With a garden of tomatoes, onions and radicchio as their backdrop, Emily and Sophie gingerly move across the back lawn of a bungalow, peeking in and out of their makeshift coop.
It’s a regular fall scene at this North Toronto property. After all, the backyard is home to these two full-sized chickens.
Homeowner Josie, whose spacious backyard gives Emily and Sophie plenty of freedom to roam, smiles as she watches her pets peck about on a cool October day.
“Emily, Emily come over here,” she calls, encouraging the pair to come eat some of the leftover food scraps she has laid on the ground.
Named after Josie’s grandchildren, Emily and Sophie are fruitful companions, producing brown eggs almost daily in the summer months.
Though neighbours on the quiet cul-de-sac where they live seem unperturbed by the backyard fowl — Josie says she hasn’t had a single complaint in the three years since she adopted her pets — Emily and Sophie’s living arrangement is indeed illegal in Toronto.
But that could change as early as next year, when a report on backyard hens is expected to hatch at council.
Director of the Toronto Environment Office Lawson Oates confirmed that his office is preparing a report for the city’s municipal licensing and standards committee that will carry recommendations to revise the prohibited animals bylaw and allow residents to keep backyard hens.
The revision, Lawson says, would be part of the evolution of the city’s relatively new Urban Agriculture Policy, which outlines rules and regulations for everything from community gardens to local food production.
Councillor Joe Mihevc, who says he knows of a few residents in his ward who have backyard chickens, is all for a bylaw change.
The Ward 21 councillor says the current law is incongruent with the growing local food and urban agriculture movement.
“Provided that they are kept clean and are well taken care of there’s no reason why we should be saying no to it,” he said of backyard fowl. “Most cities around the world allow hens.
“We are Johnny-Come-Latelys to this issue.”
Indeed cities including Brampton, Niagara Falls and Vancouver allow backyard hens. Some municipalities that allow backyard hens have restrictions related to lot size and most do not allow roosters.
The issue was first raised at city hall with a request for a report on urban agriculture before the park and environment committee back in June 2009. Staff was expected to investigate the feasibility of raising chickens in an urban setting.
One Toronto backyard hen advocate says a change in the bylaw is a long time coming.
The St. Paul’s resident, who goes by the moniker “Toronto Chicken” on her website to avoid city inspectors at her door, owns three chickens that reside year-round in her backyard.
“It’s seems like it’s taking forever,” she said. “I got my chickens in 2007 and I thought it would be like a year before the law changed and here we are in 2011.”
Toronto Chicken says she uses every egg almost as they’re laid, and is making arrangements to add two more chickens to her brood of three as to avoid last-minute runs to the grocery store.
Her family loves the taste and quality eggs produced in her coop, she says.
If there is dissent to a bylaw change, Toronto Chicken thinks it’s because there is a misconception of owners keeping large number of chickens in residential areas.
“When you have large quantities of chickens, there is going to be a smell and there is going to be noise,” she said.
Which is why the report coming to the standards committee will recommend a cap on the number of hens a person is allowed to keep, Lawson notes.
While Josie says she would have no problem getting rid of the chickens were bylaw inspectors to crack down, Toronto Chicken says she would fight to keep hers.
“I think it’s a basic right that we should be allowed to produce in a responsible manner our own food wherever possible,” she said. “Whether it’s an apple tree or growing tomatoes or having a few hens in the backyard.”
2011年10月27日星期四
2011年9月21日星期三
Chicken Chatter Will Continue
"Don't think we don't listen to you. You've already changed the thinking about this, no matter what happens," said Deputy Mayor Fred Profeta tonight to the many local residents who showed at Town Hall to protest the pending introduction of an ordinance allowing for raising backyard chickens in Maplewood.
More than a dozen residents had spoken during public comments against such an ordinance, citing issues such as rats, guano, noise and negatively impacted property values.
A few others spoke in favor, touting the benefits of locally grown food and education — as well as the charms of chickens as pets.
Those in favor included Reesa Salomon who chaired the Green Team Committee that recommended the pilot program and new resident Helen Donaldson, who raised three hens in her small backyard in Australia.
Salomon restated the positive aspects she had spoken about at an earlier Township Commitee meeting — raising food locally and educating children — and added that "if there were major issues, these other town would have shut down" their chicken ordinances. She also argued that the majority of rats were drawn by food left out to feed birds or feral cats.
Jason Hackett offered sometimes conflicting testimony — saying that raising chickens in a suburban environment ought not be attempted, but also adding that, if allowed, butchering chickens should be a part of the ordinance to show the full "circle of life."
