Little O' Pigs

Cutest little pigs in town. At least that I'm aware of.

I learned today, when I talked to their owner that children who have allergies to traditional pets like cats and dogs are able to be around pigs without any trouble.

And they are potty trained.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-O-pigs/1477089702533183

Goats Playing

 

 

This is hilarious. But I could watch goats play any day. Will make you smile.

Clarification

Evidently there has been some confusion about my last post. I just wanted to clarify that Scott Wardle has been and continues to be very helpful in this process of examining this concern of miniature goats.

No Goats for Now

Scott Wardle has been very kind in helping me to understand the process and help me get the information I was proposing into the hands of the chairman, Dave McCall. Unfortunately, the goat issue won't be put on the agenda at this time. Most of the council agreed not to take it on.

It's really a bigger issue than just goats. Because if they legalize miniature goats, the concern is about what's next. The city has been approached by many people about making changes that would allow animals that are not currently legal to own. So in order to take on this issue, it will have to be examined in the big picture, considering other animals, how big they are, appropriate lot sizes, and so forth. The current chairman doesn't want to take this on.

However, I am not giving up. What now?

We continue to collect signatures on our petition. After the first of the year we will try again. We need as many signatures of Tooele City Residents as possible. I've found that most people are happy to sign my petition. I would say 99% say yes. Many of them would never own a miniature goat, but don't care if their neighbor does.

Anybody want to help collect signatures?

Submitted

After two or three years of research, the submission has been sent on to the City Council. They are looking at it and will hopefully decide to add this topic to the agenda.

Fingers crossed.

There are three magic moments I remember often.

• When we saw dolphins at a Monterey Bay beach and followed them up the shore. 
• Seeing fireflies for the first time in Kansas City.
• Walking into my backyard early one morning to check on Ms. Billy and finding these two precious babies with her.

The goat magic lasted for 21 days. Then they had to leave.

Then and Now

In my search for pictures to support my proposal I came across one of my yard the year we had the goat. I'm inspired by it now. I guess I forgot how good it looked with all those lovely tomatoes growing and the weeds being fed to the goat.

Then I found these pictures I took of the deer in the same yard this year. It's later in the year, but you will see why I'm inspired by the other picture. I wonder if my garden will ever look that good again. I sure miss the goats and chickens.

Goat Pictures

I'm finishing up the proposal for the city. In going through my pictures to find what would supplement the proposal well, I came across this picture and had to share.

We loved that baby goat for all 21 days. Isn't she cute?

Holiday Goat Giggle

Enjoy this bit of holiday joy with goats to make you smile.

Pumpkin Walk

Meet Lilly and Sweetie Pie. They spent the day with me at the Pumpkin Walk, drawing people into the booth. They were a hit. The kids loved them and the goats probably went home spoiled from all the attetion.

Thank you Liz and Steve for the effort you put into getting them there. And thank you Sara, for all you did to help.

One more thank you to all those who signed the petition. We got 155 signatures. A good start.

It was a great day. The lotion business suffered a little, but it was worth it to highlight the goats.

Petition

We need to work on three things.

The why, the who, and a petition.

After visiting with Councilman Wardle, I recognize that these three things are our hope for legalizing miniature goats in Tooele. (And I realized that keeping them miniature makes all the difference).

The why.

This legislation process has been a great education for me. I have realized that I must set emotion aside and focus on the facts. This issue is very emotional for me, so its been a great lesson. If we are ever going to convince the city to take this seriously, we will have to help them see "why" this matters. Our facts need to be solid.

The who.

What other cities in Utah allow miniature goats to be kept. I haven't found any. I was talking to somebody yesterday that said West Jordan allows them. However, finding cities comparable to our own, such as Cedar City, Spanish Fork, would be helpful. It gives them something to look at and see that somebody else in our state has done this. Do you know any?

A petition.
I started a petition three years ago and have many signatures. However, what I failed to do was collect people's addresses, showing that they are Tooele residents. This detail is important.

I happen to have a booth at the Pumpkin Walk at Benson Grist Mill this weekend and decided to put a petition out and start collecting signatures. Others have arranged to have a Nigerian Dwarf out for people to see. She and her baby will be hanging out in my booth today. If you are in the area, stop by and pet the goat. While you are there, we'd love to have your signature on the petition. Tell your friends to come by also.

Hope to see you there.

More Deer Trouble

Just another look at the damage the deer are doing in gardens around Tooele. They eat the trees in the spring and destroy the produce this time of year.

Too bad they don't have the decency to finish one squash before they move onto the next.

