Wearing everything from regular swim trunks to Smurfs costumes, nrealy 300 people took a brief out-of-season jump into the surf at Ocean Beach Park on Sunday for the New London Penguin Plunge.
The annual event raises money for Connecticut’s Special Olympics. Plungers had a relatively comfortable climate this year, as the warm winter continued and the day dawned sunny and clear. It wasn’t exactly balmy, though. Officials announced that the air temperature was 37 degrees; the water temperature was one degree warmer.
Jackie Turro, director of development for Special Olympics Connecticut Eastern Region, said people had pledged about $40,000 online prior to the event. The total, after donations brought in on the day of the plunge were included, was more than $65,000.
A new feature added this year was the “Chicken Coop.” People who were wary of the frigid water could still be part of a team and join fundraising efforts, but remained in the closed coop area when their team headed into the Sound.
“I think we’re going to see quite a few chickens,” said Turro. “Chicken costumes, at least.”
One team, The Vermonsters, was made up almost entirely of such costumes. Brenda Cooper had the honor of wearing the sole penguin outfit.
“They’re all chickens, and I’m the only plunger,” she explained.
Cooper said the team hails from Chittenden, VT, and that Turro’s mother is a member, so the group makes the trip to support the cause. This year, they raised about $600.
It was the first plunge for the Shoreline Roller Derby team, which was formed last year. Charlotte Gumpel-Jones, the team captain, said she has done the plunge before but that it was a first-time effort for other team members. She said the event was a good way to support the Special Olympics and also raise awareness of the roller derby team.
“I figured this year I might as well recruit a bunch of people to do it with me,” she said. “And they’re all as crazy as I am, so they said yes.”
Greg Smith, captain of New London County Rugby, also said the event helps raise awareness of the group while at the same time supporting a good cause. He said the team has also done charity events including a game to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. The team had a goal last year of $3,000, and this year it surpassed it in online donations alone.
“We just ask people, friends and family,” said Smith. “That’s pretty much it.”
Byron Sullivan and Alex Snow were also experiencing the plunge for the first time with Team Sophie. Snow said the team is named for the a girl with Down syndrome who is the daughter of a doctor he works with.
“I know I’ve always looked at [plungers] and said, ‘Wow, there must be something wrong with them,’” said Snow.
Snow said he decided the event would be a good way to actively support the Special Olympics. Sullivan said it sounded like a fun event to attend.
2012年2月20日星期一
2012年2月19日星期日
Running afowl of city ordinance?
On Thursday, Ellen Anthony collected the eggs laid by six of her hens.
Anthony has kept hens - there are now 14 in all and no roosters - in her backyard in a 20-by-20-foot enclosure that includes a small wooden coop for the past 18 years. She's never had a complaint from a neighbor or the city. In fact, a neighbor two doors down keeps chickens as well.
But according to City Planner Harry Smith, keeping chickens is prohibited in New London.
"If it's not expressly provided for in the regulations, then it is prohibited," Smith said Thursday. "It's not provided for in the regulations."
On Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed a letter from Chelsea Ketner of Riverview Avenue, who expressed interest in keeping poultry but wants city approval before going forward.
She's not the only one. Christopher Droesch sent an email Tuesday to The Day to say he had begun collecting materials to keep chickens in the backyard of his New London home only to be rebuffed by someone in the city's Planning, Zoning and Wetlands Department. He attended Thursday's meeting.
Ketner did not attend the meeting, but commission Chairman Mark Christensen addressed her letter, which expressed confusion about the regulations and asked for a "definitive answer."
Christensen said the regulations prohibit the keeping of chickens in New London.
"If an individual is interested, they can apply for a regulation amendment and they can show why (the amendment) is consistent with other communities," he said. "We'll always look at an application and we have a right to say whether it meets the criteria."
Droesch said he had relied on section 4-3 of the city ordinance that states no person may keep chickens "in a manner to be injurious to health, create a menace, or offensive to the public."
When he went to get permits to build a coop, a zoning official directed him to section 410.4, subsection 6, of the zoning regulations: "Keeping of not more than three household pets over six months old; the commercial breeding or boarding of pets is prohibited."
Smith said at the meeting that "the commission determined previously that a chicken is not a household pet and therefore they are prohibited."
That's news to Anthony, who also cited the city's ordinance as her legal right to keep poultry.
On Thursday, Anthony's feathered friends didn't create a menace or appear to be offensive to the public. Quite the opposite: they clucked quietly as she approached. A neighbor, outside for some air, waved when she saw Anthony heading for the coop.
The chickens get a little skittish when Anthony enters the enclosure, but they lay white, brown and even green eggs - enough to provide for Anthony's family and some neighbors and friends.
"When it gets the right level of darkness, they put themselves to sleep," she said. "They don't need a heater in the winter; they just snuggle up close. The real hard part is getting a good house for them."
Her coop is rudimentary but includes laying boxes and rows of wooden dowels over 5-gallon plastic buckets. The chickens sit on the dowels at night and defecate into the buckets, she said, making cleaning easy.
Outside the coop, but within the fence, the ground is bare, picked over by the chickens. But Anthony stirs up the soil so the birds can eat worms and insects in addition to the 50 pounds of feed they eat every three weeks. She changes the water daily and comes out in the morning and at night to check on them, clean up and collect eggs.
Anthony tells of other neighbors who have brought scraps and created a "feeding frenzy" for the birds.
The chickens do have predators, she said, mostly raccoons, which she tries to keep out with the fenced-in enclosure that has a roof. Two or three years ago, she said, a raccoon got into the coop and "massacred" the chickens. One got away and ran into a neighbor's yard, where a Rottweiler roamed. Bird and 100-pound dog sized each other up, Anthony said, before they became friends of sorts. They kept watch of each other in the yard for about six months, she said, until one fateful day when the Rottweiler turned his back and a raccoon killed the chicken.
But the deaths haven't deterred Anthony, who said she's kept chickens for about 22 years. It's an easy way to have good, fresh food in a sustainable manner, she said.
"I like having homegrown eggs, and it makes me go outdoors every day," Anthony said. "I know the weather, the phase of the moon, and I have to take care of the chickens."
Anthony has kept hens - there are now 14 in all and no roosters - in her backyard in a 20-by-20-foot enclosure that includes a small wooden coop for the past 18 years. She's never had a complaint from a neighbor or the city. In fact, a neighbor two doors down keeps chickens as well.
But according to City Planner Harry Smith, keeping chickens is prohibited in New London.
"If it's not expressly provided for in the regulations, then it is prohibited," Smith said Thursday. "It's not provided for in the regulations."
On Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed a letter from Chelsea Ketner of Riverview Avenue, who expressed interest in keeping poultry but wants city approval before going forward.
She's not the only one. Christopher Droesch sent an email Tuesday to The Day to say he had begun collecting materials to keep chickens in the backyard of his New London home only to be rebuffed by someone in the city's Planning, Zoning and Wetlands Department. He attended Thursday's meeting.
Ketner did not attend the meeting, but commission Chairman Mark Christensen addressed her letter, which expressed confusion about the regulations and asked for a "definitive answer."
Christensen said the regulations prohibit the keeping of chickens in New London.
"If an individual is interested, they can apply for a regulation amendment and they can show why (the amendment) is consistent with other communities," he said. "We'll always look at an application and we have a right to say whether it meets the criteria."
Droesch said he had relied on section 4-3 of the city ordinance that states no person may keep chickens "in a manner to be injurious to health, create a menace, or offensive to the public."
When he went to get permits to build a coop, a zoning official directed him to section 410.4, subsection 6, of the zoning regulations: "Keeping of not more than three household pets over six months old; the commercial breeding or boarding of pets is prohibited."
Smith said at the meeting that "the commission determined previously that a chicken is not a household pet and therefore they are prohibited."
That's news to Anthony, who also cited the city's ordinance as her legal right to keep poultry.
On Thursday, Anthony's feathered friends didn't create a menace or appear to be offensive to the public. Quite the opposite: they clucked quietly as she approached. A neighbor, outside for some air, waved when she saw Anthony heading for the coop.
The chickens get a little skittish when Anthony enters the enclosure, but they lay white, brown and even green eggs - enough to provide for Anthony's family and some neighbors and friends.
"When it gets the right level of darkness, they put themselves to sleep," she said. "They don't need a heater in the winter; they just snuggle up close. The real hard part is getting a good house for them."
Her coop is rudimentary but includes laying boxes and rows of wooden dowels over 5-gallon plastic buckets. The chickens sit on the dowels at night and defecate into the buckets, she said, making cleaning easy.
Outside the coop, but within the fence, the ground is bare, picked over by the chickens. But Anthony stirs up the soil so the birds can eat worms and insects in addition to the 50 pounds of feed they eat every three weeks. She changes the water daily and comes out in the morning and at night to check on them, clean up and collect eggs.
Anthony tells of other neighbors who have brought scraps and created a "feeding frenzy" for the birds.
The chickens do have predators, she said, mostly raccoons, which she tries to keep out with the fenced-in enclosure that has a roof. Two or three years ago, she said, a raccoon got into the coop and "massacred" the chickens. One got away and ran into a neighbor's yard, where a Rottweiler roamed. Bird and 100-pound dog sized each other up, Anthony said, before they became friends of sorts. They kept watch of each other in the yard for about six months, she said, until one fateful day when the Rottweiler turned his back and a raccoon killed the chicken.
But the deaths haven't deterred Anthony, who said she's kept chickens for about 22 years. It's an easy way to have good, fresh food in a sustainable manner, she said.
"I like having homegrown eggs, and it makes me go outdoors every day," Anthony said. "I know the weather, the phase of the moon, and I have to take care of the chickens."
2012年2月16日星期四
Chicken coops the focus of forum
When resident Nellie Bhattarai appeared before supervisors Monday night, she showed off a yellow, foam carton of eggs in various sizes and shades.
The eggs came from a farm near Williamsport, and Bhattarai wanted township officials and gathered residents to notice that each egg was different.
“When we go to the grocery store, we don’t have eggs like this in our grocery store,” she said. “And so, again, it’s an opportunity to educate about what the possibilities are and
get away from the homogeneous food we’re served all of the time.”
The show and tell came as the board held a public hearing before a final vote on an ordinance allowing chicken hens on residential township lots. Supervisors passed it 3-2, with Denny Hameister, Cliff Warner and Nigel Wilson in favor, and Bud Graham and Paul Rittenhouse opposed.
The ordinance, discussed since last fall, allows residents on lots less than 10 acres to raise from two to eight hens, depending on lot size. Lots as small as 3,000 square feet may have two chickens.
Residents must apply for a permit to have a backyard, stationary chicken coop, which must be at least six feet from the property line. Permits will be available starting Tuesday.
Two property owners spoke Monday in opposition of chickens. Real estate appraiser Mark Bigatel told the story of his negative experience with chickens 10 years ago, when tenants of a farm he owns starting keeping the birds which, eventually, attracted rats, then coyotes.
“We had to evict our chickens,” he said, adding that the bad odor, rats and coyotes eventually went away afterward. He said he’s most concerned about property values in the village, where properties are close together. “I just wanted people to think of the unintended consequences.”
Kaywood neighborhood resident Barb Fiscus asked supervisors to consider returning to the 20-foot setback in the first version of the ordinance, concerned that six feet doesn’t provide enough separation.
Township Manager Amy Farkas said the change reflects the provision allowing residents to use existing structures, like a shed, as a coop. Those structures may sit closer than 20 feet to the property line.
Supervisors engaged in a short discussion, having talked at length about the ordinance during previous meetings.
Rittenhouse said his greatest concern was the emails in opposition of chickens, and how those residents can control enforcement of potential problems.
“The neighbor can call and complain,” Wilson said.
Zoning officer Todd Shea confirmed he has sent letters to residents for keeping the birds illegally. Now that the practice is legal, he said complaints will result in an investigation to determine if there is an ordinance violation.
Because of the illegal activity previously, Farkas anticipates a flock of residents applying for coop permits.
While Bhattarai said she won’t be in line next week, she said housing chickens is a priority for her family.
“I’m very excited that it was passed,” she said. “It was a respectful balance, and that’s important in our community.”
The eggs came from a farm near Williamsport, and Bhattarai wanted township officials and gathered residents to notice that each egg was different.
“When we go to the grocery store, we don’t have eggs like this in our grocery store,” she said. “And so, again, it’s an opportunity to educate about what the possibilities are and
get away from the homogeneous food we’re served all of the time.”
The show and tell came as the board held a public hearing before a final vote on an ordinance allowing chicken hens on residential township lots. Supervisors passed it 3-2, with Denny Hameister, Cliff Warner and Nigel Wilson in favor, and Bud Graham and Paul Rittenhouse opposed.
The ordinance, discussed since last fall, allows residents on lots less than 10 acres to raise from two to eight hens, depending on lot size. Lots as small as 3,000 square feet may have two chickens.
Residents must apply for a permit to have a backyard, stationary chicken coop, which must be at least six feet from the property line. Permits will be available starting Tuesday.
Two property owners spoke Monday in opposition of chickens. Real estate appraiser Mark Bigatel told the story of his negative experience with chickens 10 years ago, when tenants of a farm he owns starting keeping the birds which, eventually, attracted rats, then coyotes.
“We had to evict our chickens,” he said, adding that the bad odor, rats and coyotes eventually went away afterward. He said he’s most concerned about property values in the village, where properties are close together. “I just wanted people to think of the unintended consequences.”
Kaywood neighborhood resident Barb Fiscus asked supervisors to consider returning to the 20-foot setback in the first version of the ordinance, concerned that six feet doesn’t provide enough separation.
Township Manager Amy Farkas said the change reflects the provision allowing residents to use existing structures, like a shed, as a coop. Those structures may sit closer than 20 feet to the property line.
Supervisors engaged in a short discussion, having talked at length about the ordinance during previous meetings.
Rittenhouse said his greatest concern was the emails in opposition of chickens, and how those residents can control enforcement of potential problems.
“The neighbor can call and complain,” Wilson said.
Zoning officer Todd Shea confirmed he has sent letters to residents for keeping the birds illegally. Now that the practice is legal, he said complaints will result in an investigation to determine if there is an ordinance violation.
Because of the illegal activity previously, Farkas anticipates a flock of residents applying for coop permits.
While Bhattarai said she won’t be in line next week, she said housing chickens is a priority for her family.
“I’m very excited that it was passed,” she said. “It was a respectful balance, and that’s important in our community.”
2012年2月15日星期三
Dogs and chickens may not mix well
I was in Rural King the other day and there was a poster of chickens. Chickens of all varieties – sizes, colors, meat, eggs, etc., that seemed endless. Nashville has just passed a law allowing people to keep up to four hens – no roosters allowed. One half of every new trade magazine we received over the past six months has been taken up with poultry-related items, from coops to toys.
It reminded me that a few columns ago I mentioned that the Cavaliers were easy when compared to the "terrible trio" of poodles. And that made me realize that I had perhaps told a little white lie, and it's time to fess up.
Years ago we lived out in Shiloh. It was beautiful. The house sat back about one-half mile from the road and was surrounded by pasture where the owner kept a herd of cattle. It had a pond and a stream that eventually met up with Yellow Creek, and best of all, not a neighbor in sight. We got to know everyone around us, but couldn't see anyone. It was great and needless to say, the dogs loved it there. They thought they were in heaven.
Before the big tornado took away most of downtown, we bought our dog food at Ely Feed. Each spring they had chicks and ducks, so one Easter I got John three of each to complete the idyllic picture. Any idea yet where this is going?
The ducklings stayed in or near the pond, and the chicks around the house – usually. The first month went well enough. When they heard the dogs go out in the morning they all came running to the back door for the leftover dog food. Granted, it is not poultry food, but they had the most beautiful feathers you have ever seen!
Then one day, only two ducks came. Eventually they both stopped coming up for their meals and when they got big enough, flew off for parts unknown. Then one morning only two chickens came to breakfast. After looking around I saw a huge pile of white feathers near where the cattle were grazing. Those two stayed near the house from then on. One roosted on the bathroom windowsill (outside). John had named her Annie and I could hear them discussing their respective days through the door in the morning.
I'll have to call Annie the smart one. And now to my white lie. When I called the Cavaliers easy, I didn't say dumb, and they are true spaniels. They know how to climb chain-link fencing but like to just get to the top and stay there looking around as if on the top of the world.
John and Annie were having their little morning talks and when I went out back with the food, only Annie came. As I walked around the house I saw Abby, who this time went over the fence. She was the very first Cavalier we had ever bred, and there she stood with a mouth full of feathers and nothing left but a yellow beak and two matching feet.
The moral of the story is that if you have a dog, think long and hard before adding a chicken to the mix.
It reminded me that a few columns ago I mentioned that the Cavaliers were easy when compared to the "terrible trio" of poodles. And that made me realize that I had perhaps told a little white lie, and it's time to fess up.
Years ago we lived out in Shiloh. It was beautiful. The house sat back about one-half mile from the road and was surrounded by pasture where the owner kept a herd of cattle. It had a pond and a stream that eventually met up with Yellow Creek, and best of all, not a neighbor in sight. We got to know everyone around us, but couldn't see anyone. It was great and needless to say, the dogs loved it there. They thought they were in heaven.
Before the big tornado took away most of downtown, we bought our dog food at Ely Feed. Each spring they had chicks and ducks, so one Easter I got John three of each to complete the idyllic picture. Any idea yet where this is going?
The ducklings stayed in or near the pond, and the chicks around the house – usually. The first month went well enough. When they heard the dogs go out in the morning they all came running to the back door for the leftover dog food. Granted, it is not poultry food, but they had the most beautiful feathers you have ever seen!
Then one day, only two ducks came. Eventually they both stopped coming up for their meals and when they got big enough, flew off for parts unknown. Then one morning only two chickens came to breakfast. After looking around I saw a huge pile of white feathers near where the cattle were grazing. Those two stayed near the house from then on. One roosted on the bathroom windowsill (outside). John had named her Annie and I could hear them discussing their respective days through the door in the morning.
I'll have to call Annie the smart one. And now to my white lie. When I called the Cavaliers easy, I didn't say dumb, and they are true spaniels. They know how to climb chain-link fencing but like to just get to the top and stay there looking around as if on the top of the world.
John and Annie were having their little morning talks and when I went out back with the food, only Annie came. As I walked around the house I saw Abby, who this time went over the fence. She was the very first Cavalier we had ever bred, and there she stood with a mouth full of feathers and nothing left but a yellow beak and two matching feet.
The moral of the story is that if you have a dog, think long and hard before adding a chicken to the mix.
