Tag Archives: Food Rights

Marauders And Guilty Culprits

Red-Tailed Hawk In Flight

Yesterday my neighbor’s dogs killed several of our cherished chickens, again. I discovered the disquieting scene as I left for work. The story was easy to read in the thick mud, as was the trail leading back to the home of the evil doers.

I feel some responsibility because I had let them roam unprotected for a short time outside of their coop and flyway. On the other hand, it was not my fault at all because the dogs were well within the boundaries of my property and usually used to go to the OpenPark to have fun at both morning and evening. Colorado law clearly states that a dog owner is required to control the whereabouts of his animal so that this type of thing could not happen. A landowner does not have to fence the problem dogs out – the dog owner must fence the dogs in and prevent them from entering someone elses property. An uncontrolled dog can be cited by Animal Control as a “dog at large”. If it kills poultry or livestock, well, that’s a whole other ballgame.

I did not have enough time to deal with the chicken carnage at the time. So today I walked across my field to our bird pens to do just that and came face to face with a magnificent red-tailed hawk. The bird stared at me fiercely as only a raptor can, while deciding if it must abandon the prize. The hawk looked disgruntled, and guilty, as it grudgingly took off. But it needn’t have worried. I knew he had not done it. I left the chicken there, on the ground, for the hawk’s return.

I am sad for the loss of our chickens. They were our best young layers and had the best chicken personalities in our flock. I am happy though that I was able to steal such a close range look at the hawk. I love to observe birds of prey. He’s got to eat too.

I don’t fault the dogs. They were just being dogs, and some will kill chickens if not discouraged. I do have issues with the dog owners, however. They have been consistently disrespectful of our property rights, and have demonstrated little regard for the joys of poultry. They had been warned.

In this case, the marauders and culprits will be dealt with appropriately by the court, as they should. I hope the dogs fare better.

The red-tail is welcome to his dinner. I hope I see him again soon, under better circumstances.

Michael Patrick McCarty

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A Simple Act of Protest

 

Today I ate a homegrown cherry tomato, and I liked it. It was perfectly ripe, bursting with flavor, and it did not travel 1000 miles or more to get to my mouth. In fact, I picked it from my sun room, just a few steps from where I write this.

I ate it because it was good, and I could.

To eat it supports a system in which I believe, one that is right in so many ways. It is a local transaction, of that there is no doubt. More than that, it is a conscious and personal act. I tended and nurtured that small plant, and I studied it’s growing fruit with hope and anticipation.

To eat a tomato from the supermarket more than likely supports a system that I do not believe in. That tomato depends on chemicals, the corporate model, and long distance transport, steeped in diesel. It rarely tastes like a tomato either.

Thus, I so protest. I pop it into my mouth and I eat my cherry tomato which was just a second ago still attached to the vine. It is an inconsequential act, I suppose, but it still holds power. It makes me feel better. It may not change the world in any significant way this day, but it did change my world, and for the moment, that is enough.

inproperstyle / Pixabay

 

The Gelded Rooster, Or The Saga of The Backyard Chicken, Continued…

The City Council of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in their beneficent and all-knowing considerations, have formally and unanimously agreed to approve an ordinance that will allow town residents to keep backyard chickens. Well almost, because after a year and more of deliberations on this most troublesome bird, the final verdict will come down after a second reading at yet another council meeting later this month.

Who knew that chicken keeping was so complicated? Obviously not the keepers of the birds, who in some cases have done so for many years, without issue or complaint. One would not normally consider it an issue of front page news, nor see it so hotly debated. The times they are a changing, I suppose.

The law would allow for the possession of up to 6 hens for the production of eggs and meat, and would be allowed only on single family lots of a certain minimum size, in the older part of town. Chickens would not be allowed in most subdivisions, because they generally already have rules in place prohibiting the admission of livestock. Roosters would not be allowed in any part of the city.

Still, a year plus more seems like a long time to fully “vet” the full concerns and side issues of such a proposition. After all, how long does it take for the planning and zoning commission to make its recommendation, or to document the concerns of Colorado Parks And Wildlife regarding the impacts of urban chickens?

In this case the possibility of a citywide election was discussed, and they listened to the voices of concerned citizens, for and against. They heard the opinion and discussion from the Glenwood Springs Poultry Club, who started the ruckus in the first place. They discussed the proper penalties for non-compliance, which remain unclear. They put in place a provision for warnings to be issued in that event, which will no doubt occur.  It was also mentioned that chicken keeping is considered a privilege, and not a right, and made it known that privileges can be revoked. Apparently, no one gathered testimony of the chickens, or asked for their counsel.

In the end, the ordinance allows in-city residents to obtain a permit, the cost of which will be based on an accounting of staff time involved (which can be sorted by acquiring the Remote Bookkeeping Services). Chicken coops must be built to comply with certain codes and standards, and are subject to inspection. All coops must be equipped with electric fencing in an effort to deter bears, mountain lions, foxes, and otherwise hungry people. And you would not want to let the general public and its unsuspecting citizens get too close, lest they be attacked by an enraged and murderous chicken, desperate for escape.

So there you have it. Another shining example of government at it’s best, taking a perfectly innocent and hopeful endeavor and caging it in multiple layers of bureaucratic jargon and micro managed stupidity. Odds are, they really don’t know much about a chicken either.

