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.”
2012年1月31日星期二
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.
2012年1月5日星期四
Vineland bookbinder's works on display Saturday in Bridgeton
Branko Najdanovik has the patience of a saint. He needs it, too, because the 82-year-old Serbia native has been trusted to restore 200-year-old Bibles in the past.
Down a long dirt driveway and inside of a former chicken coop, the Vineland man explains what it takes to restore priceless works — a skill he picked up some 65 years ago.
“As a bookbinder, you’ve got to have patience,” he said.
Even today, he seems at home in his work shop. A space heater warms one corner while the cold steel of machines vital to his work sit in another.
The craftsman makes his way through the shop and pulls out a 1906 edition of the “World and it’s Peoples.” The spine is in ruins and he will be mending it in a many hours-long process.
He has already gone “page by page” and fixed the tattered paper and made two “in-sheets.” These attach the back of the front cover and what is technically the first page of the book.
“Old books are like doctor-patient when they come,” Najdanovik said Wednesday.
Readers interested in seeing the fruits of this delicate labor will have the opportunity to do so tomorrow at a two-hour reception being hosted at Frank Burton & Sons, on West
Broad Street, in Bridgeton.
“It’s rare in Cumberland County, rare in South Jersey and probably rare in the Delaware Valley,” said Art Cox, local historian and friend of Najdanovik.
In 1946, a private bookbinder told Najdanovik about a coming consolidation of the private industry in the field. He left Germany in 1960 for Canada and then emigrated to the United States five years later.
He arrived in California because associates in Canada told him someone there needed a bookbinder.
But Najdanovik does more than bind books. He knows typesetting, stone lithography, leviathan type, printing and marbling.
“You don’t teach yourself this,” he said.
However, since the Vineland shop’s inception in 1978, Branko’s Bookbinding & Print Shop has always been a one-man show. Except for maybe those times during the 1980s when business was busy and he had his son doing work in the shop after school.
Najdanovik has done work for families, private collectors, historical societies and even himself, showing off an empty and intricate photo album.
The tools of his trade are large and small. He picked up a hulking 1881 model cutting machine for $90 in Pennsylvania. It cost him $200 to ship it here in pieces, which he handily assembled upon arrival.
There are larger machines that sort pages and smaller ones that cut holes in them. There’s also the Crock-Pot sitting on his shop table he needs for the glue when making covers.
On any project, he’ll start by inspecting every page then the cover for repairs. An insert to shore up a tattered and flapping spine, then reattaching that spine, often comes next.
His insheets, made from texturized fake leather, will hold the book and cover together.
There are also the jobs where he creates front and back covers for items that arrived at his shop with neither.
First, he lays a sheet of cloth large enough to encompass the publication and two pieces of cardboard that will constitute both covers. The cloth will be cut to size and cardboard bound with a cotton “cheesecloth” webbing to create a spine.
These are all hours-long projects but Najdanovick says he can stop and start at certain points.
“Now watch my hand,” he says with a batch of pages clamped horizontally in a vice. He’s demonstrating how to make the “perfect binding.”
He makes an “L” with his thumb and pointer finger, locks it into the corner of the pages and would then apply his special glue — imported from Germany at $120 a bucket.
He pushes the pages together left — pauses — and then right. It will ensure the glue seeps deep and forms a solid bond.
These days, Najdanovik is only doing personal projects and his son had come back to help wrap up some outstanding books to be bound.
Saturday’s two-hour reception will showcase his work. Readers may stop into Frank Burtons & Sons starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. Light refreshments will be served.
Najdanovik’s reception is part of an exhibit at the store, in place through January, of photographs from 1892 through the present of Bridgeton in the snow. The works of local photographers, including those who founded the Bridgeton Camera Club in 1890, will be on display.
Najdanovik will be taking orders for binding copies of the News’ special publication celebrating Bridgeton’s 325th birthday.
