Rockies roll
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Colorado sweeps Cubs, prolongs win streak SPORTS, PAGE D1
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SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2017
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magicvalley.com
URBAN FARMING
Labrador backs refugee limits bill NATHAN BROWN
nbrown@magicvalley.com
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Cassidy Robinson, 33, talks about his garden May 18 at his Twin Falls home. Robinson grows many of his own fruits and vegetables. ‘It’s healthy living,’ he says. ‘It’s good to get out there and get your hands in the dirt.’
As urban homesteading gains followers, some cities are loosening their codes that limit farm animals within city limits. And home gardeners like Twin Falls’ Cassidy Robinson are ripping up lawns in favor of vegetable beds. Sustainability is more than an concept, these urban farmers say. It’s a lifestyle. See the story on E1.
Trump snubs bipartisanship JONATHAN LEMIRE AND KEN THOMAS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is banking on his loyal base of supporters to help him through the tangle of the Russia turmoil. Trump had his core backers in mind as he responded to former FBI Director James Comey’s blockbuster Senate testimony and the steady creep of multiple congressional investigations and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Trump’s Republican allies might have found Comey credible, but the president called the man he fired as FBI director a liar and a “leaker.” Trump said he was the victim of the “fake news” media. And he tried to charge ahead by resorting to what worked for him as a candidate — pushing policies dear to his base and using strong rhetoric to convey that message. “As you know, we’re under siege, you understand that. But we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever. You watch,” Trump said Thursday as Comey was telling senators that the president had pressured him to drop an investigation into an
ANDREW HARNIK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Donald Trump attends a roundtable on infrastructure Friday at the Department of Transportation in Washington. Faced with the h allegations of ex-FBI Director James Comey and the steady creep of congressional investigations, Trump’s response this week was aimed squarely at rallying his most dedicated supporters to his side. ex-White House aide. His strategy is consistent with the way Trump has governed in his first four months in office. His White House has made little effort to broaden the bedrock of support for a president who lost the popular vote and receives
scant backing from Democrats. Trump has yet to hold a rally in a state he lost to Hillary Clinton in November. He visits many of the small Rust Belt cities and rural heartland communities that went for him. While backing away from some
If you do one thing: Pickleball is available for all ages, levels, and beginners from 1 to
4 p.m. at 302 Third Ave. S. in Twin Falls. Cost is $3.
$3.00
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OPINION BRIDGE CROSSWORD
campaign promises, Trump has made good on policies his loyalists track closely. When Trump pulled the United States from the Paris climate accords despite pleas from American allies, he framed it as a victory for American industry and the blue-collar workers who backed him. He appointed a conservative to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, and is steadily nominating similar candidates to fill judicial vacancies. With help from the Republican-led Congress, he has rolled back Obama-era rules on the environment, gun rights, the internet and financial regulations. Support for the president has broken down sharply along party lines. Only 4 percent of Democrats back Trump while he has an 81 percent approval rating among Republicans, according to a Quinnipiac poll released this past week. His overall job approval number has fallen to the mid-30s, a new low, but the GOP number has remained steady in the past two months. Even if Trump’s core holds, the
WASHINGTON — An Idaho congressman has re-introduced a bill to set a lower cap on refugee resettlement and let cities and states opt out of the program if they want. U.S. Reps. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., reintroduced the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act on Thursday. Goodlatte is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which would likely hear the bill. The bill would set a 50,000-a-year ceiling on refugee admissions — significantly lower than the ceilings set in the last years of the Obama administration, but the same number President Donald Trump has proposed — and Congress would have to vote to raise this. It would also prevent the resettlement of refugees in any state or locality that takes legislative or executive action disapproving resettlement. Among other security-related changes, the bill would require review of refugees applicants’ social media posts as well as regular security vetting of refugees who are admitted to the country until they become permanent residents — refugees are required to apply for permanent resident status after being in the country for a year. Also, if a country is listed as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the U.S. International Commission on Religious Freedom, refugee claims based on religious persecution by members of minority religions Please see LABRADOR, Page A4
Refugee Center continues to welcome newcomers JULIE WOOTTON
jwootton@magicvalley.com
TWIN FALLS — Despite nationwide uncertainty around refugee resettlement, the College of Southern Idaho’s Refugee Center continues to maintain full operations and take in newcomers. Since the fiscal year began in October, the Twin Falls center has received 213 refugees — many of whom are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, director Zeze Rwasama said Thursday. That’s on par with the number of refugees the center has handled in years’ past. Another 12 refugees are slated
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Times-News
THE BIG STORY
Sunday, June 11, 2017 | E1
Sunday, June 11, 2017 | magicvalley.com | SECTION E
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Jack Bruns, center, carries a hive of bees to the family car with his brother, Brogan, left, and father, Steve, on April 29 during Bee Day at Tubbs’ Berry Farm in Twin Falls. This is the fourth year the Brunses have raised bees at their home.
