my little farm.

[mopinko]

surprised to find that i have neglected to share my trials and tribulation surrounding my little farm here.
i have been cited by the city of chicago w 36 violations on my 3 properties. almost entirely bullshit. a couple petty nitpicks.
i do believe i will win in court. and i know that just about every urban farmer has some version of this story.
i was shocked that despite the fact that expanding urban agriculture is the official policy of the city, and that my alderman prides himself on his environmental record, i am being seriously targeted because of a handful of ignorant complaints from neighbors.

some stories from a local dnainfo reporter got a lot of attention. and i confess i have made the thing as public as possible here. there is an election in february. i have been a long time supporter and "friend" of the current alderman. but he has hung me out to dry. his challenger, whom i am not that fond of, is visiting tomorrow so that he at least has the facts.

but in the end, i have gotten so much support for my fb page, that i am in tears today.

https://www.facebook.com/MoahsArk/posts/873443752677305?notif_t=like

i'll remember to let you all know how it goes in court.
feb 18.

[PoliticAverse]

1. What type of violations? n/t

[mopinko]

2. weeds. "debris" which refers to

my hugelpiles. a pile of debris that grew 200 lbs of heirloom tomatoes.

some downright delusional, like stagnant water that doesnt exist, and claims that i am flooding the adjacent basements. one is mine. i can swear that the house that was there at one time, being totally rotting, WAS flooding the basement of the adjacent property, which i now own. nice and dry now.

cited for "animal pens" as junk, a cyclone pen which is the shelter for my working kitties.
rooster not going over real big with some people, tho others love them.
citing missing sidewalks that are, in fact, there.
citing "rot" on my front door that was in fact just mildew and a little weathering. also already refinished best that can be considering the weather. its fine. it is only 10 years old, and honestly it is a beautiful door.

the only "legit" complaints are a couple bits of settled sidewalk, and a couple rusty porch rails. and a window that failed. i replaced every window in my old house, but one greenhouse window was invaded and eaten by ants.
that has already been repaired.

the full citations are on the fb page.

[Kali]

3. that is this week

good luck!

[mopinko]

4. yes it is.

got the summons the other day and think we might have grounds to dismiss.
they are claiming that there is a building on the lot, but it was torn down in 2007!!
claim that i didnt register it as a vacant building, but at the same time claiming there is "debris from demolition"
such a clear witch hunt.

thx.

[haikugal]

5. How did this turn out Mopinko?

I hope all is well with your endeavors.

[mopinko]

6. still grinding through the system.

have an inspector coming over this week. at least the city finally seems willing to consolidate the cases.
had another inspector a couple weeks ago who basically thought it was a lot of bs.

but on the plus side, i have chicks hatching today.
just keepin on keepin on.
and a beautiful crop of seedlings for my plant sale next week.

thx

[haikugal]

7. Well that's good news then.

Do you still use your Facebook? I went to pay a visit and you don't seem to be using it. I think some were a bit harsh with you here at DU if my memory serves me. How wonderful about your chicks and plants and yes, basically keep on keeping on is essentially what life requires from us.

A big hug to you and I hope you're getting support from your community.

Thanks for the update...keep us posted, we care and are interested!

[mopinko]

8. i post all the time??

odd.
yeah, i got some crap. and some more.
but i get a ton of love, too, even about the roosters. lots of people love having the sound in the city.
keeps me goin.
to you, too. thx.

[haikugal]

9. My fault..I only went to your link without clicking on Moah's Arc...

Please laugh with me, some times I amaze myself at how inept I am. LOL....I am educated and happy to see your whole page with everything on it! Wonderful....

[mopinko]

10. that's good. ya had me worried.

i love that little blog.
one of the things we will be taking to court, if we end up there, are 2 different books from the fb page. one is all the photo albums and one is the timelime posts. kinda cool to have.
baby chickie pics tomorrow.

eta, thank you for pointing out that the link was kinda sorta bad. it should just be to the main page. dunno how it ended up on that post instead.

[haikugal]

11. Yeah, a better link for those of us who are challenged...lol

I enjoyed your peeping eggs video. Glad to see things are going well and I'm happy to have talked with you a little. Good job Mopinko!

[mopinko]

12. you should look back through the videos.

some fun ones in there. a couple very early ones of my then pup bulldog trying to figure out why chickens dont play puppy games.

good to talk to you, too.

[Bayard]

13. Very interested in this group, but seems to have disappeared...

What's the scoop?

[mopinko]

14. quiet little forum.

which is odd, i will say, as i think there are a fair number of rural/farm folks on the board.

[Bayard]

15. Well, that's disappointing.

I'd certainly be interested in talking with other folks about rural concerns/interests, gardening, animals, etc.

I have a little 10 acre farm..............always busy with projects: fencing, gardens, etc. We've spent the past several months building a barn ourselves for our four old and/or retired horses. Shelter for mini-donkey and pygmy goats. Chicken coops, duck pen. Maybe now that we're catching up a little bit, we can start doing more to finish our log cabin.

Always looking for input, and happy to provide it.