Photo by Matthew Holst of the Iowa City Press-Citizen printed in the Des Moines Register So cute, Adi kept popping up with chicks that she wanted to show the photographer, too. I'm so glad they chose one of the pics that had her in it too :)
So the word is spreading more and more. I owe a much of that to the local media. I didn't even have to contact them, they've all contacted me and that's a blessing because I'm certainly not an extroverted personality so this aspect has been very helpful.
Yesterday, the Iowa City Press-Citizen printed an opinion article that favored urban chickens and an Iowa City resident, Eric Johnson wrote an opinion letter also in support of chickens in our city. This is so wonderful, I love to see our community coming together like this.
Again, I want to urge people who are interested in raising urban chickens (or just want the right to do so if they choose) to contact city council. You can call our council members, write a letter or send an email. The more correspondence they receive from Iowa City residents (in addition to the petition), the greater our chances of getting chickens allowed in town.
It seems at this point the next steps are strategic ones. I've received several emails from interested residents who are anxious to have an organized effort. Organization is my friend, but I've never organized this type of effort so I'm turning to some pros for pointers and doing lots of research. I'm also adding new links to my sidebar for reference.
Today I found an opinion article in the Daily Iowan and thought I would post it here.
The article makes mention of Iowa City being a transient community. I agree that the student population is transient, however, I was born and raised in Iowa City and though I haven't lived here my entire life, I do intend to live here for many years to come. An argument based on the transient nature of the university student population creating an atmosphere of abandoned chickens once the academic cycle is complete sounds like a student-centered perspective.
The article also sites:
Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey — who said her grandmother owned chickens — said she was not interested in supporting such a move because supporting local business leads to a more dynamic economy, but she is interested in hearing what others have to say regarding the matter.
I appreciate the fact that our Mayor Regenia Bailey is open to hearing the opinions of the residents. Contrary to the assumption that allowing property owners to raise urban hens would negatively affect local businesses, one must consider the businesses that will be supported as a result: Orscheln Farm & Home sells the chicks, feeders & waterers, chicken feed, heat lamps, etc., other local businesses supply wood, chicken wire, and other supplies for building coops. These local businesses will certainly be well supported.
If a more dynamic economy is what we're looking for, how about local grocers choose to buy and sell eggs from local producers and skip the suppliers that factory farm their chickens in huge chicken houses where the chickens live under constant lighting to produce more eggs, sit in their own poop and never see the light of day only to ship their eggs hundreds of miles to the consumers all for the sake of saving a buck?
That's not really what this is about. People are just afraid of the unknown. It's been a long time since chickens were legally raised in Iowa City's city limits and somehow there are people who feel like their urban lifestyle will be threatened by a few hens next door. If the chickens are well kept, neighbors will have to look for them before noticing they're there. They're less of a nuisance by far than my barking dog in the backyard. But she's legal, and she doesn't even lay eggs for food ;) I should be done now. Ha!
So there seems to be quite a stir about the petition I started online yesterday. The moment I walked in the door arriving home from work yesterday the phone rang. It was a reporter from one of the local newspapers, The Gazette. He wanted to ask me a few questions about the petition which he had run across on Twitter of all places.
I was anxious to see how soon the article would be printed and much to my surprise it was already online, including a link to the online petition. Click here to see the article. Very exciting. I had no idea that the article was also published in the newspaper (not just online) and learned from my father-in-law who paid $150 to get his mother's obituary on page four, that the article about urban chickens was printed on the front page... for free! Thanks for the guilt trip Mike ;)
This is all moving along at a pace I never could have anticipated. I have to credit answered prayer for that. Cam and I prayed the night before I started the petition that God would give favor to our efforts on the chicken front. And now we not only have a great start on a petition which has only been live for 2 days and already has 226 signatures (minus a chunk of 30 or so false signatures from jokers such as "Cornal Sanders" and "Rainbow Sunshine" who touted comments like, "Finally, I always wanted a big cock!" and "don't stop at chickens, lets legalize hemp for medicinal reasons..." I had to giggle at that once since hemp is not the same thing as it's cousin, mind altering marijuana, but whatever. Some people have nothing better to do.
The next several days are quite busy for us as we attend Grandma Maxine's funeral tomorrow, clean house and prepare for Adi's birthday party on Friday, host the birthday party on Saturday and celebrate Easter on Sunday. And we have another newspaper article to look forward to for tomorrow as well. This one will be in the Daily Iowan, I'll post a link as soon as I see it.
After a bit of research I recently learned that the ordinance for raising chickens within city limits has not yet been passed. With my heart set on raising chicks, I started an online petition which I hope will circulate rather quickly through Iowa City to be able to take it to the City Council and get things moving along. I know talks are in the works, but the citizens in Iowa City can help speed things up by contacting the City Council directly and letting them know that you would like to see the law changed. You can email the entire city council using this a: council@iowa-city.org - Please Note: All correspondence addressed to the entire City Council becomes a permanent public record.
Please consider contacting the City Council and signing the online petition on the right side of this page :) Thanks!