Copies are $120 and Najdanovik can also typeset the recipients name in gold lettering on the book. The copy he bound for Cox as a holiday gift will be on display as an example.
Down a long dirt driveway and inside of a former chicken coop, the Vineland man explains what it takes to restore priceless works — a skill he picked up some 65 years ago.
“As a bookbinder, you’ve got to have patience,” he said.
Even today, he seems at home in his work shop. A space heater warms one corner while the cold steel of machines vital to his work sit in another.
The craftsman makes his way through the shop and pulls out a 1906 edition of the “World and it’s Peoples.” The spine is in ruins and he will be mending it in a many hours-long process.
He has already gone “page by page” and fixed the tattered paper and made two “in-sheets.” These attach the back of the front cover and what is technically the first page of the book.
“Old books are like doctor-patient when they come,” Najdanovik said Wednesday.
Readers interested in seeing the fruits of this delicate labor will have the opportunity to do so tomorrow at a two-hour reception being hosted at Frank Burton & Sons, on West
Broad Street, in Bridgeton.
“It’s rare in Cumberland County, rare in South Jersey and probably rare in the Delaware Valley,” said Art Cox, local historian and friend of Najdanovik.
In 1946, a private bookbinder told Najdanovik about a coming consolidation of the private industry in the field. He left Germany in 1960 for Canada and then emigrated to the United States five years later.
He arrived in California because associates in Canada told him someone there needed a bookbinder.
But Najdanovik does more than bind books. He knows typesetting, stone lithography, leviathan type, printing and marbling.
“You don’t teach yourself this,” he said.
However, since the Vineland shop’s inception in 1978, Branko’s Bookbinding & Print Shop has always been a one-man show. Except for maybe those times during the 1980s when business was busy and he had his son doing work in the shop after school.
Najdanovik has done work for families, private collectors, historical societies and even himself, showing off an empty and intricate photo album.
The tools of his trade are large and small. He picked up a hulking 1881 model cutting machine for $90 in Pennsylvania. It cost him $200 to ship it here in pieces, which he handily assembled upon arrival.
There are larger machines that sort pages and smaller ones that cut holes in them. There’s also the Crock-Pot sitting on his shop table he needs for the glue when making covers.
On any project, he’ll start by inspecting every page then the cover for repairs. An insert to shore up a tattered and flapping spine, then reattaching that spine, often comes next.
His insheets, made from texturized fake leather, will hold the book and cover together.
There are also the jobs where he creates front and back covers for items that arrived at his shop with neither.
First, he lays a sheet of cloth large enough to encompass the publication and two pieces of cardboard that will constitute both covers. The cloth will be cut to size and cardboard bound with a cotton “cheesecloth” webbing to create a spine.
These are all hours-long projects but Najdanovick says he can stop and start at certain points.
“Now watch my hand,” he says with a batch of pages clamped horizontally in a vice. He’s demonstrating how to make the “perfect binding.”
He makes an “L” with his thumb and pointer finger, locks it into the corner of the pages and would then apply his special glue — imported from Germany at $120 a bucket.
He pushes the pages together left — pauses — and then right. It will ensure the glue seeps deep and forms a solid bond.
These days, Najdanovik is only doing personal projects and his son had come back to help wrap up some outstanding books to be bound.
Saturday’s two-hour reception will showcase his work. Readers may stop into Frank Burtons & Sons starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. Light refreshments will be served.
Najdanovik’s reception is part of an exhibit at the store, in place through January, of photographs from 1892 through the present of Bridgeton in the snow. The works of local photographers, including those who founded the Bridgeton Camera Club in 1890, will be on display.
Najdanovik will be taking orders for binding copies of the News’ special publication celebrating Bridgeton’s 325th birthday.
Copies are $120 and Najdanovik can also typeset the recipients name in gold lettering on the book. The copy he bound for Cox as a holiday gift will be on display as an example.