Other opponents were simpler and clearer in their opposition.
"I have rats," said Susan Stone of Summit Avenue. "It's very embarrassing." Stone said she could not go in her back yard or have friends over for a barbeque on her deck. "If you add chickens, it's worse. It's disgusting."
Marli Craig of Summit Avenue presented an online petition against the chicken coop ordinance. It had been signed by 84 residents online and three more at the meeting. In response to a change introduced by Profeta that coops and runs would be required to be raised with trays below to capture feces, Craig asked, "Where will those trays be washed and drained?" She said she was worried for the health of her child.
Joan Crystal felt that "the town does not have the greatest record when it comes to enforcing ordinances." She offered the examples of sidewalks and illegal renters. "We leave it to citizens to report."
Jim LoStuto of Summit Avenue wondered who would test the birds to ensure that they were disease-free. He also argued that the schools provide field trips and bring farmers markets into the schools (at least at Tuscan Elementary) to educate children about farming and nutrition. LoStuto also worried about the cost to the town for enforcement.
New resident Michael Goldstein of Midland Boulevard said he and his wife "would emphatically not have purchased a home with a chicken coop adjacent."
Catherine Racette of Midland Boulevard said, "This ordinance doesn't solve anything," noting that there was no shortage of eggs or chickens.
Ultimately, the Township Committee voted 3-2 to allow for an amended ordinance to be introduced on October 4 at the next Township Committee meeting. The second reading of the ordinance and public hearing would take place on October 18.
The ordinance was amended per suggestion of Mayor Vic DeLuca, in deference to public comments, to require that each permit applicant gain approval from neighbors. The ordinance would allow for 15 households throughout town to pilot the program over the course of one year. Also, as Profeta stated, coops and runs would be raised with trays underneath to catch guano; plus, food would be required to be kept indoors overnight so as not to attract rats.
Profeta felt strongly that "market value is about perception." Profeta thought that, although many residents now feel that chicken coops would lower property values, in time, prospective residents would prefer to locate in a town that allowed backyard chickens. In addition, the requirement to gain neighbors' approval would ensure that those opposed would not have to deal with nearby chicken coops.
"Do you think there's a snowball's chance that anybody is going to raise chickens in your neighborhood?" Profeta asked the many residents of the Midland Boulevard and Summit Avenue neighborhood present. "It ain't happening."
DeLuca said he understood that a number of residents who came out to protest the proposed ordinance at this meeting and the last might be frustrated by the continuation of the ordinance, but he said "that's the process." DeLuca said that there may be many more people for or against the pilot program — "we may have barely scratched the surface" — but he said, "I'm of the mind to introduce the ordinance and through the process we will find out."
More than a dozen residents had spoken during public comments against such an ordinance, citing issues such as rats, guano, noise and negatively impacted property values.
A few others spoke in favor, touting the benefits of locally grown food and education — as well as the charms of chickens as pets.
Those in favor included Reesa Salomon who chaired the Green Team Committee that recommended the pilot program and new resident Helen Donaldson, who raised three hens in her small backyard in Australia.
Salomon restated the positive aspects she had spoken about at an earlier Township Commitee meeting — raising food locally and educating children — and added that "if there were major issues, these other town would have shut down" their chicken ordinances. She also argued that the majority of rats were drawn by food left out to feed birds or feral cats.
Jason Hackett offered sometimes conflicting testimony — saying that raising chickens in a suburban environment ought not be attempted, but also adding that, if allowed, butchering chickens should be a part of the ordinance to show the full "circle of life."
Other opponents were simpler and clearer in their opposition.
"I have rats," said Susan Stone of Summit Avenue. "It's very embarrassing." Stone said she could not go in her back yard or have friends over for a barbeque on her deck. "If you add chickens, it's worse. It's disgusting."
Marli Craig of Summit Avenue presented an online petition against the chicken coop ordinance. It had been signed by 84 residents online and three more at the meeting. In response to a change introduced by Profeta that coops and runs would be required to be raised with trays below to capture feces, Craig asked, "Where will those trays be washed and drained?" She said she was worried for the health of her child.
Joan Crystal felt that "the town does not have the greatest record when it comes to enforcing ordinances." She offered the examples of sidewalks and illegal renters. "We leave it to citizens to report."
Jim LoStuto of Summit Avenue wondered who would test the birds to ensure that they were disease-free. He also argued that the schools provide field trips and bring farmers markets into the schools (at least at Tuscan Elementary) to educate children about farming and nutrition. LoStuto also worried about the cost to the town for enforcement.