As urban homesteading gains followers, some cities loosen codes MYCHEL MATTHEWS
T
mmatthews@magicvalley.com
WIN FALLS — Folks used to “homestead” — raise gardens and livestock, milk their own cows and gather eggs from their own hens — until it became easier and sometimes cheaper to purchase mass-produced foods from a store. As people moved from the country into the city, many left their animals and their gardening skills behind. During the 1950s, cities across the nation began to outlaw animals within their boundaries, and the concept of sustainability seemed to disappear from the collective consciousness. Now, some say they miss the homesteading lifestyle and want it back. Some say they should have the right to grow their own food. And some big cities are re-evaluating their stances and permitting food-producing animals in residential zones. “When Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the U.S., is selling little chicken coops and chicken feed, that shows (urban homesteading) is a long-lasting trend,” said Gretchen Anderson of Eagle, a leader in the urban homesteading movement, a former Magic Valley resident and author of “The Backyard Chicken Fight.” “It’s a paradigm shift back to where we were.” Anderson, Anderson whose family owns Pomerelle Mountain Resort near Albion, blogs for Mother Earth News, the self-proclaimed “original guide to wiser living” that began as part of the 1960s counterculture movement. Her message is about taking on City Hall, fighting for the right to be more sustainable. It all started in 2009 when she read a story in The New Yorker about the contentious fight between cities and residents over keeping animals. She signed on with an email alert system that notified her
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PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Caleb Tubbs, 11, uses a vacuum to suck up bees that escaped their hives April 29 during Bee Day at Tubbs’ Berry Farm. to news stories of such backyard squabbles. While writing her book, Anderson heard from many who want to grow their own food. She’s now writing “Secrets of the Lazy Urban Gardener,” a guide to edible gardening. Sustainability is more than an concept, Anderson said. It’s a lifestyle.
‘We went really big’
Anderson figures there are half a dozen reasons to raise your own food: It all starts with sustainability, she says. It’s more affordable. Homegrown food tastes better. It PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS Please see AG, Page E3
Bees wait to be sold April 29 at Tubbs’ Berry Farm in Twin Falls.
MORE INSIDE: Where’s the beef? E2 | What’s legal in your city? E2
BIG STORY
E2 | Sunday, June 11, 2017
Butchering-time math for urban farmers
Times-News
Where’s the beef?
MYCHEL MATTHEWS
mmatthews@magicvalley.com
JEROME — It’s common for novice beef producers to underestimate the amount of waste in a large, heavily boned animal with hooves and four stomachs. So if it’s your first time to take a 1,600-pound cow to the butcher, don’t expect that much meat back. On average, a 1,600-pound live cow — “on the hoof” — is reduced to about 1,000 pounds of hanging meat after the animal’s head, hide, hooves, blood and entrails are removed. More weight is lost during the hanging process as moisture evaporates from the carcass. Even more weight is lost during the processing stages. Jerome butcher Don Scarrow has cut and wrapped enough beeves to know. Beeves lose an average of about 38 percent of their live weight on the first go-round, Scarrow said. U.S. Department of Agriculture harvest statistics say the average loss is closer to 40 percent, but several factors can affect yields. The meat then hangs for 10 or 14 days to enhance its flavor. The carcass is then quartered, cut and trimmed to the customer’s specifications, losing about 30 percent of its hanging weight. So, from a 1,600-pound cow comes about 700 pounds of “freezer meat” yielding on average 28 percent chuck, 3 percent shank, 4 percent brisket, 9 percent ribs, 18 percent loin, 5 percent flank, 9 percent short plate and 23 percent round, according to a Cornell University study.
MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS
Hens scratch and peck for food in their coop May 16 on Steve and April Bruns’ two-acre homestead east of Twin Falls. Most meat butchers charge a kill fee, plus so many cents per pound of hanging weight to process. Value-added services — such as marination, smoking and making ground round into hamburger patties — cost extra, Scarrow said.
For game birds and poultry, he recommends paying someone to kill and pluck the birds. If you can’t do it yourself, Al Kuhn of Al’s Poultry Processing in Wendell will take care of it for you. After killing and emp-
tying the bird, Kuhn removes its feathers using a “barrel plucker” looking somewhat like a washing machine tub with rubber fingers. Several birds at a time can be tossed about in the tub as it’s hosed down with water. The fin-
gers grab at the feathers, cleanly removing them without tearing the bird’s skin. His charges: $12 and $15 for turkey and $4.50 for chickens. Kuhn advertises his services on Craigslist.
What’s legal in your city? MYCHEL MATTHEWS
mmatthews@magicvalley.com
arm animals can be noisy. They F can be stinky. They can bother the neighbors. So do they belong in the city? Rules about keeping livestock vary from city to city and from county to county. That’s because codes are created to resolve real issues, said Twin Falls County Planning and Zoning Director Bill Crafton. When a town gets complaints about people raising chickens, for example, it’s likely the town will enact codes restricting chickens, ducks and geese within the city limits. Perhaps the town will entirely prohibit fowl or will allow hens and chicks but prohibit roosters. Sometimes chickens are allowed only by permit. “If everyone were good neighbors, you wouldn’t need us,” Crafton said. Counties have the least restrictive codes, he said, with city codes generally more restrictive. Subdivision covenants — legally binding but enforced only by homeowners’ associations — are the most restrictive. We’ll start by looking at what is generally allowed outside of city limits, then we’ll examine what is prohibited within a sampling of south-central Idaho cities.
Counties
Idaho’s “right-to-farm” ideology lays the foundation for its planning and zoning structure, ensuring existing farming operations can’t be zoned out of business. Farm animals in small numbers are generally allowed in counties with little restriction. Regulations begin when the number of animals kept crosses the line into an animal feeding operation — usually about 100 “animal units.” But an animal unit does not refer to an animal. For example, in Twin Falls County, an animal unit is the number of animals it takes to equal 900 to 1,000 pounds. That’s an effort to draw fair comparisons between the environmental impacts of different species, Crafton said. A Jersey milk cow weighing 1,000 pounds, for example, equals 1 animal unit. A larger Holstein milk cow, weighing 1,400 pounds, equals 1.4 animal units. A horse weighing 2,000 pounds equals 2 animal units. So, in many rural areas, folks
under these conditions: No roosters are allowed. Chickens may be kept in the backyard only, and pens are to be farther than 10 feet from any fence line. Chickens may roam free in the backyard if adequately fenced. Chickens may be kept for noncommercial use only, such as for family consumption, 4-H or school projects. Owners with fewer than five chickens must file an application with the city; nontransferable licenses with accompanying fees are required for five or more chickens older than four months. No permits are issued for duplexes, multifamily dwellings or commercial facilities.
Hansen
Kimberly
Only dogs and cats are allowed in the residential zones.