2012年1月4日星期三
Local shop owners offer beauty and whimsy to Alden community
Keeping up with the accelerated pace of working as a small business owner can be rough, especially during the holiday season. One needs to stay one step ahead of customer demand while offering a unique supply of goods and maintain a personal rapport with customers. Married couple Tom and Theresa Shriver of Alden know the techniques for running a smooth business. Their company, Chicken Coop Originals: A Country Gifts and Herb Shop, has been a local favorite for years now.
Chicken Coop Originals, located at 13245 Clinton St., Route 354, features hand-painted country artwork, herbal wreaths, “oldtiques” and collectibles, pine trees, herbs, and perennials in season. The shop is open April through December, and just wrapped up a profitable holiday retail season. Since 1999, the shop has been open; it started off with the sale of perennials, herbs, and eggs 30 years ago. The couple began their business enterprising when they first got married and lived in West Seneca, by selling Christian books and later, little pine trees.
Now, the couple lives on the Alden/Marilla border, and their business has grown into three little buildings, which make up Chicken Coops Originals. The story behind the couple’s business is one of inspiration and true ingenuity.
“My husband and I always liked to make our own gifts, but I never thought I’d be selling them to other people,” Theresa said. “I’m a self-taught artist, and that’s one of the things that got me inspired, when I did a show and people bought my things. We have a creek and chickens and five children, and I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. It was a major choice we made in our marriage.”
Theresa went to school for recreation and took care of the household, while her husband Tom went back to school to become a teacher after he lost his job with a carpet company during their marriage.
“We felt it was important to have stability in the home,” Theresa said. “We would rather live on less than have me gone and the kids home with the babysitter. We learned to live on less and started a business.”
The couple started Chicken Coop Originals by packing up their wares and selling them at home parties, similar to today’s Avon or Tupperware parties. Then Tom got cancer, right after he secured his first teaching job in Buffalo that provided good health care. He almost died and was paralyzed from the waist down.
“We prayed ourselves through that with doctors and friends,” Theresa said. “Him getting better was a two year process and after that, we were so thankful. Now it’s been 17 years cancer free.”
Today, many themed gardens blossom in the sunshine at Chicken Coop Originals. Plus, several art and garden workshop classes are offered to the public. Such classes include learning how to make hand-painted cards and fresh Christmas centerpieces, lessons in herbal table arranging, watercolor painting seminars, and peaceful retreats for gardeners. It is a true marketplace of both beautiful items and creative energy.
“I felt like I needed something for myself and Tom encouraged me,” Theresa said. “He fixed up the chicken coop – he was really the backbone pushing me to do it. Little by little we keep growing. I own the business; the business doesn’t own me. We’ve been married 35 - 36 years and we recognize our differences and complement each other.”
During the off months, Theresa works as a teacher’s aide/substitute teacher and Tom is a full-time teacher. Both teach art lessons and run a summer camp for People of Praise. They host a Christmas open house where they welcome the general public into their home as if they are all old friends.
“We just had this little country home that we paid $28,000 for in 1977, and since then we’ve paid it off, built up the property, and made something of it,” said Theresa. “We burn our own wood to keep the house warm, and my husband started raising turkeys. The people we meet, we are so blessed by them.”
Chicken Coop Originals, located at 13245 Clinton St., Route 354, features hand-painted country artwork, herbal wreaths, “oldtiques” and collectibles, pine trees, herbs, and perennials in season. The shop is open April through December, and just wrapped up a profitable holiday retail season. Since 1999, the shop has been open; it started off with the sale of perennials, herbs, and eggs 30 years ago. The couple began their business enterprising when they first got married and lived in West Seneca, by selling Christian books and later, little pine trees.
Now, the couple lives on the Alden/Marilla border, and their business has grown into three little buildings, which make up Chicken Coops Originals. The story behind the couple’s business is one of inspiration and true ingenuity.