New resident Michael Goldstein of Midland Boulevard said he and his wife "would emphatically not have purchased a home with a chicken coop adjacent."
Catherine Racette of Midland Boulevard said, "This ordinance doesn't solve anything," noting that there was no shortage of eggs or chickens.
Ultimately, the Township Committee voted 3-2 to allow for an amended ordinance to be introduced on October 4 at the next Township Committee meeting. The second reading of the ordinance and public hearing would take place on October 18.
The ordinance was amended per suggestion of Mayor Vic DeLuca, in deference to public comments, to require that each permit applicant gain approval from neighbors. The ordinance would allow for 15 households throughout town to pilot the program over the course of one year. Also, as Profeta stated, coops and runs would be raised with trays underneath to catch guano; plus, food would be required to be kept indoors overnight so as not to attract rats.
Profeta felt strongly that "market value is about perception." Profeta thought that, although many residents now feel that chicken coops would lower property values, in time, prospective residents would prefer to locate in a town that allowed backyard chickens. In addition, the requirement to gain neighbors' approval would ensure that those opposed would not have to deal with nearby chicken coops.
"Do you think there's a snowball's chance that anybody is going to raise chickens in your neighborhood?" Profeta asked the many residents of the Midland Boulevard and Summit Avenue neighborhood present. "It ain't happening."
DeLuca said he understood that a number of residents who came out to protest the proposed ordinance at this meeting and the last might be frustrated by the continuation of the ordinance, but he said "that's the process." DeLuca said that there may be many more people for or against the pilot program — "we may have barely scratched the surface" — but he said, "I'm of the mind to introduce the ordinance and through the process we will find out."
2011年4月28日星期四
Visit Dallas urban poultry coops
Damon Petr is not a vampire, but he does his best work at night. Wearing one of seven pairs of headlamps, Petr does his carpentry, vegetable gardening, chicken husbandry and outdoor maintenance in the dark.
You can see the remarkable results of his nocturnal pursuits Sunday at the second annual Peep at the Coops tour in East Dallas. Not only does he have a neat, roomy habitat for nine hens that he constructed with a childhood friend from recycled materials, he also has a substantial kitchen garden full of thriving tomatoes, potatoes, greens, herbs and berries.
Petr explains he gets most of his chores done when the rest of the neighborhood is asleep because he runs his home-based business during the day and takes care of his 4-year-old daughter, Zoë, when she is not in nursery school.
“I really can’t get that quiet alone time until Zoë goes to sleep,” says the Dallas native, 39. “I couldn’t garden” without the headlamp. He has multiple sets, so he is never without illumination if he misplaces one. He says they are used more frequently by fishermen, hunters and campers so they can work in the dark hands-free. He buys his supply at Whole Earth Provision and REI.
The entrepreneur (Petr founded Allied Delivery with his mother 17 years ago) enthusiastically proselytizes sustainability at the consumer level. He has been building his urban farm, as he calls it, for five years. He decided to take part in the coop tour in hopes of persuading visitors how much pleasure can be built into a backyard.
“I hear people say they’re bored, there’s nothing to do, and they have a whole backyard,” Petr says. “People live their entire lives without getting their hands dirty. Some people can live and die and never grow a single thing they ate.
“But times are changing. I get chills just thinking about it,” and Petr shows the goose bumps on his forearms. “This is not a fad — the chickens, the vegetable gardening. I slowly see a trend of people letting go of the green yards. The only way I see that we can sustainably grow is to ditch the grass.”
Petr’s backyard is entirely turned over to recreation and raising food. It receives a full day of sun, mandatory for a bountiful harvest. The pair of patio umbrellas, in fact, are not used to shade lounging humans but to protect 4-foot-tall tomato plants and their fruit from being scalded by the harsh sun later in the season.
“This is going to be the very best tomato year, ever,” Petr proclaims.
Petr’s interest in his family’s health ignited his interest in backyard vegetables, including growing foods naturally, without chemicals, and knowing where food comes from. He also is the sort who responds viscerally to the wonders of nature. The goose bumps returned when he talked about the most beautiful waterway in Texas (the Devils River in South Texas) and the first time a hummingbird visited the garden, hovering within inches of his face and staring into his eyes.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the backyard hens are family pets, all named. The coop is large and tidy, with no odor. It is designed so the hens have access to both sun and shade. Petr’s many “healthy” friends save the pulp and skins from daily juicing for the hens, which augments chicken scratch and layer pellets. Four-year-old Zoë collects grubs in a jar as her father unearths them while working the soil.