Kimberly allows many farm animals under certain conditions: Animals must be kept 25 feet away from any neighboring residence and any public right of way, public place, church or school building. Property where the animals are maintained must contain at least half an acre per animal, with 10,000 square feet of real property or pasture devoted MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS exclusively for the use of each cow, horse, sheep or other such animal. Brogan Bruns, 8, shows off eggs he gathered from his chickens’ nests. No pigs, mules, donkeys, birds Steve and April Bruns moved their family four years ago from Twin Falls of prey, poisonous reptiles or con— which requires chicken owners to get written approval from several blocks’ worth of neighbors — into a home just outside the city limits. ‘The strictor snakes are allowed. And neighbors probably wouldn’t have been against the chickens,” April says. no carnivorous mammals, except dogs and cats. ‘But it was just too much.’ can keep up to 99 Jersey milk cows or 49 horses and not need any agency’s permission. For animals weighing less than 1,000 pounds, the math gets trickier. Two 500-pound calves equal roughly one animal unit. A 600-pound calf equals 60 percent of an animal unit — .6 animal units — so 10 such calves equal 6 animal units. Laying hens equal .033 animal units, so it takes 30 hens to make one animal unit and 3,000 hens to meet the weight needed to require a permit for an animal feeding operation.
City of Twin Falls
Within the city limits, forget about raising hogs or even pet pigs. That won’t happen. But other farm animals are allowed under certain conditions: Folks must first apply to the city clerk and pay a fee for permits. To keep a cow, horse, sheep or goat, or most other animals except dogs and cats, the applicant must have at least one acre of
real property and at least 10,000 square feet of real property or pastureland devoted exclusively for the use of each animal. Fences enclosing such animals must be built to keep animals off others’ property, the city code says. To keep poultry or more than three rabbits, the applicant must have at least 5,000 square feet of real property for up to 25 fowl or up to 25 rabbits. And the animal runs or enclosures must be no less than 40 feet from a dwelling other than the applicant’s. Applicants must get a yea or nay statement from each property owner within 300 feet and must show that 75 percent of the neighbors approve of the animals. Animal owners must renew fees annually on March 1. Fees are $2 per small animal and $5 per large animal per year.
Hollister
The rules in Hollister are simple, says Mayor Richard “Shorty” Self. If a city resident has an acre, he can keep one large livestock animal. Chickens, including roosters, are allowed.
Burley
The only farm animals prohibited in Hansen are swine. Small animals, such as rabbits and chickens, including roosters, are allowed on lots of 5,000 square feet or more. Large animals are allowed on larger lots with a minimum of 10,000 square feet of pasture fenced off for the first animal and another 5,000 square feet for each additional animal. Noisy animals, although not restricted by the animal codes, are prohibited by city nuisance codes.
Shoshone
No farm animals are allowed in Shoshone.
Paul
Jerome
Jerome allows livestock, including hens and chicks, but no roosters or pigs. Constrictors or poisonous snakes and carnivorous animals are allowed with permits. Beekeeping is allowed under a special use permit, and no Africanized bees are allowed.
Wendell
Wendell residents are allowed cows, horses, rabbits and chickens but not roosters or pigs. The minimum lot size to house farm animals is a one-acre parcel, and of that three-quarters of the acre must be irrigated and fenced specifically for the animals, said Brian Gailey, Wendell code enforcement officer. The city has no honeybee codes.
Oakley
No particular farm animals are restricted within the city limits. The minimum lot size is a halfacre, which allows small animals including chickens, roosters and bunnies. Larger farm animals are allowed on lots of one acre or more, typically one animal per acre.
No farm animals are allowed in Burley, not even chickens, says City Administrator Mark Mitton. The City Council put a law on the books about five or six years ago allowing “hobby livestock” — such as a horse — in R-4 (mixed multiple residence) subdivisions; Hailey however, no one has applied for Bees are prohibited on any city the zoning yet. lot less than 8,000 square feet. On larger lots, very specific rules Sun Valley apply. No cows, sheep, goats, poultry, Chickens can be raised on any lot fur-bearing animals, predators, in Hailey, but no roosters. A horse game animals or wildlife of any can be raised on an acre or more. It type are allowed in Sun Valley, is unlawful to drive a herd of sheep Buhl except cats, dogs and horses. The on any street, alley or public place No farm animals are allowed city does have a permit process, between River Street and Fifth within any residential zones in the however, for exotic wildlife; dan- Avenue, and Myrtle and Chestnut city, except for chickens and only gerous animals are not included. streets.
