The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Around here a lot of the small scale produced meat is sold via the internet, usually so that you raise on order basically. I haven't seen it done much with chickens, but I know they do it with sheep. Haven't tried it myself, since we've kept sheep at Karin's parent's cottage ourselves, but it's a booming business model at the moment. Same thing is done with eggs and veggies, that I know. But I'm sure one could find customers interested in ethically raised chicken and rabbit too.

 

[Alaskan]

what the regs are varies GREATLY from state to state..

Here in AK, I think I can sell processed chicken, with zero license, I think up to 100 birds (but maybe it was lots more... can;t remember).. all I need to do is slap a sticker or label on it that pretty much says "wash your hands when handling and cook before eating" whatever

but I think that I may NOT sell pig or sheep or cow already butchered, you MUST sell it live... and that must be enforced, because people follow that law.


For eggs here in AK you are "supposed to" grade them, even for tiny sales... but lots of people sell, right from their own chickens, and they do NOT grade... and no one has been fined. But, you need no special permits etc.

 

[vehve]

A way to get around the regs might be to sell eggs as hatching eggs.

Here I could sell up to 10000 eggs from home, or door to door, as long as we've had a salmonella test done within a year, and it's been negative. Without the test we're not even allowed to give away eggs. If I want to sell at a market, I would need to mark the eggs with our producer code (we've actually gotten the chickens legally and are registered as a place where livestock is kept). If I wanted to sell more than 10000 eggs annually, or sell to stores and such, I would have to go through tougher bureaucracy and fulfill some hygiene requirements.

I could also sell up to 1000 rabbits or chickens, or any poultry really, straight to consumers from home as long as I inform the authorities that we're doing it. If I wanted to sell it any other way, it would need to be slaughtered either at an abattoir, or in some cases I could register as a small time slaughtering facility, if we would fulfill the requirements, which I'm guessing we wouldn't, since we don't have a dedicated slaughtering spot with access to running water etc. I'm not sure if that's 1000 animals total, or if I could do both 1000 bunnies and 1000 chickens. Doesn't really make a difference since I don't think our yard could ever produce that kind of amounts.

Selling to a restaurant would always require permits of some kind, the scale of the operation would specify what I would need to fulfill.

 

[perchie.girl]

A way to get around the regs might be to sell eggs as hatching eggs.

Here I could sell up to 10000 eggs from home, or door to door, as long as we've had a salmonella test done within a year, and it's been negative. Without the test we're not even allowed to give away eggs. If I want to sell at a market, I would need to mark the eggs with our producer code (we've actually gotten the chickens legally and are registered as a place where livestock is kept). If I wanted to sell more than 10000 eggs annually, or sell to stores and such, I would have to go through tougher bureaucracy and fulfill some hygiene requirements.

I could also sell up to 1000 rabbits or chickens, or any poultry really, straight to consumers from home as long as I inform the authorities that we're doing it. If I wanted to sell it any other way, it would need to be slaughtered either at an abattoir, or in some cases I could register as a small time slaughtering facility, if we would fulfill the requirements, which I'm guessing we wouldn't, since we don't have a dedicated slaughtering spot with access to running water etc. I'm not sure if that's 1000 animals total, or if I could do both 1000 bunnies and 1000 chickens. Doesn't really make a difference since I don't think our yard could ever produce that kind of amounts.

Selling to a restaurant would always require permits of some kind, the scale of the operation would specify what I would need to fulfill.

in California if you sell less than 300 dozen you can post a sign in your yard and offer fresh eggs for sale. Shell Egg licensing is more strict the eggs have to be clean and graded and the lables on the carton specific. Again if you are under x amount of eggs per month the regs are less stringient.

But Even if you are a very small producer in order to sell at a farmers market you have to have Shell Egg licensing.

The reason they call it Shell Egg is because there is different regs on selling raw eggs by the gallon...

Again in California...

deb

 

[vehve]

While I have no leg to stand on in regards to regulation (Finland is often jokingly referred to as Bureauslavia by ourselves), I find it amusing what the local legislation has led to in USA, during a trip of just a few miles you might have vastly conflicting laws about all kinds of things. And the conflicting county, state and federal level legislation is a bit interesting too. At least here the laws are universally binding throughout the country, with very few local exceptions, mainly stuff that has to do with hunting and reindeer keeping. Having different hunting quotas in different areas I find pretty self explanatory, the reindeer things again come from the fact that the Sami people that are indigenous to Lapland (the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway and parts of Russia) have some special allowances in regards to their way of life.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

SCG BTW just what are fat quarters? I've seen them lots of times at Jo Ann's and when they are really cheap I think about buying them but, never had any idea what they are used for. Besides the outer designs are so cute but, always notice the stuff in the middle is just ordinary.

