Life Transplanet

Today as part of my Leadership Weld County class we learned about the agriculture and natural resources in Weld County.

The day started with a professional impersonator of Warren Monfort, the trailblazer of our community who started the “pen-feeding” of cattle that has now become the norm. He talked about how he got interested in doing it and the millions and millions of dollars that were made in this business. He barely skimmed the surface of the problems that it caused (causes), but it was still quite a fascinating story of determination. We also learned about Greeley’s role in water rights in all of Colorado and what we will need to do to hold all the water in the future (possible reservoir projects on the horizon).

From these two discussions, I put together something that no one really addressed. They talked about the fact that feeding cattle requires a lot of corn and silage and how corn is a very water intensive crop. Then, the next speaker talked about our lack of water on these dryland plains. It seemed rather strange that here we have a species of animal (actually buffaloes roamed freely here for a long time too) that loves to roam around and eat dryland grasses but yet we decided to create at least two problems where there was one perfect solution (no need to water, and the cows would pasture and stay healthier).

After these presentations we went to a dairy farm called Cozy Cow Dairy in Windsor. It was so sweet. You could tell that the woman who gave the presentation really loved her cows. She even painted a mural of them in the tour room! After we saw a milking demonstration we tasted their milk which is a mixture of Holstein and Jersey milk and some cheese curds. They were both excellent!

The next stop was at an oil rig. I have never been to an oil rig before. It was noisy and windy and dirty, and I don’t think I could ever work there, but it was pretty interesting how they do it all. We even had to wear hard hats like real workers!

Me and Jamie at the oil rig

Next up was very close to my heart of course because of my own chickens. We toured Morning Fresh Eggs in Platteville. They are a producer of Eggland’s Best Eggs, if you’ve ever seen those commercials. The factory was very clean at least in the part that we were allowed to see, and they had a lot of reasons why factory farming of eggs is great. I, as you could probably surmise, completely disagree, and this is in fact one of the reasons we got our own backyard hens.

But it was still interesting to see what it would take to raise over 1.6 million chickens indoors…again, what a waste because here is an animal that loves to peck around, play outside, take dust baths and roost at night. Instead we have turned them into nothing more than production units that get to live to 104 weeks (2 years). Reminds me a little of the Matrix. Let me say it again so you can wrap your mind around this: One and a half million chickens…holy cow (or chicken) that’s larger than Denver if that were people! And they said that each person on average eats about 5 eggs a week in both whole egg form or in cakes, ice creams, and other products. That would be about what one happy hen in your backyard could produce for you! Why do we feel like we have to make factories out of everything?! Even the easiest, best solutions turn into problems when we try to force living things into factory mass production systems.

Just check out the sheer number of eggs in this video I took:

We also got to talk with a local farmer about his vegetable farming experience. Overall, the whole day was quite fascinating and probably the most important to learn about in terms of Weld County’s heritage. I was certainly happy to get home to find three healthy speckled and not so standardized eggs in the girls’ nesting box. It helped confirm for me all the reasons we garden and raise chickens and in general utilize our own natural (human) resources as much as possible.

Britton and I have been playing Texas Hold ‘Em with a new group of friends lately. We meet up monthly and alternate houses each time. The host provides food and some drinks and everyone else comes and enjoys themselves for the evening. This weekend, the tournament was at our house. Since it was snowing, we decided to make some chili. It was delicious! I made a huge pot of it and it was almost all gone! I also made a veggie platter, a cheese and cracker tray and of course put out some chocolate. We played over 6 hours of music on our whole house stereo and had the Olympics on in the background.

We have played about 5 games with this new crew and while I got 4th at the last one, we haven’t walked away with any money yet. Well, last night Britton got second! It was great! It is fun to win every now and then.

We also had a little bit of fun outside with the snow birds (the chickens), Kitty and Schnoodle.  Another great weekend. Plus, we made arrangements for where we will be staying in Puerto Rico as snow birds ourselves in March (staying with a couple of people in a house in Rincon).

This picture was on the front page. Kitty and the Hens. 

Britton and I have been thinking that life is like that Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime. “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” Sometimes Britton and I just look at each other and smile knowing that life is but a dream. You never know how one moment will lead to another. Yesterday, for instance, our cat and chickens were on the front page of the news.

It is sad, really how the whole chicken debate turned out. Mostly for people who will continue to live here and try to make this city a better place. I have tried, and believe me, it can be done, but it is HARD work. It is underappreciated work.

But Britton and I are ready to move on both literally and figuratively. We booked our next trip to Puerto Rico in mid-March! We are going to find a house! We are super excited. I can’t wait for the next moment when I look up and ask myself, “how did I get here?”, and then I’ll remember; what a strange life it is going gently down this stream.  

Greeley is an interesting place to live I’ll say that much. This time not interesting in a good way.

