As many of you know I would like to have 2 urban hens one day to make killer omelets and teach my family (young and old) where our food comes from. Jeff, my partner in crime, is also a hobby bee keeper and would like to bring one of his hives into the city one day so I don't have to pollinate my tomato and zucchini plants with q-tips. I look ridiculous doing it and those lady bees are just so much better at it then I. So as luck would have it, this beautiful city of ours has been working on a Food & Agriculture Strategy called " fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy."
Legal urban bees and hens, may not be as crazy as it sounds. Successful legalization of chickens in cities larger then Edmonton, such as Seattle, Chicago and New York are paving the way, with bees gaining ground as more people see the benefits of having these hard working pollinators in food and flower gardens.
Bees and hens are pretty quite compared to many of the other animals we are able to keep currently in Edmonton, and there are some brave renegades already keeping them with much success.
When I was attending the UofA my roommates had urban hens, not being aware of the bylaw prohibiting such pets. They were fantastic hen caretakers, and kept those chickens through all of our seasons, even winter, with much success. Those chickens became like part of the family. And unlike the lazy cat we had (sorry Chairman Meow), they happens to provide us poor students with delicious eggs, between 6-8 eggs a day! We found that our neighbors were often engaged and excited to receive the fresh eggs too. There were no complaints about noise, or odor, as these hens were precious and treated better then most dogs left in peoples backyards. Success stories like these need to be shared, and I encourage you to learn more, even if you are reading this with your arms crossed, thinking I'm crazy :)
So there is a lot of buzz around this initial draft of fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy It's beautiful from a graphic design perspective, and I encourage you to read it cover to cover. But it is pretty long, so below I have re-posted a fantastic synopsis, from Mack D. Male, below.
As for Friday, October 26, 2012, citizens will be able to share their views with City Council about the draft strategy at a Special Executive Committee Non-statutory Public Hearing (Here is the Agenda). If you wish to speak at the Public Hearing you can register in advance online and by phone (780-496-8178).
You can also watch online on Friday via Streaming Video.
Enjoy!
Legal urban bees and hens, may not be as crazy as it sounds. Successful legalization of chickens in cities larger then Edmonton, such as Seattle, Chicago and New York are paving the way, with bees gaining ground as more people see the benefits of having these hard working pollinators in food and flower gardens.
Bees and hens are pretty quite compared to many of the other animals we are able to keep currently in Edmonton, and there are some brave renegades already keeping them with much success.
When I was attending the UofA my roommates had urban hens, not being aware of the bylaw prohibiting such pets. They were fantastic hen caretakers, and kept those chickens through all of our seasons, even winter, with much success. Those chickens became like part of the family. And unlike the lazy cat we had (sorry Chairman Meow), they happens to provide us poor students with delicious eggs, between 6-8 eggs a day! We found that our neighbors were often engaged and excited to receive the fresh eggs too. There were no complaints about noise, or odor, as these hens were precious and treated better then most dogs left in peoples backyards. Success stories like these need to be shared, and I encourage you to learn more, even if you are reading this with your arms crossed, thinking I'm crazy :)
So there is a lot of buzz around this initial draft of fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy It's beautiful from a graphic design perspective, and I encourage you to read it cover to cover. But it is pretty long, so below I have re-posted a fantastic synopsis, from Mack D. Male, below.
As for Friday, October 26, 2012, citizens will be able to share their views with City Council about the draft strategy at a Special Executive Committee Non-statutory Public Hearing (Here is the Agenda). If you wish to speak at the Public Hearing you can register in advance online and by phone (780-496-8178).
You can also watch online on Friday via Streaming Video.
Enjoy!
___Begin Repost____
Translating the City’s report on the Food & Agriculture Strategy
By Mack D. Male · October 19, 2012 at 4:45pm
The agenda for next week’s non-statutory public hearing on the Food & Agriculture Strategy is now available online, as is the final draft of fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy. In addition to some tidying up and a “fresh” new look, the final draft includes an executive summary. Here’s an excerpt:
fresh is not an endpoint, but a starting point. With that in mind, the Strategy does not provide a detailed implementation plan, but rather sets directions for moving forward. Implementation will occur over time as the Edmonton Food Council is established, partnerships are formed, research is continued, resources are allocated and progress builds towards results.
Also included in the agenda is a nine-page report prepared by Administration with an overview of the strategy, commentary on the recommendations, and a recommendation to Executive Committee on how to proceed. Here is the recommendation:
That Executive Committee recommend to City Council:
So I kept reading. Here are the final remarks in the report:
While Administration views the recommendations of fresh as being generally reasonable and worthy of follow up, it also sees it being prudent to postpone implementation of fresh pending the development of a better shared understanding between Council and Administration on the options and costs to implement the Strategy.
Notwithstanding advice to postpone its implementation, endorsement of fresh in principle will satisfy the requirements of Municipal Development Plan Policy 3.2.1.7 relative to enabling consideration of future Area Structure Plans and will provide City Council with the means to evaluate future Area Structure Plans for the Urban Growth Areas by way of the tool kit contained in strategic direction 9 (see Attachment 3).
Right, so allow me to translate. Administration is basically saying: “Look, we have the development industry breathing down our neck and we need to get this taken care of ASAP so that the Area Structure Plans in the Urban Growth Areas can move forward. We know the recommendation that deals with land use raises a bunch of questions, but we don’t think it is important to answer those right now. Also, we don’t want your endorsement to necessarily commit us to implementing anything, even something as straightforward as establishing a food council, so we’re just going to come back with a report on costs and go from there. Cool?”
Translating the City’s report on the Food & Agriculture Strategy
By Mack D. Male · October 19, 2012 at 4:45pm
The agenda for next week’s non-statutory public hearing on the Food & Agriculture Strategy is now available online, as is the final draft of fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy. In addition to some tidying up and a “fresh” new look, the final draft includes an executive summary. Here’s an excerpt:
fresh is not an endpoint, but a starting point. With that in mind, the Strategy does not provide a detailed implementation plan, but rather sets directions for moving forward. Implementation will occur over time as the Edmonton Food Council is established, partnerships are formed, research is continued, resources are allocated and progress builds towards results.
Also included in the agenda is a nine-page report prepared by Administration with an overview of the strategy, commentary on the recommendations, and a recommendation to Executive Committee on how to proceed. Here is the recommendation:
That Executive Committee recommend to City Council:
- That fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy, as outlined in Attachment 1 of the Sustainable Development report 2012SPE029, be endorsed in principle.
- That implementation of fresh (Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy) be postponed pending Administration reporting to Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2013 on the options and costs.
So I kept reading. Here are the final remarks in the report:
While Administration views the recommendations of fresh as being generally reasonable and worthy of follow up, it also sees it being prudent to postpone implementation of fresh pending the development of a better shared understanding between Council and Administration on the options and costs to implement the Strategy.
Notwithstanding advice to postpone its implementation, endorsement of fresh in principle will satisfy the requirements of Municipal Development Plan Policy 3.2.1.7 relative to enabling consideration of future Area Structure Plans and will provide City Council with the means to evaluate future Area Structure Plans for the Urban Growth Areas by way of the tool kit contained in strategic direction 9 (see Attachment 3).
Right, so allow me to translate. Administration is basically saying: “Look, we have the development industry breathing down our neck and we need to get this taken care of ASAP so that the Area Structure Plans in the Urban Growth Areas can move forward. We know the recommendation that deals with land use raises a bunch of questions, but we don’t think it is important to answer those right now. Also, we don’t want your endorsement to necessarily commit us to implementing anything, even something as straightforward as establishing a food council, so we’re just going to come back with a report on costs and go from there. Cool?”
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