Still interesting to me that goats are a nuisance, but deer have rights. Hmmm.......

Homestead Highlight: Goat Justice League

Jennie Grant founded the Goat Justice League to help legalize goats in Seattle, Washington. This is a fun look at what it's like to have a backyard goat in a big city.

She makes some interesting points about understanding where our food comes from.

Do you think we, as a society, are disconnected from our food sources?

Homestead Highlight: Path to Freedom

"Growing food yourself is a dangerous act because you are in danger of becoming free." - Jules Dervaes

Here is a family who has taken self-sufficient living to a fascinating level.

I've been fascinated for years by the above quote. In danger of becoming free calls my name. I don't know if I could ever take it to the level the Dervaes family does, but the feeling of accomplishment that comes from producing food on my own property is fantastic.



Do you have your own urban homestead? If now where would you start?

Livestock Concerns of Tooele

As I've spoken with representatives of Tooele City one of the concerns they've voiced is that legalizing goats may open the door for people wanting to legalize other "farm animals".

It's a pretty resonable issue to stare down. What is the difference between goats and sheep? If we were to legalize goats, then would somebody want to legalize sheep next? Or pigs? I've never figured out how to define the difference between goats and sheep effectively. But the fact remains that there is one. If you Google "urban goats" the search returns story after story about people who decided they wanted a goat in their city back yard. However, if you Google "urban sheep" a yarn store tops out the search with a few stories and videos about sheep grazing at a city park, etc. In three pages of Google I could not see one story about somebody trying to keep a sheep in their city back yard.

Of course its pretty commonly known that there are severall small breeds of goats, whereas I had to do some research to know that there are also small breeds of sheep.

My personal experience has been that goats are more friendly. The year after I had to get rid of Ms. Billy I attended the County Fair where there were both goats and sheep. The goats came right over to me and were very friendly. The sheep shied away from me. But its possible that the goats had been around people more since they had been brought specifically for the petting area. Whereas the sheep were in completition.

I'd love feedback on this. It would help me define more clearly the difference between goats and sheep. Any thoughts on on why goats are more popular as a backyard than sheep? Or pig? You hear about people keeping pot belly pigs as pets. Where do you think that fits?

Goats and Weed Control

I was pulling some big weeds yesterday and sure wished Ms. Billy was there to take care of them for me. Weed control is one of the many reasons I hear people say they wish they could get a goat.

Have you seen the weeds in Tooele. These pictures were taken June 29, 2011. If you look at the same fields right now the weeds are much more of a fire hazard. But it shows clearly a problem we deal with every year. I think my favorite is the tree hanging into the alley in the center picture. I'm not sure a car could even drive down that alley. It makes me laugh. Those awful elm trees were Ms. Billy's favorite. Stake her out there for a few days or trim the branches and throw them into her pen and she'd take good care.

In many communities including large cities such as Los Angeles, goats have become part of the solution.  They are friendlier to the environment and make the work easier for people trying to solve the problem.  Goats are happy to eat the noxious weeds and brush we are trying to control.  They love elm trees and would successfully open up the alley pictured above if given the chance.

One Tooele resident who has owned goats for eight years is happy with the job they do with his weeds.  People often ask to borrow his goats to get their weeds under control.  Another Tooele resident said, “I wish I could have a goat to help my weed problem.”  Goats really are an asset where weeds are concerned.

Although a few extra goats in the residential zones of Tooele are not going to completely solve the weed problems Tooele faces, it is a step in the right direction. Goats can be part of the solution.

Wouldn't you love to have a goat for your weeds? Where would you keep your goat?

Trend or Pendulum?

Is urban homesteading a trend or just the pendulum swinging back as suggested in this YouTube video published by Urban Conversion? 



It's a fascinating question.

The interesting thing about Tooele is that when I was growing up next door to where I live now, we had cows, pigs, turkeys and rabbits at various times. And it was all legal then.

I have treasured memories of following my dad out back to watch him milk the cow. He always filled a bowl with the fresh milk for the cats in the neighborhood. They knew when milking time was and showed up to wait. Dad would sometimes squirt one of the cats while he was milking and they would proceed to clean the milk off their fur, enjoying every drop of course. The best thing about the cow was that I had all the milk I wanted. 

The year we had 60 turkeys as a 4-H project, I loved to spend time letting them eat out of my hand. As they grew and became stronger I did this less because it hurt when they pecked your hand. More precious memories.

Why did it change? Why are goats not allowed on a half acre like ours?

