If. ORGANIC LIVING By Robert Hodole Zoning Laws Should Help, Not Hinder Let’s imagine, for a moment, that every person reading this column suddenly dropped the paper, rushed out to the nearest farmer, and bought a small pig to raise in the backyard for meat. What do you suppose would happen then? Zoning officers across the country would be beating down doors, court summonses in hand, demanding that the pigs be removed. Chances are they’d call all pig raisers a “menace to the health and welfare of their neighbors.” But zoning laws that strictly prohibit any kind of small scale livestock are unfair because they hurt the very people they’re supposed to help. The plight of Albert Sandridge, 74, and his wife Martha, 73, of Tulsa, Okla. is a good example. The elderly couple has a small garden behind their home. They also raise three rabbits, something they’ve been doing for the past 20 years to help make ends meet. Now, because Tulsa considers itself a “large metropolitan area,” the Tulsa Health Department lodged a complaint against the Sandridges and their food-raising l |||||||| l | l i m ,„| l „ in^^ 3-point tractor hitch T J iN I a. Two-speed landing gear . , . , , „ , _ (jack) provides easy You find some of these features on a 3-ton truck But hitching with an the truck will cost you about twice as much empty or loaded trailer BOX 655, RDI fy/- K'l Think of it as a 3-ton grain truck for about half the price. WINNEBAGO iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimii Agri-Trailer M 111111111111111111111 l This versatile trailer teams up with your pickup to help you move gram, livestock and other heavy loads in a hurry. The Winnebago Agri-Trailer can carry as much as a 3-ton truck It can haul over 7% tons. Or 285 bushels of grain It can even operate as a flat bed to carry farm equipment The Agri-Trailer can handle twice as much as a 4-wheel trailer And unlike a 4-wheel, it can handle those loads safely at highway speeds Standard Features: Heavy-duty tubular steel frame • Electric brakes all wheels Automatic break-away switch • Approved lights and reflectors Electric Hydraulic Pump (12V) • Electric brake control 42-in. gram box sidewalls (steel. Agri-panel or wood) 8-ft x 16-ft. grain bed Come In Today And Check An Agri-Trader Overt KAUFFMAN'S AGRI-TRAILER SALES habits, maintaining that there is just not enough space in the city for people to be raising food animals. If Tulsa apd its environs were immune to escalating food prices and shaky economic conditions, such a rule might make sense. But the hard times facing the rest of the nation are on Tulsa’s horizon, too. Dollars don’t stretch as far as they used to. Many senior citizens on fixed incomes are literally starving,, as prices rocket skyward. Fuel bills are up. So are taxes. Everything costs more. Why shouldn’t the Sandridges be allowed to raise as much of their own food as they can? I don’t want anyone to think I’m picking on Tulsa, because I’m not. What’s happening there is taking place all over the country or has already occurred. Zoning laws have been enacted that, instead of helping people achieve personal security, are depriving them of the means to cope with changing times. I doubt if many of you would run out to buy a pig on my say-so. But these animals can be successfully raised on a suburan lot with less offense to the neighbors than most large-sized dogs. A pig can be housed in an eight-foot square pen. It won’t run free, messing sidewalks. It doesn’t bark. Gene Logsden, a contributing editor to “Organic Gardening and Farming” magazine, recently observed that zoning officers “believe every man has a right to keep a dog half as big as a buffalo dinging up everyone’s yard in sight and barking all night. But a quiet, clean hog, which produces protein at the most efficient feed-to-meat conversion rate of all farm animals? Never.” “We have to blame ourselves for the anti-pig dilemma,” he added. “People think pigs are dirty because man 717-367-3550 ELIZABETHTOWN, PA 17022 Heavy duty hydraulic hoist Pin & Plate coupler with retractable pm and steel truckbed plate Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 1,1975 learned long ago that pigs would survive under the most adverse conditions. He deliberately raised the poor beasts that way to keep coats as low as possible. ’ ’ Raising a pig may be a little too ambitious a project for most people, even if they were allowed to use a little of their hard-earned land for a small pen. But chickens are something else again. Dr. Francis J. Trembley, ecologist emeritus at Lehigh University, said that many homes in his surburban, Pennsylvania neighborhood have large backyards that could easily be put to good use raising chickens. In the first place, the chickens could help recycle garbage by eating kitchen scraps. Second, he says, they could serve as live lawn mowers, fleshing out their bones with good meat while eliminating that weekly suburgan chore. You’d have all the eggs you need with just a few hens. You’d have an excellent source of fertilizer. And when you were finished, you’d have a source of meat that far out distances store-bought chicken for taste, Dr. Trembley said. But in many municipalities, chicken-raising is frowned upon. That kind of public attitude isn’t going to help any of us as we strive for greater self-sufficiency in coming years. So let’s get busy and let our elected and appointed officials know that zoning laws that work against people, instead of for them, should be revised. Editor’s Note: The opinions appearing in “Organic Living” are those of its author, Robert Rodale, an in dependent columnist. Rodale’s comments do not necessarily reflect the thinking of the Lancaster Farming editor or anyone else on the Lancaster Farming staff.) Conservationists Set Date For Annual Meeting The Lancaster County Conservation District will hold its annual banquet on Thursday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Good’n and Plenty Restaurant, Smoketown. Benny Martin, State Conservationist with the U. S. Department of Agriculture - Soil Con servation Service will be guest speaker. Martin, a career conservationist, is a native of Bruneau, Idaho, and graduated from the University of Idaho in 1951 with a B. S. in Agronomy. He began his career with the Soil Conservation Ser vice as a Soil Scientist in 1951. Since then, he has served in various positions with the Service in Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, before TRY A CLASSIFIED AD PUBLrCIVIEEtTNG OPEN TO ALL FARMERS INTERESTED IN GROWING , CUCUMBERS FOR PICKLING ON THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1975 PLACE - LIBERTY FIRE HALL NEW HOLLAND, PA TIME - 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. COFFEE AND CAKE SERVED DURING INTERMISSION. If you are in the New Holland vicinity and can grow cucumbers for pickling and can use a cash crop, please attend. BROWN & LANGER INC. 68 Gansevoort Street New York City, N.Y. 10014 Phone 212-242-1000 coming to Pennsylvania in 1971 as Deputy State Con servationist. Martin became State Conservationist m 1972. He directs SCS programs for flood prevention, watershed protection, soil surveys, and technical assistance in soil and water conservation m Pennsylvania. He has spoken to numerous groups on the need for improving the quality of the en vironment through a sound resource conservation program. Reservations for the banquet can be made by calling any of the Directors, by calling the District office at 299-5361, or by stopping at the Conservation Office in the Farm and Home Center, Room 4. 51
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