Wasatch Community Gardens Statement on Proposed Salt Lake City Chicken Ordinance

The Salt Lake City Council is currently considering a proposed ordinance relating to the keeping of chickens in Salt Lake City. Wasatch Community Gardens would like to commend the City Council for their efforts to make urban chicken keeping available to more Salt Lake City residents. However, we propose the following amendments to the proposed ordinance, to help the city better achieve their stated goal.

Wasatch Community Gardens would also like to encourage members of the public to review the ordinance, make their own comments to the Salt Lake City Council, and attend the public hearing on Nov. 5, at the City and County Building, 451 S. State Street, Room 315, at 7 p.m. The proposed ordinance is available for review on the City Council website at: http://www.slcgov.com/council/

Wasatch Community Gardens Statement of Position
This proposed ordinance, as currently written, does not achieve its stated objective of allowing more Salt Lake City residents to raise chickens. There are two primary problematic elements of the ordinance.

Recommendation #1: Reduce setback requirement from neighbors’ dwelling
The Council’s proposed ordinance requires that residents keep chickens in a coop that is located 50 feet from the nearest neighbor’s dwelling and 25 feet from the owner’s dwelling. This requirement will prevent many Salt Lake City residents from owning chickens due to the close proximity of a neighbor’s dwelling, making the geometry unworkable. For example, in order for a chicken owner to keep her chickens 25 feet away from her own dwelling while keeping her chickens 50 feet from the nearest neighbor, her nearest neighbor’s home would have to be at least 43 feet away from the owner’s home because of the geometric equation. Because many homes in Salt Lake City are not 43 feet away from one another, Wasatch Community Gardens proposes that the ordinance be amended to allow chickens to be kept 25 feet from both the owner’s and neighbor’s dwellings.

Recommendation #2: Drop sliding scale lot size restriction; allow 15 or 25 chickens
Under current law, the number of chickens allowed per residents is 25. In the proposed ordinance, the number of chickens would be restricted on a sliding scale based on lot size. This proposed sliding scale would restrict many residents to only four chickens. Anyone on a lot smaller than 0.11 acres would be prohibited from having any chickens at all. Lots in older Salt Lake City neighborhoods such as the lower Avenues have many lots this size or smaller. Wasatch Community Gardens recommends that a resident who keeps her chickens 25 feet to 50 feet away from both her own dwelling and her neighbor’s dwelling be allowed to keep up to 15 chickens. A resident who keeps her chickens 50 feet away from both her own dwelling and her neighbor’s dwelling should be allowed to maintain the current limit of 25 chickens. Lot size restrictions should be dropped entirely. Most residents already only keep a few chickens, but those who are fanciers or have the capability to own more should be allowed to do so.

Rationale for this Position
Wasatch Community Gardens supports the stated goal of the proposed urban chicken ordinance, which is to allow more Salt Lake City residents to raise chickens. We agree with the Salt Lake City Council’s statement that raising chickens and farming close to home benefits our community by “reducing carbon emissions, providing an inexpensive source of natural/organic foods, as well as securing food supply in the event of an emergency.”

Wasatch Community Gardens believes that the two changes we have outlined above will allow the City to better achieve their stated goal.

A Call to Action
Wasatch Community Gardens is encouraging members of the public to voice their comments on the proposed ordinance to the Salt Lake City Council prior to the hearing on Nov. 5. The contact information for submitting comments is as follows:

Salt Lake City Council
451 S. State Street, Room 304
P.O. Box 145476
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-5476
www.slcgov.com/council/
council.comments@slcgov.com
24- Hr Comment Line: (801) 535-7654

We also encourage attendance at the public hearing on this proposal. It will be held at the City and County Building, 451 S. State Street, Room 315, at 7 p.m. on November 5th.

 

WCG needs your input!

We need feedback from you, our community!

Please take a few minutes to provide Wasatch Community Gardens with some feedback about our programs and services through this short on-line survey.  We will use this information to help meet the growing need for Utahns to have access to fresh, locally grown, organic produce. Once you are done, please forward the survey link to your family, friends and colleagues so we can hear from them too.

This survey should take less than 5 minutes to finish and is completely anonymous. Please complete it by October 23, 2009. Thank you!

Survey Link  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xnXoZMlj3okNvgpdgMkN6w_3d_3d

 

Preserve Exchange

Have you been canning up a storm, trying to use and save all of your garden goodies that would otherwise be going to waste? Do you have more plum jelly or bottles of pickles than you can use this year? Then gather up your extra preserved food, jams, jellies, canned sauces, dried goodies and exchange them for the things you wanted to harvest and can but didn’t get a chance to.

