To accommodate Rosemary, Smithfield Township needs a new backyard livestock ordinance . Right now, the ordinance enacted in the seventies prohibits all but 4H projects on less than FIVE acres!! So it's okay to build a barn, you just can't put anything in it!!Since folks have rediscovered the thrill of laying hens in the backyard, and the benefits of fresh, warm eggs, and composted manure for the garden, we are hoping this ordinance will right the wrongs of the plastic/petroleum generation.
It's ironic to me that the ordinance written in the seventies coincided with the advent of the "Back to the Land" movement:
The new ordinance is in its final draft, with explanatory language hopefully coming soon. To allow chickens, other fowl ( peacocks, anyone?) rabbits on one quarter acre, w. provisions for coop and free range size enclosure, small goats and other four legged creatures on 1 acre plus, and I am hoping small livestock on 1.5 acres and up.Once in its final draft form, it will need solicitor, County and Municipal Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors review, whatever revisions are necessary, advertisement, and adoption by the Supervisors . . . Oh, it is only moments away! While waiting for sweet Rosemary, ( and her milk) we need to do some judicious forestry here on our small acre and a half, to determine what fence we will use and where exactly her pasture will be, and what size and where her barn enclosure will be ( using the proposed formula from the Township). I hope she will not have to wait for her fenced pasture and small barn too long. . . I'm also checking out cheesemaking!
No comments:
Post a Comment