At the council meeting there was a large group that showed support for changing the ordinance in regards to backyard hens. A veterinarian, several well educated folks and basic hard working people. There were a few people who were against this change and they were against it for reasons of commercial scale operations, disease and one because she was allergic to feathers. One lady (this was the best one) was against it because chickens can be used to smuggle drugs. Yes once again, they are the root of all evil.

When it came time to vote the council members in support Mike Finn, Donna Sapienza and Sandy Elder provided the reasons for their support and I do appreciate that. The council members who voted no didn’t provide any rhyme or reason to their decision. They had no valid reason except that they didn’t agree with what I am doing in my backyard even if it has no effect on them. Since the vote was a tie, it didn’t pass.

I’m disappointed in our local governments ability to listen to the public and make a decision that empowers the individual.

If you want a live action, local drama, tonight is the night! The chicken ordinance will be debated and voted upon tonight! Please come out if you support them, we will need all the help we can get. 919 7th Street, Greeley, Colorado at 6pm. Wear a Green Shirt.

Drawing by Rob Smith, Jr

Here we are at the finale, finally. How this issue got so big, I have no idea. People have been keeping chickens in Greeley, legally and as pets for many years, but this time it has the attention of the city and state. Apparently almost all the local radio stations and news stations were talking about them this morning. 

Britton and I just kind of chuckle to ourselves that we were a large factor behind this whole thing, and didn’t even want to be. We just wanted to be left alone to run our lives as we see fit. We weren’t bothering anyone; no one, including our next door neighbors even knew for almost 2 years that we even had them!

We aren’t too worried about the outcome. Either way, we get to keep our chickens. Both options are also actually not ideal. Option 1 is to keep it the way it is which is confusing because they allow 1 chicken for every 1/10 of an acre of land as part of the commercial livestock code. There is also another code, the domesticated animal, or pet code, that says “domesticated birds” are allowed, and there is no limit. So under that code, anyone with any chickens as “pets” would be fine.

Option 2 is the proposed code. To me, this is actually worse than option 1, but at least it legitimizes people having more chickens than the commercial code specifies. Option two is not ideal because it gives government WAY too much power and creates a problem where there isn’t one. To see the proposed code, go here.

The main arguments against chickens in general I hear are 1) smell or noise, 2) Greeley’s image and 3) they belong in the country. While I have already addressed those, I thought I would  give another response.

1) They do not smell any more than a dog or cat. If you keep their coop cleaned and especially if you allow them to free range in your yard like we do, there will not be any build up. If people keep a reasonable number as they would any other pet (say 4-6), there will be no smell to speak of. They are not noisy birds. From our front yard you could not tell we even had them. After we were in the newspaper the first time talking about our hens and got turned in by someone, the code enforcer thought she had the wrong house because she couldn’t see, smell or hear anything coming from our backyard.

2) Greeley’s image. Ah, yes. This is the ever lasting debate about Greeley. If you are not from Greeley, maybe you don’t even know this, but apparently Greeley has an image problem. I don’t think Greeley has too bad of an image. I’ve lived here my whole life and have never felt threatened, unsafe, or that our city services weren’t adequate. The only things I can think of is that we are an agricultural community with an economic base in feedlots and slaughterhouses. While I don’t agree that that is how we should raise and process beef and I think Greeley is a great case study of what our food system should NOT be doing, that is the reality.

With that basic fact, we have the occassional awful stench that hovers over Greeley, lower overall wages (and therefore lower cost of living which I think is great!), more poverty than elsewhere and the associated problems that poverty causes to a community.  Many of the people living in poverty come from Central America and Mexico to make a better life here and this is really what this chicken debate boils down to: racism. People are afraid we will turn into a “3rd World Country”. People have actually said this to me.

There are so many things wrong with these statements, but let me put it to you this way. Chickens and dogs live in developing countries. They also live here. Are dogs (or chickens) inherently bad just because in some areas their laws are different than ours? I agree that we need humane laws (like the current ones we have in Greeley), that chickens  -and dogs- should be fenced, that dogs and cats should be spayed and neutered and kept out of the streets. But this is not a reason to ban them altogether. Chickens don’t make “3rd World Nations”. They also don’t cause image problems, nearly every city in Colorado allows chickens. Many large, metropolitan and “hip” places (with great images) allow for chickens.

3) Chickens belong in the country…or…your backyard interferes with my backyard. Why do chickens belong in the country? Because that is the social norm? Do you realize that over 90% of the population lives in cities? And it’s only growing moreso. There are fewer and fewer “farmers” and unless we want all of our food and therefore our ability to be self-reliant and self-sufficient to be wiped away completely, we had better protect our ability to grow our own food, raise our own pets and know a little bit about what it’s like to live without the government or food conglomerates supporting us.

We should be allowed to be a little different. If we don’t have tolerance of others who are different, who try to live life differently in a way that is beneficial to them what’s to say that your differences won’t be on trial next? If your backyard can have 10 dogs (which in Greeley they can any number of pets), why can’t mine have 4 hens?