2012年2月14日星期二
What's Behind the Urban Chicken Backlash
At this point in the locavore narrative, urban chicken-keeping has vocal advocates and an adamant opposition. Some cities welcome backyard poultry with open arms, while others are more skeptical. As the practice grows, the two sides seem prepared for a long, drawn out war on the value and propriety of chicken-keeping within city limits.
Urban farmers generally view a backyard coop as a natural extension of their garden and a convenient, eco-friendly source of protein – though no academic study has examined the environmental impact of the practice. Some even see their charges as pets with benefits.
On this side, we have Martha Stewart, that doyenne of domestic perfection, and Susan Orlean, the sensitive, bestselling New Yorker writer played by Meryl Streep in Adaptation.
Their neighbors take a more jaundiced view. Protest groups in cities across the country have helped devise bills to ban or restrict the practice. These opponents argue that chickens are smelly and noisy and a potential health risk; that the coops are eyesores that potentially bring down property values; and that they attract rodents and predators, like coyotes, endangering chickens as well as children.
And then, of course, there is the potential slaughterhouse next door. "Botched slaughter is all too common," writes Ian Elwood, of Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter, an anti-urban animal outfit in Oakland. "But even slaughter that is performed 'correctly' is still no treat to witness or hear."
Due in part to such concerns, Boston, Detroit, D.C., and Toronto prohibit the keeping of livestock within city limits. Chicago, like New York City, views chickens as pets and has no limits on ownership, though slaughter is forbidden. But suburban Naperville and Northbrook are considering bans, while Evanston has set a limit of six hens per household.
Many cities in the West are going in the other direction. In 2010, Seattle raised its hen limit from three to eight per household. Some animal-friendly residents of Portland, where residents can keep up to three hens without a permit, have been running a tour of local chicken coops since 2003.
In Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson sees chickens in every lot as part of the city's destiny as the world's greenest city -- and launched Operation Chicken to make it happen. In 2009, the Vancouver city council voted unanimously to allow backyard chickens. A year later, the city released detailed guidelines for keeping backyard hens, including what kinds of properties, proximity to property line, and type and number of chickens (four hens).
Perhaps no city is as divided over the chicken question as Oakland. City officials are considering allowing residents to raise and slaughter not just chickens, but goats, rabbits, ducks and other animals, in their backyards. Backers argue that it would help alleviate food deserts.
Oakland's anti-slaughter group sees the practice as a socio-economic problem. NOBS argues that the city's approval of the slaughter of chickens “would serve the needs of a small group of people interested in creating artisan animal products instead of serving the low-income communities.” They've posted flyers around the city, playing up fears of stray chickens wandering the city and children witnessing grisly scenes of animal killing.
Despite this opposition, some degree of urban chicken keeping is most likely here to stay, and compromise is probably inevitable in many municipalities. Attacks like that of NOBS appear more likely merely to inflame the process.
Urban farmers generally view a backyard coop as a natural extension of their garden and a convenient, eco-friendly source of protein – though no academic study has examined the environmental impact of the practice. Some even see their charges as pets with benefits.
On this side, we have Martha Stewart, that doyenne of domestic perfection, and Susan Orlean, the sensitive, bestselling New Yorker writer played by Meryl Streep in Adaptation.
Their neighbors take a more jaundiced view. Protest groups in cities across the country have helped devise bills to ban or restrict the practice. These opponents argue that chickens are smelly and noisy and a potential health risk; that the coops are eyesores that potentially bring down property values; and that they attract rodents and predators, like coyotes, endangering chickens as well as children.
And then, of course, there is the potential slaughterhouse next door. "Botched slaughter is all too common," writes Ian Elwood, of Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter, an anti-urban animal outfit in Oakland. "But even slaughter that is performed 'correctly' is still no treat to witness or hear."
Due in part to such concerns, Boston, Detroit, D.C., and Toronto prohibit the keeping of livestock within city limits. Chicago, like New York City, views chickens as pets and has no limits on ownership, though slaughter is forbidden. But suburban Naperville and Northbrook are considering bans, while Evanston has set a limit of six hens per household.
Many cities in the West are going in the other direction. In 2010, Seattle raised its hen limit from three to eight per household. Some animal-friendly residents of Portland, where residents can keep up to three hens without a permit, have been running a tour of local chicken coops since 2003.
In Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson sees chickens in every lot as part of the city's destiny as the world's greenest city -- and launched Operation Chicken to make it happen. In 2009, the Vancouver city council voted unanimously to allow backyard chickens. A year later, the city released detailed guidelines for keeping backyard hens, including what kinds of properties, proximity to property line, and type and number of chickens (four hens).
Perhaps no city is as divided over the chicken question as Oakland. City officials are considering allowing residents to raise and slaughter not just chickens, but goats, rabbits, ducks and other animals, in their backyards. Backers argue that it would help alleviate food deserts.
Oakland's anti-slaughter group sees the practice as a socio-economic problem. NOBS argues that the city's approval of the slaughter of chickens “would serve the needs of a small group of people interested in creating artisan animal products instead of serving the low-income communities.” They've posted flyers around the city, playing up fears of stray chickens wandering the city and children witnessing grisly scenes of animal killing.
Despite this opposition, some degree of urban chicken keeping is most likely here to stay, and compromise is probably inevitable in many municipalities. Attacks like that of NOBS appear more likely merely to inflame the process.
2012年2月13日星期一
Blountville farmers market hopes to have permanent shed
Wendi Niebruegge returned to the family farm six years ago and is playing a key role in Sullivan County’s agriculture community and an effort to establish a more permanent farmers market here.
“I love being able to see my daughters play in the same trees that I played in when I was young,” she said.
Her farm, Indian Brook Farm, was founded nearly 100 years ago just outside Blountville. Named after a spring that runs through the property where Native Americans gathered water, the farm features rolling hills and pasture land.
Niebruegge’s father, Haynes Pendergrass, grew tobacco and corn on roughly 50 acres when she was young. The work was hard. Tobacco is labor intensive, but Pendergrass said he enjoyed working the land. He held down a regular job at Eastman Kodak during the day and tended to the farm in his free time.
His daughter loved growing up on the farm, Pendergrass remembers. Niebruegge, 41, was involved in 4-H and spent a lot of her free time riding tractors and tackling tasks around the farm. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.
After high school, Niebruegge moved way, got married and settled down with her husband, Craig, in South Carolina. Then one day her husband returned from a run during a visit to the farm and talked about moving to Tennessee, surprising Niebruegge.
“He said there was a house for sale in a subdivision next to the farm,” she said.
In the mid-1990s, Pendergrass had stopped growing tobacco and grazed cattle on the original 50 acres and 50 acres that were leased. He was getting older and could use the help.
Niebruegge and her husband talked about growing natural beef and free-range chickens at the farm. They wanted to take advantage of the budding local food movement and the return to more naturally grown food. The couple convinced Pendergrass to let them manage the farm.
“When we were on the mule [above the farm], before we moved, we would dream and think about who would buy the products,” Niebruegge said.
The family bought the house next to the farm and built a greenhouse and started a small garden plot. The pasture was converted to organic fertilizers. A chicken coop was constructed.
The farm started to sell the meat, produce and eggs directly to the public. The response was positive.
Two years ago, Niebruegge was contacted about a farmers market that was starting in Blountville. Sullivan County Extension was making the parking lot available at the Sullivan County offices and was looking for those who wanted to sell their produce.
When the market opened, Niebruegge sold meat and eggs. Before she knew it, she had been recruited and was named president of the newly formed Blountville Farmers Market board.
Dennis Houser, a Sullivan County commissioner from Blountville and a Blountville Farmers Market board member, said Niebruegge is a good fit for the position.
“Wendi is excellent at promotions and organization,” he said.
Around a dozen vendors sell products every Thursday during the growing season, and the market is an important part of life in Sullivan County.
“It became like a community gathering place, a social network,” Houser said.
Over the last two years, the market has become more organized. Bylaws are being drafted and the market is seeking formal non-profit status. At the same time, a new location is being sought as the parking lot is exposed to the elements, both rain and sun.
“You and your produce and your customers were wilting in the summer,” Niebruegge said.
The board decided to build a covered pavilion in Blountville. Sullivan County is a partner in the project. The structure could serve as a gathering place for Sullivan County residents and house the market each week, Houser said.
The structure will be built behind the old courthouse. The exact location has not been decided, but the Sullivan County Building Committee has given the project its blessing.
The county has also offered to donate the labor for the project and will make electricity available.
The challenge now is funding. Grants were sought, and Farm Credit Services and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture awarded the market a total of $4,000. The market board can contribute a couple more thousand dollars to the pavilion project but around $7,000 or $8,000 is still needed.
The market is soliciting donations from local businesses for the remaining funds.
Niebruegge wants agriculture to thrive in Sullivan County and knows the market can play an important role. She sees demand increasing for locally grown agriculture products and has watched her own business grow over the last two years.
She is amazed at how many people contact her and want to purchase products directly from the farm. She sends out weekly emails on what products are available. In the beginning, friends were the only buyers. Eventually, friends of friends inquired about buying meat or vegetables. Now, people contact the farm, although they have no connection to it or the family.
Many are embracing a healthier lifestyle, as evidenced by other local farmers markets, in Bristol and Abingdon, that have proven to be popular and successful.
“So many people buy our sweet corn because it is non-GMO [genetically modified],” Niebruegge said.
All of this has made Niebruegge excited about the future.
“We are so blessed that people like what we are doing,” she said.
To make things interesting around the farm, her husband is always experimenting. He created a new seed germination system in the greenhouse and a gate system in the pasture. Last year, he wanted to grow turkeys at the farm. Like the chickens, the turkeys roam freely.
“One day, I walk outside and the UPS guy is backing up across the driveway,” Niebruegge said. “He said, ‘What is that?’”
An adult turkey in the driveway scared the driver.
Niebruegge said the best part about returning to the farm has been family. Her dad still helps around the farm, and Pendergrass likes the farm’s direction.
“I love being able to see my daughters play in the same trees that I played in when I was young,” she said.
Her farm, Indian Brook Farm, was founded nearly 100 years ago just outside Blountville. Named after a spring that runs through the property where Native Americans gathered water, the farm features rolling hills and pasture land.
Niebruegge’s father, Haynes Pendergrass, grew tobacco and corn on roughly 50 acres when she was young. The work was hard. Tobacco is labor intensive, but Pendergrass said he enjoyed working the land. He held down a regular job at Eastman Kodak during the day and tended to the farm in his free time.
His daughter loved growing up on the farm, Pendergrass remembers. Niebruegge, 41, was involved in 4-H and spent a lot of her free time riding tractors and tackling tasks around the farm. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.
After high school, Niebruegge moved way, got married and settled down with her husband, Craig, in South Carolina. Then one day her husband returned from a run during a visit to the farm and talked about moving to Tennessee, surprising Niebruegge.
“He said there was a house for sale in a subdivision next to the farm,” she said.
In the mid-1990s, Pendergrass had stopped growing tobacco and grazed cattle on the original 50 acres and 50 acres that were leased. He was getting older and could use the help.
Niebruegge and her husband talked about growing natural beef and free-range chickens at the farm. They wanted to take advantage of the budding local food movement and the return to more naturally grown food. The couple convinced Pendergrass to let them manage the farm.
“When we were on the mule [above the farm], before we moved, we would dream and think about who would buy the products,” Niebruegge said.
The family bought the house next to the farm and built a greenhouse and started a small garden plot. The pasture was converted to organic fertilizers. A chicken coop was constructed.
The farm started to sell the meat, produce and eggs directly to the public. The response was positive.
Two years ago, Niebruegge was contacted about a farmers market that was starting in Blountville. Sullivan County Extension was making the parking lot available at the Sullivan County offices and was looking for those who wanted to sell their produce.
When the market opened, Niebruegge sold meat and eggs. Before she knew it, she had been recruited and was named president of the newly formed Blountville Farmers Market board.
Dennis Houser, a Sullivan County commissioner from Blountville and a Blountville Farmers Market board member, said Niebruegge is a good fit for the position.
“Wendi is excellent at promotions and organization,” he said.
Around a dozen vendors sell products every Thursday during the growing season, and the market is an important part of life in Sullivan County.
“It became like a community gathering place, a social network,” Houser said.
Over the last two years, the market has become more organized. Bylaws are being drafted and the market is seeking formal non-profit status. At the same time, a new location is being sought as the parking lot is exposed to the elements, both rain and sun.
“You and your produce and your customers were wilting in the summer,” Niebruegge said.
The board decided to build a covered pavilion in Blountville. Sullivan County is a partner in the project. The structure could serve as a gathering place for Sullivan County residents and house the market each week, Houser said.
The structure will be built behind the old courthouse. The exact location has not been decided, but the Sullivan County Building Committee has given the project its blessing.
The county has also offered to donate the labor for the project and will make electricity available.
The challenge now is funding. Grants were sought, and Farm Credit Services and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture awarded the market a total of $4,000. The market board can contribute a couple more thousand dollars to the pavilion project but around $7,000 or $8,000 is still needed.
The market is soliciting donations from local businesses for the remaining funds.
Niebruegge wants agriculture to thrive in Sullivan County and knows the market can play an important role. She sees demand increasing for locally grown agriculture products and has watched her own business grow over the last two years.
She is amazed at how many people contact her and want to purchase products directly from the farm. She sends out weekly emails on what products are available. In the beginning, friends were the only buyers. Eventually, friends of friends inquired about buying meat or vegetables. Now, people contact the farm, although they have no connection to it or the family.
Many are embracing a healthier lifestyle, as evidenced by other local farmers markets, in Bristol and Abingdon, that have proven to be popular and successful.
“So many people buy our sweet corn because it is non-GMO [genetically modified],” Niebruegge said.
All of this has made Niebruegge excited about the future.
“We are so blessed that people like what we are doing,” she said.
To make things interesting around the farm, her husband is always experimenting. He created a new seed germination system in the greenhouse and a gate system in the pasture. Last year, he wanted to grow turkeys at the farm. Like the chickens, the turkeys roam freely.
“One day, I walk outside and the UPS guy is backing up across the driveway,” Niebruegge said. “He said, ‘What is that?’”
An adult turkey in the driveway scared the driver.
Niebruegge said the best part about returning to the farm has been family. Her dad still helps around the farm, and Pendergrass likes the farm’s direction.
2012年2月12日星期日
Used materials are reborn into charming garden sheds
LIKE MUSHROOMS in damp autumn woods, Bob Bowling's sheds are popping up all over South Whidbey Island. Small enough to squeeze into a garden corner or side yard, yet large enough to house chickens, hold a yoga mat or tools, the sheds are drop-dead charming.
Is it the peaked roofs, the cupolas and aged windowpanes that lend a sense of history to each tidy little footprint of a building? Perhaps it's that Bowling has mastered the perfect proportions and garnishes to appeal to our fantasies of a sweet little destination shed. Gardeners seem to share a universal gene for outbuildings, and Bowling has tapped right into that.
After his success at the past few Northwest Flower & Garden Shows, where he won "Best of Show" in the exhibitor category, Bowling is busy building custom designs.
Don't be tricked by the cute window boxes and clever cupolas. These sheds are practical. The windows hinge wide open, the roofs are sturdy galvanized metal with overhangs, and the chicken coops come with nesting boxes and windows low enough to give the birds a view out into the garden.
How did Bowling hit on the formula for irresistible sheds? "I never draw them, they just evolve," he explains. Kind of like how he got into building sheds in the first place.
After working as a flooring contractor in Riverside, Calif., Bowling moved to Whidbey with a now ex-girlfriend, and started crafting birdhouses and benches. He moved on to sheds after discovering the abundant supply of recycled materials on the island.
Now Bowling starts his days poking around the woodpile at the local construction dump and visiting Island Recycling. "I mill around and some days I hit gold," he says. He stockpiles old doors and windows, and buys bits and pieces on eBay, like the $5 metal spheres he uses as finials.
So what are the specific elements that make these rustic sheds so covetable? First, they're a manageable size. Most Bowling buildings are 5 by 5 or 4 by 4 feet. Yet they're tall and transparent enough that they don't feel dark or cramped. "I'm 6 foot 4 and I need to be able to walk in without hitting my head," says Bowling.
Despite windows, doors and siding old enough to make the buildings look weathered in place, new underlying framework assures they're structurally sound. "Nothing is going to blow them over," he says.
Because Bowling builds with materials on at least their second lifetimes, each shed is unique. If wood or metal doesn't look sufficiently vintage, Bowling adds patina with a vinegar wash. Old saws, axes and trowels are put to use as door handles and brackets. He constructs cupolas out of metal chicken feeders, funnels, stove pipes or pot lids — whatever ends up stacking in an eye-pleasing and sturdy way.
Bowling's sense of proportion and detail comes into play from roof to doorknobs. The former is usually steep and galvanized, the latter a worn tool or beveled glass. Dutch doors, weathervanes and window boxes large enough to hold a few herbs or pansies add yet more charm.
While Bowling usually sticks with his square little footprint and tried-and-true proportions, he is sometimes asked to come up with new shapes and sizes. He built an octagonal building he describes as "Gothic" to fit into a hillside garden in Burien. "The largest shed I ever built was 10 by 12, and we dry-walled and insulated it for a studio," he says.
His sheds have been used as outhouses, chapels, outdoor showers, playhouses and simply as garden focal points. So if you can imagine it, Bowling can build it.
Is it the peaked roofs, the cupolas and aged windowpanes that lend a sense of history to each tidy little footprint of a building? Perhaps it's that Bowling has mastered the perfect proportions and garnishes to appeal to our fantasies of a sweet little destination shed. Gardeners seem to share a universal gene for outbuildings, and Bowling has tapped right into that.
After his success at the past few Northwest Flower & Garden Shows, where he won "Best of Show" in the exhibitor category, Bowling is busy building custom designs.
Don't be tricked by the cute window boxes and clever cupolas. These sheds are practical. The windows hinge wide open, the roofs are sturdy galvanized metal with overhangs, and the chicken coops come with nesting boxes and windows low enough to give the birds a view out into the garden.
How did Bowling hit on the formula for irresistible sheds? "I never draw them, they just evolve," he explains. Kind of like how he got into building sheds in the first place.
After working as a flooring contractor in Riverside, Calif., Bowling moved to Whidbey with a now ex-girlfriend, and started crafting birdhouses and benches. He moved on to sheds after discovering the abundant supply of recycled materials on the island.