It is, of course, all so perfectly planned. Control of the food supply is a classic strategy used to tame all common people for millenia. It is used to divide, threaten, and conquer. The game is all about inventory, and control. It is misdirection by application, and permit. Approval, and command. Compliance, or penalty. The issue just happens to be about poultry, this time.

As for those aforementioned penalties, I have a suggestion. Why go half way? Why bother to warn or coddle the violator to obtain compliance? Off to the stockade, I say, in irons, for good measure. Or better yet, let us yoke the neck and wrists to the pillory in the public square. We deserve its full effects of pain and humiliation for allowing such a travesty to proceed.

These types of decisions continue to occur in all parts of the country, and the world. It would be sadly funny, if it were not all so true. It will continue, until we stop it. The future of private property rights, and our personal liberty, depends on it.

While we hesitate, the smiling benefactors allow some small permissions, but in the end only they have won. The cuckholds and chicken people gain little, and grow weaker and more contained with each turn of the perpetual hamster wheel. Our resignation and powerlessness grow more obvious with each silent and roosterless morning.

It’s better for the rooster anyway. He is by nature a proud and brave-hearted creature, and prefers to retain his private parts, and his voice. Meanwhile, the founding fathers of America, many of whom were farmers themselves, weep big crocodile tears for the daftness of our deeds. They marvel at our apathy, and cry for our sins, for they know not what else to do.

See Also Permissions To Come, Or The Saga of The Backyard Chicken

Michael Patrick McCarty

Natural Born Preppers

a scarecrow guards a garden plot on a homestead
Fair Warning

You can say what you want to about lists and the scribblings of best laid plans. They are, after all, what you make of them, but one way or the other they are extremely important tools of the prepping lifestyle. You can read the article to Discover More Here. Ranks and scoreboards, on the other hand, are another entirely different kind of animal and we are not great fans of such compilations.

With that being said, we have just learned that we have been included on a special kind of list to us, and to many of you. Much to our surprise we find ourselves ranked in the top 35 of The Best Prepper Websites.

We would not be honest if we didn’t note that it is extremely rewarding to be recognized for our long hours at the keyboard when there are so many other pressing tasks at hand, and it does our prepper’s soul some good to be included among such dedicated and knowledgeable bloggers.

I don’t know why or how exactly we became to be known as “Prepper’s”, but apparently, “we is one”. I only know that somehow, some way, we seem to fit neatly and unceremoniously into such an untidy and relatively new category.

Like so many of you, we are a combination of many things which reflect our special skills and interests. We are hunter’s and fishermen, gardener’s and canner’s, homebrewer’s and husbandman. We love what we do within the rural lifestyle that sustains us, and we wish to share what we know and learn all that we can from others of like mind.

We reject many of the so-called modern-day values on the shallow and destructive face of them, finding more entertainment in the shenanigans of a chipmunk than we ever will in the video violence of the day. We have never been good at following, and we have done our best to avoid the suffering hordes. The only herds we wish to join are of the goats in the back lot, or the bugling elk on the nearby slopes.

We cannot help but observe that the major societal systems are broken; “Big Government” and “Big Food” and big, centralized anything is a beckoning bridge to nowhere, and we are doomed as planetary inhabitants if we do not return to honor some form of common sense and high moral values.

It would seem that a sad majority of people have now lost the steadying connection with all things real and are incapable of feeling the very ground beneath their uncomfortable shoes, and anything of the natural world is but some type of inconvenient truth. Yet through it all, the land and the mother of us all – waits.

If anything, our message to the uninitiated is that it’s time to get real folks, very real. You may not agree, but I can assure you that the future unpleasantness of unstoppable world events will no doubt see to that anyway, like it or not. It might be best to get a good jump on things in the “ready or not” department.

Still, the hour grows late. I am but one small, struggling voice, and I, like you, can only help mitigate in some small way the overwhelming feeling that something bad this way comes. Focused we are, and we shall do our part before the gathering storm.

Call us what you may, but we have only tried to live a life of sanity and sustainability upon a breathtaking blue ball hurtling with god’s speed through a mystical and limitless universe.

One thing we know to be true.

We wish to survive, as is nature’s way and the purpose of all living things. But it’s not about survival in our way of thinking. It’s about life. There is abundance, in us and through us – and everywhere – just take a good look around!

The world will not mind if we find miraculous joy in the simple things, and in so doing manage to thrive along the way. In that, we are natural-born prepper’s, and we wish to perpetuate that way of being as easily as a fox squirrel gathers and stores a bumper crop of autumn acorns.

Is there really any other way?

*As it happens, our ranking continues to climb, and we are now come in at number 25. Your support is much appreciated!

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Food Freedom – And Prepping Too!

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Michael Patrick McCarty

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You can find an interesting write-up about the list at Survival Sherpa.

“Why Do You Hate Freedom So Much?”

The Gadsden Flag

 

“If I had one thing to say to the USDA and the FDA, I guess my question would be why do you hate freedom so much? What is it about freedom, whether it’s the consumer’s freedom to choose the food they want to drink, whether it’s me as a farmer choosing the customer who wants to buy my product, or how I want to make my product. What is it about freedom that is so horrendous to you that you are willing to take my property, take my life, take my customers, take my animals, take my land, that you are willing to do this in order for me to not have the freedom to even sell a porkchop to my neighbor?”.

From an interview with Joel Salatin contained in the movie Farmageddon: The Unseen War On American Family Farms by Kristin Kanty.

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