Right to raise/grow your own food (Vent)

[redoak]

I think the right to raise/grow your own food should be added to the Bill of Rights. I think it's one of the most basic rights a person can have. Thinking on the subject I bet the founding fathers never added such a right because things were so different back then, that the idea that someone can't raise/grow their own food was so alien to them. All the posts I read on this forum about people being fined and being told they have to get rid of their chickens/livestock is so wrong. If you have the minimum required space for X number or chickens or livestock you should be able to have them, given you take care of the manure, etc. My brother used to live in a subdivision in Florida and he couldn't use his front yard for a garden. His kids played in the backyard were they were safer. It just boggles my mind all the dumb laws we have in this country. I give kudos to all those who have fought their city/town council and won the right to have chickens, etc.

 

[spencereb]

redoak,

I agree completely, with everything you stated. As you mentioned, just think about all the dumb laws we have in this country!

We send politicians (local, state and federal) to their job for us. They have varied numbers of years of responsibility, depending on their office, but all they do is sit around thinking up some new law to enact, some of the dumbest stuff in the world! They can never just sit back and let well enough alone, or to just focus on the major issues that really impact our lives. I would rather they just go home when they are finished with the big important stuff and stop trying to fine tune every facet of the citizen's life.

I'm with you, redoak.

-Spence

 

[tiki244]

Its all about the money, my dear. Just follow the money trail.

 

[chickenannie]

My favorite is when folks want to move out to the country because they want to live in a beautiful bucolic setting, but then they complain about the farm smells of the neighboring farms and try to change the ordinances so the farms can't emit odors or tractor sounds, etc.

 

[tiki244]

I drove through an area that I hadnt been in 5 years and was appaled at all the new housing. I was really shocked. And it all used to be farm land. I see areas in the paper for sale but they say covenant restrictions(?) I think that means you can live in the country but cant do country things.

What really disturbs me (i hope I dont offend anyone) is the area beyond where I have bought my chickens from. It is 12 miles from town, farm country. And a new subdivision is there sitting on the hill, with 1/2 mill to 1 mill $ houses. PLEASE. I dont think if I had the money I would be getting a house that big. People need to start thinking about the environment and what the USA way of life is doing to the planet.

 

[punkin]

Quote:
Ya know, I think I would like to have a bigger house - A bigger HEN house, that is.

 

[seedcorn]

Quote:

Where are they to raise crops/animals at?

If I lived in town, I wouldn't want anyone deciding he wanted a bunch of hogs next to me. Don't like a communities laws/ordinances, change them or don't move there.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

My cousin and her husband bought a new home in a subdivision. One of the regulations stipulates that they cannot grow TOMATOES. Not in the ground, not in a container.

Now, isn't that about the dumbest thing you've ever heard?? I have 67 tomato plants in my garden and I would never live anywhere where you can't grow plants!!

 

[Rosalind]

Playing Devil's Advocate here (disclaimer: I have a huge garden and keep egg-laying chickens)--

Let's say you're a landlord in the inner city, and you own an apartment building with no yard or dirt to speak of. In order to provide people with their right to grow food, you create a rooftop garden and give plots to your tenants. How little a plot can you give to your tenants while maintaining their right? If you have only 7500 square feet of rooftop garden space available, but your apartment building can house up to 400 tenants, and each tenant gets 18 sq. ft., is that enough, even though it's barely sufficient to grow a couple pots of tomatoes and some herbs, let alone a substantial fraction of the annual food intake? Do you give out plots per tenant, plots per family, plots per apartment per number of bedrooms in the apartment? What if you're my ex-neighbors, and you have two families of five people each (two adults, three children per family) all crammed into a tiny two-bedroom apartment? Should they get more garden space because their need is greater, or for reasons of economic hardship?

Are you required to create vertical gardening space, or hydroponics setups if your rooftop space is insufficient to provide for people's needs? If your tenants sub-let their apartment, or if they take in long-term guests who are not technically on the lease, how do you accommodate their rights? Do you simply restrict the number of people, total, who can live in any given apartment, including long-term guests? How do you enforce that?

I agree that it's absurd that any community would do anything so foolish as to insist that people must grow nothing but grass in their yards. And unfortunately, in many parts of this great country, you really do NOT have any other good options--many areas, there's nothing but homeowner's associations everywhere you go, and you literally cannot buy anything NOT in an HOA-type area for many miles around. It's really something to think about when you're choosing a career these days: how portable is it, where will I have to live, will my life be restricted in some ways I can't accept because of my career choices, etc. And also something to think about when discussing family matters, such as where elderly relatives will go when it's time to choose a Raisin Ranch. You don't always get the option of moving somewhere else--sometimes there's no "somewhere else" to go.

 

[can you hear me now?]

Not that I can sympathize because I live in the country, but I am in total agreement. I think raising chickens should be a basic thing. Not that I am into conspiracy theory but I do see our country hitting hard times. When it comes and nobody has money to buy store bought eggs and meat, what are they going to do to feed themselves?Living where I do, not too far from Cackle Hatchery, i have been told they have sold more chickens this year than any other year on record. I know it makes me think and wonder.