STRONG Salem is for everyone who wants to help and participate in getting Salem, Oregon, to quit chasing Growth Ponzi Scheme plans and instead become a resilient, fiscally responsible place that lives by the wisdom that "Communities exist for the health and enjoyment of those who live in them, not for the convenience of those who drive through them, fly over them, or exploit their real estate for profit."
Just one of many creative and attractive coops that backyard hen keepers like to make. Image by lord marmalade via Flickr
A local LOVESalem correspondent went on the Portland Tour de Coops this year. She not only had a wonderful time introducing her five-year-old chaperone to chickens (he was smitten), she also saw how important the hens were to making the tour locations more sustainable -- and better prepared for emergencies.
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Jan 19, 2008: LOVESalem reaches the web, bringing a vitally needed message to Oregon's capital city: We must Oregon-ize to put the needs of people before the needs of cars. This requires that we live our environmental values -- that we LOVE (Live Our Values Environmentally) Salem -- by working to stop the Sprawl Machine.
The Sprawl Machine is a ravenous beast that feeds on green space, close-in neighborhoods, and property taxes and that excretes monstrous, ugly road projects that pollute the air, increase mortality and morbidity, promote climate change, weaken families and neighborhoods, and help weaken the social fabric and civic participation.
The Sprawl Machine works by constantly luring its prey with promises that the problems created by cars can be addressed by doing more of the same -- building more lanes, more bridges, consuming ever more money. In other words, the Sprawl Machine promises that we can keep doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result this time.
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3 comments:
A local henkeeper writes to correct the impression that home-reared eggs from backyard hens were automatically more expensive:
"I liked what you said about the price of eggs but just FYI, people who don't save money raising chickens don't save money because they rely 100% on commercial poultry feed. Typically, urban hen/pet keepers feed them grass clippings, kitchen scraps, bugs, etc., which cuts down dramatically on the cost. My 4 hens ate leftover vegetables, fruits, pasta, rice, beans, weeds, grass, bugs/slugs and therefore needed very little feed. Including the cost of straw bedding and feed, I was getting FRESH eggs for just .90 per dozen last summer. The only other cost is the initial investment of the coop."
A note from Australia!:
I have read your chicken info request from back in February…how did you go with your council? I live in Sydney, Australia. Our local councils allow chickens here, but not roosters because they are too noisy. We have three chickens ourselves. You can check out a website www.rentachook.com.au which is where we got our chooks. It has lots of information about keeping chooks in urban locations. Dave the Chook man is completely run off his feet, he is going gangbusters and cant keep up with the demand.
Something which may appeal to your council is the ability for chickens to reduce organic waste from council waste flow. Since getting chickens, my organic waste is almost zero (the only thing I wont feed them is chicken meat leftovers, I am worried about “mad chicken disease”!!!). They eat anything, and in fact I get greens from the local greengrocers bins, also reducing their waste.
I am really convinced of the usefulness of keeping chooks in teaching my urban children to care for animals, and to connect them with where their food comes from.
You could make an argument about food security.
I hope that helps!
Cheers,
Andrea
Another note from Sydney, Australia, in response to a reply that it looked like we would be able to keep at least three hens before too long:
Three is great! We have three, and we get three eggs each day. You won’t ever want a store bought egg again after you have had a fresh one still warm in your hand! Good luck!
Cheers,
Andrea
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