In Columbia, realtors are claiming that allowing people to keep chickens is going to lower their property values. Wha?? Seriously??

You know, there are plenty of other places where ordinances allowing backyard poultry have been introduced, and I’ve yet to hear anything about declining property values. Nada. Zip. (And I actually keep up on that sort of stuff)

You can’t tell me feeding a stupid chicken is going to cost less than buying a dozen eggs at the store…they’re a dollar at Wal-mart,” said Van Gorp. “If you don’t like your neighbor in the first place, now they’re keeping chickens, it might the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Obviously, these people just don’t get it. People don’t keep chickens because they’re trying to save money. They do it to know where their food comes from or they do it because they want to live a more sustainable life, among many other reasons.

“It’s going to make it more difficult for buyers to find the house they want, and sellers to sell their homes,” said Radman.

Last I checked, this is one of the most flooded real estate markets in recent history. People are having no problems whatsoever finding houses.

Show me the proof.

Full Article Here

The infamous Borris

A real treat for you guys today. I get my beautiful wife and garden diva, Laura, in on the podcast action. We go through some updates, catch you up on the latest weimaraner suicide attempt, talk about a pending new addition to the farm, take some great feedback, and finally break the hour mark talking about seeds and gardening.

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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BubbaCast # 29 [ 1:13:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

May I help you?

Our first 100% listener feedback show. Wow!

Links:

Megabee
Radiologists Making Soaps
The amazing Dervaes Family
Jack Spirco’s The Last True Form of Revolution podcast episode from The Survival Podcast

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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BubbaCast # 28 [ 39:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We live in an era when even chickens can become government employees.

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126326011266225669.html

Excerpt:
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY — Nestled in and around this scenic agricultural belt are secret facilities that don’t take kindly to visitors.

“Keep Out” reads a sign near the gated entrance at one site. Some of the stark, windowless warehouses require electronic pin codes and hazmat-style jumpsuits to enter. A sign on a metal gate ominously warns that it is a “Disease Control Area.” Trespassers could bring a swift response from police geared up to fight bio-terrorism.

These aren’t government labs, military facilities or weapons plants.

They are egg farms.

At clandestine farms across Pennsylvania, thousands of roosters and hens have been toiling away for months in confidential conditions normally reserved for important government ops. Their mission: Fertilize enough eggs to keep supplies of swine-flu vaccine flowing.

Link to Article from the Chicago Tribune

This is the actual statement (PDF Format)

Arrgh. These guys kill me. I guess they would rather have these chickens in boxes so small they can’t stand up or packed into chicken houses ear to ear. Backyard poultry is better all the way around. The chickens live a better and healthier life and you completely localize a food source.

The best argument is that killing chickens traumatizes onlooking children. I suppose that having a kid know where his food comes from is now a form of trauma.

How did we get to this point??

Horse Nuzzles

A short one today. I take some feedback, talk about big brother and how to deal with taxation on your hobby farm, and I even give you some politically correct holiday greetings.

IRS Publication 535 (PDF Format 1.4 meg)

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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Bubbacast # 25 [ 39:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Free to a Good Home

The Pre-Halloween BubbaCast! I try to give away my dog, talk about bonfires and drum circles, pimp out my drum teacher, rant about churches, and talk about air rifles.

Music: James Larson, Gaia Consort
PodCast Call in Line: 740-5-MYFARM

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BubbaCast # 21 [ 1:00:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Finally it seems that someone actually gets it! A town in the Boston ‘burbs is using goats to clear an overgrown public meadow.

“Under a pilot program in Andover, Lucy McKain’s dairy goats will rotate their grazing around the meadow for an all-you-can-eat buffet of grass, brush and other growth. The goats can clear as much as a half acre every three days at no cost.”
(associated Press)

I hope it works out for them; I’d love to see other towns catch onto this idea.

Link to the full article

I’ve been a fan of The Survival Podcast for some time, but I believe that this episode is perhaps the best one ever. So much so, that I thought it was worth blogging about. If this one can’t get you inspired, then you might need to check your pulse.

Even if you’re not a survivalist, Jack really brings home the reasons why every tomato, apple, or bean that you grow is critically important, how it is your key to freedom, and why growing your own food is the most dangerous and revolutionary thing you can do. (Oh yeah – and he does it much more eloquently than I could.)

Even if you never listen to another podcast again, you need to hear this one. And then you need to plant a fruit tree and spread the word.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/episode-273-the-last-pure-form-of-revolution

Thank you Jack.

-Brian

Hats off to Kathy Rubalcaba in Vermont. She’ll be on Backyard Poulty with The Chicken Whisperer radio show this week. The scenario she finds herself in is not unique. It’s playing out in suburbia across america as people come to learn more about backyard poultry keeping and the benefits associated with it.

————————

Full Article Here

BARRE TOWN – When it comes to Kathy Rubalcaba’s chickens, the eggs definitely came first. Then came her battles with the town, which the East Barre woman says she’s been fighting ever since the first few of them hatched about 18 months ago.

Rubalcaba’s struggles will continue tonight when the town’s selectboard considers the case of a chicken that reportedly flew the coop and a rooster that allegedly crowed at the crack of dawn.

Both birds belong to Rubalcaba, and both were the subject of separate complaints issued last month under the town’s “Nuisance Control Ordinance.”

They aren’t the first, according to Rubalcaba, who was in district court late last week for a status conference in another case of fowl play – this one involving a months-old complaint of another crowing rooster. She has also seen one chicken-related ticket issued by the town’s police department tossed out by a judge in the past year.

“This is silliness,” says Rubalcaba. “They’re just chickens!”

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Just chickens indeed. I’m looking forward to listening to the show.

This quote from Jules Dervaes sumes this phenomenon very well:

“Growing food is one of the most dangerous occupations on this earth because you are in danger of becoming free.”