“My husband and I always liked to make our own gifts, but I never thought I’d be selling them to other people,” Theresa said. “I’m a self-taught artist, and that’s one of the things that got me inspired, when I did a show and people bought my things. We have a creek and chickens and five children, and I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. It was a major choice we made in our marriage.”
Theresa went to school for recreation and took care of the household, while her husband Tom went back to school to become a teacher after he lost his job with a carpet company during their marriage.
“We felt it was important to have stability in the home,” Theresa said. “We would rather live on less than have me gone and the kids home with the babysitter. We learned to live on less and started a business.”
The couple started Chicken Coop Originals by packing up their wares and selling them at home parties, similar to today’s Avon or Tupperware parties. Then Tom got cancer, right after he secured his first teaching job in Buffalo that provided good health care. He almost died and was paralyzed from the waist down.
“We prayed ourselves through that with doctors and friends,” Theresa said. “Him getting better was a two year process and after that, we were so thankful. Now it’s been 17 years cancer free.”
Today, many themed gardens blossom in the sunshine at Chicken Coop Originals. Plus, several art and garden workshop classes are offered to the public. Such classes include learning how to make hand-painted cards and fresh Christmas centerpieces, lessons in herbal table arranging, watercolor painting seminars, and peaceful retreats for gardeners. It is a true marketplace of both beautiful items and creative energy.
“I felt like I needed something for myself and Tom encouraged me,” Theresa said. “He fixed up the chicken coop – he was really the backbone pushing me to do it. Little by little we keep growing. I own the business; the business doesn’t own me. We’ve been married 35 - 36 years and we recognize our differences and complement each other.”
During the off months, Theresa works as a teacher’s aide/substitute teacher and Tom is a full-time teacher. Both teach art lessons and run a summer camp for People of Praise. They host a Christmas open house where they welcome the general public into their home as if they are all old friends.
“We just had this little country home that we paid $28,000 for in 1977, and since then we’ve paid it off, built up the property, and made something of it,” said Theresa. “We burn our own wood to keep the house warm, and my husband started raising turkeys. The people we meet, we are so blessed by them.”
2012年1月3日星期二
Blair Witch Star Went To Pot--Literally!
More Hollywood actresses have been driven to drugs than reality stars with a handbag line, but never in as positive and creative a way as Heather Donahue. Relax, I'm talking about medical marijuana. Let me explain:
Heather notably played the female lead, "Heather Donahue," in The Blair Witch Project, the 1999 low-budget phenomenon that purported to be a video done by three students who got lost in the woods as you got lost in abject hysteria.
In her new book, Growgirl, Heather talks about the amusing absurdity of having to play along with the PR campaign that made it seem like she and her co-stars were really students and, worse, that they'd truly croaked. "I was allowed to go to the premiere," she told me in a recent interview, "but other times, I was supposed to be dead. I never knew each day if I was supposed to be alive or dead! It was confusing—especially when my mom got that sympathy card," she added, laughing.
But some years later—after the interesting offers and fun locations dried up like the snot she once leaked on Blair Witch billboards—it was career death that seemed a tiny bit inevitable. While filming 2008's The Morgue, a low-budget romp about six strangers who get stranded in the macabre title location, the Pennsylvania-born actress had a revelatory moment. "I wanted a change," she told me, with utter clarity. "I wanted to put things into the world that I was proud of, and I wasn't really proud of things like The Morgue. I remember the exact moment when I decided to quit movies. It was my death-by-mock-fellatio scene, with rubber tubing draped across my face and apple juice dribbling down my cheek." How horrible! Can't wait to rent it!
At this point, any normal person would have surely turned to hard drugs, but Heather simply segued to legal marijuana as part of a group of growers called "the Community" in Nuggettown, California. It turned out to be a terrific career move.
