After the press, covenant police

Ah, so now it comes...the people against sustainable living. "Not in my backyard." While I was doing my Wii fit exercises, there was a pounding on the door, followed by high barking of two watch dog chihuahuas. Richard's at work, the children are running a muck, sick with colds caught at the Pediatricians (of course), and I look my best in cut off sweats and old T-shirt. But who should be knock, knock, knocking at my door, the developer of the subdivision herself, waving some paper at me..."We have covenants here."

"Yeah, I'm aware," I reply.

She told me her phone had been ringing off the hook with complaints from the people who live here. Something about the newspaper and a barn, tires, animals and pallet fences.

Huh, all in one swoop. "So what exactly is the problem?" I ask.

No permit for this barn.

Don't need one. The barn is under the required size for a permit. Am I sure? You bet, we did that intentionally.

She went on to ask me if the barn would look like the house. Yeah, same color with a red roof, like the house trim, I said. Too many animals. The covenants tell me we can have two large animals on our lot. I count the llamas, although they are "miniature" and the two of them together might weigh as much as one horse. Too many goats? Yeah, probably. We want to see how they all milk and keep a couple of the best milkers. The town said we could have chickens and that's not in the covenants anyway. All of our buildings are within the required setbacks, and the town told us we didn't need permits for Ag buildings.

"Barbed wire."

"What about it?" Complaints...but the only barbed wire we have is on a roll, wrapped in plastic, waiting to be placed in between earthbags to hold them in place, eventually covered by more earthbags and stucco. The covenants say we cannot fence the main road line of our property with barbed wire fence. That's the only mention of it. We could technically fence the rest of our property with barbed wire, and one of our neighbors does indeed have his property fenced in barbed wire, even on the main road side. And I like my pallet fence, I told her. It doesn't look that different from the wooden privacy panels you buy at the big orange store. She agreed. There's nothing in the covenants about pallet fences.

She just wanted to give us a copy of the covenants, she said, in case we never got them. I asked her why people move to the country and then try to turn it into suburbia? I asked her why it wasn't expected for a family to move to the country and put in a garden and raise some chickens and even supply natural, raw, fresh milk for their kids? She thought that was okay. I told her I'd love to share our farm fresh eggs with our neighbors, and vegetables too, but the covenants do say we can't run a business out of the home. She didn't think there was anything wrong with selling eggs to the neighbors. Hmmm...

I told her I'd love to put in a huge, ugly metal garage like my neighbors, but I didn't have that kind of money, and in this economy, I had a right to live as sustainably as I could. I told her we don't have money for fancy fences or siding for our barn right now (I want to stucco it too...mostly we don't have enough time, but there is the money issue). I told her I'd love to bring in some fully grown trees to block my view of the neighbors, but that wasn't possible. I told her we planted tress, 200 of them last year, and that in twenty years, maybe the neighbors wouldn't be able to see us anymore.

She told me if we were abiding by the covenants there was no problem, but that she would check with the town on Monday to see about that permit thing. (Isn't she on the zoning committee?)

In the end, I think I had her seeing some of my points, realizing maybe we weren't doing anything wrong. Or, maybe she, like so many others talks out of two sides of her mouth. She (or her deceased husband) wrote the covenants for this subdivision.

So, what's the problem? Richard came out of his office to see what the commotion was, and offered to talk to anyone about their concerns over the earthbag barn. I told her we'd even hold a town meeting if they wanted. Did I set us up for a lynching?

As far as I know we are within our rights, not breaking any laws, rules or covenants, but it sure is a big pain in my butt. I wish our neighbors would man up and come and talk with us about what is going on, maybe they'd learn a thing or two. Maybe, they'd appreciate that someone in the town and community is going to be growing some clean, local, natural food.

