Chicken Laws

As interest grows in all things green, there is a resurgence in chicken keeping. Just a generation ago, chickens were a normal part of everyday life. My father's family kept chickens. I grew up with chickens in our neighborhood. It was just accepted. I don't recall any problems.

So, Lolo (pictured above) and I were hanging around the yard this weekend. It has been a year since she and her five sisters joined our family. We agreed the whole experiment has been a great success. The chickens have been easy to care for and just plain old fun. We clean up every couple of weeks so they don't smell. Our hens are relatively quiet (no roosters). They don't wander into neighbor's yards (although a neighbor's dog got into our yard one day and gave us all a scare). They give us great compostable droppings for the garden. And, best of all, they lay eggs that are more nutritious and less taxing on the environment than those trucked into town.

So, what's the beef with chickens? Why aren't there more around? We did a little research and it turns out that chicken keeping in Pasadena often runs afoul (or is it afowl?) of laws that were passed in 1956. Lolo and I agreed that the old laws are outdated and need change.

Why the Nix in '56?
Pasadena's chicken laws are part of a series of ordinances that were passed in 1956 to prohibit certain farm animals and severely limit others. Cows, pigs, and roosters are prohibited. Goats and horses are extremely limited. Restrictions on chickens and other fowl are so severe that any fowl is prohibited in most Pasadena neighborhoods.
It was only slightly before my time, but most likely Pasadena's animal control ordinance took hold amid the twin pressures of post-war population growth and the drive to modernize. In an era of space exploration, TV dinners, and homogenized everything, there was probably no room for farm animals in a world class city like ours.

Better a Chimp Than a Chick?
Under Pasadena's Municipal Code, no person can have more than 10 chickens and the chickens must be kept 50 feet from a property line, 50 feet from a street and 100 feet from a neighbor's dwelling. Pretty strict requirements. As a practical matter, these rules bar chickens from most Pasadena neighborhoods. (Sections 6.20.020 -- 6.20.070)

There is a potential exception. The Municipal Code allows residents to file a petition with the city's Health Officer for permission to keep a chicken or chickens. The Health Officer holds a public hearing and makes a ruling. You can appeal the ruling, presumably to city council, provided you pay the appeal fees. (Section 6.20.200)

Though most Pasadenans cannot own a chicken, you'll be glad to know you can keep monkeys. The city code allows residents to own any "monkey, ape, chimpanzee, or any animal of the monkey type" as long as as you leash the animal when you go in public. I don't want to offend the pro-monkey forces, but, does it make sense to allow monkeys while outlawing chickens?

Urban Chicken Movement

Urban chicken keeping is a growth industry. In the year since I've been keeping this blog, I've been surprised at the number of people who have inquired about our chickens. East Pasadena's Centinella Feed sells so much chicken feed they have a hard time keeping it on the shelves.

Nationally, an urban chicken movement is fast pecking away at prohibitions against chicken keeping. There are a lot of great sites to visit on this topic including: Homegrown Evolution, Backyard Chickens, The City Chicken, and Ann Arbor City Chickens.

It is time for Pasadena and other cities to take a look at old laws limiting chickens. As part of its program to be a Green and Sustainable City, Pasadena says it intends to "support the public health and environmental benefits of locally grown organic foods." Loosening the restraints on chicken keeping is a good way to pursue this goal.

Earthside Story -- Continued

I visited Earthside this afternoon. Haven't been there for a few months. and wanted to check in and see how the place is looking. A coyote had the same idea and, as I walked up, one lingered on the trail in front of the Earthside entrance and then trotted off. Overall, the basic framework of Earthside, though tired, is in tact. The place is dry, though, with lots of brush.

