Urban Farming
While the concept of urban farming may seem like an oxymoron, the idea of cities growing food and raising meat is quickly becoming a trendy pastime for many an urban-dweller. When USA Today published an article this week about mini goats it was quickly a topic of hot debate in our house. It’s not that we’re opposed to someone having goats in the city, far from it as our own chicken experience demonstrates, it was more about what it would take to convince cities that having traditional farm animals in the city is not a bad way to live.
Within the lifetime of many Islanders, farm animals were kept within city limits. In fact, many homes in within walking distance of downtown still have horse sheds in their backyards. They don’t house horses anymore, but could if they had continually housed a horse since the ‘non-farm animals’ by-law was passed decades ago. Basically, if you had a horse, and kept a horse continually, your horse would be grand-fathered in as a legal possession.
Charlottetown is a pretty progressive city when it comes to farm animals in the city. My former hometown of Windsor, Ontario is going through some crazy ‘working committee’ development process, which will make a recommendation to council, which will then further debate the issue and, if all goes according to plan, will approve it. More than likely, the idea will be debated to death in the working committee, lost in the shuffle in the by-law stage, and be laughed off by council if it ever sees the light of day.
Contrast that to the forward thinking mayor of Charlottetown, Clifford Lee, who, when put on the spot by a CBC reporter last year said, “Let’s see how this little experiment goes”. Well, by not making an issue out of our chickens we, to my knowledge, are still the only ones in Charlottetown with chickens in our backyard. Perhaps it is lack of knowledge, perhaps it is nobody else wants them. I don’t know what the reasoning is, but the even-handed ‘wait and see’ approach of city administration makes urban farming a reality.
Rob Patterson, a good friend and fellow ‘big thinker’ , has an interesting article on his blog today about Detroit Michigan, the former Motor City, and the rise of urban farming there. I’ve both visited and worked in Detroit, a common career option for Windsorites, and I know the challenges that Detroit has experienced over the years. In the 2 years since we left Ontario things have only gotten worse in that city. It is no surprise then that people are willing to let urban farming back into the city — they really have nothing else to lose.
I hope that Charlottetown doesn’t have to follow the path of Detroit, being nearly ruined in order to accept that small-scale and intensive farming operations have a place in our city. With ‘traditional’ (at least for the last 50 years or so) farmers exiting stage left at a rapid pace, alternative farming (aka ‘the way it used to be’) will need to come back to fill in the gaps left when corporate farming seizes complete control of our lives via our dinner plates.
You know…when I loved in a high rise, I used to use the Aero Garden a lot. It wasn’t the absolute best, but at least I got to do some gardening!
Every little bit counts, even if it is as ‘simple’ as a counter-top herb garden. Any connection to food makes us realize the importance of it. When cooking goes from combining boxed ingredients to combining fresh ingredients, chopping, whisking, mixing, braising, all of those things that good into a great meal — one can’t help but have a greater appreciation for food and those that make a choice to grow it for others.
BTW: Love the blog — I’ll definitely have to peak in more often and see what you’ve got cooking. I feel a dinner party coming on!
I really like the idea of urban farming, in concept. In practice, we’ve kept a backyard garden for several years and, due to having a brown thumb, we haven’t achieved any sort of zen-like connection to our family food supply.
I would love to keep a few small animals as well. Fredericton isn’t very friendly to the idea though. How did you kick start your initiative Josh? Are you the ground breaker or did somebody else blaze the chicken trail in Charlottetown?
With my experience gardening I might be uniquely suited to having mini goats. That’s the way all of my veg have ended up…
Andrew:
Check the by-laws in Fredericton carefully. Many times the language is not very strong, or specific, and you may find that the prohibition on small ‘farm’ animals is actually an overly aggressive interpretation of the by-law officers and not actually what the by-law says. Take, for example, Charlottetown, where I was told that I probably couldn’t have chickens, but after reading the laws over many times I realized that the only by-law that I might be violating was a noise by-law.
If the laws seem iron-clad you can also consider civil disobedience. Many people think that is the route we went, though outing yourself on CBC news is probably not a good idea if you are trying to break the law. We are (were?) the first ones that I know of to have chickens in our backyard in Charlottetown proper. The amalgamated areas of East Royalty, West Royalty, Winsloe, Parkdale and Sherwood, although considered Charlottetown today, have had flocks of their own in the past.
Even if you can’t have animals today I believe that we are going to see more and more cities open their borders to small farm animals. As local eating comes back, and peak oil pushes the prices of food higher and higher (especially foods imported from foreign continents), cities will likely be forced to bring small animals back as a way to sustain their populations.
Whatever you do though, just keep gardening. As personal recommendation — do heirloom seeds. (See my next post for some ideas on where to buy in Atlantic Canada)