully when you are considering keeping livestock. There are subtleties that don’t come up in the books out there.

Can it be? Quiet El Cerrito takes a brave stance on raising and processing your own backyard livestock. They say no to a ban on slaughter.
 
Over the last two and half years the City Council and Environmental Quality Committee of quiet El Cerrito worked diligently to craft new laws that would facilitate sustainability and self sufficiency for their residents. As they went to a final vote in November 2011, the Oakland based vegan anti-urban farming group, Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter (N.O.B.S.) showed up to the El Cerrito city council meeting to demand a ban on being able to raise and process animals for food.
 
The local rag, The Patch, covered the evening of frightful tales and dramatic recordings played to the City Council. The City Council agreed to review the policy once again before it goes into affect April 6th, 2012. Since that time, City Attorney Sky Woodruff worked hard on possible legal frameworks for the city to adopt. These are highly informative as was his presentation on the matter at last night’s City Council meeting.
 
As a result, the city decided to keep the increased nuisance laws as they are and not take away the choice, or the rights, of their residents. In fact, outgoing Mayor Ann Cheng said she believes in the common sense of El Cerritans. She trusts them to be responsible. Now Councilmember, Cheng spoke with respect and trust for the residents of her city. Imagine that.
 
I certainly hope the City of Oakland can take note from this example.

Urban farmers vs. NIMBYist vegans, round one

 
BY CHRISTOPHER MIMS
Featured on gristlist: 6 FEB 2012 9:02 AM
 
Urban farmers are raising and slaughtering their own livestock, and a shadowy organization called Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter is up in arms about it. Writing at Mother Jones, Keira Butler gets the scoop on what’s sure to be the biggest civil war in the Bobo universe since the great “tomatoes in winter: is it OK as long as they’re local?” debate of ’09.

This bunch of NOBS has taken the time to put together a flyer and a website in opposition to urban farming — a tiny subset of farming that looks even more harmless when you consider the awful state of animal welfare in industrial agriculture. Sure, we may be talking about a minuscule number of animals that are being hand-raised in humane living situations, while the vast majority of our meat comes from deplorable conditions … but on the other hand, the NOBS members’ kids might have to think about a chicken getting killed! MAN THE TREBUCHETS.

At Grist we love us some vegetarianism, but it’s clear that the noslaughter.org site was put together by folks who aren’t objecting to where these animals were raised so much as to the fact that they were raised at all. Articles on the site from VegNews go on about “unnecesary suffering” and the like — dog whistles for folks who are morally opposed to eating meat in the first place.

Which is fine! I get it, there’s a moral case to be made for vegetarianism. But if the goal is reducing the quantity of suffering in the universe, this is clearly a case in which, even by the movement’s own goals, the perfect is the enemy of the good.
 
Read the original article here.

Winter provides us with a natural chance to slow down…one I rarely listen to but still it is a chance. Less grows and what does grows grows slower. Things die back and its too cold and, well, wintery to really travel far and wide with frequency. Though the solstice is not for another 17 days, I am starting the process. OK, in truth it is not without be prompted as I had a huge failure with my rabbit pelts.

Amidst several other things going on, I decided to just jump in and start the process of tanning my rabbit hides. Mostly I just needed to get them out of my freezer. So following the lead of a local friend of mine (I was trying to time it so we could work on them together), I placed the hides in a bucket with Aluminum Sulfate for a few days. Then I realized, ok wait, no, then I READ the actual article that this technique was based on and realized I had not added salt.

Fast forward a couple of weeks in which day after day I told myself, “tonight I’ll go home and start cleaning the skins…no really…tonight.”

Well the results of my not reading directions and trying to do too much are in, and they are not pretty:

That would be a pile of rotten pelts. Yep. Luckily there were not many.

For anyone hoping to tan their own, rest assured. The directions (if you read them) in the Mother Earth News article are excellent. Others that followed them have had great success. I have to say, I am starting to get superstitious about trying to work on hides in December. As I recall last year I had another hide fail.

Set aside any doubt that heirloom crops and heritage breeds embody unique properties. This year I raised a Bronz/Naragensett turkey cross. I typically acquire my turkeys in August and they are never ready by November. They grow slower and take until Springtime. However, this year we did indeed have a Thanksgiving turkey weighing in at ~ 12lbs. Interestingly, the turkey had bigger pockets of fat than I have ever seen before. Their diet has been a bit different. Its been a high protein mix with layer feed and supplemental greens. This is the first year I mixed the layer feed in. The result was a roast turkey with the most intense and rich flavor I have ever had before. Amazing.

Preserving the diversity of our dwindling varieties of crops and domestic breeds, got me thinking. We’ve all heard how our food variety is diminished since industrialization of the food system. However, it can be hard to visualize such a large scale impact. National Geogrpahic has done just this with the below. Check it out folks.