He and his carpenter friend also built a 23-foot tunnel of wood and hardware cloth to connect the coop to an even bigger exercise area in the side yard. The structure provides the chickens with plenty of space to scratch for bugs and exercise, but it protects Petr’s vegetables from voracious hens.
With the addition of a seeping water feature built from landscape boulders, a hogwire fence on the back property line to support blackberry brambles, a beehive and a three-bin compost station made of the same rough cedar as the coop, Petr is in the final stage of his backyard’s transformation. The last feature is a hand-built pizza oven made of cobb, an ancient building material consisting of sawdust, clay, straw and water. Cobb is fireproof and inexpensive.
Petr expects to be eating oven-to-table, thin-crust pizzas flavored with homegrown vegetables and just-snipped herbs by autumn.
“It seems so right,” he says of his lifestyle. “It’s not for everybody, but it’s the way I want to live.”
You can see the remarkable results of his nocturnal pursuits Sunday at the second annual Peep at the Coops tour in East Dallas. Not only does he have a neat, roomy habitat for nine hens that he constructed with a childhood friend from recycled materials, he also has a substantial kitchen garden full of thriving tomatoes, potatoes, greens, herbs and berries.
Petr explains he gets most of his chores done when the rest of the neighborhood is asleep because he runs his home-based business during the day and takes care of his 4-year-old daughter, Zoë, when she is not in nursery school.
“I really can’t get that quiet alone time until Zoë goes to sleep,” says the Dallas native, 39. “I couldn’t garden” without the headlamp. He has multiple sets, so he is never without illumination if he misplaces one. He says they are used more frequently by fishermen, hunters and campers so they can work in the dark hands-free. He buys his supply at Whole Earth Provision and REI.
The entrepreneur (Petr founded Allied Delivery with his mother 17 years ago) enthusiastically proselytizes sustainability at the consumer level. He has been building his urban farm, as he calls it, for five years. He decided to take part in the coop tour in hopes of persuading visitors how much pleasure can be built into a backyard.
“I hear people say they’re bored, there’s nothing to do, and they have a whole backyard,” Petr says. “People live their entire lives without getting their hands dirty. Some people can live and die and never grow a single thing they ate.
“But times are changing. I get chills just thinking about it,” and Petr shows the goose bumps on his forearms. “This is not a fad — the chickens, the vegetable gardening. I slowly see a trend of people letting go of the green yards. The only way I see that we can sustainably grow is to ditch the grass.”
Petr’s backyard is entirely turned over to recreation and raising food. It receives a full day of sun, mandatory for a bountiful harvest. The pair of patio umbrellas, in fact, are not used to shade lounging humans but to protect 4-foot-tall tomato plants and their fruit from being scalded by the harsh sun later in the season.
“This is going to be the very best tomato year, ever,” Petr proclaims.
Petr’s interest in his family’s health ignited his interest in backyard vegetables, including growing foods naturally, without chemicals, and knowing where food comes from. He also is the sort who responds viscerally to the wonders of nature. The goose bumps returned when he talked about the most beautiful waterway in Texas (the Devils River in South Texas) and the first time a hummingbird visited the garden, hovering within inches of his face and staring into his eyes.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the backyard hens are family pets, all named. The coop is large and tidy, with no odor. It is designed so the hens have access to both sun and shade. Petr’s many “healthy” friends save the pulp and skins from daily juicing for the hens, which augments chicken scratch and layer pellets. Four-year-old Zoë collects grubs in a jar as her father unearths them while working the soil.
He and his carpenter friend also built a 23-foot tunnel of wood and hardware cloth to connect the coop to an even bigger exercise area in the side yard. The structure provides the chickens with plenty of space to scratch for bugs and exercise, but it protects Petr’s vegetables from voracious hens.
With the addition of a seeping water feature built from landscape boulders, a hogwire fence on the back property line to support blackberry brambles, a beehive and a three-bin compost station made of the same rough cedar as the coop, Petr is in the final stage of his backyard’s transformation. The last feature is a hand-built pizza oven made of cobb, an ancient building material consisting of sawdust, clay, straw and water. Cobb is fireproof and inexpensive.
Petr expects to be eating oven-to-table, thin-crust pizzas flavored with homegrown vegetables and just-snipped herbs by autumn.
“It seems so right,” he says of his lifestyle. “It’s not for everybody, but it’s the way I want to live.”
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