Now Bowling starts his days poking around the woodpile at the local construction dump and visiting Island Recycling. "I mill around and some days I hit gold," he says. He stockpiles old doors and windows, and buys bits and pieces on eBay, like the $5 metal spheres he uses as finials.
So what are the specific elements that make these rustic sheds so covetable? First, they're a manageable size. Most Bowling buildings are 5 by 5 or 4 by 4 feet. Yet they're tall and transparent enough that they don't feel dark or cramped. "I'm 6 foot 4 and I need to be able to walk in without hitting my head," says Bowling.
Despite windows, doors and siding old enough to make the buildings look weathered in place, new underlying framework assures they're structurally sound. "Nothing is going to blow them over," he says.
Because Bowling builds with materials on at least their second lifetimes, each shed is unique. If wood or metal doesn't look sufficiently vintage, Bowling adds patina with a vinegar wash. Old saws, axes and trowels are put to use as door handles and brackets. He constructs cupolas out of metal chicken feeders, funnels, stove pipes or pot lids — whatever ends up stacking in an eye-pleasing and sturdy way.
Bowling's sense of proportion and detail comes into play from roof to doorknobs. The former is usually steep and galvanized, the latter a worn tool or beveled glass. Dutch doors, weathervanes and window boxes large enough to hold a few herbs or pansies add yet more charm.
While Bowling usually sticks with his square little footprint and tried-and-true proportions, he is sometimes asked to come up with new shapes and sizes. He built an octagonal building he describes as "Gothic" to fit into a hillside garden in Burien. "The largest shed I ever built was 10 by 12, and we dry-walled and insulated it for a studio," he says.
His sheds have been used as outhouses, chapels, outdoor showers, playhouses and simply as garden focal points. So if you can imagine it, Bowling can build it.
2012年2月9日星期四
Council sets limit on neighborhood chickens
That’s how many chickens a Naperville resident may legally keep after the City Council voted 6 to 3 Tuesday to amend the city’s fowl and livestock code.
Councilmen Grant Wehrli, Doug Krause and Kenn Miller voted against the measure.
David Laird’s chicken coop sparked the controversy when some of his neighbors complained about the fowl living next door and asked the City Council for a total ban on chickens within city limits.
“I knew that there was going to be a compromise,” Laird said after the vote, “or there was going to be nothing.”
With 12 birds currently in his coop, Laird will have to find homes for four of them, although it’s unclear how much time the city will allow him to get down to the legal limit.
“I’ll do everything in my power to comply with the rules and ordinances of Naperville,” he said. “I’ll find homes for them somewhere.”
In addition to the first-time ever limit on fowl within city limits, the changes to the ordinance call for keeping a chicken coop at least 30 feet away from a neighbor’s house, mandates sweeping the coop every 24 hours and screening open coops for at least the bottom 6 feet.
Roosters are now banned completely.
Ronald Barghesi, one of the neighbors who originally complained to the city, was in attendance but waived his right to speak.
Laird had his supporters. Laura Kemner lives in unincorporated Naperville and spoke of how her husband decided 10 years ago that he wanted to raise chickens.
Being a suburban girl, as she put it, the news came as a bit of a shock.
“My preconceived notions proved to be wrong,” she said. “It’s not what I expected.”
Kemner said she felt the controversy was less about chickens and more about people’s expectations of their neighbors.
“We expect that our neighbors are going to conduct themselves in a certain way,” she told the council, noting that some of that conduct was “not always to our liking.”
She said that while people often didn’t conform to expectations, it was diversity that makes a neighborhood interesting.
Kemner’s daughter Ellery told the City Council that she’d been raising chickens for virtually her entire life.
“I’ve had 10 amazing years with them,” she said, noting that she’d showen them in the DuPage County Fair and at her 4H Club.
Moreover, she produced 75 signatures from her school supporting her position that the ordinance should be left the way i.
Laird thanked the City Council members for their attention, but later said that his children would be disappointed.
“They think it’s a drag,” he said. “They’ve gotten attached to them.”
Councilmen Grant Wehrli, Doug Krause and Kenn Miller voted against the measure.
David Laird’s chicken coop sparked the controversy when some of his neighbors complained about the fowl living next door and asked the City Council for a total ban on chickens within city limits.
“I knew that there was going to be a compromise,” Laird said after the vote, “or there was going to be nothing.”
With 12 birds currently in his coop, Laird will have to find homes for four of them, although it’s unclear how much time the city will allow him to get down to the legal limit.
“I’ll do everything in my power to comply with the rules and ordinances of Naperville,” he said. “I’ll find homes for them somewhere.”
In addition to the first-time ever limit on fowl within city limits, the changes to the ordinance call for keeping a chicken coop at least 30 feet away from a neighbor’s house, mandates sweeping the coop every 24 hours and screening open coops for at least the bottom 6 feet.
Roosters are now banned completely.
Ronald Barghesi, one of the neighbors who originally complained to the city, was in attendance but waived his right to speak.
Laird had his supporters. Laura Kemner lives in unincorporated Naperville and spoke of how her husband decided 10 years ago that he wanted to raise chickens.
Being a suburban girl, as she put it, the news came as a bit of a shock.
“My preconceived notions proved to be wrong,” she said. “It’s not what I expected.”
Kemner said she felt the controversy was less about chickens and more about people’s expectations of their neighbors.
“We expect that our neighbors are going to conduct themselves in a certain way,” she told the council, noting that some of that conduct was “not always to our liking.”
She said that while people often didn’t conform to expectations, it was diversity that makes a neighborhood interesting.
Kemner’s daughter Ellery told the City Council that she’d been raising chickens for virtually her entire life.
“I’ve had 10 amazing years with them,” she said, noting that she’d showen them in the DuPage County Fair and at her 4H Club.
Moreover, she produced 75 signatures from her school supporting her position that the ordinance should be left the way i.
Laird thanked the City Council members for their attention, but later said that his children would be disappointed.
“They think it’s a drag,” he said. “They’ve gotten attached to them.”
2012年2月8日星期三
Down planet path
When our children were young, we tried everything to get them outside. Sure, our family life inside was filled with the kind of drama you'd call gloriously ordinary—which pasta for dinner, whose turn it was to feed the dogs or get the phone, and how best to gather everyone around the woodstove hearth every evening.
Outdoors, I figured it was all about the destination, so we constructed paths from one rural attraction to another. We had a picnic path to the blueberries, another to the chicken coop. One trail wound to the tire swing and zip wire, but that was neither our "scenic overlook" nor "outer beltway."
As these paths tolerated all variety of vehicles, from wobbly wheelbarrows and reluctant bicycles to bouncing baby carriages and battery-powered jeeps, there was a fair amount of maintenance required, especially in the spring and winter. Clearing these trails required an arsenal of tools and trashing my weekend jeans; if the chainsaw was involved, there would be a whole other level of supplies and precautions. Turning the mundane into the fantastic, my oldest daughter would often come find me, cutting in the woods. She would collect the sawdust piled up by the logs, carefully scooping up cups full and sprinkling it around her newfound woodland fairy domains. "Magical dust," she called it.
Believe it or not, these paths were chances to confirm household partnerships: My wife frequently invoked The Dogwood Rule: "Never cut down a dogwood tree, alive or dead." I did once, and she wouldn't talk to me for three days. Her rule applies to ferns as well, although she knows I like a good mow, to be able to trim the trail all the way to the edge. It makes for easier back and forth passage. Suffice it to say, we have our share of Zen-like obstacle courses on these crooked, cluttered paths.
These days, the paths are more functional. Like spokes on a wheel, our paths lead in all directions from the back door: to the mailbox, the end of the driveway for the daily newspapers, to the well house and, of course, to our neighbors' houses and their own lattice of paths. One of these neighbors recently discovered a 10-foot tall mound of bulldozed dirt in the brush a hundred yards behind his house. He astutely called it "Arrowhead Head Hill," and his boys have since marched a path toward it again and again. They are playing there with their digging trucks all the time. One day, as they listened patiently, he slowly explained the name to us: "Well, we haven't found any arrowheads yet, but we know they're there." The explorer cycle continues.
My oldest daughter was once inspired to plan a path directly into the woods from the basketball court. I asked her where the path was going.
"I don't know Dad, I just wanted to make one," she responded. "You guys always look like you're having so much fun with your paths. I wanted to do one myself."
Yes, that's it; I'm grabbing my boots and loppers and heading out the back door right now.
Outdoors, I figured it was all about the destination, so we constructed paths from one rural attraction to another. We had a picnic path to the blueberries, another to the chicken coop. One trail wound to the tire swing and zip wire, but that was neither our "scenic overlook" nor "outer beltway."
As these paths tolerated all variety of vehicles, from wobbly wheelbarrows and reluctant bicycles to bouncing baby carriages and battery-powered jeeps, there was a fair amount of maintenance required, especially in the spring and winter. Clearing these trails required an arsenal of tools and trashing my weekend jeans; if the chainsaw was involved, there would be a whole other level of supplies and precautions. Turning the mundane into the fantastic, my oldest daughter would often come find me, cutting in the woods. She would collect the sawdust piled up by the logs, carefully scooping up cups full and sprinkling it around her newfound woodland fairy domains. "Magical dust," she called it.
Believe it or not, these paths were chances to confirm household partnerships: My wife frequently invoked The Dogwood Rule: "Never cut down a dogwood tree, alive or dead." I did once, and she wouldn't talk to me for three days. Her rule applies to ferns as well, although she knows I like a good mow, to be able to trim the trail all the way to the edge. It makes for easier back and forth passage. Suffice it to say, we have our share of Zen-like obstacle courses on these crooked, cluttered paths.
These days, the paths are more functional. Like spokes on a wheel, our paths lead in all directions from the back door: to the mailbox, the end of the driveway for the daily newspapers, to the well house and, of course, to our neighbors' houses and their own lattice of paths. One of these neighbors recently discovered a 10-foot tall mound of bulldozed dirt in the brush a hundred yards behind his house. He astutely called it "Arrowhead Head Hill," and his boys have since marched a path toward it again and again. They are playing there with their digging trucks all the time. One day, as they listened patiently, he slowly explained the name to us: "Well, we haven't found any arrowheads yet, but we know they're there." The explorer cycle continues.
My oldest daughter was once inspired to plan a path directly into the woods from the basketball court. I asked her where the path was going.
"I don't know Dad, I just wanted to make one," she responded. "You guys always look like you're having so much fun with your paths. I wanted to do one myself."
Yes, that's it; I'm grabbing my boots and loppers and heading out the back door right now.
2012年2月7日星期二
Eliot family says town pressuring them to ditch pets
Four chickens named Popcorn, Eloise, Lady Bird and Ula may have to find a new home, if resident Brian McClellan can't convince the town's Board of Appeals that he has not run afoul of the law.
McClellan said he's hoping the board will be a voice of sanity in what he feels has been a crazy situation that has been both discriminatory and unfair to him and his family.
And it has ended with a recent edict from the town's code enforcement officer that he either dismantle the coop and get rid of the chickens or face fines of up to $100 per day.
McClellan said he would never have purchased the Rhode Island reds, now his children's pets, last summer if he had any idea that code enforcement officer James Marchese would change his mind about allowing him to have them.
The avian drama is playing out as the town works to craft its first-ever chicken ordinance. Although McClellan can't prove his situation was the catalyst, he said he suspects that it might have been.
Marchese, recovering from surgery, was unavailable for comment Monday.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Roland Fernald said Marchese was only doing his job, responding to a complaint about the chickens by McClellan's neighbor, which led to a review of his property.
That leaves McClellan shaking his head: He knows of at least two others in his Bolt Hill Road neighborhood who have chickens and haven't been singled out.
"The town isn't using common sense. If my neighbor is so upset, I'm willing to make changes," he said. "I don't really know what I can do. No one is willing to come to my property, and every time I went to Town Hall, I was told everything was fine."
McClellan's interaction with town officials began last July. The family, including wife Amy and their three children, had recently lost the family dog, and the children asked whether they could have another pet.
They settled on chickens, in part because the couple felt it would teach their children responsibility, as the chickens' care is primarily in the youngsters' hands.
Before he invested in a coop, yard and chickens, McClellan said, he visited Marchese, explaining he wanted to abide by the law and would not purchase chickens if he was not allowed to keep them on his property.
"He said any town ordinance preventing ownership of chickens in the Village District (where we live) is unclear and questionable," said McClellan. "Therefore, he could not prevent us from owning them."
The lack of clarity was linked to two ordinances that have conflicting requirements. One states that accessory structures have to be 10 feet from the property line. Another states that houses for the breeding and care of animals "for sale or lease" must be 100 feet or more from property lines.
"I told him these were pets, and we weren't going to sell them or the eggs from them," McClellan said.
In an August letter, Marchese laid out the two ordinances, stating that, when there is "doubt of intent," the benefit of the doubt goes to the applicant.
McClellan went to Town Hall again after receiving the letter, he said, and again Marchese "told me I could own chickens on my property."
Popcorn and the gang were bought in September, when McClellan received another letter from Marchese, asking him to place the coop 10 feet from the property line, which he did.
McClellan didn't hear from the town until late December, when Marchese wrote that, "upon further review," the McClellans had to get a building permit and apply for site plan review by the Planning Board.
What happened in the ensuing month was a flurry of letters back and forth and several visits to Town Hall — including one to Town Planner Kate Pelletier, who told McClellan he did not have to apply for site plan review, according to McClellan. Pelletier could not be reached for comment.
The ultimate slap for McClellan, however, was a Jan. 12 Board of Selectmen decision approving Marchese's request to order McClellan to remove the coop and get rid of the chickens or face fines of up to $100 a day.
McClellan said he was never notified of the meeting and, therefore, was not given a chance to explain his position.
"I don't understand," he said. "I tried to do everything I was told to do. And to top it off, my neighbors have chickens and the town is not going to tell them to remove them."
Fernald said the case was "a lot of 'he said, he said' with the neighbor, and I'm not going to get into that." He said, when Marchese brought the situation to the board, "we needed to move forward to rectify the situation."
He said the selectmen have faith in Marchese.
"We support his decision, and have asked him to move forward," Fernald said.
He said he knows McClellan has filed an appeal, "and hopefully this can be taken care of so things work out for everyone."
McClellan said he's hoping the board will be a voice of sanity in what he feels has been a crazy situation that has been both discriminatory and unfair to him and his family.
And it has ended with a recent edict from the town's code enforcement officer that he either dismantle the coop and get rid of the chickens or face fines of up to $100 per day.
McClellan said he would never have purchased the Rhode Island reds, now his children's pets, last summer if he had any idea that code enforcement officer James Marchese would change his mind about allowing him to have them.
The avian drama is playing out as the town works to craft its first-ever chicken ordinance. Although McClellan can't prove his situation was the catalyst, he said he suspects that it might have been.
Marchese, recovering from surgery, was unavailable for comment Monday.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Roland Fernald said Marchese was only doing his job, responding to a complaint about the chickens by McClellan's neighbor, which led to a review of his property.
That leaves McClellan shaking his head: He knows of at least two others in his Bolt Hill Road neighborhood who have chickens and haven't been singled out.
"The town isn't using common sense. If my neighbor is so upset, I'm willing to make changes," he said. "I don't really know what I can do. No one is willing to come to my property, and every time I went to Town Hall, I was told everything was fine."
McClellan's interaction with town officials began last July. The family, including wife Amy and their three children, had recently lost the family dog, and the children asked whether they could have another pet.
They settled on chickens, in part because the couple felt it would teach their children responsibility, as the chickens' care is primarily in the youngsters' hands.
Before he invested in a coop, yard and chickens, McClellan said, he visited Marchese, explaining he wanted to abide by the law and would not purchase chickens if he was not allowed to keep them on his property.
"He said any town ordinance preventing ownership of chickens in the Village District (where we live) is unclear and questionable," said McClellan. "Therefore, he could not prevent us from owning them."
The lack of clarity was linked to two ordinances that have conflicting requirements. One states that accessory structures have to be 10 feet from the property line. Another states that houses for the breeding and care of animals "for sale or lease" must be 100 feet or more from property lines.
"I told him these were pets, and we weren't going to sell them or the eggs from them," McClellan said.
In an August letter, Marchese laid out the two ordinances, stating that, when there is "doubt of intent," the benefit of the doubt goes to the applicant.
McClellan went to Town Hall again after receiving the letter, he said, and again Marchese "told me I could own chickens on my property."
Popcorn and the gang were bought in September, when McClellan received another letter from Marchese, asking him to place the coop 10 feet from the property line, which he did.
McClellan didn't hear from the town until late December, when Marchese wrote that, "upon further review," the McClellans had to get a building permit and apply for site plan review by the Planning Board.
What happened in the ensuing month was a flurry of letters back and forth and several visits to Town Hall — including one to Town Planner Kate Pelletier, who told McClellan he did not have to apply for site plan review, according to McClellan. Pelletier could not be reached for comment.
The ultimate slap for McClellan, however, was a Jan. 12 Board of Selectmen decision approving Marchese's request to order McClellan to remove the coop and get rid of the chickens or face fines of up to $100 a day.
McClellan said he was never notified of the meeting and, therefore, was not given a chance to explain his position.
"I don't understand," he said. "I tried to do everything I was told to do. And to top it off, my neighbors have chickens and the town is not going to tell them to remove them."
Fernald said the case was "a lot of 'he said, he said' with the neighbor, and I'm not going to get into that." He said, when Marchese brought the situation to the board, "we needed to move forward to rectify the situation."
He said the selectmen have faith in Marchese.
"We support his decision, and have asked him to move forward," Fernald said.
He said he knows McClellan has filed an appeal, "and hopefully this can be taken care of so things work out for everyone."
2012年2月6日星期一
Pine River parents ponder school options
With Pine River Elementary School slated to be closed after this school year, parents are weighing options for their children's future education.
Parents who especially value the small-school atmosphere at Pine River outside of Merrill are considering a variety of alternatives, including home schooling, sending their children to another district or enrolling them in parochial schools.
A split Merrill School Board voted Jan. 5 to close Pine River and use the building to house its Head Start and other early childhood programs. Pine River currently serves 134 students.
District leaders expect most current Pine River students will attend Washington Elementary next school year. The move also would mean a shift of elementary school boundaries that would affect students in other schools, as well.
"We have a lot of options. A lot of people are considering home schooling. We're being heavily recruited by the parochial schools in the area," said Jan Rydeski, 46, the mother of three children now attending Pine River.
Rydeski said she and her husband, John, are thinking about going through the open-enrollment process and trying to send their children to Hewitt-Texas Elementary in the Wausau School District.