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BIG STORY
Times-News
Sunday, June 11, 2017 | E3
Ag From E1
reduces the food-mile — the distance from farm to table. It’s a property rights issue. And it’s about food security: what chemicals are in your produce or what hormones and antibiotics in your meat. “It’s all of those things and more,” said Steve Bruns, citing the work ethic his three children are developing from raising sheep, chickens, honeybees and a garden. Bruns, an earth science teacher at Jerome High School, got his work ethic early. “I was mowing lawns at 6,” he said. “Later I moved hand lines.” Convinced their three children were missing out on a lifestyle they both cherished, Bruns and his wife, April, moved the family four years ago from Twin Falls into a home just outside the city limits east of town. In town, they grew tomatoes, peppers and strawberries in raised beds. They would have liked to raise a few chickens, but Twin Falls requires chicken owners to get written approval from several blocks’ worth of neighbors. “The neighbors probably wouldn’t have been against the chickens,” April Bruns said. “But it was just too much.” So in 2013, the Brunses found themselves with two acres to fill, and when they started their garden they made a mistake typical of beginning homesteaders. “We went really big,” April Bruns said. “The weeds grew too fast, and we had to plow it under in the fall.” A few years later, the family has a better grip on the workload and has settled comfortably into a routine of school, soccer, piano lessons and farm chores. Emily, 14, and Jack, 12, care for the sheep, while Brogan, 8, tends his own garden, cares for the chickens and gathers eggs. The whole family pulls weeds in the large garden and helps with fall canning. The children grew spinach one year and sold enough to pay for church camp, April Bruns said. Last year, the family canned 40 total quarts of their own tomatoes, grape juice, beets and peaches, froze 9 pounds of spinach, stored 30 pounds of spuds and 20 pounds of onions and bottled 4 gallons of honey. Of all the chores, her husband clearly favors the honeybees. “The kids say I geek out talking about bees,” he said with a satisfied smile.
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Spectators watch a demonstration on how to construct and maintain beehives April 29 at Tubbs’ Berry Farm in Twin Falls. The farm’s annual Bee Day has grown so much over the years — last year 1,000 people attended — that the Tubbs family split the event into two days this spring.
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Doug Walton checks a beehive May 4 at his Hailey home. Walton had to build a special cage around the hive to stop bears from stealing his honey.
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Bees fly between protective bars and into their hive May 4 at Doug Walton’s Hailey home.
‘They go on this super feed’ Steve Bruns isn’t alone in his love of honeybees. On April 29, Doug Walton left Bee Day at Tubbs’ Berry Farms with a new colony of bees and a big grin. “Bees make me happy,” said Walton, who harvests a little honey from his hives but leaves most for the bees. PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS Walton, 74, is one of many PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS Honeycomb is separated from the honey May 4 at Doug Walton’s home in who want to give back to the A greenhouse sits in the back of Doug Walton’s Hailey yard May 4. Hailey. earth instead of taking from it. It’s an old trend born out of necessity that is taking many new shapes today. Walton, a retired building contractor, and his wife, Diana Whiting, live in a log home he built on five acres along the Big Wood River in Hailey. He first visited the Wood River Valley in 1962 while on the University of Minnesota ski club. Eight years later, he bought a house in Ketchum. “But I always wanted riverfront property.” While on a Memorial Day drive in 1977, Walton spied a real estate sign advertising riverfront lots for sale in Hailey. “That was back when you didn’t need a trust fund to live here,” he said. “We saw this lot and signed the papers the next day.” He and his wife continued to live in Ketchum while they built their home in Hailey. They also built a greenhouse and put in garden space, keeping the landscape as close as possible to nature’s intentions. They moved into their riverfront home in 1984. The couple grows tomatoes, tomatillos and squash in raised beds. Their friends gather at their garden to harvest the produce, and Whiting cans the bounty. “I keep honeybees to help the pollinator population,” Walton said. But the fruit of the bees’ labor draws in some unwanted guests. “Bears may come around anyPAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
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Please see AG, Page E4
Cassidy Robinson, 33, talks about his composting and the vegetables he grows May 18 at his Twin Falls home. ‘If I can get something homegrown, I think it tastes better and you get the satisfaction of knowing you grew it,’ he says.