"There was definitely a sense of doing it for the common good," she remembered. "I was part of the Community. And I had a really nice house with a hot tub and a pool." And a boyfriend, too? "I had one when I first moved in," she informed me, "but as soon as I had 27 chickens, a vegetable garden, a puppy, and even a tortoise for a while, things changed. I was a little bit stressed out. I was doing things I had no idea how to do, like building a chicken coop and figuring out how to operate a circular saw!"
Still, it was a welcome change from the rubber tubing—not to mention the snot close-ups—and she really enjoyed mothering "the girls" (i.e., the pot crops) as they grew. "They were so powerful," said Heather, twinkling. "They'd grow an inch or two a night sometimes. Those 'girls' were a force of nature. We pushed each other to the limit, the girls and I!"
As an extra bonus, the gals even provided an unasked-for contact high at certain key moments, letting loose their juices whenever they were under the knife. "You get a transdermal high when you're trimming," Heather admitted. "The smell is so intense during that. And you have the repetitive motion of the scissors nonstop. 'Click, click, click, click . . .' It's the only job you can do stoned on whatever you like!"
Not this little ex–movie star, though. Heather was never a big smoker or an addictive-type person—just a healthily obsessive multitasker who wrote a 1,000-page diary during her downtime and eventually trimmed it into Growgirl. (Click, click, click, click . . .)
The book is a dense and breezy read full of extraordinarily intimate details, most memorably a heated conversation Heather had in a car with her own genitals. ("I'm not really into it," her vajayjay allegedly squawked about an oncoming sex act, to which Heather replied, "What are you—my pussy or the Oracle of fucking Delphi?") And then came the most awkward moment of all. "I fell out of the car, just having had a conversation with my pussy," relates Heather, laughing, "and someone says, 'Are you the girl from Blair Witch?'" Happens to me all the time.
Could Growgirl become a movie, complete with that pricelessly humiliating car scene? "It would have to be animated," Heather suggested. "If I could get the Brothers Quay on this, it would be amazing. Too bad the voice of the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz is not available." I suggested Kristin Chenoweth, who played Glinda in Wicked, and Heather gushed: "Yes! She can do the voice of my vagina! Your lips to God's ear." "Your lips," I deadpanned as we both broke up as if terribly high.
Heather notably played the female lead, "Heather Donahue," in The Blair Witch Project, the 1999 low-budget phenomenon that purported to be a video done by three students who got lost in the woods as you got lost in abject hysteria.
In her new book, Growgirl, Heather talks about the amusing absurdity of having to play along with the PR campaign that made it seem like she and her co-stars were really students and, worse, that they'd truly croaked. "I was allowed to go to the premiere," she told me in a recent interview, "but other times, I was supposed to be dead. I never knew each day if I was supposed to be alive or dead! It was confusing—especially when my mom got that sympathy card," she added, laughing.
But some years later—after the interesting offers and fun locations dried up like the snot she once leaked on Blair Witch billboards—it was career death that seemed a tiny bit inevitable. While filming 2008's The Morgue, a low-budget romp about six strangers who get stranded in the macabre title location, the Pennsylvania-born actress had a revelatory moment. "I wanted a change," she told me, with utter clarity. "I wanted to put things into the world that I was proud of, and I wasn't really proud of things like The Morgue. I remember the exact moment when I decided to quit movies. It was my death-by-mock-fellatio scene, with rubber tubing draped across my face and apple juice dribbling down my cheek." How horrible! Can't wait to rent it!
At this point, any normal person would have surely turned to hard drugs, but Heather simply segued to legal marijuana as part of a group of growers called "the Community" in Nuggettown, California. It turned out to be a terrific career move.
"There was definitely a sense of doing it for the common good," she remembered. "I was part of the Community. And I had a really nice house with a hot tub and a pool." And a boyfriend, too? "I had one when I first moved in," she informed me, "but as soon as I had 27 chickens, a vegetable garden, a puppy, and even a tortoise for a while, things changed. I was a little bit stressed out. I was doing things I had no idea how to do, like building a chicken coop and figuring out how to operate a circular saw!"