"We live way out in the country and close to Hewitt-Texas," she said.
Kathy Yahr, principal of Trinity Lutheran School in Merrill, said she had a message on her Facebook account from a Pine River parent asking more about Trinity the night the Merrill School Board decided to close the school.
"That was before we did anything," Yahr said. Now, Trinity educators are sending letters to Pine River parents to invite them to a community night to be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.
"We are hoping because we're small, that will draw people to us," Yahr said. "Small schools can really eliminate some of the problems big schools face, such as bullying."
Jennifer Freyer, 36, is the mother of a Pine River second-grader and three younger children she had hoped to send there. She and her husband are part of a group of about 20 parents, including Rydeski, who are working hard to keep Pine River open.
"I guess my biggest frustration is that closing a school is a one-time savings," Freyer said. She argues that renovating the school for new early childhood programs would be expensive, too. "It doesn't make fiscal sense to me," she said.
Parents who especially value the small-school atmosphere at Pine River outside of Merrill are considering a variety of alternatives, including home schooling, sending their children to another district or enrolling them in parochial schools.
A split Merrill School Board voted Jan. 5 to close Pine River and use the building to house its Head Start and other early childhood programs. Pine River currently serves 134 students.
District leaders expect most current Pine River students will attend Washington Elementary next school year. The move also would mean a shift of elementary school boundaries that would affect students in other schools, as well.
"We have a lot of options. A lot of people are considering home schooling. We're being heavily recruited by the parochial schools in the area," said Jan Rydeski, 46, the mother of three children now attending Pine River.
Rydeski said she and her husband, John, are thinking about going through the open-enrollment process and trying to send their children to Hewitt-Texas Elementary in the Wausau School District.
"We live way out in the country and close to Hewitt-Texas," she said.
Kathy Yahr, principal of Trinity Lutheran School in Merrill, said she had a message on her Facebook account from a Pine River parent asking more about Trinity the night the Merrill School Board decided to close the school.
"That was before we did anything," Yahr said. Now, Trinity educators are sending letters to Pine River parents to invite them to a community night to be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.
"We are hoping because we're small, that will draw people to us," Yahr said. "Small schools can really eliminate some of the problems big schools face, such as bullying."
Jennifer Freyer, 36, is the mother of a Pine River second-grader and three younger children she had hoped to send there. She and her husband are part of a group of about 20 parents, including Rydeski, who are working hard to keep Pine River open.
"I guess my biggest frustration is that closing a school is a one-time savings," Freyer said. She argues that renovating the school for new early childhood programs would be expensive, too. "It doesn't make fiscal sense to me," she said.
2012年2月5日星期日
Super Bowl projected to generate super spending
As the New York Giants and New England Patriots battle on the field during Super Bowl XLVI today, game-related consumer spending is projected to reach an all-time high.
Total Super Bowl-related revenues are predicted to reach $11 billion, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association conducted by BIGinsight. The average game-watcher is expected to shell out $63.87 on related merchandise, apparel and snacks, up from $59.33 last year, according to the survey. A whopping 71.3 percent of that will be on beverages and food, especially items like chicken wings, pizza and dip.
Those kinds of numbers are an appetizing thought to Middletown and Hamilton business owners.
Kim Snider of Wings on Brookwood, 147 N. Brookwood Ave. in Hamilton, said her family-owned business generates approximately three times the amount of revenue on Super Bowl Sunday than it does on a typical Sunday.
“Wings and football have always been a tradition,” she said. “(Super Bowl Sunday) is, by far, our busiest day of the year. We go through about 16,000 wings and probably about 8,000 boneless wings.”
The restaurant, which offered Facebook fans discounts for pre-sale orders, started taking reservations for pickup times on Sunday a week in advance. This week, customers have “inundated” Wings on Brookwood with not only more orders than in recent years, but also more wings per order as well, Snider said.
National Restaurant Association research shows that chicken wings (63 percent) now outpace pizza (61 percent) as a game-day “must-have.” However, dips or spread, garnered the top spot with 69 percent of votes from famished fans.
Super Bowl Sunday at Fricker’s in Middletown means a 40 percent to 60 percent boost in carry-out sales revenues, said spokesman Jim Manley.
“Nobody calls for orders of 10 (wings) for the Super Bowl,” Manley said.
“They all call for orders of 200 to 500 and that’s why the number is so exorbitant, because they have a number of folks over to their house and at that point they’re just trying to feed the world and we’re very fortunate to be a beneficiary.”
The restaurant, however, does not see as much walk-up traffic because most people are attending Super Bowl parties, Manley said. “With that, it’s about the same amount of food as we would normally do, it just doesn’t get eaten in our restaurant,” he said.
To accommodate the droves of customers who flock to the restaurant for its Frickin’ Chicken Wings, Fricker’s must book time for its fryers, reserve a portion of them for last-minute orders and create a waiting area for pick-up orders, Manley said.
Nick Dadabo, owner of Chester’s Pizza in Hamilton, said the although his store no longer delivers, business increases by 30 to 40 percent on Super Bowl Sunday compared to a typical Sunday.
Dadabo said he expects that much of an increase, if not more, this Sunday, in part because of special prices on pizza, sandwiches and chicken wings, and the “independent bump” local places receive from big-name pizza establishment advertising that he said get customers “thinking pizza.”
But the decisive factor in any surge in sales boils down to customers avoiding economic “gloom and doom” by immersing themselves in the Super Bowl, he said.
“I think people are trying to find a way to satisfy themselves and maybe escape a little bit from the reality that we’re going through a pretty tough time,” Dadabo said.
Although wholesale chicken prices notoriously go up around Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl, prices have flown the coop over during the past year, Snider said, a fact of life that may peck into profit margins.
“This is the first year I’ve watched it double,” Snider said. However, “We’ve not changed our prices. We’ve not changed anything.”
The price hikes have continued as sales for fresh chicken breasts, the highest priced meat, have plummeted, Snider said. “That determines how much they (suppliers) are going to charge for the wings,” she said. “They need to make up their money on the wings and we don’t have a choice. It is what it is.”
Total Super Bowl-related revenues are predicted to reach $11 billion, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association conducted by BIGinsight. The average game-watcher is expected to shell out $63.87 on related merchandise, apparel and snacks, up from $59.33 last year, according to the survey. A whopping 71.3 percent of that will be on beverages and food, especially items like chicken wings, pizza and dip.
Those kinds of numbers are an appetizing thought to Middletown and Hamilton business owners.
Kim Snider of Wings on Brookwood, 147 N. Brookwood Ave. in Hamilton, said her family-owned business generates approximately three times the amount of revenue on Super Bowl Sunday than it does on a typical Sunday.
“Wings and football have always been a tradition,” she said. “(Super Bowl Sunday) is, by far, our busiest day of the year. We go through about 16,000 wings and probably about 8,000 boneless wings.”
The restaurant, which offered Facebook fans discounts for pre-sale orders, started taking reservations for pickup times on Sunday a week in advance. This week, customers have “inundated” Wings on Brookwood with not only more orders than in recent years, but also more wings per order as well, Snider said.
National Restaurant Association research shows that chicken wings (63 percent) now outpace pizza (61 percent) as a game-day “must-have.” However, dips or spread, garnered the top spot with 69 percent of votes from famished fans.
Super Bowl Sunday at Fricker’s in Middletown means a 40 percent to 60 percent boost in carry-out sales revenues, said spokesman Jim Manley.
“Nobody calls for orders of 10 (wings) for the Super Bowl,” Manley said.
“They all call for orders of 200 to 500 and that’s why the number is so exorbitant, because they have a number of folks over to their house and at that point they’re just trying to feed the world and we’re very fortunate to be a beneficiary.”
The restaurant, however, does not see as much walk-up traffic because most people are attending Super Bowl parties, Manley said. “With that, it’s about the same amount of food as we would normally do, it just doesn’t get eaten in our restaurant,” he said.
To accommodate the droves of customers who flock to the restaurant for its Frickin’ Chicken Wings, Fricker’s must book time for its fryers, reserve a portion of them for last-minute orders and create a waiting area for pick-up orders, Manley said.
Nick Dadabo, owner of Chester’s Pizza in Hamilton, said the although his store no longer delivers, business increases by 30 to 40 percent on Super Bowl Sunday compared to a typical Sunday.
Dadabo said he expects that much of an increase, if not more, this Sunday, in part because of special prices on pizza, sandwiches and chicken wings, and the “independent bump” local places receive from big-name pizza establishment advertising that he said get customers “thinking pizza.”
But the decisive factor in any surge in sales boils down to customers avoiding economic “gloom and doom” by immersing themselves in the Super Bowl, he said.
“I think people are trying to find a way to satisfy themselves and maybe escape a little bit from the reality that we’re going through a pretty tough time,” Dadabo said.
Although wholesale chicken prices notoriously go up around Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl, prices have flown the coop over during the past year, Snider said, a fact of life that may peck into profit margins.
“This is the first year I’ve watched it double,” Snider said. However, “We’ve not changed our prices. We’ve not changed anything.”
The price hikes have continued as sales for fresh chicken breasts, the highest priced meat, have plummeted, Snider said. “That determines how much they (suppliers) are going to charge for the wings,” she said. “They need to make up their money on the wings and we don’t have a choice. It is what it is.”
2012年2月2日星期四
Bringing a hen home to roost
IF, DESPITE my dire warnings, you are still determined to buy hens, let us see what they need.
First is a draught-free, dry house. Investing in a poultry magazine such as Fancy Fowl or Practical Poultry and surfing the net (especially on eBay) will reveal a wide range of prices. It pays to shop around.
My favourite is a two-tier house with a run underneath. If you pick an ark-shaped house, choose a solidly-made one. Cheap tongue-and-groove ones are a bad investment. After a year in the rain and wind, the slats fall apart.
Plastic hen houses are available that are easy to clean and do not harbour mites. Only the price puts me off.
Four things can kill chickens: damp, mites, draughts and foxes.
Chickens do not mind the cold. If you slip your hand under the wing of a sleeping chicken, you will find it as warm as toast there.
But sometimes, in very cold weather, cockerels get frostbite on their combs. A little Vaseline will prevent that.
Red mites are a major problem however clean your pens. Where they come from or how they get there, nobody knows. Afflicted birds grow pale with anaemia and may die. Red mites love new wood and new hutches. In the old days, creosoting was the ultimate deterrent. I always take it as a personal affront and become obsessive with red mite spray.
I even know one keeper who goes over his pens with a blowtorch. Vaseline at the end of the perches is another tip – but never along the middle, otherwise the hens will fall off.
Ensure latches are secure and wire walls are well-fixed to keep out foxes. Once they find a tasty chicken they will be back, usually killing more than they need. It can be a very distressing business.
I staple wire beneath pens and runs to prevent foxes digging underneath.
If your hens stay in a pen, ensure they have sufficient room to scratch about and remain active. Bored, cramped chickens pick up nasty habits such as feather-pecking or bullying.
A cauliflower or apple hanging on a string, a few dried meal worms thrown on the ground and plenty of room will keep them busy and happy.
If they are confined, provide them with grit to help them digest their food and a dirt or sand tray to bath in.
There are many recipes for each stage of a chicken's life in old poultrymen's books. Now all the ingredients are in pellets.
Layers' pellets provide all the minerals and protein your hens need. Chick crumbs and growers' pellets are just right for healthy chicks and adolescent birds.
A rough rule is a good handful of pellets per bird per day.
I always have a bag of mixed corn in the shed as a treat later in the day. Never overfeed because waste food encourages rats and mice and you will start to get black looks from the neighbours. Keeping chickens can be fraught with antisocial dangers. I suggest a gift of fresh eggs is the best antidote.
Chickens love treats. Apples, bananas (skin and all chopped up), cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli are favourites. Cooked potatoes, pasta and any fruit will also cause excitement in the coop.
Two things to avoid are avocado and uncooked potato peelings – both can be lethal to chickens.
Percy the peacock shares the same menu of pellets and corn, supplemented by our neighbours' custard creams, digestives and leftover cat food. However, all these extras are treats. Don't overdo them or you will have fat chickens.
A few drops of apple cider vinegar in the water once a month is said to be beneficial and a few drops of cod liver oil in the corn once in a while keeps feathers gleaming. A little of both once a month is enough.
Any spare eggs, either boiled or scrambled and maybe mixed with garlic powder, are also a tonic.
Clean water is essential. Birds drink a surprising amount. Dirty water is a recipe for disaster, especially in the summer.
If you are unfortunate enough to find one of your birds hunched up, looking lethargic or bubbling at the eyes or nostrils, you need to act at once.
My chicken-keeping friends usually have a bottle of Tylan powder or liquid Baytril (both only available on prescription from the vet) in the cupboard alongside the cod liver oil and Vaseline.
Tylan powder must be mixed with a little warm water to ensure it dissolves. Baytril is also diluted as instructed by the vet. Do not eat the eggs of a bird on medication. Both antibiotics are expensive but will go a long way.
If treated as soon as symptoms appear, a chicken will often rally in a day or two. If left untreated, a bird may soon develop respiratory problems, gluey eyes and a running nose.
Watch out for odd behaviour in the coop – you'll soon spot a sickly bird. Then act at once – isolate the bird, medicate and wait for recovery.
Make sleeping quarters snug with shavings or hemp. I don't use hay because it can go slimy. Straw can harbour mites. But find what suits you best and is available.
First is a draught-free, dry house. Investing in a poultry magazine such as Fancy Fowl or Practical Poultry and surfing the net (especially on eBay) will reveal a wide range of prices. It pays to shop around.
My favourite is a two-tier house with a run underneath. If you pick an ark-shaped house, choose a solidly-made one. Cheap tongue-and-groove ones are a bad investment. After a year in the rain and wind, the slats fall apart.
Plastic hen houses are available that are easy to clean and do not harbour mites. Only the price puts me off.
Four things can kill chickens: damp, mites, draughts and foxes.
Chickens do not mind the cold. If you slip your hand under the wing of a sleeping chicken, you will find it as warm as toast there.
But sometimes, in very cold weather, cockerels get frostbite on their combs. A little Vaseline will prevent that.
Red mites are a major problem however clean your pens. Where they come from or how they get there, nobody knows. Afflicted birds grow pale with anaemia and may die. Red mites love new wood and new hutches. In the old days, creosoting was the ultimate deterrent. I always take it as a personal affront and become obsessive with red mite spray.
I even know one keeper who goes over his pens with a blowtorch. Vaseline at the end of the perches is another tip – but never along the middle, otherwise the hens will fall off.
Ensure latches are secure and wire walls are well-fixed to keep out foxes. Once they find a tasty chicken they will be back, usually killing more than they need. It can be a very distressing business.
I staple wire beneath pens and runs to prevent foxes digging underneath.
If your hens stay in a pen, ensure they have sufficient room to scratch about and remain active. Bored, cramped chickens pick up nasty habits such as feather-pecking or bullying.
A cauliflower or apple hanging on a string, a few dried meal worms thrown on the ground and plenty of room will keep them busy and happy.
If they are confined, provide them with grit to help them digest their food and a dirt or sand tray to bath in.
There are many recipes for each stage of a chicken's life in old poultrymen's books. Now all the ingredients are in pellets.
Layers' pellets provide all the minerals and protein your hens need. Chick crumbs and growers' pellets are just right for healthy chicks and adolescent birds.
A rough rule is a good handful of pellets per bird per day.
I always have a bag of mixed corn in the shed as a treat later in the day. Never overfeed because waste food encourages rats and mice and you will start to get black looks from the neighbours. Keeping chickens can be fraught with antisocial dangers. I suggest a gift of fresh eggs is the best antidote.
Chickens love treats. Apples, bananas (skin and all chopped up), cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli are favourites. Cooked potatoes, pasta and any fruit will also cause excitement in the coop.
Two things to avoid are avocado and uncooked potato peelings – both can be lethal to chickens.
Percy the peacock shares the same menu of pellets and corn, supplemented by our neighbours' custard creams, digestives and leftover cat food. However, all these extras are treats. Don't overdo them or you will have fat chickens.
A few drops of apple cider vinegar in the water once a month is said to be beneficial and a few drops of cod liver oil in the corn once in a while keeps feathers gleaming. A little of both once a month is enough.
Any spare eggs, either boiled or scrambled and maybe mixed with garlic powder, are also a tonic.
Clean water is essential. Birds drink a surprising amount. Dirty water is a recipe for disaster, especially in the summer.
If you are unfortunate enough to find one of your birds hunched up, looking lethargic or bubbling at the eyes or nostrils, you need to act at once.
My chicken-keeping friends usually have a bottle of Tylan powder or liquid Baytril (both only available on prescription from the vet) in the cupboard alongside the cod liver oil and Vaseline.
Tylan powder must be mixed with a little warm water to ensure it dissolves. Baytril is also diluted as instructed by the vet. Do not eat the eggs of a bird on medication. Both antibiotics are expensive but will go a long way.
If treated as soon as symptoms appear, a chicken will often rally in a day or two. If left untreated, a bird may soon develop respiratory problems, gluey eyes and a running nose.
Watch out for odd behaviour in the coop – you'll soon spot a sickly bird. Then act at once – isolate the bird, medicate and wait for recovery.
Make sleeping quarters snug with shavings or hemp. I don't use hay because it can go slimy. Straw can harbour mites. But find what suits you best and is available.
2012年2月1日星期三
Mohnton youth's rooster a big winner at Farm Show
Will Kitsch, a sixth grader at Governor Mifflin Intermediate School, didn’t grow up on a farm, but when his preschool class visited one, he says he was the only one who wanted to go into the chicken coop to collect the eggs.
That same year his parents, Bill and Christine Kitsch, sent away for about a dozen chicks from a hatchery. Will learned how to take care of them and eventually decided he wanted to join 4-H and begin showing his chickens. Unfortunately, he found out that his chickens were not show quality. After picking out a few breeds that he liked, they found a local breeder – one in Grantville continues to be Will’s mentor – who did offer show-quality chickens.
After that, Will began hatching his own chicks and even raising a few that were destined for his family’s kitchen table. Christine said they had a lot of talks with Will and his siblings about raising chickens for meat. They knew from the start that those chickens were not to be named and that they would have a short life. Today Will has 30-40 chickens in his backyard (just a little over an acre) in Mohnton.
Every morning Will gets up before school to feed and water the chickens. Then after school he goes out and does it all again. On really cold nights he has to bring their water in, so it doesn’t freeze. And, ofcourse, he has to collect the eggs, usually twice a day. Some eggs are set aside for hatching and others are eaten .