I've been anxious to post photos of our seedlings - this first photo is in our kitchen window (photo taken at night). There's a closer photo of the tomatoes on the top left below. Top right has tomato seedlings started 3 weeks ago as well as some herbs and the tall cool looking plant is nasturtium which is an edible flower. Bottom left has onions started from seed (which I honestly don't recommend, I think I'll stick with onion starts in the future) and Brussels sprouts. There's another photo of the tray on the bottom right below as well. This tray has mostly herbs and flowers - I can't recall exactly what everything is (we've started soooo many plants!) I do know that there are red poppies, broccoli, calendula, bachelor buttons, and basil... surely I'm missing something. These tomatoes were started about 3 weeks ago. I've transplanted a lot of 2" soil blocks into 3.5" recycled plastic pots because Cam was away in Georgia when the time came to transplant them and I had no idea how to build a 4" blocker. My solution was to buy these pots and trays and they're working out really well. Here are a variety of tomato plants started from seed about 5 weeks ago. These plants are on the top left in the photo above.So these plants are just the beginning. We have two more shelving units in the dining room with four shelves on each occupied by seedlings. It's quite an endeavor.
Now I do have to mention that the garden planning process has been a challenging one as well. I've mostly used an excel file to create a grid (and this works well since we're doing square foot gardening) but being the visual creature that I am I've really enjoyed a website that my friend Kari introduced me to. It's www.growveg.com The site costs I think $25 per year but you can try it out for 30 days for free without giving any billing information (I'm currently taking advantage of the free trial).
Things I like:
The web based application that focuses on organic gardening techniques allows you to easily design your garden and has fun icons to represent the plants you choose to grow including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. It's a drag and drop system which makes it easy for anyone to use.
Each icon has an option to look at more detailed information about the plant including plant family, soil type, sowing and planting time, frost tolerance, feeding, notes, harvesting, and companion plants.
The design tool includes a plant list of those you have selected to be in your garden with a chart including when to sow indoors, sow outdoors and harvest as well as helpful spacing information.
The site includes grow guides such as: crop rotation, starting a new vegetable plot, companion planting, gardening with children, natural pest control, growing from seed, growing in small spaces, permaculture and so much more!
The founder of the site also keeps an interesting blog with helpful articles.
What I don't like:
not much, it's a pretty cool site but there is just one thing: I wish that I could modify the information for each vegetable to include the specific variety I'm using. I can't currently do that, though could possibly be an upgrade that the site may consider if I ask nicely. After all, I am growing more than a dozen varieties of tomatoes and if I'm planning my garden with this tool I want to be able to plan it quite specifically.
So if you are planning a garden this year, I highly recommend checking out the site. It make garden planning a lot of fun.
Chickens. Not to eat. I don't like to eat chickens at all, though I will eat unfertilized eggs. And to raise chickens... the concept has become somewhat of a small obsession ever since we visited the Farm and Home store (Orscheln) on Sunday afternoon. They had adorable little baby chicks for sale. They were Cornish hens which cost something like $1.58 each, I don't remember the actual cost but I was certainly tempted. Adi was so gentle with them and I have no doubt that she would also adore some family raised chickens.
With a new Iowa City ordinance allowing up to 5 chickens per household (update: I later learned that the ordinance had not yet passed but we're working on it), the idea is gaining more and more attention in my brain. So I've been doing a little research online, and it seems there are plenty of urban folks raising chickens and they are more than happy to share their experience with others.
This one is cool but probably too tall for our sloped back yard. I'd be concerned that it might tip over. I've been searching all over the web for the best designs and I've grown really fond of the portable ark designs.
The Eglu is super cool but also pretty expensive coming in at $495 plus $170 for shipping. That's a hefty price and would take years to recoup the cost. Besides, with a handy hubby like Cam, why not make one of our own and spend the extra cash on some fruit trees/bushes, a rain garden or more raised beds. I like the idea of a portable chicken coop because of their many benefits. The run (open area) keeps chickens safe from predators (our rascaly dog Ihry and wild raptors), moving the ark every couple of days will minimize or even eliminate odor issues and we won't have to worry about adventurous escapees while we're not in the yard with them. I imagine that we would let them out while we are present to roam the yard freely but they still need fresh air and sunshine to be healthy. I found this image on flickr and it has all the features I'm looking for: raised hen house with open area below for shade, open run for sunshine and fresh air and light weight compact design for easy moving. The only thing I might add is a set of wheels on one end so one person could move it on their own.
One final design that I fell in love with and would imagine having something similar to house hens in the winter months is The Garden Coop designed by a couple in Portland, OR (one of my favorite places to be). I love this simple and beautiful design. I love the clear roof for protection from the elements and allowing sunshine. For a more permanent design I think this one is a winner.Now we're still in the dreaming and researching phase of raising some hens of our own. Next step, talk to the neighbors and make sure they'd be OK with a few hens clucking around next door. Maybe we can bribe them with some eggs :)
So the word is spreading more and more. I owe a much of that to the local media. I didn't even have to contact them, they've all contacted me and that's a blessing because I'm certainly not an extroverted personality so this aspect has been very helpful. 