Still, it was a welcome change from the rubber tubing—not to mention the snot close-ups—and she really enjoyed mothering "the girls" (i.e., the pot crops) as they grew. "They were so powerful," said Heather, twinkling. "They'd grow an inch or two a night sometimes. Those 'girls' were a force of nature. We pushed each other to the limit, the girls and I!"
As an extra bonus, the gals even provided an unasked-for contact high at certain key moments, letting loose their juices whenever they were under the knife. "You get a transdermal high when you're trimming," Heather admitted. "The smell is so intense during that. And you have the repetitive motion of the scissors nonstop. 'Click, click, click, click . . .' It's the only job you can do stoned on whatever you like!"
Not this little ex–movie star, though. Heather was never a big smoker or an addictive-type person—just a healthily obsessive multitasker who wrote a 1,000-page diary during her downtime and eventually trimmed it into Growgirl. (Click, click, click, click . . .)
The book is a dense and breezy read full of extraordinarily intimate details, most memorably a heated conversation Heather had in a car with her own genitals. ("I'm not really into it," her vajayjay allegedly squawked about an oncoming sex act, to which Heather replied, "What are you—my pussy or the Oracle of fucking Delphi?") And then came the most awkward moment of all. "I fell out of the car, just having had a conversation with my pussy," relates Heather, laughing, "and someone says, 'Are you the girl from Blair Witch?'" Happens to me all the time.
Could Growgirl become a movie, complete with that pricelessly humiliating car scene? "It would have to be animated," Heather suggested. "If I could get the Brothers Quay on this, it would be amazing. Too bad the voice of the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz is not available." I suggested Kristin Chenoweth, who played Glinda in Wicked, and Heather gushed: "Yes! She can do the voice of my vagina! Your lips to God's ear." "Your lips," I deadpanned as we both broke up as if terribly high.
2012年1月2日星期一
Newport Beach squawks about man's chicken flock
As Michael Resk moves around his Spanish-style home in Corona del Mar, small bobbing heads mirror his actions, following him to the front gate, backyard and alley.
And in his Goldenrod Avenue yard, the six members of his feathered flock — nicknamed the Goldenrod 6 — cluck, peck at the grass and dig holes in search of bugs.
Resk has owned the chickens for 16 months, but he's run afoul of Newport Beach city ordinances that prohibit owning poultry. But it's all a semantic mix-up, Resk says, because his birds aren't for meat or eggs; they're largely ornamental.
His chickens — Red, Blackie, Flaty, Tiny, Blondie and Whitey — are the manifestation of an idea he had while sitting in his yard thinking chickens would be a nice decorative addition. But after a neighbor complained to the city, Resk was given two weeks to remove the birds. The deadline is imminent.
Newport Beach's law, enacted in 1970, prohibits owning any animal commonly considered livestock within city limits, with a few exceptions in permitted areas. Resk said he's prepared to pay fines.
Resk and the Goldenrod 6 have become a fixture for neighbors on a run, nannies and their charges, and passersby.
Susan Jent, a nanny who was watching over Matea and Madalyn one recent afternoon, said they often come by to see the birds. "We always walk past here and look for ... the chickens," Jent said, as the girls stood along the fence greeting the birds. "It's the highlight of the walk."
Lorenza Robbins said her 4-year-old autistic daughter, Summer, visits the chickens daily, feeds them and dances with them during her visits.
For Summer, whose condition makes communication difficult, one of her first words was "chicken," her mother said. Summer "just lights up when she sees the chickens," Robbins said. "She loves them. For some reason, she connects with them."
Resk is one of many Orange County residents who have begun to raise chickens, according to Margaret Millspaugh, owner of Wagon Train Feed & Tack in Orange. She's known to many as the Chicken Lady of Orange County.
Millspaugh said she used to sell about 25 chickens a week, but recently her business has been booming, with 40 chicken sales a week. She said her clients come from across the county.