Because Tooele is trying to imitate the big city. Many people want to be less rural and more urban. However, what they don't see is all the urban areas that are turning back to what is natural. People have the desire to be closer to their food. Many of those people live in Tooele. But we haven't spoken loudly and synergistically enough yet.

Are enough Tooele residents who care about this issue to make a difference? One person asked me, "Have you filled a room yet?" She said this from experience. She's been through a similar process and said that until we fill a room it won't happen.

What will it take to fill a room with people who care enough to help legalize goats in Tooele?



Goats in San Francisco

I always love finding stories like this one.

Many large cities allow goats for family purposes. Evidently, San Francisco is one of those cities. Heidi Kooy says that she is allowed to "have two female goats for family purposes". She raises chickens and goats. From this she is able to produce eggs and milk in her own back yard. She makes her own cheese from the goat milk. Additionally she grows a vegetable garden. Heidi talks about the fact that a generation ago "there was a knowledge about how food was produced, where it comes from, and there was a strong connection to it."

I think Heidi is right about the idea that many people have a desire to hold onto something that seems to be disappearing in our society. We become so fast paced that we can lose something. When we find ways to slow down and become more self-reliant, we find part of ourselves again.

How about you? Do you think we've lost something by becoming so distant from our food? What are the benefits in raising your own food?

The Magic of Babies

At some point in our short association with Ms. Billy I looked at her and wondered what was going on with her udders. They were filling up and she was starting to produce milk. The funny thing was that I even took her to the animal clinic where they asked if she could be pregnant. 

"Nah," I told the vet. "Couldn't be," I told myself.

But then started noticing how she was more round in the middle. It dawned on me where she had been before she was given to us. She was one of two goats that had been picked up on the streets of Tooele. The other was male. They were in the same pen. Once I thought that through, I realized there was a real possibility of her being pregnant.

As I watched, I became more convinced by the day, and watched her more closely. One night something clued me in that she might be close (I don't even remember what now). But I checked on her the first thing next morning.

Other than my wedding day and the births of my children there are two events in my life that are more magical than any other. The first time I saw fireflies and the the morning I laid my eyes on those baby goats. I'll tell you, it was like magic.

From that day forward my kids wanted to spend every moment in that goat pen loving those babies. I could hardly get them to come in the house. Of course I was usually out there with them. They thought they were so clever to name the babies Annie Oakley and Billy the Kid.

As magic as that day was, the day that followed was devastating. I remember just as vividly, opening that door to man appointed to deliver the notice that informed us that we could not keep the goats. After he left, I sobbed. I don't remember when I finally brought myself to tell the children. I just remember feeling like somebody had yanked my moment of magic harshly from beneath my feet.

Goats in my Novel

Every story ought to have a goat.

Okay. Maybe not every story.

But they always seem to make it into mine.

Part of what has sidetracked me from the goat effort the last little while is my novel. I finished it but will edit it several more times…I’m sure. I managed to add goats to the underground civilization I created in in my novel, Lost Generation. These fictional people who live underground are trying to be self-reliant and a goat just made sense.

The novel before that had a goat too.

I just started working on a new novel and I’m having thoughts about adding a goat. Another one. I must be obsessed.  I keep looking for other options. But Tahlia needs an animal companion. One that is loving and useful. From experience I know that goats qualify for this position.

Maybe I can’t have a goat, but Tahlia can.

Should I add a goat or would some other animal work better?

Why Consider Goats?

These are some of the general reasons I've listed in the packet I intend to submit to Tooele City.

·         Most sources state that goats were one of the first animals to be domesticated about 10,000 years ago.  Many sources compare this with dogs, showing that both animals were domesticated approximately the same time.  In fact, when passing Council Bill Number 116014, the City of Seattle stated that “goats, along with dogs are the earliest animals domesticated by humans, roughly 10,000 years ago”.

·         More goat’s milk is consumed worldwide than cow’s milk.

·         Goat’s milk has a more easily digested fat and protein content than cow’s milk.  This makes it an excellent possible choice for those who have allergies or intolerance to cow’s milk.  Sources for goat milk in Tooele are limited.  Goat milk is generally more expensive than cow milk making it harder for struggling families to supply the needed solution for children or adults who deal with this challenge.

·         Many progressive cities are recognizing the value goats have to offer as a sustainable choice for a pet.  These cities include: Seattle (pop. 563,374), Berkeley (pop.169,327), Charlottesville (pop. 41,487), Austin (pop. 26,851), St. Paul (pop. 285,058), Portland (pop. 562,182) and Pasadena (pop. 143,667). 

What other reasons should be included?