E4 | Sunday, June 11, 2017
BIG STORY
MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Backyard gardener Cassidy Robinson talks May 18 about the raspberry bushes at his Twin Falls home. ‘It gives you that direct connection from what you grow to what you eat,’ he says.
Times-News
Marvin Christenson of Heyburn examines tiny red wiggler composting worms he grows in bins in his garage and sheds.
Ag From E3
time in the summer,” he said. “But then they go on this super feed in the fall before hibernation.” At night, the bears travel a certain route along the river, hitting Walton’s honey on their way to dine in Hailey trash cans. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game gave him rubber slugs to shoot at the bears. He has also been advised to put up an electric fence to keep bears away. Walton didn’t care for either measure. One swat with a powerful paw can level a hive, so after losing a few Walton built his bees a fortress. He enclosed his colony in a jail of sorts, with 2-inch steel pipes that extend below ground into 800 pounds of concrete. It’ll take a big bear, he said, to destroy this hive.
‘The land will provide’
Cassidy Robinson doesn’t waste water or time growing a lawn in his Twin Falls backyard. He grows food. “I would rather grow functional landscape,” the 33-yearold said. For the past 10 years, Robinson has worked as a credit specialist at a small, locally owned car dealership in Jerome. At the home he bought in 2010, his landscape is filled with raspberry bushes, strawberry plants, chamomile, potatoes, blackberry bushes, lettuce, onions, kale, tomatoes, squash, peppers, carrots and Brussels sprouts. “This is my little sanctuary,” he said. “It gives me peace.” His friends like it, too, and so do their children. He entices the kids to help with the chores without calling it work. “I don’t have things for them to play with,” he said. “So I’ll tell them, ‘Hey, I bet you can’t break this stick up so we can burn it in my firepit.’” That firepit is where it all started. “There were all these concrete blocks laying around when I bought the place, so I gathered them up and made a firepit,” he said. The rest of the garden grew up around it. Robinson’s raspberry bushes were starts from his neighbor’s patch. His garden arches are constructed of recycled boards or tree branches. “Free is great,” he said. “And it’s better than something made in a factory.” If something isn’t free, he tries to get more than one use from it. “Instead of spending $60 on a cut tree at Christmas, I’ll buy a live tree and plant it in the spring,” he said. “I take every opportunity to plant something.” Working on his edible backyard has opened his eyes to the benefits of urban homesteading. “It’s definitely work, but it’s healthy work,” he said. Robinson claims the food he grows tastes better than anything he can buy in a store. “There’s a sense of satisfaction I get from growing food,” he said. “Maybe that’s why it tastes better.” His brother, Trampas, and his mother, Glenda, help Robinson harvest and preserve the food he grows. He makes tea from his chamomile, stores potatoes and carrots through the winter, dehydrates veggies and cans jelly, jam and syrup. “I run dehydrated vegetables through the blender, then use it like vegetable stock,” he said. “It’s great in soup or stew.” His long-term goal is to work slowly toward self-sufficiency, then eventually move to a 13acre farm he bought in 2014. His mother lives on the farm now and takes care of the animals that Robinson can’t keep in Twin
MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS
Emily Bruns, 14, feeds sheep May 16 at her family’s home east of Twin Falls. Burley’s City Council debated the chicken issue in 2013 but in the end sided with a giant poultry incubation corporation. Hy-Line North America, the largest producer of laying hens in the nation, operates a bio-secure facility west of town and opposes any proposal to allow chickens in the city. The company contracts with local chicken operations to provide fertilized eggs to its incubation facility. After the chicks hatch, they are shipped from Burley to commercial egg operations to be raised as laying hens. As a condition of their employment, Hy-Line’s workers PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS are not allowed to