Wasatch Community Gardens will be holding a preserve exchange Tuesday September 22, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Please join us in the Grateful Tomato Garden (800 S. 600 E., Salt Lake City) with your extra preserved foods and be ready to trade them for the goodies other people in the community have been saving.

 

Wasatch Community Gardens Supports Eat Local Challenge!

This year’s Salt Lake City Eat Local Challenge begins September 12, 2009!

The Eat Local Challenge is a way to celebrate local, healthy food by eating food that is produced no more than 250 miles from your home. In years past, our staff has participated, and we are excited to be a part of this fun event again.

We hope you’ll join us, and share your local-eating tips with us as well! We’re adding new recipes and cooking information to our website all the time, and we’d love your help. Share your favorites – visit http://www.wasatchgardens.org/recipes.html

 

Produce Donations

Is your garden bursting with corn? Are you overwhelmed with zucchini? Getting buried by your tomatoes? Tired of all that fruit dropping on your lawn and making a mess?  Is your produce going to waste and ending up in your compost pile? If so, we have a solution to all of your garden woes. Donate! In partnership with Utahns Against Hunger, Wasatch Community Gardens will be providing local gardeners with a list of food pantries in our area, along with donation times and pantry specific donation information. There are thousands of families and people in need in our communities who do not have access to all the healthy treats that many of us are knee deep in this time of year. Please help us in our efforts to get healthy local produce to everyone who wants it, and take care of your over-abundance at the same time. And please remember all the pantries on the list will take donations of other items too, so call and see what else you can do for your fellow community members.

The updated list of food pantries should be available on our website www.wasatchgardens.org in the next few days. In the meantime, please call Utahns Against Hunger at 801-328-2561 or 1-800-453-FOOD(6336) for locations and donation times. Or you can check out www.ampleharvest.com, enter your zip code and get a list of local pantries.

Now, here are some suggestions to make your donation experience as quick, easy, and delightful as possible.

□     Please wash and bag or box like veggies together (individual servings makes things easier too)

□     Call your local food pantry before bringing donations to make sure your donation can be accommodated, especially if you are bringing less familiar and unusual veggies or fruit (i.e. cooking greens, turnips, cooking/baking apples, small plums, etc…)

□     Earlier in the week is usually better for donating produce especially quick wilting greens.

 

Fairpark Salsa Party

This past weekend Wasatch Community Gardens held their annual salsa party at the fairpark garden, and what a fun night.  If you were unable to attend, you really missed out; there were 17 fabulous homemade salsas of every variety, a super jive live band that kept the energy high all evening, and really fun activities for the kiddies; like pot painting and flower planting. The turnout was outstanding, at least 150 people were there to eat and judge salsas, see our beautiful gardens in mid-harvest season, and get to know each other in a casual and fun garden setting.

Personally, my experience was amazing. Getting to know new people from all areas of town,  local business owners and organization leaders,  local Fairpark area community members, as well as community gardeners from our garden. The energy was so positive, just a bunch of people getting together and supporting our community garden as well as enjoying fresh organic food from neighbors and friends gardens.

The salsas were all delicious, each with a different flavor or unique ingredients. There was everything from a chipotle style salsas, to garlic salsa, and even mango and peach salsas. They were hot, mild, sweet, tangy, savory, excellent… something for everyone. Some attendees and salsa contestants went above and beyond the call for salsa entrants and brought zucchini bread, rice tacos, peanuts, and chips. What a wonderful event to be a part of!

WCG Ladies Kandace Davis (right) and Carly Gillespie (left)

As People’s Choice award winner for my peach salsa, I would love to share my recipe with all of you WCG Blog readers, and say if you didn’t attend this year I hope to see you there next year, with your own killer salsa recipe and together we will make the salsa party a bigger and better event every year for Wasatch Community Gardens.

Peach Salsa:

• 2lbs tomatoes (sweeter the better)
• 2- 2 1/2 lbs of peaches
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 lg. red onion
• 1/2 lime
• 1 orange bell pepper
• spicy peppers (to taste!)
• honey (to taste)

Combine all ingredients except for peppers and honey in food processor, pulse until chopped to the consistency you desire. TASTE. Add peppers, good spicy peppers are jalapenos, serranos, thai hot, cherry hot; go slow add half of what you think you want, taste the salsa and add more if needed.  If your peaches aren’t super ripe (or sometimes mine are beyond ripe) you can add honey, agave nectar or sugar to sweeten it up a bit. I like mine real sweet and super spicy. Remember that you can mix and match ingredients, use whatever you have ripe in your garden, if you don’t have super sweet tomatoes use more honey, if you don’t have jalapenos, use serranos or whatever you have. Salsa is best fresh from the garden, it’s more about what you have growing then following a recipe, and remember to have fun and taste a lot while you make it!