She said she knows many cities have relaxed their ordinances and permit chickens as pets, while some chicken owners may slip under the radar.
"A lot [more] people get away with owning chickens than we know about," Millspaugh said. She added that chickens like to live in even-numbered groups. "I try to do even numbers — no odd man out."
Huntington Beach allows six chickens per residence or 24 chicks younger than 8 weeks, provided they stay 25 feet away from other buildings. Irvine allows four chickens as long as they remain 30 feet from any home with certain zoning restrictions. Laguna Beach also allows residents to own chickens, provided that the birds don't run free and are housed in a sanitary coop.
Resk said he hasn't seen a snail, termite or spider since bringing his chickens home — but he also hasn't seen much of his tomato plants recently. He had to replace his corn and broccoli with citrus plants, which are less tasty to his flock.
Resk said he thinks he's dealing with an outdated law and believes his Goldenrod 6 contribute color to the community.
"I think this is just an old law," he said.
"I think it adds a lot more than it detracts."
And in his Goldenrod Avenue yard, the six members of his feathered flock — nicknamed the Goldenrod 6 — cluck, peck at the grass and dig holes in search of bugs.
Resk has owned the chickens for 16 months, but he's run afoul of Newport Beach city ordinances that prohibit owning poultry. But it's all a semantic mix-up, Resk says, because his birds aren't for meat or eggs; they're largely ornamental.
His chickens — Red, Blackie, Flaty, Tiny, Blondie and Whitey — are the manifestation of an idea he had while sitting in his yard thinking chickens would be a nice decorative addition. But after a neighbor complained to the city, Resk was given two weeks to remove the birds. The deadline is imminent.
Newport Beach's law, enacted in 1970, prohibits owning any animal commonly considered livestock within city limits, with a few exceptions in permitted areas. Resk said he's prepared to pay fines.
Resk and the Goldenrod 6 have become a fixture for neighbors on a run, nannies and their charges, and passersby.
Susan Jent, a nanny who was watching over Matea and Madalyn one recent afternoon, said they often come by to see the birds. "We always walk past here and look for ... the chickens," Jent said, as the girls stood along the fence greeting the birds. "It's the highlight of the walk."
Lorenza Robbins said her 4-year-old autistic daughter, Summer, visits the chickens daily, feeds them and dances with them during her visits.
For Summer, whose condition makes communication difficult, one of her first words was "chicken," her mother said. Summer "just lights up when she sees the chickens," Robbins said. "She loves them. For some reason, she connects with them."
Resk is one of many Orange County residents who have begun to raise chickens, according to Margaret Millspaugh, owner of Wagon Train Feed & Tack in Orange. She's known to many as the Chicken Lady of Orange County.
Millspaugh said she used to sell about 25 chickens a week, but recently her business has been booming, with 40 chicken sales a week. She said her clients come from across the county.
She said she knows many cities have relaxed their ordinances and permit chickens as pets, while some chicken owners may slip under the radar.
"A lot [more] people get away with owning chickens than we know about," Millspaugh said. She added that chickens like to live in even-numbered groups. "I try to do even numbers — no odd man out."
Huntington Beach allows six chickens per residence or 24 chicks younger than 8 weeks, provided they stay 25 feet away from other buildings. Irvine allows four chickens as long as they remain 30 feet from any home with certain zoning restrictions. Laguna Beach also allows residents to own chickens, provided that the birds don't run free and are housed in a sanitary coop.
Resk said he hasn't seen a snail, termite or spider since bringing his chickens home — but he also hasn't seen much of his tomato plants recently. He had to replace his corn and broccoli with citrus plants, which are less tasty to his flock.
Resk said he thinks he's dealing with an outdated law and believes his Goldenrod 6 contribute color to the community.
"I think this is just an old law," he said.
"I think it adds a lot more than it detracts."
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