Last week there was a letter posted on the farm stand which was in response to a 'neighbor' who had taken issue with the fact they keep chickens, it sometimes smells a bit and that they have a boisterous rooster (also incidentally one of the reasons that we moved here and he is beautiful!). Now this 'neighbor' didn't come over for a chat like an adult, no…not even close, rather he/she wrote an anonymous complaint to the district (I don’t accept whining from my 6 year old). I honestly think the District should ignore complaints that are written by someone refusing to sign their name (unless they are under protective police custody!)
See... for my family access to things like chickens, the sounds of the roosters, owls and the other beasts that inhabit my neighborhood is precisely why we moved here. A place where our kids can be in touch with nature, meet the people that fish, raise and grow their food, see the stars at night and have a tree fort. We walk the trails at all times of the year. We see brilliant things, we smell salty ocean air and plug our nose from the reek of skunk cabbage. Sometimes we have to step around piles of scat (and deal with the smell) and sometimes a wet, muddy, stinky dog comes to give you an extra special welcome. It is wonderful, real true living here...and we love it.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO when someone makes the choice to take their ‘princess and the pea’ sensibilities and wreck access to something beautiful for the rest of us, (not even signing their name – did I mention that??) it DOES MY HEAD IN!! When some nasty old bitty (I say old as I don’t know many people that would have that kind of time... to get their ginch so tightly wound in a knot over the cock-a-doo of a rooster) tries to force me to buy eggs from big box stores (industrial farming says "fresh eggs" are up to 6 weeks after laying, not to mention the feed and living conditions issues). That just brings out my Scottish ancestry! Please SCRD…NO NAME – NO MERIT.
We apparently have a lot of work to do when a family farm (with farm status) who is feeding our community ethically, has a sale ban placed on it by SCRD bylaws. When one person’s poor use of free time prevents me from feeding my kids consciously. Time to stop paying verbiage to the ever so popular "sustainability" train and come up with some good ‘farm gate sales’ bylaws to protect the right to live near to, purchase from, grow on, raise and share nutritionally dense bounties neighbor to neighbor. Let’s create a community with resources that sustain our land, our people and our environment!
And if you don’t like it? Perhaps some real estate just slightly east of Horseshoe Bay might be more your speed!
Stacey N. Harding
yup....in your pipe and smoke it!
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