Four years ago Will began showing his chickens at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. This year he won his biggest award ever when his two-year-old rooster, Tiger, won Reserve Grand Champion Large Chicken. Will has had Tiger since he was a chick and Tiger’s son, who Will hatched himself, also showed well this year.
To prepare Tiger and the 28 other chickens he took to the show, Will trimmed their toe nails, washed them, and put “stuff” on their combs and feathers to make them glossy. Will says that they needed to be very clean.
About a year ago, Will brought two ducks home for his nine-year-old brother, Gabriel, who has always loved ducks. One of them got away, so they bought ten eggs for Gabriel. Six eggs hatched – all girls. Today Gabriel has a flock of ducks, which he says are easier to take care of than the chickens. He entered three of them – Sonic, Tittlewinks, and Rosie – into the competition at the farm show and won several awards in the Bantam Duck Class.
Christine says that raising chickens and ducks has taught the boys responsibility, compassion, and care. She says when you domesticate an animal and put it in a cage, it’s completely dependent on you for its care. It never takes a day off or goes on vacation. No matter what the weather, it’s your responsibility to care for the well-being of that living creature.
She says the boys are also learning about financial responsibility. They’ve sold some of their chickens and they’ve sold chicken and duck meat to their friends and family. They’re also learning about where their food comes from, and they’re doing hands-on projects. This year they’re planning on re-doing the front of the coop.
That same year his parents, Bill and Christine Kitsch, sent away for about a dozen chicks from a hatchery. Will learned how to take care of them and eventually decided he wanted to join 4-H and begin showing his chickens. Unfortunately, he found out that his chickens were not show quality. After picking out a few breeds that he liked, they found a local breeder – one in Grantville continues to be Will’s mentor – who did offer show-quality chickens.
After that, Will began hatching his own chicks and even raising a few that were destined for his family’s kitchen table. Christine said they had a lot of talks with Will and his siblings about raising chickens for meat. They knew from the start that those chickens were not to be named and that they would have a short life. Today Will has 30-40 chickens in his backyard (just a little over an acre) in Mohnton.
Every morning Will gets up before school to feed and water the chickens. Then after school he goes out and does it all again. On really cold nights he has to bring their water in, so it doesn’t freeze. And, ofcourse, he has to collect the eggs, usually twice a day. Some eggs are set aside for hatching and others are eaten .
Four years ago Will began showing his chickens at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. This year he won his biggest award ever when his two-year-old rooster, Tiger, won Reserve Grand Champion Large Chicken. Will has had Tiger since he was a chick and Tiger’s son, who Will hatched himself, also showed well this year.
To prepare Tiger and the 28 other chickens he took to the show, Will trimmed their toe nails, washed them, and put “stuff” on their combs and feathers to make them glossy. Will says that they needed to be very clean.
About a year ago, Will brought two ducks home for his nine-year-old brother, Gabriel, who has always loved ducks. One of them got away, so they bought ten eggs for Gabriel. Six eggs hatched – all girls. Today Gabriel has a flock of ducks, which he says are easier to take care of than the chickens. He entered three of them – Sonic, Tittlewinks, and Rosie – into the competition at the farm show and won several awards in the Bantam Duck Class.
Christine says that raising chickens and ducks has taught the boys responsibility, compassion, and care. She says when you domesticate an animal and put it in a cage, it’s completely dependent on you for its care. It never takes a day off or goes on vacation. No matter what the weather, it’s your responsibility to care for the well-being of that living creature.
She says the boys are also learning about financial responsibility. They’ve sold some of their chickens and they’ve sold chicken and duck meat to their friends and family. They’re also learning about where their food comes from, and they’re doing hands-on projects. This year they’re planning on re-doing the front of the coop.
2012年1月31日星期二
Ioby Partners with Deutsche Bank to Fund Projects
CDCs, non-profit organizations commissioned to provide services or programs in a certain geographic location, are a particularly good way for ioby to deepen its focus on local solutions to environmental problems in communities. “Any New Yorker can post their project on ioby, but we have a special interest in supporting the ideas and initiatives of New Yorkers in neighborhoods that have a greater burden of environmental problems and fewer resources to address them,” says Erin Barnes, executive director and co-founder of ioby, in a press release about the partnership with Deutsche Bank.
“This partnership came about through conversations with Deutsche Bank about how our mass campaigns were working for us. Deutsche Bank has long been dedicated to working with CDCs. When I was saying to Sam Marks, the program officer we work with at Deutsche Bank, how match campaigns work with ioby, he immediately drew the conclusion that [we could work with] CDCs, since their target focus is the neighborhood level, and that would be a perfect opportunity for ioby to improve its reach,” Barnes, told Dowser.
“CDCs bring a comprehensive point of view to neighborhood development, and in many neighborhoods, they are playing a leading role engaging their constituents in local environmental issues,” said Marks, the Vice President, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, in ioby’s press release. “We were compelled by the notion that ioby could provide a platform to allow CDCs to take advantage of grassroots crowd-resourcing for block-level sustainability projects aligned with their broader community visions.”
Two innovative projects will lead off the match campaign. The Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) is working on raising $5,940 for an urban farm in the low-income East New York/Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project, Pollos Del Pueblo, will transform an unused, city-owned vacant lot into a resource for the community, by installing a chicken coop, a chicken run, a storage shed, and a community compost station.
“East New York/Cypress Hills is a food desert. Fresh, nutritious food is hard, if not impossible to come by out here. The result is a devastating health crisis where a third of adults are obese and 19% have diabetes. Additionally, more than half of residents live below the poverty line, unemployment is a high 19% and more than 80% of students qualify for free lunch,” said Betsy MacLean, Director of Community Development, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation.
“This project and grassroots fundraising campaign offer the opportunity to take a real blight on the community – one of many vacant, overgrown lots – and transform it into a site for exciting, important community building and expanded access to fresh food – including organic eggs.” added MacLean.
The second pilot project will be a partnership between Living City Block Gowanus and the Gowanus Community Development Corporation. The Gowanus neighborhood is the site of the Gowanus Canal, which was declared a polluted and hazardous Superfund site in 2010. These groups will together host a series of design charettes and contests, with the goal of creating the best wayfinding signs for visitors and residents of the Gowanus neighborhood. “The signs will lead pedestrians, cyclists and car traffic to various green infrastructure sites in the area, such as bike racks, solar panels, bioswales and micro-wind turbines,” according to ioby’s press release.
“Gowanus has a special culture of its own, and the community should play a role in creating and designating the interest spots of the neighborhood,” said Llewelyn Wells, president and founder, Living City Block. “Since the entire process of the project is about citizen engagement, the fundraising for it will be, too.”
ioby’s crowdfunding efforts so far fully funding nearly 100 projects in all five boroughs of New York City through small, individual donations. The average donation is $35 and the average project budget is $1,200.
“The Obama campaign in 2008 helped people see how they could fund the things they believed in by pooling large numbers of small donations. Typically the wealthy gave charity--now people can support change in the very neighborhoods they live in. It shifts the ideology from hand-outs to community engagement,” said Barnes. Most ioby micro-donors live within two miles of the project they are supporting, which helps foster a local sense of community and responsibility.
“After finding matching campaigns to be a very effective way for us to support the work of ioby’s project leaders, we couldn’t be happier about this initiative,” said Brandon Whitney, COO and co-founder of ioby, in the press release. “Matches embolden project leaders and micro-donors alike.”
“This partnership came about through conversations with Deutsche Bank about how our mass campaigns were working for us. Deutsche Bank has long been dedicated to working with CDCs. When I was saying to Sam Marks, the program officer we work with at Deutsche Bank, how match campaigns work with ioby, he immediately drew the conclusion that [we could work with] CDCs, since their target focus is the neighborhood level, and that would be a perfect opportunity for ioby to improve its reach,” Barnes, told Dowser.
“CDCs bring a comprehensive point of view to neighborhood development, and in many neighborhoods, they are playing a leading role engaging their constituents in local environmental issues,” said Marks, the Vice President, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, in ioby’s press release. “We were compelled by the notion that ioby could provide a platform to allow CDCs to take advantage of grassroots crowd-resourcing for block-level sustainability projects aligned with their broader community visions.”
Two innovative projects will lead off the match campaign. The Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) is working on raising $5,940 for an urban farm in the low-income East New York/Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project, Pollos Del Pueblo, will transform an unused, city-owned vacant lot into a resource for the community, by installing a chicken coop, a chicken run, a storage shed, and a community compost station.
“East New York/Cypress Hills is a food desert. Fresh, nutritious food is hard, if not impossible to come by out here. The result is a devastating health crisis where a third of adults are obese and 19% have diabetes. Additionally, more than half of residents live below the poverty line, unemployment is a high 19% and more than 80% of students qualify for free lunch,” said Betsy MacLean, Director of Community Development, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation.
“This project and grassroots fundraising campaign offer the opportunity to take a real blight on the community – one of many vacant, overgrown lots – and transform it into a site for exciting, important community building and expanded access to fresh food – including organic eggs.” added MacLean.
The second pilot project will be a partnership between Living City Block Gowanus and the Gowanus Community Development Corporation. The Gowanus neighborhood is the site of the Gowanus Canal, which was declared a polluted and hazardous Superfund site in 2010. These groups will together host a series of design charettes and contests, with the goal of creating the best wayfinding signs for visitors and residents of the Gowanus neighborhood. “The signs will lead pedestrians, cyclists and car traffic to various green infrastructure sites in the area, such as bike racks, solar panels, bioswales and micro-wind turbines,” according to ioby’s press release.
“Gowanus has a special culture of its own, and the community should play a role in creating and designating the interest spots of the neighborhood,” said Llewelyn Wells, president and founder, Living City Block. “Since the entire process of the project is about citizen engagement, the fundraising for it will be, too.”
ioby’s crowdfunding efforts so far fully funding nearly 100 projects in all five boroughs of New York City through small, individual donations. The average donation is $35 and the average project budget is $1,200.
“The Obama campaign in 2008 helped people see how they could fund the things they believed in by pooling large numbers of small donations. Typically the wealthy gave charity--now people can support change in the very neighborhoods they live in. It shifts the ideology from hand-outs to community engagement,” said Barnes. Most ioby micro-donors live within two miles of the project they are supporting, which helps foster a local sense of community and responsibility.
“After finding matching campaigns to be a very effective way for us to support the work of ioby’s project leaders, we couldn’t be happier about this initiative,” said Brandon Whitney, COO and co-founder of ioby, in the press release. “Matches embolden project leaders and micro-donors alike.”
2012年1月30日星期一
Chicken chuckers duck weather issues
They had the determination. They had the drive. They had funky chicken hats.
Surely they had a hard-to-beat strategy?
“Strategy?” said Val Nesset to her fellow team, The Mother Cluckers. “We had one, right?”
Turned out the team from Buffalo was winging it in their first foray into the world of chicken chuckin’ Sunday.
But this year’s annual International Chicken Chuckin’ event gave no one home turf advantage. Organizers switched to rubber chickens over the frozen kind for the first time due to balmy weather.
Instead of sliding frozen chickens on Martindale Pond, participants in the fundraising tournament gathered in Lakeside Park to hurl rubber fowl into truck tires.
Nesset’s fellow chucker Larry White said he was counting on the ice, having advantageous experience with frozen turkeys on linoleum.
“It’s kind of like bowing,” he said. “Turkeys are 9 to 16 pounds. You can get good at it.”
Their team of five was made up of professors and a PhD student from the University of Buffalo, who flocked to Port Dalhousie with Nesset. A library and information sciences teacher, she lives in both Buffalo and Port Dalhousie with her husband, who was on a rival team Sunday.
She vowed The Mother Cluckers will be back next year, having invested $6.50 each in chicken hats they bought via the Internet.
They weren’t the only ones to display colourful gear. Others wore raccoon tails, rubber chicken hats and Scottish kilts.
Dave Prentice, owner of the Kilt and Clover pub that co-ordinates the event, said 26 teams were out Sunday in Lakeside Park, with the $80 entry fee per team being donated to charity.
“It’s going to be quite significant for Hospice Niagara,” Prentice said. “It’s no chicken scratch.”
It was the 12th year for International Chicken Chuckin’, though not the first without ice. Prentice shudders to think of the 2004 tourney, which was held in rain and mud.
“It was 10 degrees and the chickens were melting. It was awful.”
In order to avoid that fowl occurrence this year, 16 rubber chicken dog toys were purchased from a pet store, though Prentice admitted they were actually ducks.
Ducks wearing purple bikinis.
No matter the feather, or weather, nothing could have kept longtime chucker Michael Kearns from the event.
“It would have taken no less than an act of God to keep me from here,” said Kearns, of the team That Episode of Who’s The Boss Where Tony Sees Angela Naked in the Shower.
Kearns joked he bathed in Swiss Chalet sauce and meditated in a chicken coop before catching his flight from Calgary for the event.
The team was the chicken chuckin’ champion in 2006 and a semi-finalists in 2007.
But with the new duck chuck this year, their previous ice time counted for little. It was anybody’s game.
And the Buffalo team, White said, had a professor of anthropology on its side.
“She was able to study the long and ancient tradition of chicken chuckin’.”
Surely they had a hard-to-beat strategy?
“Strategy?” said Val Nesset to her fellow team, The Mother Cluckers. “We had one, right?”
Turned out the team from Buffalo was winging it in their first foray into the world of chicken chuckin’ Sunday.
But this year’s annual International Chicken Chuckin’ event gave no one home turf advantage. Organizers switched to rubber chickens over the frozen kind for the first time due to balmy weather.
Instead of sliding frozen chickens on Martindale Pond, participants in the fundraising tournament gathered in Lakeside Park to hurl rubber fowl into truck tires.
Nesset’s fellow chucker Larry White said he was counting on the ice, having advantageous experience with frozen turkeys on linoleum.
“It’s kind of like bowing,” he said. “Turkeys are 9 to 16 pounds. You can get good at it.”
Their team of five was made up of professors and a PhD student from the University of Buffalo, who flocked to Port Dalhousie with Nesset. A library and information sciences teacher, she lives in both Buffalo and Port Dalhousie with her husband, who was on a rival team Sunday.
She vowed The Mother Cluckers will be back next year, having invested $6.50 each in chicken hats they bought via the Internet.
They weren’t the only ones to display colourful gear. Others wore raccoon tails, rubber chicken hats and Scottish kilts.
Dave Prentice, owner of the Kilt and Clover pub that co-ordinates the event, said 26 teams were out Sunday in Lakeside Park, with the $80 entry fee per team being donated to charity.
“It’s going to be quite significant for Hospice Niagara,” Prentice said. “It’s no chicken scratch.”
It was the 12th year for International Chicken Chuckin’, though not the first without ice. Prentice shudders to think of the 2004 tourney, which was held in rain and mud.
“It was 10 degrees and the chickens were melting. It was awful.”
In order to avoid that fowl occurrence this year, 16 rubber chicken dog toys were purchased from a pet store, though Prentice admitted they were actually ducks.
Ducks wearing purple bikinis.
No matter the feather, or weather, nothing could have kept longtime chucker Michael Kearns from the event.
“It would have taken no less than an act of God to keep me from here,” said Kearns, of the team That Episode of Who’s The Boss Where Tony Sees Angela Naked in the Shower.
Kearns joked he bathed in Swiss Chalet sauce and meditated in a chicken coop before catching his flight from Calgary for the event.
The team was the chicken chuckin’ champion in 2006 and a semi-finalists in 2007.
But with the new duck chuck this year, their previous ice time counted for little. It was anybody’s game.
And the Buffalo team, White said, had a professor of anthropology on its side.
“She was able to study the long and ancient tradition of chicken chuckin’.”
2012年1月29日星期日
Fresh eggs and a view
Many would love to wake up each morning to the view outside Steve Dix and Marnie Vail's guest house.
And don't forget the sound of the chickens.
The small, one-bedroom guest house is just a few hundred yards from the walking trails at the foot of Mount Elden, and the dense thicket of trees backing up to their property regularly provides glimpses of deer, elk, foxes, raccoons and other wildlife.
Coupled with Vail's massive inventory of healthy, home-cooked meals sourced from their backyard garden and chicken coop, it is a ready-made vacation.
The retired pilot and doctor are both betting that ecotourists will be willing to spend a little more to stay in their new bed and breakfast after a long day of hiking and biking rather than a hotel.
The couple have spent several months and roughly $2,000 converting the former den in Elden Trails Bed and Breakfast.
The decision to turn their home into A bed and breakfast was in part a financial decision, Dix said.
"When you are over 60, there are not an abundance of jobs out there in the job market," Dix said. "So if you decide you want some income, well then you need to create a job."
Not that either are new to the industry.
"We lived in Vermont for three years and we have good friends there that had a B & B and we started taking overflow from their B & B," Vail said.
Still there were challenges to opening the business.
A massive 11-foot climbing wall behind the main house had to be torn down, primarily out of liability concerns. Vail had a hard time seeing it go.
"I loved the climbing wall. It was one of the perks of buying this place," Vail said.
Despite having the chickens as well as two dogs and a cat, the B&B allows their guests to bring their dogs. Dix said it just made good business sense.
"It is best to be pet-friendly rather than turning business away," Dix said.
In their backyard is a greenhouse and chicken coop where roughly a dozen chickens provide fresh eggs, along with a small outdoor garden.
"It doesn't look like much now, but this summer we'll have a ton of things growing here," Dix said.
A partial list includes: Carrots, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, peas, green beans and some types of herbs.
Using foods from their "mountain micro-farm" is important to Vail.
"One of my big issues is food. What people are eating is not really helping them these days," the retired physician says. "What they sell in the grocery stores isn't very healthy."
She picks a piece of home-baked dessert bread on the kitchen table. The soft bread is coated in powdered sugar, but Vail has baked the bread from scratch, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
"This might not be very healthy, but it won't hurt you," she adds.
Vail is still looking for local food growers in order to cut back even further on trips to the grocery store.
She concedes she has had trouble finding local sources of organic cow milk, pork and handmade soaps.
And don't forget the sound of the chickens.
The small, one-bedroom guest house is just a few hundred yards from the walking trails at the foot of Mount Elden, and the dense thicket of trees backing up to their property regularly provides glimpses of deer, elk, foxes, raccoons and other wildlife.
Coupled with Vail's massive inventory of healthy, home-cooked meals sourced from their backyard garden and chicken coop, it is a ready-made vacation.
The retired pilot and doctor are both betting that ecotourists will be willing to spend a little more to stay in their new bed and breakfast after a long day of hiking and biking rather than a hotel.