All said and done, I think this woman is a nice enough person, and I don't hold anything against her. I hope she doesn't show up with the "petitions" she mentioned the neighbors talking about, but I'm not sure what they could petition, since we aren't violating anything. I told her with our "neighbors" driving fifty up the road in front of my house, I needed a fence to keep my little kids safe. She said they were working on that problem, but there wasn't much they could do. Can't enforce the speed limit, but can harass property owners because the neighbors are afraid of what they don't understand? Bring down property values? Sure, the neighbors we do know have told us their houses aren't worth the mortgages, just  like the rest of the country. Whatever.

Maybe I need to circulate a petition that bans airborne pesticides and herbicides from straying onto my property and presenting a health risk to my family and animals, and garden.

So, what's gong on here? Who knows. Maybe they don't like Richard's long hair, but ironically enough, he's about as straight edged as someone could ever be. Oh man, give me Taos and the weird New Mexico world any day. I'd love to have neighbors with dreadlocks and tattoos and piercings....if they were environmentally and spiritually aware, doing their part to change the world. Isn't it funny that most of the time they are? It is the black sheep, the lunatic fringe who will save the world, or die trying.

We need a real farm and lots of land...with no covenants...in the southwest, with enough moisture that we can garden, and not too high that nothing will grow, and cheap enough we could buy it, and put up a tent while we build a house made of earth that does no harm to the environment.

Why would a building that is so environmentally responsible offend people? Here's what it will look like, sort of. It's the building at the top of the page, in the header. Imagine it more closed, a pale beige color, with the buttresses turned a bit different to protect the door, and with a metal red roof. Is that offensive? I guess we could make it square, if that's what they want.

Not sure what to do with this. Keep on marching forward I guess. Honk if you support the farm!

The newspaper article is out today!

Here it is, much anticipated, and like all journalists are forced to, Carie asked Richard his age, but thankfully that information did not make it into the article. Not that it matters, which is exactly my point, and when I wrote for the paper up in the Springs, I argued with my editors about such trivial information not mattering at all. Does it matter how old an artist is if the work speaks for itself? Does it matter how old the farmer is? Maybe if he's turning a hundred and one and still farming strong. Anyway, I have strayed from the purpose of this post, which was to share this great article, thank Carie and Jeff for the story and photo, and invite everyone out for the barn raising!


Earthbag Building Blitz article

Earthbags in the news!

Finally we have sun! And on this slightly warmer day,

Photo shoot

the press came to visit and get information for the upcoming story on the Eathrbag llama barn building blitz. One reporter and one photographer from the local Daily Record came out to interview Richard and get a few shots of the Earthbag building project, although there was not much there to shoot. Richard was up at dawn, digging the trench for the foundation bags, and he even managed to get gravel in the trench, and a bag filled before the photographer arrived.

The trench is dug, the gravel is ready, and the bags are layed.

The building blitz is on! We even have two confirmed participants! Maybe with the story running in the local paper Friday or Saturday, more people will show up and we can get the barn raised in three days.

Just in time. The sooner the better, since one of our newer goats, Yvette, is bullying the heck out of our three original goats, and headbutting my fat, pregnant Cinnamon in the belly. That is not allowed. Last night Cinnamon and Tres spent the night separated in the milking parlor of the barn. I'm ready to get rid of the two big ugly goats, but Richard wants to see how they milk. Well then, they simply have to be separated into their own pen to protect the others. More projects.

All the animals and people survived the cold spell here on the farm and we got a little snow out of it. The winter rye is starting to come up down in the chicken yard, so Richard spread some seed out in the new llama pasture and in the old pasture too, taking advantage of the moisture. It may not come up until spring, but it should come up. We need to get some pure, untainted, organic alfalfa seed to add to the mix.

This morning when we went down to feed the chickens, as usual I heard one of the hens barking at the feed dish. Richard says she always does that, maybe yelling at the others to move out of the way. I decided we should call our farm newsletter The Barking Chicken, so all of you CSA members stay tuned.

Repurposed feed bags

Still looking for more feed bags for the barn build and any and all interested people who want to help and learn hands on about building with Earthbags.







Details at www.greendesertecofarm.com.

Please send us a note if you are coming so we can plan accordingly. I hope to come up with some kind of a meal for each day for all participants, but if anyone wants to bring a dish, feel free, and we will do it up buffet style in our farm kitchen. It's free of course.

