chicken club

backyard chicken story in the los angelos times.

this could be a bump for chicken club!

Poultry fans in Madison persuaded the city's common council to reverse a ban on backyard hens about five years ago. The ordinance -- similar to regulations in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore -- allows up to four chickens per property. The animals are to be raised for eggs, and must be housed in a coop that is far separated from neighboring homes. (Roosters are typically banned in cities because of crowing.)

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chicken laws for Baltimore city

Up to four chickens can be kept (no roosters) as long as they are confined to a moveable pen that is kept 25 feet away from all residences.
You must have a permit.

attributed to:
the city chicken- a list of chicken laws in various states

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this story is mostly just cute from the bangor daily news a story about a man with too many chickens

all the extra work and fortifications aside, I do enjoy my flock, not to mention the fresh eggs they present to me daily. And they really do seem happy to see me every morning.

But overall I do have to say chickens are a great deal like misbehaving toddlers — only with wings.

At this point, pretty much the only thing I haven’t caught them doing is taking the keys to the tractor and doing doughnuts in the field.

I figure it’s only a matter of time.

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politics, race/poverty and urban farming

Black Folks, Green Thumbs

"A recent study in New York City found that in underserved black and Latino areas, shoppers had to travel 20 blocks before finding produce for sale...the story is similar in Oakland, Detroit and Tampa. And even in small towns, black residents often have to go to the “white side of town” to find decent fresh food."

http://www.theroot.com/views/black-folks-green-thumbs

Duncan Street: Tuesday at 12? Anyone?

I am so sorry about the lateness of the organizing of everything for this. I talked to Mr. Sharp yesterday and he could do Tuesday afternoon. I realize that doesn't work for everyone and would that I could make all our schedules magically align. But I think if we can get at least a few people to come we'll be in good shape to plant. I realized that we are going to need some form of car transportation for the plants we have, and I'm going to put forward that it's probably too late in our growing season to plant seeds unless someone thinks they know of something that would make it. Also, as far as tools go, does anyone have things they could bring or should we see about borrowing the P&P shovels?

Sorry again, and hopefully we'll be able to work this out!

MUSHROOMS & PLANTS TO EAT

I think the best way to go about foraging for any edibles among mushrooms or other wild plants is, to not eat what you do not know. Even people who are trained in gathering mushrooms make mistakes. Much of the advice listed below is not an accurate way to hunt for mushrooms; there are no universal tests or signs such as boiling with a silver spoon. When looking for mushrooms or other plans only eat that which you know certainly to be safe. There are many good resources about edible wild plants, including this collection of information that I have found useful:

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Plants.html

I have been interested in the weeds that are pulled from the earth so that the lettuces and other plants may grow without competition. Many of these weeds grow and require no assistance to produce edible berries and foliage, as well as other parts of the plant. Many plants that are edible grow in our city and in our backyards, and yet we have been taught to be distrustful of eating anything other than that which we have planted, or which has been processed for consumption. I would think that it is a valuable thing to learn about the uses of these plants that grow so commonly and that do not require our attention.

Among all of these plants, mushrooms are possibly the most difficult to identify accurately, and so there is a greater risk in foraging for mushrooms. I would think that the challenge of growing mushrooms hold a greater reward, and little of the risk that comes with the difficulties of gathering them in the wild. The best resource for growing mushrooms, or about anything related to mushrooms, will lead you very quickly to Paul Stamets. We heard Adam at the Hamilton Crop Circle mention his name when he introduced us to his fledgling mushroom patch.

Stamets is a good resource when it comes to mushrooms. For a look at his theories, here is a video, and a link to Stamet's website,

http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

http://fungiperfecti.com/index.html

TED sponsored by BMW. TED is a giant circlejerk but there is a lot of good science in Stamets' video, and a lot of interesting information on his website. And as I'd be careful just how much disbelief you should be willing to suspend on Stamet's behalf, he remains the best resource we have on mushrooms.

BEES! they are so important.

hey everyone,

In my bee research I discovered a person named David Graves, who is an inner city beekeeper, keeping on new york city rooftops. There are a lot of videos of him on youtube, but I found a link to a short film made about new york city beekeepers by the meerkat collective that was pretty nice. (There is a link to the film at the end of the article)

I also recorded an interview that I had with Bart Smith who works at the Bee Research Lab in Beltmont, Maryland which is the main research hub for bee health through the USDA. I haven't cleaned it up yet, but he talked a lot about the detrimental effects of commercial beekeeping on the future of agriculture and the environment. Maybe I can edit it down and put it on the blog? cool.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KSTYtS6c3E  (film by GOOD)

http://www.foodsystemsnyc.org/node/232   (link to article)

http://www.chicagohoneycoop.com/  (link to chicago folxs, providing jobs for people who need them and bee education in the inner city, and taking care of so many hives!)

I've been eating a lot of that dressing we had at the Hamilton Crop Circle. If anyone needs the recipe: mix the following ingredients to your desired amount of salt (the soy sauce) or tart (lemon) or whatever (hemp seeds?)

it's 

SOY SAUCE

LEMON JUICE

TAHINI 

OLIVE OIL 

and HEMP SEEDS

I made a grilled cheese with garlic and chive raw milk cheese and this sauce combined. It would have been better with some of that holy basil as well. 

The first things I thought this morning

When I wake up, I go to the bathroom, and it feels great.  Then I go downstairs, and it feels great.  If the dishes are dirty, I clean them__and they feel great.  and if they sit together, clean in the cabinet, I eat off them__and that feels great.  

If there is no more food in my ice box, I go to the store with food on shelves like a library to eat.  and it is awesome,  I can fill as many carts as I want and still carry them, because they have wheels.  I can fill as many bags as I want, because they come for free__paper or plastic, both are great.  I can walk through the greatest city in America, and that feels great.  If I’m alive I can do things, that feels great. If I have money I can do more things, that feels great.      
If I’m in the city, I don’t want to touch things.
If I plant my food, I don’t know what to do with it.  I could dress my salad with a bottle.  I could drink some orange juice.

     

this is real fantasy

I was told that this post was somewhat incoherent haha, I was thinking in an exploratory way that was interesting to me, but probobly not helpful in conveying what I'm getting at, so I will try and explain a bit of where I'm coming from.

Capitalism is based on scarcity.  Someone has what you need, and you must use power (money, force) to attain it.  If we decide that we can get what we want from our own hands and the land, rather than from a human entity, in a way we begin to reject Capitalism. 

Capitalism is an evolutionary system, through variety, selection, and heredity, there arises design.  There is competition, and there is survival for those more fit to the environment.  Without the imbalance and extreme concentration of power that is present in our economic structure and the time travel feasible through fossil fuels, the evolutionary advances that have occurred through technology would not have been possible. "We would have to repeal capitalism and every vestige of economic competition to stop this [evolution]" Ray Kurzweil.  Computers, cell phones, video games, self check out lanes, AI bank tellers, AI chips in cars, navigation systems, capri sun, ipods, etc are impossible without fossil fuels and inequality (or at least their rapid exponential evolution/creation that has occured).

this is real fantasy, and we are at a point in the evolutionary chain of events in which we can impose mindful design onto the world, sufficiently halting, or altering evolution "design out of chaos without the aid of mind." Dennette.

I am not arguing any moral point about wether we should design a system in which we all are truly equal (since equality is not congenital), or wether we should retain an evolutionary model such as Capitalism in which there is always going to be a winner and a loser.  I'm trying to decipher the meaning in what we're doing, that may or may not be what we are intending with it.