The couple have spent several months and roughly $2,000 converting the former den in Elden Trails Bed and Breakfast.
The decision to turn their home into A bed and breakfast was in part a financial decision, Dix said.
"When you are over 60, there are not an abundance of jobs out there in the job market," Dix said. "So if you decide you want some income, well then you need to create a job."
Not that either are new to the industry.
"We lived in Vermont for three years and we have good friends there that had a B & B and we started taking overflow from their B & B," Vail said.
Still there were challenges to opening the business.
A massive 11-foot climbing wall behind the main house had to be torn down, primarily out of liability concerns. Vail had a hard time seeing it go.
"I loved the climbing wall. It was one of the perks of buying this place," Vail said.
Despite having the chickens as well as two dogs and a cat, the B&B allows their guests to bring their dogs. Dix said it just made good business sense.
"It is best to be pet-friendly rather than turning business away," Dix said.
In their backyard is a greenhouse and chicken coop where roughly a dozen chickens provide fresh eggs, along with a small outdoor garden.
"It doesn't look like much now, but this summer we'll have a ton of things growing here," Dix said.
A partial list includes: Carrots, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, peas, green beans and some types of herbs.
Using foods from their "mountain micro-farm" is important to Vail.
"One of my big issues is food. What people are eating is not really helping them these days," the retired physician says. "What they sell in the grocery stores isn't very healthy."
She picks a piece of home-baked dessert bread on the kitchen table. The soft bread is coated in powdered sugar, but Vail has baked the bread from scratch, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
"This might not be very healthy, but it won't hurt you," she adds.
Vail is still looking for local food growers in order to cut back even further on trips to the grocery store.
She concedes she has had trouble finding local sources of organic cow milk, pork and handmade soaps.
2012年1月19日星期四
South Whitehall OKs residential chicken-raising in limited areas
There were no ruffled feathers at the South Whitehall Township commissioners meeting Wednesday as the board approved a measure allowing residents in certain areas to raise chickens.
The board met and unanimously approved an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow property owners to house up to four hens as pets. No one in the audience objected.
Commissioners considered the request after 8-year-old township resident Carisa Fogt and her grandfather appeared before the board in September to ask commissioners to revise the ordinance to allow her keep a couple of hens. The prior zoning ordinance required 5 acres for even one chicken, making the Fogts' half-acre lot on Scherer Road ineligible.
The ordinance allows hens, but not roosters, as they make noisy calls and can be disruptive.
The hens would be permitted only on properties containing single-family detached homes in the rrural holding or rural esidential and agricultural zoning districts.
When outdoors, the chickens would be required to be contained in a coop, penned area or run. The pen is not permitted in the front yard and must be positioned at least 10 feet from rear and side yard property lines, as well as 100 feet from a dwelling on another property.
The township planning commission pecked away at the ordinance and recommended the amendment be adopted.
Chickens have become popular in suburban and even urban areas in recent years among owners who delight in caring for the animals, obtaining their own organic eggs or raising them as a family project, sometimes through organizations such as 4-H.
Commissioner Thomas Johns asked if the ordinance would apply to homing pigeons, because some residents keep them as a hobby. Assistant Community Development Director Gerald Harbison said that would be up to the zoning officer's interpretation.
"The ordinance is set up to keep adding, if that would be the case," Harbison said.
The ordinance will take effect in five days.
In other matters, commissioners voted to donate a used police vehicle to the Lehigh County Municipal Emergency Response Team. District Attorney Jim Martin submitted a letter to the board offering to buy the 2003 Ford CV sedan for $500.
Commissioner Dale Daubert asked if the township is truly in need of $500 or if the car could be donated. The township would typically send a used police car to auction, where it could garner $750, Township Manager Jon Hammer said.
"If the district attorney feels this will help him with his duties to the county as well as South Whitehall Township, I say we sign the title over to him at no charge," Daubert said.
The remaining commissioners agreed and voted unanimously to make the donation.
The board met and unanimously approved an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow property owners to house up to four hens as pets. No one in the audience objected.
Commissioners considered the request after 8-year-old township resident Carisa Fogt and her grandfather appeared before the board in September to ask commissioners to revise the ordinance to allow her keep a couple of hens. The prior zoning ordinance required 5 acres for even one chicken, making the Fogts' half-acre lot on Scherer Road ineligible.
The ordinance allows hens, but not roosters, as they make noisy calls and can be disruptive.
The hens would be permitted only on properties containing single-family detached homes in the rrural holding or rural esidential and agricultural zoning districts.
When outdoors, the chickens would be required to be contained in a coop, penned area or run. The pen is not permitted in the front yard and must be positioned at least 10 feet from rear and side yard property lines, as well as 100 feet from a dwelling on another property.
The township planning commission pecked away at the ordinance and recommended the amendment be adopted.
Chickens have become popular in suburban and even urban areas in recent years among owners who delight in caring for the animals, obtaining their own organic eggs or raising them as a family project, sometimes through organizations such as 4-H.
Commissioner Thomas Johns asked if the ordinance would apply to homing pigeons, because some residents keep them as a hobby. Assistant Community Development Director Gerald Harbison said that would be up to the zoning officer's interpretation.
"The ordinance is set up to keep adding, if that would be the case," Harbison said.
The ordinance will take effect in five days.
In other matters, commissioners voted to donate a used police vehicle to the Lehigh County Municipal Emergency Response Team. District Attorney Jim Martin submitted a letter to the board offering to buy the 2003 Ford CV sedan for $500.
Commissioner Dale Daubert asked if the township is truly in need of $500 or if the car could be donated. The township would typically send a used police car to auction, where it could garner $750, Township Manager Jon Hammer said.
"If the district attorney feels this will help him with his duties to the county as well as South Whitehall Township, I say we sign the title over to him at no charge," Daubert said.
The remaining commissioners agreed and voted unanimously to make the donation.
2012年1月18日星期三
Chickens a calming influence
Chickens a calming influence; small group allowed in Clayton for 'pet therapy'
Chickadee, Peach, Daisy, Brownie and Daphne get to stay at the Casagrande residence, even if their presence there is technically against the law.
"I am so happy," said Nancy Casagrande. "Now we can legally have them."
The five hens are the pets of 9-year-old Bretten Casagrande who suffers from Tourette syndrome. His parents, Nancy and Larry Casagrande, said the pet chickens are therapeutic and help alleviate Bretten's symptoms as well as provide him comfort.
"He feels safe in the chicken coop," said Casagrande. "I would never have guessed a chicken would be so helpful to a child."
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clayton Planning Commission agreed to a request for "reasonable accommodation" to allow the Casagrandes to keep the birds as long as Bretten lives on the property, or as long as the chickens continue to help improve his symptoms.
Community Development Director David Woltering said by addressing the specific issue, the commissioners' ruling in December made changing the city ordinance moot. Keeping chickens in residential neighborhoods is still forbidden in most instances.
In Walnut Creek, there are specific requirements, but generally, as many as three animals, including poultry (except roosters) may be kept as household pets, with the proper animal permit.
People suffering with Tourette syndrome loudly and uncontrollably spluttering expletive epitaphs makes good cinema, but that kind of outburst is not as common as movies make them out to be, said Casagrande. Mostly, these "tics" are less dramatic, uncontrolled noises and body movements. Bretten has various tics, including making a squeaking sound, bobbing his head and for a while and falling to one knee.
Casagrande said the worst part of Bretten's symptoms is other children's reactions. She remembers once insisting Bretten go outside to play with the neighborhood children rather than observe, but when he did, "they all went away."
Casagrande said one child about the same age as Bretten said, "I don't like Bretten, he does weird things."
"It breaks my heart," she said.
Said Bretten, "The chickens, they don't think I'm weird."
His mother said the bond between boy and his brood maybe their similar tics.
At least once a day, Bretten goes to the chicken coop, a converted dog run, to sit on a small bench and visit with his feathered friends.
"I just like watching them run around," he said. "My favorite is Chickadee. They all run up because they think I have food."
He usually does and feeds them from his hand. When he doesn't have food he said, "They try and eat my hand."
Bretten became fascinated with chickens after a trip to a petting zoo in Pleasanton, and in May 2010 Cassagrande and her husband bought a pair of baby chicks for him.
"He was very excited," Casagrande said. "At that point we didn't think of them as therapy. I didn't know they would help him so much."
She also didn't know Clayton had a law prohibiting the keeping of chickens in residential areas.
The outlaw fowl were brought to the attention of the commission in October after neighbors complained about the smell and noise. A code enforcement officer visited the Casagrande home and determined the source of the odor was two compost bins containing kitchen food waste, organic grass clippings, leaves and chicken droppings left open in the rain.
The Casagrandes removed the composting bins and agreed any future composting bins will be kept closed when it rains and no kitchen food products will be used.
In addition, a small chicken coop visible to neighbors was removed.
The Casagrandes may have no more than five hens -- no roosters -- and they are to be kept in a single coop or covered pen not bigger than 50 square feet or taller than six feet. It must be a minimum of 20 feet from any side or rear property line, and must be cleaned twice daily or more frequently to assure there are no odors bothering the neighbors.
Chickadee, Peach, Daisy, Brownie and Daphne get to stay at the Casagrande residence, even if their presence there is technically against the law.
"I am so happy," said Nancy Casagrande. "Now we can legally have them."
The five hens are the pets of 9-year-old Bretten Casagrande who suffers from Tourette syndrome. His parents, Nancy and Larry Casagrande, said the pet chickens are therapeutic and help alleviate Bretten's symptoms as well as provide him comfort.
"He feels safe in the chicken coop," said Casagrande. "I would never have guessed a chicken would be so helpful to a child."
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clayton Planning Commission agreed to a request for "reasonable accommodation" to allow the Casagrandes to keep the birds as long as Bretten lives on the property, or as long as the chickens continue to help improve his symptoms.
Community Development Director David Woltering said by addressing the specific issue, the commissioners' ruling in December made changing the city ordinance moot. Keeping chickens in residential neighborhoods is still forbidden in most instances.
In Walnut Creek, there are specific requirements, but generally, as many as three animals, including poultry (except roosters) may be kept as household pets, with the proper animal permit.
People suffering with Tourette syndrome loudly and uncontrollably spluttering expletive epitaphs makes good cinema, but that kind of outburst is not as common as movies make them out to be, said Casagrande. Mostly, these "tics" are less dramatic, uncontrolled noises and body movements. Bretten has various tics, including making a squeaking sound, bobbing his head and for a while and falling to one knee.
Casagrande said the worst part of Bretten's symptoms is other children's reactions. She remembers once insisting Bretten go outside to play with the neighborhood children rather than observe, but when he did, "they all went away."
Casagrande said one child about the same age as Bretten said, "I don't like Bretten, he does weird things."
"It breaks my heart," she said.
Said Bretten, "The chickens, they don't think I'm weird."
His mother said the bond between boy and his brood maybe their similar tics.
At least once a day, Bretten goes to the chicken coop, a converted dog run, to sit on a small bench and visit with his feathered friends.
"I just like watching them run around," he said. "My favorite is Chickadee. They all run up because they think I have food."
He usually does and feeds them from his hand. When he doesn't have food he said, "They try and eat my hand."
Bretten became fascinated with chickens after a trip to a petting zoo in Pleasanton, and in May 2010 Cassagrande and her husband bought a pair of baby chicks for him.
"He was very excited," Casagrande said. "At that point we didn't think of them as therapy. I didn't know they would help him so much."
She also didn't know Clayton had a law prohibiting the keeping of chickens in residential areas.
The outlaw fowl were brought to the attention of the commission in October after neighbors complained about the smell and noise. A code enforcement officer visited the Casagrande home and determined the source of the odor was two compost bins containing kitchen food waste, organic grass clippings, leaves and chicken droppings left open in the rain.
The Casagrandes removed the composting bins and agreed any future composting bins will be kept closed when it rains and no kitchen food products will be used.
In addition, a small chicken coop visible to neighbors was removed.
The Casagrandes may have no more than five hens -- no roosters -- and they are to be kept in a single coop or covered pen not bigger than 50 square feet or taller than six feet. It must be a minimum of 20 feet from any side or rear property line, and must be cleaned twice daily or more frequently to assure there are no odors bothering the neighbors.
2012年1月17日星期二
Ambler Seeks Wilton Funds To Restore Farmhouse
Leaders of the Friends of Ambler Farm are seeking $500,000 from the town to help restore the historic Raymond Ambler House that was occupied by the family for more than 160 years.
The nonprofit Ambler Farm's Board of Directors will request $250,000 from the town’s capital improvements fund for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and another $250,000 for the following year from money already earmarked for the project, said board president Neil Gluckin.
The group will officially make a request for the funding at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
“This is a very good time in the property’s history to move forward with this project, and we will urge the selectmen to understand that the community places a very high value on completing this project and return to Wilton a long-term investment that will far exceed the amount the town will invest in it,” Gluckin said.
The $500,000 would go “a very long way” in helping to complete the overall $1.9 million project, Gluckin said. The project is designed to renovate and open the house to the public for historic tours, educational programs and community events.
Originally believed to have been built in 1799, the white farmhouse was constructed in 1830 and was occupied by members of the Ambler family until Betty Ambler’s death in 1998.
The house, located at 257 Hurlbutt Street, had deteriorated significantly over the last few decades. But when the town obtained the 22-acre property in 1999, the Friends of Ambler Farm was established to operate it as a working farm and to renovate the farmhouse and other buildings to present ongoing educational programs and fun events relating to life on the farm.
“The house will become the cornerstone for representing farm life over the last two centuries and is key to accomplishing the mission set out by the deed of sale to the town – to make this entire property a living example of farm life in Wilton from 1800 to 2000,” Gluckin said.
About $600,000 in renovations have already been done to stabilize the house’s foundation, he said, but there’s a lot more work to do. Exploration of the farmhouse has led to discovery of several old shoes and pieces of clothing under the attic's floorboards. In addition, there are signatures from various carpenters who worked on the house.
“We want to move ahead now so that by 2014 we can put some of the house’s furnishings like chairs, tables and kitchen cabinets back in and to create a hearth kitchen to help depict what life was like in the house and on the farm during the 18th and 19th centuries,” said Gluckin.
Extensive renovations were completed in 2006 at the red Carriage Barn, which was built in 1880 and is used for education programs. A kitchen addition also serves a range of activities and programs. Community organizations can rent the Barn.
The nonprofit Ambler Farm's Board of Directors will request $250,000 from the town’s capital improvements fund for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and another $250,000 for the following year from money already earmarked for the project, said board president Neil Gluckin.
The group will officially make a request for the funding at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
“This is a very good time in the property’s history to move forward with this project, and we will urge the selectmen to understand that the community places a very high value on completing this project and return to Wilton a long-term investment that will far exceed the amount the town will invest in it,” Gluckin said.
The $500,000 would go “a very long way” in helping to complete the overall $1.9 million project, Gluckin said. The project is designed to renovate and open the house to the public for historic tours, educational programs and community events.
Originally believed to have been built in 1799, the white farmhouse was constructed in 1830 and was occupied by members of the Ambler family until Betty Ambler’s death in 1998.
The house, located at 257 Hurlbutt Street, had deteriorated significantly over the last few decades. But when the town obtained the 22-acre property in 1999, the Friends of Ambler Farm was established to operate it as a working farm and to renovate the farmhouse and other buildings to present ongoing educational programs and fun events relating to life on the farm.
“The house will become the cornerstone for representing farm life over the last two centuries and is key to accomplishing the mission set out by the deed of sale to the town – to make this entire property a living example of farm life in Wilton from 1800 to 2000,” Gluckin said.
About $600,000 in renovations have already been done to stabilize the house’s foundation, he said, but there’s a lot more work to do. Exploration of the farmhouse has led to discovery of several old shoes and pieces of clothing under the attic's floorboards. In addition, there are signatures from various carpenters who worked on the house.
“We want to move ahead now so that by 2014 we can put some of the house’s furnishings like chairs, tables and kitchen cabinets back in and to create a hearth kitchen to help depict what life was like in the house and on the farm during the 18th and 19th centuries,” said Gluckin.
Extensive renovations were completed in 2006 at the red Carriage Barn, which was built in 1880 and is used for education programs. A kitchen addition also serves a range of activities and programs. Community organizations can rent the Barn.
2012年1月16日星期一
Oatland vet tends wild bobcat
The first clue was the pile of five dead chickens.
Kenny Okorowski found them behind his Oatland Island house.
Looking further he discovered his sixth chicken buried nearby. His seventh backyard bird was just gone.
“I was walking my dog Saturday morning and when I came around to the backyard, the chicken coop was full of feathers but no chickens,” Okorowski said.
He dug up the buried bird and used it to bait a large animal trap he borrowed from nearby Oatland Island Wildlife Center. He knew the predator would be back for leftovers.
“I wasn’t sure whether it was a bobcat or a coon but I knew whatever it was needed to be caught,” he said.
The next morning the wire cage held a full-grown male bobcat.
“It wasn’t too angry,” said Okorowski, who’s lived on Oatland for more than two decades but who hadn’t seen a bobcat in years. “But if we went too close he’d stand up and look at us.”
Okorowski took the 20-pound cat to Oatland where veterinarian Lesley Mailler has since been doctoring what she believes is an approximately 10-year-old bobcat that probably tangled with a large dog about a month ago.
Its left shoulder blade was crunched apart and the floating pieces of bone had fostered a nasty infection that made it hard for it to hunt.
“I think the wound forced it to find easier prey,” Mailler said.
The bobcat might also be responsible for killing one of Oatland’s turkeys, Darryl, the week before. (Turkey lovers can take consolation in the fact that the other Darryl was unharmed.)
Mailler knocked the cat out and cleaned the wound, pulling chunks of loose bone out then closed it up again. Several days later she knocked him out again for phase two of the wound care. She didn’t have to remove the stitches; he’d already done that.
“Naughty boy,” she said to the drugged cat laying on his side, tongue out, anesthesia mask on.
Mailler removed two surgical drains, tubes of latex that channel pus and fluid out of the wound. Then she stitched him up again, finishing three layers of internal stitches with a surgical glue for good measure. The inch-long piece of bone she removed in the first surgery won’t affect the cat’s mobility, Mailler said.
Named for their short tails, bobcats are the most common wild feline in the U.S. with a total population estimated at more than a million. The males are solitary with overlapping territories estimated at about 10 square miles, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. They are not threatened or endangered.
Mailler has had recent practice on this species because the center last year acquired three adolescent bobcats that had been discovered as babies in South Carolina and nursed by a house cat. Mailler had to neuter them before they were put into their permanent display.