Let's build a barn--one that incorporates some of the proponents of the New Earth Paradigm: recycling, re-using, re-purposing, building community, teaching skills, earth friendly, passive solar --an earthen house for and by the children of the earth. We are all connected.

Cold day in Hell?

What a crazy week...sub-zero temperatures outside and the USDA approves Genetically Modified or Genetically Engineered alfalfa.

Here on the farm, we've been trying to keep ourselves and all of the critters outside warm enough to get through these chilling times. We put heat lamps on all of the chickens and I try to lock the goats in the barn every night, which is an entertaining circus of me chasing some in while others run out; me cussing and threatening goats, and them just staring back at me; me pulling collars and pushing butts, and them digging their toes into the dirt, or the two inches of snow we got over our cold days. Eventually I did get the girls all in and locked the doors up while my breath froze on my scarf. Luckily we had no casualties over the freezing cold nights and we seem to be heading into warmer temps now.


We did have some frosted llamas.

Frosty boys

Icy Vader

 And some frosted plants.

This was the ice cloud we lived in, until the snow came. Delightful weather in southern Colorado. Happy to see the sun shining again today.

The week was not spent idling away, however, as I found some great desks for the kids on Freecyle and we had an adventure driving into the wilds of Penrose to get them. That was fun and we always drive by the camel rancher up that way to get a gander of the camels, llamas, striped donkies (zonkies) and peacocks.

The desks are old school, just like some I had back when I was in grade school. I love them and the little ones do too, although the kids are a bit small yet to enjoy the full experience. Let the home-schooling begin!

Little feet, big desks

And I finished the painting I was madly working on, oblivious to the freezing fog, the snow or the time, except when it mattered of course (like taking a pitcher full of hot water out to thaw the chicken waterers mid day).

Utopia

Let's just call this one Utopia for now, for lack of anything else. The colors here are a little off, but you get the idea. Somehow I got caught up in my personal vision of what I'd like the world to look like, and this is what came out in my stupor of creativity. I love to paint from the subconscious, never really knowing what's going to happen until it's all done. It's a surprise to me too, and then I get to try to figure out what it means. I always feel like creating art is a trip into one's own spirituality, where the spirit has free rein to communicate however it chooses. I love it. The spirit of art: communicating with the soul.

Anyway, like most of my art, it's for sale. Make me an offer.

After the painting was done, I was at a loss, coming down to a reality where Monsanto is taking over the world? Can it be? I guess so. And, Whole Foods supporting this nastiness? Is it true? Apparently. I don't shop at Whole Foods any way because I feel their prices are too high, but now, I never will. And I hope more people think about boycotting the "organic" food store because we don't agree with their decision to sell out to Agribusiness. Maybe we should do a protest march, with signs, around the Whole Foods near us.

I'm afraid of what this means to the organic food movement, like hey, it's over! I'm afraid of what this means for the future of the world. I feel like I'm standing here, screaming silently, while I watch a few evil corporate giants pound the nails into the coffin of the human race.

I'm not sure what to do with this, but this week I have been feeling physically ill (sinus headache or spiritual pain?) from the craziness of the world. I have been feeling hopeless indeed as I sign my online petitions to stop GM alfalfa from becoming the standard. Too late.

Now tell me, where am I going to get organic alfalfa for our goats, whose milk we drink? We could grow it, right? No. If anyone in the region is growing Monsanto alfalfa and it cross pollinates our organic variety, not only will our clean livestock food be ruined, but Monsanto will sue us for "stealing" their patented plants.

We went to one of our feed stores today, and while I love the people there and think highly of country people in general, I was surprised to hear that the reaction to the approval of GM alfalfa was fairly positive. What????? I buy my hay from these folks...the farmers in the area. If one chooses to grow this nasty crop, then we all suffer the ramifications. What do we do with this?

