rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

The town needs to blow up. Then they need to fire all the council politicians and elect new ones. When is next election? People need to get stirred up, stay stirred up and run against these idiots.

Oh Baymule, people are MAD. The townies are excited to build the coffin for their rural neighbors so they can fill the area with people and houses like theirs and FINALLY get some big city amenities (not happening, the schools here stink) and they seem to feel the farmers are finally getting what they deserve because...harbored resentment? and I would not be surprised if there were some very threatened politicians the way the country people and long timers are worked up.

I still suspect this will still go through and become a law but they're probably going to wait for a while for people to forget or try to convince the country folk it only applies to the "others" or that it's "in their best interest".

One of the aldermen got huffy and puffy at me and tried to tell me that they were doing this because what if someone put a hog on an ACRE...a whole acre for one single hog. The whole area is farmland. How much space does he think hogs get to cavort between their food dishes and wallow? Country people know a pig pen is significantly less than an acre and can be set up in a sanitary way. This is a fight between town people that want to force the lower income farmer people out in favor of tax dollars and amenities and the country people that just want to be left alone. I really do think the bad guys are going to win via waiting game this time because there are hypothetical dollar signs in their eyes. But there is an election this fall. If we're here, I will vote. It's really a sad situation.

One time in a hardware store in Michigan I was stopped by an older gentleman who randomly told me how his town, Livonia, the suburb of Detroit I was shopping in right next to where I lived, was de-farmed and swamps drained and how they flushed the farmers around him out as a little boy through corruption and plans. They did something not exactly but similar to this and won. People don't change much over the generations. It makes me so tired.

 

[rachels.haven]

Problem is, we personally are not lower income than they are and we can afford a lawyer. It would be a losing battle though. We'd win for our farm because the laws should protect us and we would be in the "right", but they'd find a way to make us miserable, much like in Mass.

 

[Ridgetop]

I still suspect this will still go through and become a law but they're probably going to wait for a while for people to forget or try to convince the country folk it only applies to the "others" or that it's "in their best interest".

When we bought here 35 years ago, we verified that the zoning was AG. Many people had farm livestock and one guy had an arena where guys got together and did cattle roping, etc. every week. Ten years later the zoning we found out that the zoning had been quietly changed to RA with a horse keeping overlay. No notices had been sent out to the residents. When the neighborhood found out there was a meeting with the councilmember and people were screaming about it. We were told that it had to be done "to make sure that all the zoning was the same" due to some sort of city regulation. That is when a lot of the older horse and livestock owning members of the community started moving out.

One of the aldermen got huffy and puffy at me and tried to tell me that they were doing this because what if someone put a hog on an ACRE...a whole acre for one single hog.

Many city people think that no one should own "smelly livestock" near them. Large expanses of land should be golf courses which will satisfy any "open land" requirements. Anyone wanting some acreage is "selfish" to want that much land around them when it could be used to build homes "for less fortunate people" (here read pricey condos, or low-income housing). In case you don't know, city building ordinances only require builders to supply one low-income unit for every 10 high priced units in a building. Unfortunately, if there is not a solid base of agricultural voters you are probably in trouble.

 

[Baymule]

Wow. Just wow. What ignorance and greed.

 

[Ridgetop]

Be grateful for Texas and its desire to hold on to agriculture. California used to grow about 60% of the nation's food. It was the largest supplier of cotton, had almost as much cattle as Texas, and a huge dairy industry. Due to our liberal politicians, the San Joaquin Valley is practically a desert, our dairies have been closed down, and our beef industry is on the way out too.

On an up note, we are on track to lead the nation in welfare, homelessness, and illegals. So nice to be first in something!

 

[SageHill]

We have one subdivision in my town. I think there are 4 or 5 builders there. I don’t know how many homes (A LOT) there are three restaurants here - all small mom and pop spots. But now, we have a McD. Aren’t we lucky . They built it at the entrance to the subdivision- hmmmm the masses wanted it of course. Grrrr. The LOT sizes for these houses is less than 3000 sq ft. That’s the land each sit on!!! And prices are unbelievable starting at 800K!
Someone who worked with DH moved there, we had him up to the ranch and in the course of the conversation he admitted that the locals don’t like the subdivision but he felt that the town would eventually have more and more subdivisions.
Before all these houses went in - long before - there were sheep and cattle there. We used to train dogs there.

 

[rachels.haven]

Confessing on the record that my free choice milk lambar experiment was ruined by the fact that we randomly get up to almost 80 in February and I've switched them to 2x daily and clean the buckets. The kids are really big though, so in a colder climate I probably could and would have nicer results.

I did not like opening the lambar and finding spoiled sippy cup milk and then having to clean it out...and then weird scours...Yeah, too hot. I don't even think an ice pack would have cut it.

 

[Baymule]

Weird February, it’s supposed to be cold! Like miserable cold, winter’s last fling, cold.

 

[rachels.haven]

Weird February, it’s supposed to be cold! Like miserable cold, winter’s last fling, cold.

The last two years it's been up and down alternating chilly and almost too warm here. I'd offer to share but I'm not sure I like it! It can't be good for the goats' systems.

 

[Baymule]

We have wild fluctuations in temperature but that’s kinda normal. That said, it’s been unusually warm for February. March is supposed to be warm days with cool nights.