keep poultry Potato plants grow in Cassidy Robinson’s Twin Falls garden May 18. or fowl at home because of the avian diseases they could carry Falls. into the incubation plant. chickens, it even pays residents “I’ve always had a deep re“One of the reasons that we a $75 rebate to attend its chicken spect for the land,” he said. “If moved into this area is we knew maintenance courses and keep you care for and nurture it, the the majority of our employees chicken coops in their backland will provide.” would be drawn from the city yards. It’s part of the city’s goal and it has an ordinance in place to eliminate waste. that prohibits owning poultry,” The city of nearly 1 million ‘It has an Mike Privett of Hy-Line said at a hopes to reduce waste that ordinance in place’ 2013 City Council meeting. goes to a landfill by 90 percent, A disease outbreak in a barn Twin Falls’ restrictions are too spokeswoman Memi Cardenas full of breeding stock — that’s said. A recent city survey renarrow for Robinson’s dreams, about 36,000 pullets and 4,000 vealed that 45 percent of what but some cities are loosening roosters — would be devastating was going into the landfill is their codes to allow some farm compostable, while much of the to the company. animals. rest is recyclable. Consider Chicago. Modern “Since urban farming has Farmer calls the Windy City ‘The best fertilizer’ “the only large urban area in the become so popular, the city Marvin Christenson lives in thought residents would try country that never explicitly a Mini-Cassia city that doesn’t composting through chickens — allow any farm animals, but he outlawed the rearing of farm feed them scraps,” Cardenas said raises something that Paul’s anianimals.” Chicago is now using by telephone from her office in farming to rejuvenate 11,000 mal ordinances don’t address. abandoned lots in its South Side, Austin. Christenson, 78, raises red The city announced the part of its Green Healthy Neighwigglers — tiny red worms that chicken course in April, and the consume organic waste — for borhoods initiative. classes filled in two hours. From their manure, or castings. He Seattle has allowed residents there the city hopes the beneto keep goats, sheep, cows and uses the nutrient-rich castings fits of keeping chickens will put as a soil amendment. horses since 2010, which city leaders declared the Year of Ur- residents on the path to growing He first purchased red wigtheir own food. ban Agriculture. One animal is glers and a worm bin from a Back in south-central Idaho, allowed per 10,000 square feet. grower in Coeur d’Alene. As the And Somerville, Mass., a sub- meanwhile, some residents are worms multiply, he moves them completely without the chicken to new bins he made himself. urb of Boston, was one of the option. first to embrace urban homeChristenson feeds his worms Burley’s no-chicken rule, An- a blend of dairy feed and Purina steading. Boston was soon to derson said, isn’t likely to change Worm Chow, a commercially follow. Austin, Texas, not only allows soon. produced food. He then harvests
the castings and makes “worm tea” from the moisture that drips from the bins. “Worms make the best fertilizer there is,” he said. Christenson won’t get any argument from Amy Gunderson, a 28-year-old Boise native who calls herself an urban “worm wrangler extraordinaire.” Gunderson cares for thousands of red wigglers in the basement of Red Feather Lounge and Bittercreek Alehouse in downtown Boise. She sells the castings at Boise’s farmers market. Urban Worm, as her operation is called, is an offshoot of a 12-year-old sustainability program implemented by restaurant owner Dave Krick. The worms eat vegetable scraps from his kitchens, and the bedding consists of menus that were printed on recycled paper. The program has developed into an educational opportunity to spread the word about recycling, vermiculture and sustainability. “We are very open and share all our information,” Gunderson said. She teaches composting classes and gives tours of Urban Worm to high school and college students. “I adore the worms,” she said. “They are all named Steve.”
Agriculture reporter Mychel Matthews used to raise red wigglers under her kitchen sink. Now her worms roam free under her front deck.
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