Urban Farming, Part II: Urban Goats

By Hannah G.

The second part of my Urban Farming series (following chickens in Part I) examines another – albeit bigger – animal that has gained popularity in recent years as a useful and lovable addition to urban farming.  Milk is just one of the many uses goats can provide.

The following knowledge was drawn from a very informative guide by Sue Weaver: The Backyard Goat: An Introductory Guide to keepingProductive Pet Goats.

Goats are undeniably a bigger project to undertake than chickens, but one that is worth it for many people. They do need a bigger range than chickens, so be ready to delegate the scope of your backyard if need be.  Adult goats of full size breeds need 20 square feet of protected and sheltered living space. Miniature varieties need comparatively less.  Additionally, all goats need a penned area to play, roam, and exercise in. According to Weaver, “goats thrive in refurbished chicken coops, homemade A-frames, extra-large doghouses, calf hutches…”, so you do not need to spend a fortune on constructing housing – it just needs to be safe-guarded against predators as well as draft-free and dry.

The following are some of the many benefits of the urban goat:

• Milk. The most common use of the backyard goat (beyond companionship) is milk. When organic cow’s milk runs at $5.00 or more a gallon, goat’s milk from your own backyard can be a great alternative.  More than being cost saving, goat milk is highly nutritious too. It “contains less fat than the other types of milk consumed worldwide…and it has more calcium, protein, riboflavin, and vitamins but less lactose and saturate fat”.  Note: be sure you can commit to the milking schedule before undertaking such a project.
• Cheese. Making cheese from your goat’s milk is not only delicious and a source of food for the family, but can bring supplemental income if sold.
• Wool. Specifically the Angora, Pygora, and Nigora breeds produce fiber than can be used or sold.
• Harnessing & Packing. Goats are well adapted to pulling carts and carrying packs because humans domesticated goats through the past millenniums.  Goats can be harnessed for cart pulling, which can be both useful (hauling groceries, etc) and fun (giving rides to neighborhood children or the elderly).  Additionally, goats can have packs attached to their backs (up to 25% of their body weight) to help carry items locally (e.g. groceries).  Some enthusiasts like to take goats on day hikes or camping, as goats are agile and do well on terrain.
• Companionship & Connection. As mentioned in the previous part on chickens, animals often aid us in connecting and grounding us to the land and to ourselves. They can provide comfort, routine, and satisfaction, which are therapeutic and healing.  Working with animals can help teach kids responsibility along with providing satisfaction from their work.

An Alpine goat.  This goat breed is described as "productive milkers, hardy, agile, uncommonly friendly, and easily adaptable to a variety of climates. The breed also comes in a miniature variety.

A mini-Nubian nurses her kids. Nubians are "intelligent and inquisitive with endearing, quirky personalities". They also can be either full-size or miniature.

Please Note: As with bringing any animal into your family, make sure to do your homework first. Goats have specific needs beyond diet and shelter, so please research thoroughly before beginning.  Also, please buy from responsible, humane breeders or farmers. Do not buy from a sale barn – they can be badly treated, sick or cull. Please – do not contribute the cycle of animal abuse.

Urban Farming, Part I: Urban Chickens

By Hannah G.

A movement has been growing over the last two decades to keep chickens in urban backyards, and as long as you aren't moving soon, this is a great way to provide nutrition and even supplemental income for your household.  Particularly, they are helpful if your closest local food suppliers seem to be mini-marts or fast food -- or if buying organic food overreaches your budget. Just walk into your backyard for your food!

Rhode Island Red chicks

Here are some of the great benefits of owning chickens in your backyard as outlined by the helpful book, The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Keeping Chickens.
*Please note these are only annotated descriptions -- not verbatim from the book. For more complete information, especially on keeping your chickens healthy and safe from predators, please use a book (such as the one above) or do thorough research on complete, trustworthy internet source(s). The more information you have, the better.

