MAY 6, 2011 URBAN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

"We all hope. It's what keeps us alive."

HOPE is a grand word. I always associate 'hope' with 'dreams'. Hopes and dreams. We all have our hopes. Hope does keep us going and alive. Every one of us had hoped one day we would win the lottery. Not. Every one of us had hoped one day we would find a partner. Yes. A lot of my hopes became a reality once I began to take care of myself. I can only have hopes and dreams when I take care of myself first, then I can take care of others.

I was thinking is there anything I had hoped for that I haven't had cross my path ? I am still pondering that question. For the first time in my life- I want for nothing. What do I need? I cannot think of anything I need or want. I have peace, serenity, love, and myself.

Isn't that enough for one person?

DO YOU WANT TO OWN AND LIVE ON A FARM? I DO.

Nigerian dwarf goats grow to only 21 in. tall, about equal to a medium-size dog. "But they have giant udders," says Novella Carpenter. She should know: she has six goats that together provide a quart of milk a day, which she drinks and uses to make cheese and butter. And when the bleating beauties are not grazing in her 1,000-sq.-ft. yard, they're hanging out on the porch of her second-floor apartment in the middle of Oakland, California.

Now this is surreal. I started reading that some consider this a hobby. I wouldn't have thought it but when you think that my own grandparents had goats in their backyard at 2 Elizabeth Street in New York City in 1910--why not?

Besides goats there have been lots of stories lately about chicken coops becoming a new urban and suburban accessory. I can relate to Detroit's Garden Resource Program, which recently launched beekeeping classes and saw them fill up immediately. Our bee classes at http://www.honeybeelives.org/ and those at the http://www.nybg.org/ (New York Botanical Garden) filled up rather quickly. Chicken coops, goats, and pigs may seem far fetched, but perhaps not.

I would love a farm in Upstate New York. The growing popularity of raising barnyard animals in backyards — or indoors — has forced many municipalities across the country to statutorily reckon with livestock within city limits. But legal or not, urban animal husbandry is gaining cachet. That's not only because of the desire to eat local and organic but also because the shaky economy has more people wanting to be more self-sufficient.

Miniature goats are usually kept for milk and weed-eating; bees, for honey and pollination. I wanted a bee hive on our Roosevelt Island terrace, but I decided it would be best in Fire Island for now. Can you imagine miniature goats roaming the New York City brownstone roofs?
But the truly hard-core urban farmers are plumping their animals for meat, shortening the food-supply chain and being responsible carnivores. I find all of self sufficiency very refreshing and empowering.

Try it!

Until tomorrow...