Grody but pragmatic. It is necessary to know what normal and abnormal waste looks like from your birds. To this end, the Poultry Page Forum has created an online guide to poultry feces. Great job PPF! You can view what they have created thus far but be forewarned, its not pretty. Read more…

A recent article on Huffington Post featured Michelle Obama’s recent trip to Chicago to discuss food access. The article mentions several ways in which Chicago is working toward food security for its community. Apparently the new Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has been a champion of urban farming.

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced 17 grocery stores will open in the Chicago area to help address the lack of access to fresh food. Some will sell foods from urban farms, he said.

Emanuel has made eliminating so-called food deserts – areas with few or no grocery stores – a focus since he took office in May. However, several projects were in the works before he took office, including a task force of city officials and major grocers committed to opening stores on the South and West sides.

Advocates do credit Emanuel with bringing a new energy to the issue. He’s promoted urban farming and brought together mayors on the issue. Those at the summit were from cities including Somerville, Mass., Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Baltimore.”

Other things to know about Chicago’s food security-  Since 1996, nine community programs in Chicago IL and Milwaukee WI have been raising a variety of livestock for food and sale. One such program is located on Chicago’s South Side at the Robert Taylor Homes, the largest public housing project in the United States, with more than 20,000 residents on over 92 acres. In the midst of this gang-dominated environment, a resident-run youth group has constructed a vermiculture and aquaculture system in the basement of one of the Robert Taylor Homes high-rises where they currently care for more than 100 pounds of worms and two barrels of tilapia fish.  In the planting season worm castings are used as a soil additive in their market garden and packaged for sale to city gardeners.  Every seven months fish are harvested and eaten by the participating youths’ families.  In another site, youth and adults have joined together to reclaim for food production an abandoned lot and illegal dumping ground. There, ducks are integrated into the operation for pest and weed control. They also supply eggs to participating families.¹

¹Alison Meares Cohen, “Urban Livestock: People At The Center,” Community Food Security News, p.15, plus additional information from the author.

Ponder a moment giving food to someone in need in comparison to changing a current system in which people go in need of food. While charity has its place, it definitely only addresses symptoms. While reading a paper recently, I came across this quote:

“Charity provides social services, while justice promotes social change. Charity responds to immediate needs, while justice responds to long-term change. Charity assumes people need expertise and help from others, while justice assumes people have expertise and are capable of helping themselves. The analysis and strategic choices that come with the approach have huge implications for how, and even if, a problem is sustainably solved” – Brahm Ahmadi, 2009

I’d like to take this lens and apply it to raising and processing animals for food. Some believe only “experts” can kill and dress an animal for food. Whereas others believe that centuries of history and tradition inform this process. The idea that we would depend on “experts” to provide our food diminishes our power of choice, and our power to act. It disables us. Growing food and raising food producing animals is a basic human activity. It is a basic human right.

The author of this paper, Kristin Reynolds, was researching urban agriculture in Alameda County. As she worked to define urban agriculture she initially left animals out. However, she quickly realize her omission of livestock products overlooked food important in several cultures in Alameda County, namely African American and Latino cultures. Lets add to this some of the Asian cultures present in Oakland, i.e. Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Korean, Laotian, and Vietnamese. In Oakland, we all account for 77.9% of the population, according to 2010 Census Data.

People in Oakland are practicing urban agriculture for access to affordable healthy food. Food that is unadulterated by chemicals, that is humane, and food that is culturally appropriate. The suggestion that animals should not be a part of urban agriculture is not only a blatant misconception of ecological principles, it perpetuates an unjust and racist food system. Haven’t we seen enough institutionalize inequity and racism in Oakland? If people want to produce their own food, let them.

A while back I wrote a post about how to stop an egg eating chicken. At that point I had not had persistent egg eaters that went beyond my own measures. However, my summer was wrought with naughty hens eating most of their eggs. This is after increasing their calcium supplement and protein content in their food. I also introduced fake eggs which made a bit of difference but still there is a persistent egg eater. She is not eating the shell but the inside. I cannot tell who is doing it so I cannot remove her. They do not do it in front of me.

All is not lost however, I recently came across some additional suggestions from the University of Florida Agricultural Extension. They have a section on egg eating in backyard flocks (download pdf here). Two suggestions that I had never heard include:

Fill a dish with milk and let your hens drink it. Do this for several days and you’ll see a decreased problem with egg eating, according to the University of Florida Extension.

Trick your hens. The University of Florida suggests beating an egg into a creamy liquid, adding 2 tsps. of ground black pepper, and pouring it onto the floor of your chicken coop. The university reports that the hens will peck at it and find the taste disagreeable, thus curing them of the egg eating habit.