• Fresh Eggs!  By producing eggs yourself, you don't even need to go to the grocery store for them and you (and your family) are guaranteed a steady stream of this healthy, protein-rich food source.  Additionally, you know they are healthy, organic (providing you use organic feed), and were not trapped in scary, disease-ridden, inhumane cages.
• Great Waste Disposers.  As long as you don't over-do it, giving table scraps to your chickens is a great way to get rid of food that may go bad or be thrown out, as well as providing the chickens with a tasty treat.
• Fertilizer.  If you own plants, have a garden, or even grow food in your backyard, chicken poop provides a rich, chemical-free fertilizer!  Just mix it in with the dirt or create a compost pile for future use.
• Insect Control. Chickens spend a great deal of time foraging for bugs.  They can be a great way to keep your garden and plants healthy too. As stated by the above mentioned book, "chickens can work in your garden before, during, and after you plant to keep away pests." What a great (and natural) way to avoid using pesticides or other harsh chemical treatments!
• Education.  It is easy to forget where food originates.  Chickens are an interesting (and relatively easy) way to see your food's production first-hand.  This is particularly helpful for showing children. They can also learn hands-on, interactive responsibility where direct results follow (the eggs)!  Not to mention having them involved in the chicken-care helps spread the responsibility equally among the household, helping them feel involved and a positive, integral part of the home's welfare.
• Entertainment.  Don't forget the fun part! Chickens are interactive and some are particularly friendly and will even sit on your lap and let you pet them -- especially when raised from chicks.  For many of us, animals can have a therapeutic influence, provide healing and companionship.  Working with chickens can help one feel more connected and grounded with the environment and the earth, and even help relieve stress and tension from work, relationships, and our outside lives.

A Bonus: Can't eat all those eggs yourself? Why not sell them to friends, neighbors, and coworkers for a little extra cash?  You're sure to gain a fan base with your extra-delicious home grown eggs! Or just use them to spread goodwill and connect with your community.

Keeping your chickens safe: Don't underestimate the power and perseverance of predators.  Invest in the one-time cost of building (or buying) a strong chicken house or coop.  Consult some of the resources listed in this blog or other sites and books. (Try your local library.) Those already keeping chickens such as feed-store providers or other people in your neighborhood are often good sources.

The Plymouth Rock (left) and Rhode Island Red (right) breeds are described as particularly good for new urban chicken owners.  Make sure you get the appropriate breed for your climate and lifestyle.

Learn more at the following sites:

Urban Chickens
BackYard Chickens
Urban Chickens Network

Greenwashing and Product Ratings

One easy way to decrease your own carbon footprint is by buying products that are more eco-friendly. Whether you choose to buy organic fruit (no harmful pesticides or chemical fertilizers!), or just buying products that are manufactured locally (little to no harmful gases released in transportation of goods!) , any little bit you do can help. However, often times it can be hard to know which products are more "green" than others. Often times large companies advertise themselves as "green", when in reality, they're just greenwashing.

Greenwashing is a term that describes a company's practice of marketing itself as actively participating in sustainable, environmentally friendly practices, despite the fact that it is actually not putting in any effort to do so. One example of this is when hotels put placards in their rooms encouraging guests to reuse their towels in compliance with the hotels' "green campaign." However, the hotels don't charge extra for guests not reusing their towels, they're not installing more efficient washing machines, they're not actually doing anything to enforce their so-called "green campaign" besides printing up placards (on un-recylced paper, no doubt!). Placing that placard in the rooms was merely a scheme to increase profit; businesses that appear to "go green" often have much better reputations.

Overall, the term "greenwashing" is used when businesses are putting more money into advertising their "green campaign" than actually implementing a green campaign. It's sad that this term even came to be, even more so that it applies to most of the "green" organizations today. In order to fight back against these business, make sure to research which companies are actually holding up their end of the bargain. Don't be fooled by placards in hotel rooms! Do your part and support the businesses that are putting in genuine effort to make themselves more eco-friendly. One way to do this is to look up the "green rating" of the products that you purchase.

There are many websites available to everyone to look up product ratings, one of which is

http://www.goodguide.com/

The video above gives an excellent description of the features of the website, but, in short, this website rates products based on a number of criteria, all inclusive within the categories of health, environment, and society. It helps you determine whether or not the products you buy are right for you, and even provides alternatives to those products when they aren't (in the context of sustainability). I think this is an excellent tool that will benefit everyone who uses it - especially if they choose to use the mobile app and transparent toolbar. It's hardly an inconvenience to scan a barcode while you're out shopping or check a toolbar while you're making online purchases, and it could make a huge difference in your sustainable practices. Don't support companies that don't put any effort into making this planet more green - they don't deserve it. Support the businesses that are trying to help the Earth and make it a better place for you to live!

Project Nim – Watching with An Environmental Justice Eye

Off Topic - but...

 I’ve never had a personal face on animal rights – This is where anthropomorphizing an animal can help attract people to at least look at the issues of animal cruelty, ethics, and responsibility., since the beginning of this course I had zero qualms about EJ this being such a human centered paradigm considering there are many other organizations where they have found success at protecting ecosystems and species. But, Environmental Justice is not just a human issue and this documentary helped me actually see this clearly.

I just watched this great documentary about one of the famous chimps that have involved in learning sign language. It was the 1970’s -Trying to answer the question is a chimp could learn to communicate in ASL if treated like a human since birth. Nim started out living in a home with a large family a raised as a human child with a mother and many siblings.