PS kinda thought "fat quarters" must be related to "fat Tuesday" - my mind is a very strange thing. Then I wonder where the expression " FAT chance," came from - are people snickering behind my back again?

Most people buy fabric related to the increment of a yard - which is 3 feet or 36 inches. What you request yardage wise is how "long" you are requesting your fabric to be. If you buy a half a yard they will cut you 18 inches unrolled off the bolt. A quarter yard would be 9 inches unrolled off the bolt. Then there's the other measurement of fabric, which is width and stays the same in this scenario because we're measuring off the bolt for yardage. Most fabric is folded in half and then rolled up on the bolt for cutting into the yard. The standard width of most fabric that you can buy off the bolt is 42 to 44 inches. Therefore, if you buy a quarter of a yard of fabric you get a piece that, when unfolded, measures 9 inches by 42-44 inches (long and skinny). This is good for many projects, especially if you're cutting thin strips for quilts. But remember here the largest size you can cut out of it will be 9 inches. If you need to cut something bigger out, you'd need more yardage of fabric. But sometimes you don't need a lot of fabric, certainly not a half yard (18 inches) by 42-44 inches and so if you bought more yardage to cut bigger pieces out of you'd have a ton of fabric left over. Enter the fat quarter.

A fat quarter is a different way of getting the same amount of square inches of fabric, but cut "fatter." Instead of unrolling the bolt a quarter yard (9 inches) and cutting, they unroll and cut a half a yard (18 inches). Then they unfold the half a yard and cut it in half going the other way (cut half of the 42 to 44 inches). This results in a piece (well, actually 2) of fabric that is 18 inches by 21-22. This is called a fat quarter. It's still a quarter yard of fabric, but shorter and fatter than a traditional quarter yard off the bolt and you can cut larger pieces out of it. Fat quarters are the same fabric throughout the cut, but are often bundled together in a package with different fabrics within them that someone has deemed "go together" or coordinate. I rarely buy those packs, but I do buy fat quarters for projects when they're on sale.

I hope that made sense. I didn't understand it when I first started sewing until I had handled a large amount of cut fabrics for projects. Sometimes your project would go best with a fat quarter (less wastage/leftovers) and sometimes your project should use a regular quarter yard (or larger). For my project, I'm doing a bunch of birdhouses and birds.

This is the pattern I'll be making - so you can see it requires a lot of different fabrics, but not a lot of each one, and there's some wide cuts needed for the house so fat quarters are appropriate in this case:


That's your math lesson for the day.

 

[vehve]

SCG, that is truly a confusing name for the cut. Very misleading, as the cut is neither fatter, nor a quarter yard. A skinny half would be better.

 

[Beer can]

While I have no leg to stand on in regards to regulation (Finland is often jokingly referred to as Bureauslavia by ourselves), I find it amusing what the local legislation has led to in USA, during a trip of just a few miles you might have vastly conflicting laws about all kinds of things. And the conflicting county, state and federal level legislation is a bit interesting too. At least here the laws are universally binding throughout the country, with very few local exceptions, mainly stuff that has to do with hunting and reindeer keeping. Having different hunting quotas in different areas I find pretty self explanatory, the reindeer things again come from the fact that the Sami people that are indigenous to Lapland (the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway and parts of Russia) have some special allowances in regards to their way of life. 

Vehve, in the US most of our 50 states are bigger than Finland. Were made up of a motley crue, lots of different backgrounds, values, ways of
life. A melting pot of different cultures. What might work for one area might not work for another. We need to get along somehow, so the states are supposed to have more power, our govt. was set up to be 'by the people for the people'. It's getting a little out of hand though, but when we now have a govt. that can vote in their own pay increases your bound to have problems.

 

[Beer can]

Case in point vehve, I live in a rural area, had a couple people from NYC move here and one got on our town board and tried to enforce mandatory lawn mowing, and if you don't the town was going to hire someone to do it and charge it to your taxes. It didn't happen, they almost got tarred and feathered. I keep our lawn nice, and can't even see any of my neighbors lawns unless I drive by their house so what would I care what they do. It is argued that it drives down property values, well good, our taxes will be lower, what would we care if our property values were not at their max we plan on living here not selling. What works for NYC doesn't work for us.

 

[vehve]

Beer, yeah, I'm not saying that the two countries would in any way be comparable. Or that there would be an universally applicable way of governing a country. Just pointing out some things I find interesting.

On the other hand, those voted in officials are in fact chosen by the public. And therefore they represent the view of the majority of the people, just like in any democracy. And that's just the way it is, just like at home if your wife and kids want to paint the room white and you want to paint it blue, it's going to be painted white. Strangely, I often find that in a house where there are only two people, the view of the female tend to overpower those of the male. So you'll end up with a white wall anyway.