Chicken Report

I've compiled a report about the health and safety hazards of having a flock of chicken on campus. The main things I found were some guidelines for maintaining bio-security when dealing with chickens as well as a small write-up on Pitzer's project. I contacted the gal who is in charge there and she would be more than happy to host a field trip with us over there. I also made my facebook status "PLEASE COMMENT if your school has a chicken coop. We are trying to start a program here and I am compiling a list of schools that have projects." I didn't get as many repsonses as I would have liked but...I did find that Whitman has an extensive project that includes birds for meat, Hampshire college in MA and, of course, the Pitzer project. Good start. Also, we had the first official sit-down meeting for FEAST tonight and one club member brought in some beautiful sketches for a coop design. As well as some insights into the everyday care of chickens. WE. ARE. IN. BUSINESS.

Chicken Report:

Many other colleges of our size and status have small farm operations including Pitzer college. Their project is maintained by Pitzer Gounds/Arboretum staff along with student help during the academic year. The chickens (3 at this time) are fed and watered daily during the work week. On the weekends the chickens have automatic feeder and water systems. In the past the college has had a rodent problem and several traps, near and around the area, were placed to control the problem. With the help of students, the chicken-coops are cleaned out monthly and new shaving placed for the chickens. Chicken manure is used in the garden and in the compost to add organic fertilizers to the garden soils.

Implementing a coop on our campus would not pose significant threats to the human population on campus, especially if students and staff involved in the project practice biosecurity. A lot of biosecurity practice is common sense. There are three major steps in practicing biosecurity:

1) Keep Your Distance:
a. Restrict access to the birds to those who know how to work with them
b. Prevent contact with other birds, including other chicken flocks
2) Keep it clean:
a. Keep the coop clean
b. Wear disposable gloves while cleaning the coop—wash your hands before and after working with the birds
c. Disinfect the tools you use
d. Clean the eggs before you use them
3) Avoid Bringing Disease Home
a. Make sure to clean up before heading to the coop if you’ve been in an area with a lot of birds (zoo).
b. Don’t use anyone else’s’ equipment

Be sure to watch for symptoms which inclide sudden death, diarrhea, a severe decrease in egg production, drooping wings or complete paralysis
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/avianflu/backyard.html

The good news in all this? It's rather difficult for chickens to get the flu from coming in contact with it (they're low on the totem pole, well below ducks and turkeys and other fowl). Couple this fact with the knowledge that our backyard flocks have very low stress levels (out in the elements, enjoying their lives scratching around our backyards) compared to their agri-business-raised sisters, and it'd be difficult for our birds to get a high-path flu.

Finally....This is a link to an awesome blog maintained by two Mt. Washington residents. I'm not sure if it is possible for two people to love their chickens more...

http://greenfrieda.blogspot.com/search/label/chickens

Chicken Talk

The word is out: chickens are on the agenda for this semester. Many other schools have them (Hampshire, Pitzer...anyone care to add to the list, please leave a comment) and its times we did too.
Here is a link to a blog post about college towns that allow chickens (LA definitely does).
http://savesewaneechickens.blogspot.com/2008/07/9-out-of-top-10-us-news-colleges-allow.html

We are having a meeting next Wednesday night to discuss the agenda for this semester. Come with chicken ideas or any ideas.

Also, garden time as usual this Thursday at 5. We'll compost, harvest, plant. All the seedlings have sprouted (kale, bok choy, broccoli, wildflowers, brussel sprouts, peas, lettuce, raddish, turnips, rutabaga). Basically we're in business.

Foraging: you know you love it.

So here's an article about some more unconventional urban harvesting. The article states that "people have this idea that food is something that you make happen -- you grow it -- they don't see it as something that grows on its own, that is out there in the world." If anyone is interested, let me know.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/142420/the_ultimate_in_eating_local%3A_my_adventures_in_urban_foraging?page=4

Food and the Health Care Debate

Hi Everyone,

Good day at the garden yesterday...we now have a lot of seeds planted-- kale, turnips, rutabagas, broccoli, peas, lettuce, radish, beets...its going to be a delectable harvest to say the least.

I found this article this morning about the connection of a healthy, local diet to the health care debate. Under the current system, the health care industry has a huge stake in keeping people overweight and unhealthy-- as Pollan puts it, " the market for perscription drugs and medical equipment that manage Type II Diabetes... is one of the brighter spots in the economy." If health insurers were required to take everyone at the same rate there would be a HUGE push to get everyone fit and healthy. If we are able to do that we could eliminate a tenth of all healthcare spending (we currently spend $147 billion to treat obesity and $116 billion to treat Diabetes).

Creating local food systems and cultures is a good place to start.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?ref=dining

Garden time tomorrow

Hi all,

This is a reminder about garden time tomorrow. We're meeting at the garden (on the lawn in front of UEP) at 5 pm to plant, compost, harvest and have a good time.

Email feastoxy@gmail.com if you have any questions!

FEAST OLYMPICS: round I

Yesterday FEAST took a trip up north to Ventura to collect kelp for the compost pile-- it will eventually be really good for the soil.

We had a great drive up (pretty lovey-dovey in the back seat), ate a great lunch and found a beautiful beach. We collected kelp, "swam" in the water and played games.

Here is a preview of Eric describing the first event of the FEAST olympics.

City Hall Farmers Market Celebration

Hey All,
Today was the 30th anniversary of L.A. County's first farmers market. At the festivities at the city hall farmer's market, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task-force which would help to make Los Angeles "the farmer's market capital of the world." The other really great thing about this event and the creation of the task force is that it was our very own UEPI that helped put everything together. Oxy is mentioned in the article, but I would like to recognize all of the hard work and the inventiveness of the brilliant people at UEPI. They are a key group in spreading the notion throughout the nation that nothing is "more important than the food we put on our table?"

Here is the link to the LA Times Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-farmers-markets4-2009sep04,0,1235027.story