“We’ve had a bobcat bonanza going on,” Mailler said.
But the wild patient won’t be staying at Oatland permanently. Bobcats can live well into their teens, so at 10, this one is middle aged. He’s thin, but the Oatland staff is fattening him up with frozen rats and the same meatballs their captive cats regularly dine on. Just two days after the last surgery he was already feistier, growling at his captor and swatting when they came close to his cage.
“He’s discovered he’s a bobcat again,” Mailler said. “He must be feeling better.”
Mailler plans to get the cat healthy and then relocate it to an as yet undetermined location away from traffic and the temptation of backyard chickens. She’s hopeful for his future.
“He’s a tough old guy,” she said.
Kenny Okorowski found them behind his Oatland Island house.
Looking further he discovered his sixth chicken buried nearby. His seventh backyard bird was just gone.
“I was walking my dog Saturday morning and when I came around to the backyard, the chicken coop was full of feathers but no chickens,” Okorowski said.
He dug up the buried bird and used it to bait a large animal trap he borrowed from nearby Oatland Island Wildlife Center. He knew the predator would be back for leftovers.
“I wasn’t sure whether it was a bobcat or a coon but I knew whatever it was needed to be caught,” he said.
The next morning the wire cage held a full-grown male bobcat.
“It wasn’t too angry,” said Okorowski, who’s lived on Oatland for more than two decades but who hadn’t seen a bobcat in years. “But if we went too close he’d stand up and look at us.”
Okorowski took the 20-pound cat to Oatland where veterinarian Lesley Mailler has since been doctoring what she believes is an approximately 10-year-old bobcat that probably tangled with a large dog about a month ago.
Its left shoulder blade was crunched apart and the floating pieces of bone had fostered a nasty infection that made it hard for it to hunt.
“I think the wound forced it to find easier prey,” Mailler said.
The bobcat might also be responsible for killing one of Oatland’s turkeys, Darryl, the week before. (Turkey lovers can take consolation in the fact that the other Darryl was unharmed.)
Mailler knocked the cat out and cleaned the wound, pulling chunks of loose bone out then closed it up again. Several days later she knocked him out again for phase two of the wound care. She didn’t have to remove the stitches; he’d already done that.
“Naughty boy,” she said to the drugged cat laying on his side, tongue out, anesthesia mask on.
Mailler removed two surgical drains, tubes of latex that channel pus and fluid out of the wound. Then she stitched him up again, finishing three layers of internal stitches with a surgical glue for good measure. The inch-long piece of bone she removed in the first surgery won’t affect the cat’s mobility, Mailler said.
Named for their short tails, bobcats are the most common wild feline in the U.S. with a total population estimated at more than a million. The males are solitary with overlapping territories estimated at about 10 square miles, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. They are not threatened or endangered.
Mailler has had recent practice on this species because the center last year acquired three adolescent bobcats that had been discovered as babies in South Carolina and nursed by a house cat. Mailler had to neuter them before they were put into their permanent display.
“We’ve had a bobcat bonanza going on,” Mailler said.
But the wild patient won’t be staying at Oatland permanently. Bobcats can live well into their teens, so at 10, this one is middle aged. He’s thin, but the Oatland staff is fattening him up with frozen rats and the same meatballs their captive cats regularly dine on. Just two days after the last surgery he was already feistier, growling at his captor and swatting when they came close to his cage.
“He’s discovered he’s a bobcat again,” Mailler said. “He must be feeling better.”
Mailler plans to get the cat healthy and then relocate it to an as yet undetermined location away from traffic and the temptation of backyard chickens. She’s hopeful for his future.
“He’s a tough old guy,” she said.
2012年1月15日星期日
Soon, the chickens will come home to roost
Deposed and killed Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, once described the people who had risen against him in demand for freedom as rats. This was at a time when Brother Leader – as he was affectionately known elsewhere – was mobilising the best defence possible against, well, the 'marauding rats' who were no longer satisfied with simply nibbling at slices of national cheddar but wanted, nay, demanded the whole brick.
The use of animal imagery in politics is always amusing; first for the humour it comes wrapped in and second, for the insincerity and hypocrisy it exposes on the part of one who uses it. Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF once declared to a stunned nation that even if it were to put a baboon on the ballot paper as its election candidate, the people would still vote for that ZANU-PF baboon as opposed to the human candidates from other parties.
Someone should have read that famous book by George Orwell, Animal Farm, to ZANU-PF and categorically state that if the people were to vote for this baboon, it is only because they could no longer tell the difference between the humans in power and the baboons in the wild. The human being has become a baboon and the baboon has become a human being.
Imagine the uncouth way in which ZANU-PF has treated the people of Zimbabwe, the ugliness with which they have played their politics and indeed, the plunder of the national cake by a troop of selected individuals, which is clearly reaping where it did not sow. Add the kiss-our-buttocks attitude that has followed calls for reform and accountability and there you have them, the baboons indeed!
And so it turns out there is a resolute determination in this country to follow the path of destruction taken by Zimbabwe to the letter. Introduce also, in addition to the fuel and forex shortages, power cuts, water shortages, bad governance, executive arrogance and ignorance, the use of animal imagery and you have a fitting clone and important lesson on how not to run a country.
According to president Bingu wa Mutharika, some amongst us are chickens. Maybe we are, Mr President; what with the eggs and meat we continue to deliver at State House, fattening its residents while we ourselves get thinner and thinner as a result of the rations we continue to suffer. Meanwhile, in our state of hunger and starvation, we are still expected to shower praises on some allegedly dynamic and wise leadership just as it was at Animal Farm:
"It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, 'Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days'; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'"
Quite evidently, however, this leadership is neither wise nor dynamic but rather arrogant and treats its people with contempt. That is precisely how it has become that we are stuck with this debauched machinery of governance. Hence, it is nothing short of tragedy that president Mutharika and the government of Malawi at large continue to ignore the challenges plaguing this country, focusing rather on insulting citizens whom they have force-driven to their wits' end. It is the arrogance of a leadership that has its mindset frozen in the time warp of feudal politics, believing Malawi was its fiefdom – or chicken coop, if you like.
Still, Mutharika's formidable array of excuses as to why we find ourselves with this repulsive air of national malaise hanging over us simply need to be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. We demand more honesty Your Excellency, seeing that your regime's catalogue of flagitious offences against the people of Malawi are well documented and you must be held to account surely.
While Malawians continue to surprise themselves everyday by the way in which they are able to absorb the shock and horror so faithfully delivered by Mutharika and his cronies, they must not get accustomed to this way for living because it simply is not the way to live in any country, let alone one that claims to be a democracy. Once all this suffering is internalised and embraced, then there can never be a way out of all these insults and the wild expectation that as they are delivered, in the most unpresidential language and tone there is, we must all be somehow grateful for them.
Gaddafi is dead but the 'rats' live on, despite having some problems of their own. ZANU-PF cannot even begin to think of fielding that baboon in the next election as it has become aware of the divisions within and the reality of losing an election has sobered them up. The animal imagery no longer holds any power.
As for the crying chickens in Malawi, well, they may be coming home to roost soon but rest assured it is not for leisure purposes. At some point too, these chickens would want to run free.
The use of animal imagery in politics is always amusing; first for the humour it comes wrapped in and second, for the insincerity and hypocrisy it exposes on the part of one who uses it. Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF once declared to a stunned nation that even if it were to put a baboon on the ballot paper as its election candidate, the people would still vote for that ZANU-PF baboon as opposed to the human candidates from other parties.
Someone should have read that famous book by George Orwell, Animal Farm, to ZANU-PF and categorically state that if the people were to vote for this baboon, it is only because they could no longer tell the difference between the humans in power and the baboons in the wild. The human being has become a baboon and the baboon has become a human being.
Imagine the uncouth way in which ZANU-PF has treated the people of Zimbabwe, the ugliness with which they have played their politics and indeed, the plunder of the national cake by a troop of selected individuals, which is clearly reaping where it did not sow. Add the kiss-our-buttocks attitude that has followed calls for reform and accountability and there you have them, the baboons indeed!
And so it turns out there is a resolute determination in this country to follow the path of destruction taken by Zimbabwe to the letter. Introduce also, in addition to the fuel and forex shortages, power cuts, water shortages, bad governance, executive arrogance and ignorance, the use of animal imagery and you have a fitting clone and important lesson on how not to run a country.
According to president Bingu wa Mutharika, some amongst us are chickens. Maybe we are, Mr President; what with the eggs and meat we continue to deliver at State House, fattening its residents while we ourselves get thinner and thinner as a result of the rations we continue to suffer. Meanwhile, in our state of hunger and starvation, we are still expected to shower praises on some allegedly dynamic and wise leadership just as it was at Animal Farm:
"It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, 'Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days'; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'"
Quite evidently, however, this leadership is neither wise nor dynamic but rather arrogant and treats its people with contempt. That is precisely how it has become that we are stuck with this debauched machinery of governance. Hence, it is nothing short of tragedy that president Mutharika and the government of Malawi at large continue to ignore the challenges plaguing this country, focusing rather on insulting citizens whom they have force-driven to their wits' end. It is the arrogance of a leadership that has its mindset frozen in the time warp of feudal politics, believing Malawi was its fiefdom – or chicken coop, if you like.
Still, Mutharika's formidable array of excuses as to why we find ourselves with this repulsive air of national malaise hanging over us simply need to be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. We demand more honesty Your Excellency, seeing that your regime's catalogue of flagitious offences against the people of Malawi are well documented and you must be held to account surely.
While Malawians continue to surprise themselves everyday by the way in which they are able to absorb the shock and horror so faithfully delivered by Mutharika and his cronies, they must not get accustomed to this way for living because it simply is not the way to live in any country, let alone one that claims to be a democracy. Once all this suffering is internalised and embraced, then there can never be a way out of all these insults and the wild expectation that as they are delivered, in the most unpresidential language and tone there is, we must all be somehow grateful for them.
Gaddafi is dead but the 'rats' live on, despite having some problems of their own. ZANU-PF cannot even begin to think of fielding that baboon in the next election as it has become aware of the divisions within and the reality of losing an election has sobered them up. The animal imagery no longer holds any power.
As for the crying chickens in Malawi, well, they may be coming home to roost soon but rest assured it is not for leisure purposes. At some point too, these chickens would want to run free.
2012年1月12日星期四
Man chooses new job in Maine over retirement
There is something about Maine that grabs people. I certainly see it in lifetime Mainers, but that spark of Maine fire can be particularly exciting in newcomers. Many people choose to retire in Maine, but today’s story tells of a man who chose Maine instead of retirement.
Rather than retire last summer at age 65, Bill Trumble moved to Maine and took the job of senior vice president of academic affairs at Unity College.
Bill grew up in Washington state. Over the last 40 years, he has studied and worked in schools in Texas, Idaho, New Jersey, New Hampshire and upstate New York, to name a few.
I met with Bill in his office, part of a college building that used to be a chicken coop, and asked him about his new job at Unity College.
“I’ve been in a lot of institutions,” he said. “This one is the best ever!”
Bill is a lifetime lover of the outdoors and an avid believer in responsible environmental stewardship. A bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in medical physiology have deeply informed his understanding of the natural environment, but Bill’s greatest inspirations come from outside the classroom walls. He has spent time outdoors all his life, including annual wilderness trips that take him all over the world.
“Wilderness is the only place where you can really get your mind right,” Bill said.
Unity College’s work to educate people about that essential connection between humans and their natural environment fits exactly with Bill’s philosophy.
“So much of what we teach here is important to the country and to the planet,” he said.
The second thing that Bill loves about his new job stems from the fact that his arrival coincided with several other newcomers to Unity’s team, including President Steve Mulkey. As a result, there is a refreshing openness to creativity and innovation.
“No one says, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ Nothing is taboo; no new thought is off limits when it comes to thinking about how to make Unity a better, more attractive school for environmentalists.”
You might have read about one of Bill’s unusual ideas in a Bangor Daily News story last November. In order to get to know Unity students in a new way, Bill spent a week as a resident in one of the college dorms. By all reports, it was an enlightening experience for both students and administrator .
As I toured Unity College’s campus with both Bill and admissions officer Diane Laliberte , I began to catch the contagion of their enthusiasm. There is Unity House, the president’s home — a building so energy efficient that its power usage meter runs backwards. There is TerraHaus, a 10-person dorm that reportedly is the only passive energy certified building on a college campus in the country. There is artwork everywhere, a vibrant greenhouse, science labs, gymnasium, student center, library that doubles as the town library , and off in the distance, a couple of skaters shoveling snow off Unity’s new pond.
There is so much more to Unity College than I realized, and with the energy of new leadership, I get the feeling that there will be a lot more to come. Bill talked about Unity’s commitment to keeping students actively engaged in their fields — both figuratively and literally. Every student does some kind of outdoor experience, completes an internship, and receives direct employment counseling all along the way.
But what really lights up Bill’s face is his vision for the work that Unity College can do: graduate programs, international partners, spreading the word of Unity’s mission. Nothing is off the table. Knowing it is his “last job” inspires Bill to pursue what he believes in without compromise, and he believes that he is in exactly the right place to do so.
“The environment needs attention. Twenty-three national academies of science agree that climate change is happening; it is real; it is caused by man. Ten years from now, we’ll look back and ask ourselves, ‘Did we do anything when we had the chance?’ We want to leave the Earth in as good or better shape than we got it.”
Rather than retire last summer at age 65, Bill Trumble moved to Maine and took the job of senior vice president of academic affairs at Unity College.
Bill grew up in Washington state. Over the last 40 years, he has studied and worked in schools in Texas, Idaho, New Jersey, New Hampshire and upstate New York, to name a few.
I met with Bill in his office, part of a college building that used to be a chicken coop, and asked him about his new job at Unity College.
“I’ve been in a lot of institutions,” he said. “This one is the best ever!”
Bill is a lifetime lover of the outdoors and an avid believer in responsible environmental stewardship. A bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in medical physiology have deeply informed his understanding of the natural environment, but Bill’s greatest inspirations come from outside the classroom walls. He has spent time outdoors all his life, including annual wilderness trips that take him all over the world.
“Wilderness is the only place where you can really get your mind right,” Bill said.
Unity College’s work to educate people about that essential connection between humans and their natural environment fits exactly with Bill’s philosophy.
“So much of what we teach here is important to the country and to the planet,” he said.
The second thing that Bill loves about his new job stems from the fact that his arrival coincided with several other newcomers to Unity’s team, including President Steve Mulkey. As a result, there is a refreshing openness to creativity and innovation.
“No one says, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ Nothing is taboo; no new thought is off limits when it comes to thinking about how to make Unity a better, more attractive school for environmentalists.”
You might have read about one of Bill’s unusual ideas in a Bangor Daily News story last November. In order to get to know Unity students in a new way, Bill spent a week as a resident in one of the college dorms. By all reports, it was an enlightening experience for both students and administrator .
As I toured Unity College’s campus with both Bill and admissions officer Diane Laliberte , I began to catch the contagion of their enthusiasm. There is Unity House, the president’s home — a building so energy efficient that its power usage meter runs backwards. There is TerraHaus, a 10-person dorm that reportedly is the only passive energy certified building on a college campus in the country. There is artwork everywhere, a vibrant greenhouse, science labs, gymnasium, student center, library that doubles as the town library , and off in the distance, a couple of skaters shoveling snow off Unity’s new pond.
There is so much more to Unity College than I realized, and with the energy of new leadership, I get the feeling that there will be a lot more to come. Bill talked about Unity’s commitment to keeping students actively engaged in their fields — both figuratively and literally. Every student does some kind of outdoor experience, completes an internship, and receives direct employment counseling all along the way.
But what really lights up Bill’s face is his vision for the work that Unity College can do: graduate programs, international partners, spreading the word of Unity’s mission. Nothing is off the table. Knowing it is his “last job” inspires Bill to pursue what he believes in without compromise, and he believes that he is in exactly the right place to do so.
“The environment needs attention. Twenty-three national academies of science agree that climate change is happening; it is real; it is caused by man. Ten years from now, we’ll look back and ask ourselves, ‘Did we do anything when we had the chance?’ We want to leave the Earth in as good or better shape than we got it.”
2012年1月11日星期三
No crying fowl over proposed chicken rules
Fraser Campbell wants to raise chickens in his backyard.
But his 1189 Roslyn Rd. home and backyard are too small to get a chicken permit under Oak Bay’s existing Animal Control Bylaw, which governs chicken coops and the number of birds a homeowner can keep in their yard.
That may soon change.
Oak Bay’s new mayor and council last week asked planners to look at ways to make it easier for people such as Campbell to get a poultry-keeping permit needed to raise chickens in the municipality.
“There’s no reason why on a small lot you cannot have five chickens,” said Campbell, a web developer who works from home. He estimated it takes about 16 square feet per chicken to keep hens.
He said urban food production is important on Vancouver Island, which grows less than 10 per cent of its own food and would be in dire straits if an earthquake or other natural disaster shut down the ferries for a longer period of time.
Council is looking to make a bylaw amendment, but needs more information before changing existing regulations.
In addition to reducing chicken permit lot sizes, council wants planners to look how Saanich and the City of Vancouver deal with the issue of limiting the number of chickens and chicken coops.
One councillor, Kevin Murdoch, said Oak Bay has “eight official chicken coops” inside its boundaries and at least another 25 unofficial coops and small flocks.
Last September the previous council told planners to prepare a bylaw amendment to reduce the lot size required for keeping poultry.
Roy Thomassen, director of building and planning, recommended the lot size be reduced to 557 square metres – large enough for three chickens and down from the previous 745 sq. m minimum which allowed for a coop and five chickens. The existing bylaw allows for up to 10 chickens on lots larger than 4,047 sq. m.
Murdoch, noting there have been no complaints to the municipality about clucking chickens, called the existing rules “bizarre” and restrictive to people who want to produce their own eggs.
Doug Clarke has a coop and five chickens in his backyard at 1199 Hampshire Rd.
The modest flock lays three to five eggs daily.
“I haven’t bought eggs in three years,” Clarke said.
He knows another dozen Oak Bay residents who also want to raise egg-laying chickens. It’s all part of a growing movement towards food security, which involves growing some of the food you eat – something he said the new council “is gung ho about.”
Clarke, who built his own chicken coop to comply with Oak Bay’s standards, spent about $300 on recycled and salvaged wood, compared to the $800 to $1,200 most others pay for a pre-built coop.
The henhouses are inspected by Oak Bay before a permit allowing chickens is issued.