Earthide is tucked away behind an old preschool building on Del Mar Blvd. just west of the Eaton Wash and just east of the open space under the Edison power lines. Above, is the short trail behind the preschool that leads to the Earthside entrance. Long neglected, the trail skirts mature elms and oaks, grapes vines and old playground equipment. The city has decided to turn the preschool building into an urgent care medical center and has a half a million dollar grant to do it. With St. Luke's Hospital gone, Huntington overflowing and the city sitting on a half a mil, the urgent care use is going to happen. I'm concerned, though, about the city's plans for the open space areas (Earthside, the Wash and the Edison land) surrounding the preschool/urgent care building. There's a public hearing on Wednesday (6/3) at 6 pm when the city's application for a conditional use permit for the urgent care center will be decided. The staff report is here.

Lots of grapes around Earthside. They are native California grapes and are thriving without any irrigation other than rainfall. These vines are in front of the Earthside entrance.

Bench under the Sycamores.

White and purple wildflowers amid the brush.

California poppies peaking out of the brush.

Gophers

About five years ago, we had alot of gopher problems. With my dad's help, I set out a number of Macabee traps and caught maybe half a dozen gophers. We haven't had problems since. Until this year that is. I've seen dirt mounds from gophers and moles. A couple of weeks ago I saw a mole being carried by the neighbor's cat. Last night, I trapped a pretty big gopher and am today enjoying a small sense of accomplishment over that. Hopefully between the cats and me we can keep the gopher and mole damage to a minimum.

I've spent this weekend and last working in the garden. We have big plans this year. I have a couple of beds already weeded, a pile of home-made compost ready to spread around and tomatoes waiting to be planted. Got to get back out and go to work!!


I've been away from the blogs for more than a month. My mom passed away on February 19 and I've not felt much like blogging. But after working in the garden today, I kind of want to get back at it. I may post more on my mom later.

Eaton Wash Reservoir February 2009

After a good rain, Eaton Wash Reservoir is a small lake. This is the reservoir looking eastward. On the far side a horse and rider are returning to the Eaton Dam Stables off of New York Drive. The reservoir was created in 1937 when the Eaton Wash Dam was built. It has a surface area of 54 acres.

It does not take long for birds to find water. These are Canadian geese and ducks at the water's edge. Lots of honking and quacking going on down there. I've seen long-legged herons in this spot too.

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About every thirty or forty years, plans are made to commit Eaton Wash and Eaton Wash Reservoir for public parks and trails. In 1932, Los Angeles County produced plans for the Eaton Canyon Park, which included the reservoir area and the wash down to San Pasqual St. Then, a 1967 City of Pasadena plan called for a series of trails down the wash and a wild bird preserve at the reservoir. Now, after a forty year hiatus in planning for the reservoir and wash new plans are again emerging. In 2007, Pasadena adopted the Parks Master Plan which recommended trails along the Eaton Wash. Exciting work is also being done by students in Cal Poly's Urban and Regional Planning Program who are at the leading edge of plans to restore southern California's natural waterways and create a trail system. The Arroyo Seco Foundation has more on plans to create a "golden necklace" of interconnected trails using natural rivers and waterways such as the Eaton Wash.

Eaton Wash February 2009

Sunday we walked a stretch of Eaton Wash. This picture was taken just north of New York Drive. My first photo on this blog was of Eaton Wash taken from about the same spot in January 2008.

Eaton Wash as it flows under New York Drive.

Grandpa and His Solar Water Heater

This 1961 photo shows my grandfather standing in front of his house. On the right side of the photo is his solar water heater. If you look closely, you can see a water pipe entering the solar heater at its bottom left and the metal pipes behind the pane of glass. Grandpa bought the solar heater from a friend in the 1930’s and used it for some forty years after that.

The solar heater saved him money, which was something grandpa was all for. Saving money (or more accurately avoiding ever spending it) was a way of life for him. He was frugal, lived simply and hated waste. It’s not like he made any considered decision about it. It was just part and parcel of who he was.