Herbert Terrace, who ran the program, ended it abruptly when he surmised that Nim was only performing sign language to get what he wants out of his trainers, that no real language skills have been conferred to the chimp in his years in the program. Much like in the recent Planet of the Ape Reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Nim was sent to live with a chimp colony in Oklahoma, where I can only assume he had little in common with the other chimps. Mirroring the movie even more the ranch even included a cattle prod wielding antagonist.

When Nim was 10 years old he was sold to a TB lab and became a medical experiment. Eventually he was “rescued” by supporters and sent to live in upstate NY in a large cage where he ultimately died at the age of 28.

So the EJ Issues are obviously

Agency – Not that a chimp should be roaming the US making his own decisions, but I can be certain he would not choose to be moved from NYC to Oklahoma ranch, and then to a medical research lab.

Structural Violence – Obviously the whole mechanism that allows this chimp to be sold to a medical research lab and really any movement outside of the home in Manhattan where he spent the first two years of his life was a cruel cold machine if not literally, at least psychologically grinds chimps into pulp.

IGHT – This continued structural violence of selling and testing on chimps generation after generation is can be nothing other than IGHT – could Nim’s mother had a wonderful life? I doubt it.

Place Based knowledge – Chimps, I’m sure, do best in the place where they can know where to go for food, water and recreation – this is what is taught to them as children in a natural colony. Removing them from this place integrated to their culture can create a disjointed and confused chimp.

The mother of the NYC family said “essentially tricking him into believing him thinking he’s human being with no plan whatsoever of protecting him” and I think this is the key to watching this movie – If you are going to get this chimp to perform for you in a manner unlike anything he would do in nature, you have a responsibility to his well being for the rest of his life. 

Inventive Recycling

This is a great video on how recycling and saving something small such as a plastic bottle can make a big difference and make a great change on our lifestyles!

Ordinarily, we would simply throw our plastic containers and other recyclable items into the recycling bin (and hopefully not the garbage!) only to pass the duties of the actual reuse of these items to someone else. But do we really know what our waste is being turned into? Most of the plastic we recycle can be made into recycled plastic, but this product is actually not even recyclable. The recycling process of plastics require a variety of different treatments which in turn requires massive amounts of energy when you think about how much plastic we use everyday. The United States has continually increased it's use of plastic bottles each year since the 1990's, even though the recycling rate has remained at around 27 percent. This means that only a small amount of effort is being put towards recycling all the materials we can after we use them.

 We may not all be able to build houses out of our own collection of plastic bottles, but in order to keep our unusable waste amounts decreasing, and our reusable products increasing, it definitely would not hurt to pay a little more attention to the things we can recycle instead of mindlessly throwing into the garbage can for our simple convenience!

Here's also a helpful list of items that can/cannot be recycled:

"Planting Pride, City Wide"

          The pictures above are from neighbors in Boston's urban neighborhoods who have banded together to form a urban design group called CityRoots. They have worked with  32 community groups, comprised of over 600 residents, on more than 48 projects ranging from community greenspace installations to tree plantings and low-impact landscaping. 


          CityRoots has transformed front yards, streets, parks, and vacant lots into beautifully restored green areas. Aside from the aesthetic transformation, CityRoots has proven to create physical and social transformations that leads to greater strength of the urban communities. They realize that building a greener neighborhood is a community-building opportunity. 


          For urban ecology to make a difference, organizations like CityRoots need to be supported and continued. We can not only build neighborhoods but also communities. 

LIVING WITH FRIENDS

    As the population grows, there is less and less habitable area on earth. For this reason, the population density in certain areas increases beyond a point and become urban centers. When these urban centers start intruding onto natural resources, we also intrude onto local wildlife.

                One of the fundamental concerns of urban ecology is how to deal with invading animals. The rats that live in our attics, the squirrels in the parks, the termites in the houses, the moles in our lawns and the weeds in our gardens are not invading us, but vice-versa. As we push the boundaries between our worlds, creatures of all sorts have adapted to an urban life.

                Urban ecologists understand that we will never be able to exterminate all wildlife from our urban areas. With this assumption, they try to understand the needs of wildlife and develop cities that take that into account. Wildlife professors Clark Adams, Sara Ash and Kieran Lindsey wrote a book called Urban Wildlife Management that talks about these strategies. They explain how distress calls can be used to lure dangerous animals outside of the city walls. They also suggest having designated areas that can be used to attract animals. This way, they explain, we can all live symbiotically.

                These thoughts might be idealistic but they offer some solution to the growing trend of urban wildlife.