Clarke said it takes “commitment” to raise chickens. He’s proud to show his two children, aged three and five, where food comes from.
“I want my kids to know food does not just come from the market.”
But his 1189 Roslyn Rd. home and backyard are too small to get a chicken permit under Oak Bay’s existing Animal Control Bylaw, which governs chicken coops and the number of birds a homeowner can keep in their yard.
That may soon change.
Oak Bay’s new mayor and council last week asked planners to look at ways to make it easier for people such as Campbell to get a poultry-keeping permit needed to raise chickens in the municipality.
“There’s no reason why on a small lot you cannot have five chickens,” said Campbell, a web developer who works from home. He estimated it takes about 16 square feet per chicken to keep hens.
He said urban food production is important on Vancouver Island, which grows less than 10 per cent of its own food and would be in dire straits if an earthquake or other natural disaster shut down the ferries for a longer period of time.
Council is looking to make a bylaw amendment, but needs more information before changing existing regulations.
In addition to reducing chicken permit lot sizes, council wants planners to look how Saanich and the City of Vancouver deal with the issue of limiting the number of chickens and chicken coops.
One councillor, Kevin Murdoch, said Oak Bay has “eight official chicken coops” inside its boundaries and at least another 25 unofficial coops and small flocks.
Last September the previous council told planners to prepare a bylaw amendment to reduce the lot size required for keeping poultry.
Roy Thomassen, director of building and planning, recommended the lot size be reduced to 557 square metres – large enough for three chickens and down from the previous 745 sq. m minimum which allowed for a coop and five chickens. The existing bylaw allows for up to 10 chickens on lots larger than 4,047 sq. m.
Murdoch, noting there have been no complaints to the municipality about clucking chickens, called the existing rules “bizarre” and restrictive to people who want to produce their own eggs.
Doug Clarke has a coop and five chickens in his backyard at 1199 Hampshire Rd.
The modest flock lays three to five eggs daily.
“I haven’t bought eggs in three years,” Clarke said.
He knows another dozen Oak Bay residents who also want to raise egg-laying chickens. It’s all part of a growing movement towards food security, which involves growing some of the food you eat – something he said the new council “is gung ho about.”
Clarke, who built his own chicken coop to comply with Oak Bay’s standards, spent about $300 on recycled and salvaged wood, compared to the $800 to $1,200 most others pay for a pre-built coop.
The henhouses are inspected by Oak Bay before a permit allowing chickens is issued.
Clarke said it takes “commitment” to raise chickens. He’s proud to show his two children, aged three and five, where food comes from.
“I want my kids to know food does not just come from the market.”
2012年1月10日星期二
Toronto is no place for chickens
I have a little fantasy to share with you. It involves feathers, clucking and yolks, much homespun flapping of aprons in the backyard, the warmth of a chicken held against your belly as it lays in your lap (can that be right? It sounds unsavory) and the happy clap clap of children as I serve them another dish made with orange yolks and milky whites from our own backyard chicken coop. “Thank you, Mama!” they cry.
Thank you, Toronto, for letting me indulge my lifelong dream of a henhouse to call my own. Except the city may not, and wisely so, since my chicken scheme is possibly quite stupid/very stupid indeed.
As early as February, the city, having halted prosecutions of the urban chicken movement, will study small no-roosters urban coops. My favourite city councillor, the sainted Mary-Margaret McMahon , is thrilled. “It’ll be people who are into urban agriculture and food security and growing vegetables in their yard.” She dismisses worries about smells and noise.
I do not. I have enough trouble with the smells and noise of humans without coping with their poultry.
Urban hen ownership is no joke. Consider predators, mass death, the astounding expense of building a coop with insulation, ventilation, an exercise yard and entrance for you and your fowl, the drooping and wilting that makes you send sewage samples to vets for advice, manky eggs, ammonia buildup, cecal droppings and disease (metabolic, infectious, parasitic and behavioural). I will mention only in passing the “blood-tinged nostril discharge” of avian flu.
I like chickens in paintings and photos. Art hens. I hate them in real life, “with their blank beady eyes and the silly way they keep shaking their scrawny little heads,” as the essayist Jean Kerr once wrote.
Eggs are best left to experts, the hot sexy Ontario farmers who populate the new 2012 Faces of Farming calendar, the month of May’s Darryl being my current favourite. Note: He raises hens not in Riverdale but in Hastings County, as God surely intended.
The poultry mania is part of what I call Portlandia Syndrome. Named after the coolest show on television, Portlandia resides on the Independent Film Channel, part of its coolness being the fact that you can’t see it. I bought it on DVD .
Portlandia is a satire of urban hipsters living in the Oregon city “where young people go to retire.” SNL’s Fred Armisen and rock-comedian Carrie Brownstein recreate the slacker ’90s in the new Seattle, where people grow beets in their driveway, entitled cyclists ride through stores (“I’m on a bike!”) and organic locavore diners interrogate the waitress about the provenance of their chicken.
Reassured that he was heritage-breed, woodland-raised and fed only sheep’s milk, soy and hazelnuts, they fret that the hazelnuts were trucked in. Eventually they leave the table to check, visiting “Colin’s” home farm and meeting his friends. After briefly joining a cult, they return and continue ordering.
I love Portlandia, a place so earnest and self-absorbed that it’s more of an ethic than a city. Any pillow or mug can be made cool if you “Put a bird on it!” You can build a business on the slogan “We can pickle that!” the trend born of brining, which can be usefully done to chickens (sorry, Colin) but not to lamps or mangled stilettos as they do in Portlandia.
Thank you, Toronto, for letting me indulge my lifelong dream of a henhouse to call my own. Except the city may not, and wisely so, since my chicken scheme is possibly quite stupid/very stupid indeed.
As early as February, the city, having halted prosecutions of the urban chicken movement, will study small no-roosters urban coops. My favourite city councillor, the sainted Mary-Margaret McMahon , is thrilled. “It’ll be people who are into urban agriculture and food security and growing vegetables in their yard.” She dismisses worries about smells and noise.
I do not. I have enough trouble with the smells and noise of humans without coping with their poultry.
Urban hen ownership is no joke. Consider predators, mass death, the astounding expense of building a coop with insulation, ventilation, an exercise yard and entrance for you and your fowl, the drooping and wilting that makes you send sewage samples to vets for advice, manky eggs, ammonia buildup, cecal droppings and disease (metabolic, infectious, parasitic and behavioural). I will mention only in passing the “blood-tinged nostril discharge” of avian flu.
I like chickens in paintings and photos. Art hens. I hate them in real life, “with their blank beady eyes and the silly way they keep shaking their scrawny little heads,” as the essayist Jean Kerr once wrote.
Eggs are best left to experts, the hot sexy Ontario farmers who populate the new 2012 Faces of Farming calendar, the month of May’s Darryl being my current favourite. Note: He raises hens not in Riverdale but in Hastings County, as God surely intended.
The poultry mania is part of what I call Portlandia Syndrome. Named after the coolest show on television, Portlandia resides on the Independent Film Channel, part of its coolness being the fact that you can’t see it. I bought it on DVD .
Portlandia is a satire of urban hipsters living in the Oregon city “where young people go to retire.” SNL’s Fred Armisen and rock-comedian Carrie Brownstein recreate the slacker ’90s in the new Seattle, where people grow beets in their driveway, entitled cyclists ride through stores (“I’m on a bike!”) and organic locavore diners interrogate the waitress about the provenance of their chicken.
Reassured that he was heritage-breed, woodland-raised and fed only sheep’s milk, soy and hazelnuts, they fret that the hazelnuts were trucked in. Eventually they leave the table to check, visiting “Colin’s” home farm and meeting his friends. After briefly joining a cult, they return and continue ordering.
I love Portlandia, a place so earnest and self-absorbed that it’s more of an ethic than a city. Any pillow or mug can be made cool if you “Put a bird on it!” You can build a business on the slogan “We can pickle that!” the trend born of brining, which can be usefully done to chickens (sorry, Colin) but not to lamps or mangled stilettos as they do in Portlandia.
2012年1月9日星期一
Can Bundoran’s hens crack the egg question ?
Transition Year students Julian Pawlowski, Niall McSharry and Jack Roden from Magh Ene College in Bundoran have posed a challenge to the hens in their home town - what makes the best egg?
This is just one of a number of exciting questions posed by students from eight of Donegal’s colleges in the 27 projects submitted in a number of categories for the 48th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition which takes place this coming week at the RDS in Dublin.
This will be Niall and Jack’s second time to compete in the exhibition, as they previously conducted a project investigating the antibacterial properties of spices.
This year, the Bundoran students are researching the effect of hen feed on egg quality. The students came up with the idea for this project as they noticed that many people in their local area were setting up small chicken coops to produce eggs. The main cost in keeping hens is the cost of their feed and the students decided to investigate whether it is necessary to buy commercial feed or if household food waste could be used alternatively. Every person in a household produces on average 70kg of food waste which is dumped and is enough to feed a hen for a year.
One of the members of the group, Julian Pawlowski, rears hens and over the twelve weeks between September 15 and December 15, the students collected and analysed 24 batches of eggs produced by 14 hens. Half of these hens were fed solely on commercial hen feed while the second group of hens were fed on household food waste. The students test the eggs collected from each group of hens under each of the following categories; egg size, egg mass, shell strength and shell colour. The results should be fascinating!
The Young Scientist event will be open to the public from this Thursday, January 12 until Saturday, January 14 with tickets available at the door costing 6 for students, 12 for adults and 25 for a family pass.
The exhibition is a great family day out packed full of fun, creative inventions, interactive education and live shows including Robot Wars and 3D Theatre which includes a cosmic voyage of discovery. There will also be a real NASA astronaut attending the exhibition this year - Dan Tani will fly in from the U.S and talk about his experiences in Space including his 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station! Coding club Coder Dojo will also feature at the exhibition with workshops teaching creative problem solving skills and practical creative skills.
In addition to the displays of up to 550 student projects, there are a further four exhibition halls filled with science and technology based exhibits making it a must-see event. The annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition attracts over 40,000 people making it one of the largest events of its kind in Europe, if not the world!
The other Donegal schools taking part include Choliste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon; Coliste Ailigh, Letterkenny; Gairm Scoil Chú Uladh, Beal an Atha Mhór; Loreto Community School, Milford; Loreto, Letterkenny; Pobalscoil Gaoth Dobhair and St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny. The topics they chose include the effects that drugs used for asthma have on the heart, smoking, a study of the relationship between temperature and the rate of erosion of aluminium, a study of the level of carbohydrates in different types of milk, the question can the type of musical instrument you play effect the size of your lungs; a study of pollution on the river Finn and a number of its banks; an investigation into gathering rain water which explores the benefits of the energy it generates; an investigation on whether your fear changes with age; the effects that walks, climbing and tourism has for the Mount Errigal and a study of the effect water has on a golf ball.
This is just one of a number of exciting questions posed by students from eight of Donegal’s colleges in the 27 projects submitted in a number of categories for the 48th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition which takes place this coming week at the RDS in Dublin.
This will be Niall and Jack’s second time to compete in the exhibition, as they previously conducted a project investigating the antibacterial properties of spices.
This year, the Bundoran students are researching the effect of hen feed on egg quality. The students came up with the idea for this project as they noticed that many people in their local area were setting up small chicken coops to produce eggs. The main cost in keeping hens is the cost of their feed and the students decided to investigate whether it is necessary to buy commercial feed or if household food waste could be used alternatively. Every person in a household produces on average 70kg of food waste which is dumped and is enough to feed a hen for a year.
One of the members of the group, Julian Pawlowski, rears hens and over the twelve weeks between September 15 and December 15, the students collected and analysed 24 batches of eggs produced by 14 hens. Half of these hens were fed solely on commercial hen feed while the second group of hens were fed on household food waste. The students test the eggs collected from each group of hens under each of the following categories; egg size, egg mass, shell strength and shell colour. The results should be fascinating!
The Young Scientist event will be open to the public from this Thursday, January 12 until Saturday, January 14 with tickets available at the door costing 6 for students, 12 for adults and 25 for a family pass.
The exhibition is a great family day out packed full of fun, creative inventions, interactive education and live shows including Robot Wars and 3D Theatre which includes a cosmic voyage of discovery. There will also be a real NASA astronaut attending the exhibition this year - Dan Tani will fly in from the U.S and talk about his experiences in Space including his 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station! Coding club Coder Dojo will also feature at the exhibition with workshops teaching creative problem solving skills and practical creative skills.
In addition to the displays of up to 550 student projects, there are a further four exhibition halls filled with science and technology based exhibits making it a must-see event. The annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition attracts over 40,000 people making it one of the largest events of its kind in Europe, if not the world!
The other Donegal schools taking part include Choliste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon; Coliste Ailigh, Letterkenny; Gairm Scoil Chú Uladh, Beal an Atha Mhór; Loreto Community School, Milford; Loreto, Letterkenny; Pobalscoil Gaoth Dobhair and St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny. The topics they chose include the effects that drugs used for asthma have on the heart, smoking, a study of the relationship between temperature and the rate of erosion of aluminium, a study of the level of carbohydrates in different types of milk, the question can the type of musical instrument you play effect the size of your lungs; a study of pollution on the river Finn and a number of its banks; an investigation into gathering rain water which explores the benefits of the energy it generates; an investigation on whether your fear changes with age; the effects that walks, climbing and tourism has for the Mount Errigal and a study of the effect water has on a golf ball.
2012年1月8日星期日
Time actually does move slower in Wet Mountain Valley
New Years was spent visiting the family ranch of my son-in-law Cody in the Westcliffe/Silver Cliff area, which is located in Wet Mountain Valley between the spectacularly scenic Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west and the Wet Mountains to the east.
Cody told us that time moves slower in the valley. Can't be, as physics teaches that time travels at the same pace everywhere and anything else is merely a perception. Still, when we first entered the ranch house, I had the sense we were visiting a place that time had long since flowed around and I found myself awash in memories of days spent on my grandparents' farm as a child.
While the house was not lacking in modern conveniences, the furnishings left one with a sense of practicality. Unlike many urban residences, nearly everything had a use. This was true of the property, sporting an earthen cold cellar, chicken coop, tool and work shed, bunk house, clotheslines, barn and oversized garden. All features long lost in the city setting.
Our bedroom was one of three attic-style rooms at the end of a steep, narrow stairway no longer found in modern houses. The bedroom, like the rest of the house, was obviously added on to meet the needs of a growing ranch family. This house, like many older ranch houses, started as a single room, steadily growing via add-ons over the years.
The sun shining through our window woke us to a blustery day. Our view of the lofty mountain peaks showed large snow clouds, an indication that the day's winds were not isolated to the valley floor.
During breakfast preparations, the high winds knocked down several power poles, leaving us without lights, water (wells run on pumps) and a slowly cooling house, as power was needed for the wood pellet stove. So we headed to town for a visit while waiting for Cody's uncle to call when the power was back.
Turns out we spent most of the day visiting nearly every open store, having a leisurely lunch and ultimately spending the afternoon at a bar nursing drinks and whiling away time playing the dice game Farkle. While we waited, we never stressed over the power outage, as indeed time seemed to move at a much different pace that day.
Originally, we'd planned on fishing Saturday, but the strong, icy winds cutting through us every time we stepped outside quickly killed the urge to be on the ice. We decided to wait until New Year's Day in the hopes of a calmer day.
Sunday was perfect weather for a day on the ice - sunny, clear and calm. Operating on "mountain time," after a leisurely breakfast, Cody and I made our way to the reservoir where we found a thick icecap that was responding noisily to the prior night's cold. Growing ice is a lot like rice cereal after adding milk; it snaps, crackles and pops.
Our first hole revealed more than 12 inches of clear, hard ice, which was plenty to bear our weight. But I'll be the first to admit to a strong desire to run for shore as a new crack formed near us accompanied by a loud crackle. Surprisingly, as nerve-wracking as the ice was to us, it didn't seem to bother the fish, as we managed several nice rainbows over the course of the next few hours.
As the afternoon sun settled over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, we sadly called it a day. It was time to head to the ranch, pack and go back to a world where time travels at its normal helter-skelter pace.
Cody told us that time moves slower in the valley. Can't be, as physics teaches that time travels at the same pace everywhere and anything else is merely a perception. Still, when we first entered the ranch house, I had the sense we were visiting a place that time had long since flowed around and I found myself awash in memories of days spent on my grandparents' farm as a child.
While the house was not lacking in modern conveniences, the furnishings left one with a sense of practicality. Unlike many urban residences, nearly everything had a use. This was true of the property, sporting an earthen cold cellar, chicken coop, tool and work shed, bunk house, clotheslines, barn and oversized garden. All features long lost in the city setting.
Our bedroom was one of three attic-style rooms at the end of a steep, narrow stairway no longer found in modern houses. The bedroom, like the rest of the house, was obviously added on to meet the needs of a growing ranch family. This house, like many older ranch houses, started as a single room, steadily growing via add-ons over the years.
The sun shining through our window woke us to a blustery day. Our view of the lofty mountain peaks showed large snow clouds, an indication that the day's winds were not isolated to the valley floor.
During breakfast preparations, the high winds knocked down several power poles, leaving us without lights, water (wells run on pumps) and a slowly cooling house, as power was needed for the wood pellet stove. So we headed to town for a visit while waiting for Cody's uncle to call when the power was back.
Turns out we spent most of the day visiting nearly every open store, having a leisurely lunch and ultimately spending the afternoon at a bar nursing drinks and whiling away time playing the dice game Farkle. While we waited, we never stressed over the power outage, as indeed time seemed to move at a much different pace that day.
Originally, we'd planned on fishing Saturday, but the strong, icy winds cutting through us every time we stepped outside quickly killed the urge to be on the ice. We decided to wait until New Year's Day in the hopes of a calmer day.
Sunday was perfect weather for a day on the ice - sunny, clear and calm. Operating on "mountain time," after a leisurely breakfast, Cody and I made our way to the reservoir where we found a thick icecap that was responding noisily to the prior night's cold. Growing ice is a lot like rice cereal after adding milk; it snaps, crackles and pops.
Our first hole revealed more than 12 inches of clear, hard ice, which was plenty to bear our weight. But I'll be the first to admit to a strong desire to run for shore as a new crack formed near us accompanied by a loud crackle. Surprisingly, as nerve-wracking as the ice was to us, it didn't seem to bother the fish, as we managed several nice rainbows over the course of the next few hours.
As the afternoon sun settled over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, we sadly called it a day. It was time to head to the ranch, pack and go back to a world where time travels at its normal helter-skelter pace.
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