He’s been gone for 20 years, but I still remember some of the things he did to save money. He had a metal tank welded on the back of his truck so he could load up when gas was cheap. He bought cases of canned goods and cereals when they went on sale. His house never had an air conditioner or heater – he used portable space heaters, if he used them at all. He saved and reused things like newspaper and tin foil. At his house you might find little sugars and jellies, like the ones they have at coffee shops. He kept records of everything. Every gas purchase was recorded in a little book he kept in his truck. Every household purchase was recorded. When he died my dad found receipts going back nearly 50 years.

For my grandfather, frugality was a virtue and he was always on the lookout for waste. In fact, he would get mad over displays of wastefulness. Like I remember him getting angry about street lights that blazed at night. Why waste electricity burning street lights all night?

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As with many of his generation, my grandfather was primed for the frugal, resourceful life. The first 45 years of his life were lived during hard times. He was born at the turn of the century into a hardscrabble rural Iowa existence. World War I raged during his teen years. He married as the Great Depression started and then supported his family through the depression years and World War II. Even after times got better, he kept on with the austere life. It was all he knew and it was right.

There was a resilient and scrappy quality to him. From what I know, he kind of pieced together a living and always had a couple of things going to make money. He worked in fruit packing plants, grocery stores and drove trucks. He also farmed. My dad recalls that when he was growing up, they had small family farm with chickens, cows, rabbits, pigs, fruit trees and vegetables. By the time I was around, grandpa was driving a school bus and tending a small grove of oranges and avocados.

An early widower, he was known to spend weeks on end in the High Sierras, often taking his grandchildren. He had a shell on his Ford pick-up and a favorite spot in Reds Meadow along the San Joaquin River. He was camping and fishing for trout well into his 70’s.

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It was fun to come across this old photo of grandpa in front of his house with his solar water heater. I vaguely recall the solar heater. But I very clearly recall how cheap grandpa was. More and more, I find myself thinking about how he lived. I dearly hope to avoid the kind of hardships his generation lived through. At the same time, I can’t help but think that many of the resourceful, frugal qualities of my grandfather’s generation would serve us well today.

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Related to this, check out Pasadena PIO’s story on home solar power in Pasadena and a Pasadena DailyPhoto's picture of a bungalow with solar panels on the roof. And, I liked this story about a grandmother over at Hatching a Patch.

Earthside Story

Since posting on Earthside twice in December, I've made several trips back to the garden. The Earthside story continues to unfold and continues to fascinate. This was and is an incredibly beautiful place. And the time, effort and money that went into creating Earthside is evident nearly every step of the two acre site.


Above is a weathered plaque that hangs on the outside of a kiosk at the entrance to Earthside commemorating its beginning in 1971. The faded photos provide only a glimpse of the work that must have gone into creating Earthside.

A lot of people played a part in the Earthside story. Here's another weathered plaque that hangs outside the kiosk (donated by the Pasadena Rotary). The last honorees named on this plaque are Elna Bakker in 1994 and Virginia Connelly in 1995. Ms. Bakker was one of Eartshides' visionaries and her death in 1995 may have had something to do with the demise of the nature center.

A few memorials are placed around the Earthside grounds. This one honors "Pop Pop" Shirley W. Owen of Pasadena. Makes you want to know about Pop Pop.

The Earthside garden is on a hill adjacent to the EatonWash. This photo is taken looking west over the wash out to Eaton Blanche Park. Trails zig-zag down the hillside.

Walking the Earthside site, you see the phenomenal amount of work and expense that went into creating this garden. The trails along the side of the hill are kept in place by an extensive network of rail road ties and heavy lumber. These stairs circle down the hill.

The system of trails leads down to the edge of the wash, or more accurately, the fence along the wash.

This rock lined pool is part of an oasis at the north west corner of Earthside.

California native palms that stand over the pool.

After the January rains, wildflowers are appearing. Life is evident in the dormant vines that line Earthside's north and west sides. I"ll return to see this garden grow over the coming months as the Earthside story continues.