Are we ready to give up on the organic food movement before we had a chance to change the world? I'm good and mad. I'm also reading another Gary Zukav book, Heart of the Soul, and right now I'm working through the chapter on anger. Where do I feel it? All over. I'm angry that we humans are letting some other humans destroy our vision of Utopia. Damn them!

Maybe we need to look at Egypt as an example and think about rising up against the corruption in our own home country. We need to take back our food, take back our medicine, take back our energy policies, take back our environment, and take back our souls. It is a cold day in hell indeed, as I contemplate my thermometer crapping out at negative 2 F, and think about a planet with no natural food, air, water or soil, and wait for the next catastrophic weather event to strike. Depressing. The stuff anxiety attacks are made of.

Any ideas, anyone????

Building barns and community

Things are snowballing now! Richard's Biointensive gardening class for the  Canon Food Co-op was a big success, and then his local radio spot with Helene from the Co-op was also a hit, and now we are going to be featured in the local paper for the Earthbag building blitz that will take place the weekend of my birthday. What a wonderful opportunity to teach people about alternative building techniques!

I put an add out on Freecycle, looking for feed bags to be donated for the event, and got the press. Hmmm... Good. Good. We are hoping to get people in the community involved with their donations and help, kind of like an old style barn raising, but this one will be built out of Earthbags and eventually stuccoed to create a llama shelter for my boys in the new pasture. We need to move them so the goats can have the barn to birth the Spring babies.

Pregnant goat or fat goat?

Recycling the used woven polypropelene feed bags into building materials is just one example of how we can all look around and see things we might be able to use again. It will be an exciting event. Can we get a barn up in two days? Will anyone show up to help? Can we get enough feed bags, dirt, gravel and lumber for a roof? What will happen? Anticipation....

And, I've been in my crazy creative world, painting for days, working on some vision of a future utopia while thoughts float in and out of my head.

Our cats have been getting sick from the commercial cat food we bought them. This is the second time. Different food. Same manufacturer. Last time, we called the food maker and they sent us coupons for one free bag and a few bucks off two more bags. Great. We bought a different kind, choosing to stick with this brand because this is the only manufacturer whose food has not been recalled yet. But my cats are still getting sick. What's up with that? I would love to buy them organic food, but with the expense of the chicken and goat food, I can't justify buying the cats organic food too. So, what can I do? I could make food, which I may try if time allows. But this got me thinking....

As our planet evolves into a new way of living, we are going to have to rethink everything, including the food we eat and the food we feed our pets. If we can't trust the food for people to be chemical free, how can we expect our pet food to be safe? Wouldn't it be nice if someone local was making and selling an organic and safe cat food? Or dog food? Or bird food for my parrot?

I think perhaps we should all give up our fears about what the economy will look like as it all falls apart and start to think about what each of us individually can contribute. We need to relearn the old skills and discard the thinking that has gotten us into this mess...like how to extend the shelf life of foods.

I don't really have the time or interest to make cat food, but what if someone else does? There is a need for locally produced pet food, and a business waiting to be born. Other things too: a local mill where I can take my organic grains to be milled into flour. An electric car dealership and mechanic. A homestead supply store. A natural soap, shampoo and lotion maker. A candle maker. Like in the old times, pre-industrial revolution. If we are heading back into the dark ages, shouldn't we be preparing for the inevitable loss of products produced by oil? Isn't that just about everything? If my toothbrush is made from petroleum, how am I going to brush my teeth when I can't get that familiar product?

There is a whole new world waiting to be born and so many opportunities for people to contribute and be successful through clean, green, "cottage" industries. We are going to need these services as our economy continues to collapse. If we work together, we can think our way out of this mess, and maybe by not supporting the corporatocracy we can reverse the damage to our planet. What a wonderful vision.

For now, today, I'm going back to my painting...my utopia.

Don't forget the Earthbag building blitz February 19th. For more info see Green Desert Eco Farm. We need the polypropylene bags, fill dirt, gravel, lumber, shovels and extra hands. I'd love to meet my neighbors!

And the Xmas Boycott of 2011 is still on! Don't forget to boycott the shopping madness.