Happy salsa season.

Carly Gillespie

WCG Vista Garden Intern

 

Save the Date! Farmer’s Formal is Sept. 25

Please join us at a celebration to support Wasatch Community Gardens in our 20th year! Farmer’s Formal, our biggest event of the year, features fabulous auction items, signature cocktails, live music and cuisine from local chefs. Dress classy, casual or creative! This is an event you will not want to miss.

Farmer’s Formal, Fri., Sept. 25 from 7-10 p.m., at the Episcopal Church Center of Utah, 75 South 200 East, Salt Lake City.

Tickets available now – please visit our website for more info.

 

August 23-29 is National Community Gardening Week!

We were very excited to hear today that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has recognized the importance of community gardening by declaring August 23-29, 2009 as National Community Gardening Week!

In his press release, he noted that:

“Community gardens provide numerous benefits including opportunities for local food production, resource conservation, and neighborhood beautification. But they also promote family and community interaction and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Each of these benefits is something we can and should strive for.”

We here at Wasatch Community Gardens have been celebrating the importance of community gardening for 20 years – and we are so glad to see that the USDA publicly recognizing it as well!

Click to read the full press release.

 

Solar Cooking Workshop – Sat., Aug. 22

Instead of avoiding the heat use it to your advantage! Dry, bake, cook or preserve your harvest. Come learn tips, techniques, recipes and guidelines for solar food preparation in this hands-on workshop. Seating is limited; email Krystal Rogers for reservations educator@wasatchgardens.org. Suggested donation $5. Sat., Aug. 22, Historic Sandy Garden, 500 E 8880 S, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

 

Staff Field Trip to Sandhill Farms

This past Monday, July13, a group of five Wasatch Community Gardens staff ladies and friends rambled on over to Sandhill Farms, an idyllic piece of paradise located in the aptly named town of Eden, in Ogden Valley about an hour north of Salt Lake City. We came to have a peek at the farm, take a swim in Pineview Reservoir, and lend a gardening hand to young farmer Pete Rasmussen for the day.

Sandhill Farms is located in a small river valley with deep rich soil and towering mountains all around. Fields of multicolored beets, spring mix lettuce, purple potatoes, and lots and lots of GARLIC are spread over the beautiful property adjacent to Pineview Reservoir. We helped Pete harvest, wash, and package his weekly order of greens for local restaurants in Ogden and Salt Lake City. Pete also has a 40 member CSA for nearby residents, as well as selling at many local farmers markets including the Salt Lake City Farmer’s Market.

After lending a hand for the morning, we sat down to a fresh and eclectic lunch including fresh salad greens, dried cherries, peanut butter/mullberry jam/cilantro/almond sandwiches, and more delicious greens. We were able to spend some time chatting with Pete, who is one of the most enthusiastic and fun loving farmers around. He knows and loves his plants dearly, and you can tell by how beautiful all of his produce is! After lunch, we took a short stroll over to a beach at Pineview and spent a while swimming and enjoying the glory of summer sun and heat. We all would highly recommend a trip out to Eden, to lend a hand, and learn more about one of the best local farmers in Utah.

To learn more about Farmer Pete and his Sandhill Farms, check out his website at www.sandhillfarms.org

Sandhill Farms is also hosting a harvest party dinner called GARLACTICA that will be held at the farm. It will be held on the evening of July 31, 2009 and will definitely involve fun, food, music, and lots and lots of GARLIC!

Also, you can learn a few things from Pete by attending two workshops that he is teaching with Wasatch Community Gardens:

Fall Planting Workshop on Saturday August 8 from 10am-noon at the Grateful Tomato Garden:Want to Harvest fresh greens in February? Now is the time to plan and plant. You’ll learn about cold and hot frames, hoop houses, and more!

Vampire Prevention (Garlic Workshop) on Saturday October 3 from 10am-noon at the Grateful Tomato Garden: Learn the history, importance, and varieties of garlic through this hands-on planting and tasting demonstration!

Now, here are a few photos from our trip, Enjoy!