Seems to me that everyone lately wants 2 cents into my life. My question is Who are you to tell me what to do with my castle, my body, my life etc.
We live in what I thought was a free country at least last time I read the Constitution. Now a days it seems like the federal government, state governments and even the local governments are trying to tell us what to do.
Lately in the news I've been seeing articles from NYC trying to ban certain types of food, California is another big one on that. It's my body! If I wanna eat a double sized movie popcorn and finish it off with a Big Gulp Slurpee (though I could see no instance where I would want to do that) its my body! Who are you to tell me what to put into it!
However I have seen some outfits on some people that should be illegal in all 50 states!
Now I read about small towns trying to fine and even jail people for non comformist lawns? http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/14/property-maintenance-law-in-new-york-village-may-expand-mayor-says/?test=latestnews
Let's face facts, we are preppers. We are really big on the comformists front. We reuse, repurpose and think outside the box with our properties. My township ticks me off because they have deemed I'm not legally able to have chickens (even though you can have chickens in the city of chicago on a postage stamp lawn) because I don't have 8 acres. Tell me, even free ranging do 3 or 4 chickens really need 8 acres to roam and how the hell do you find them or keep them safe if they are roaming 8 acres?
We grew 200 sq feet of wheat last year. Just an experiment to see if we could and what kind of harvest we would get. To most people that's a eyesore on a suburban lawn. We usually have various projects going on around the farm including wood to spilt, barrels that are being fixed into something new, etc. My point is I bought the property, it's mine. It's MY CASTLE! Who is the town, state etc to tell me what it looks like. Out of respect for my neighbors and myself I try to keep it looking cleaned up and maintained, mowed etc, but there are times when it's not.
My neighbor has flipped out for 3 years because I have no plans to reseal my driveway. Can he report me for that under these new laws? (of course this the neighbor who mows every 2 days, we have a special name in this house rhymes with Rain all?)
I know big rant today, but seriously govt and people should keep their noses where they belong!
Beth - i hear ya! back in the city, neighbours could report you to the by-law office regarding the state of your lawn/yard!!! we kept our front lawn mowed every week, as per ridiculous regs, but on the one side of our driveway, i planted wildflowers some of which grew to 4 and 5 ft - it was to attract butterflies and bees. once the flowers and grasses reached 4ft, we received a hand-delivered violation notice from a by-law officer. i almost lost it! we were given 3 days to mow it all down. it rained non-stop for the next 3 days and you can imagine my horror when a by-law officer showed up on day 4 with 4 teenage kids (summer jobs) with weed-whackers and destroyed my patch of wildflowers!!! arghghghgh!!! i called every gov. office, police, nature groups, etc. that i could think of. it all boiled down to a by-law is a by-law.
ReplyDeletethis incident only resulted in our resolve to get the h*ll out of dodge. rant away, buddy.
your friend,
kymber
It's maddening, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteI have three hens on 1/3 acre in a picky Historic District. They have a fence in back and on one side. The other is a retaining wall they would never jump down from. I have taught them to never go near the road in front. (I throw sticks and pinecones between hens and street.) On 8 acres, I could control them still, but why 8 acres? Is that a magic number? Fight it. There are organizations that will help you. I can find the information if you want to fight/change the laws.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate it Linda there are groups working to get the county to change its views. Basically they are leaving it up to individual towns, but since we aren't in a town proper but live in a township (rural thing) we fall under the counties rules. I say (insert bad words here) I'm gonna have chickens anyway neighbors on sides of me don't care and one across the way even has 4 chickens of her own. We swap teas and produce for her eggs.
DeleteYour text is so small I can barely read it.
ReplyDeleteBumped the text size up a little bit hope this helps.
DeleteBeth, at some point we have to stand up and defy the stupid laws (which I do) this is one of my pet peeves as and have been spouting off on my blog as well. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI defy alot I guess. People tell me all the time I can't forage in National or state parks. I just raise my eyebrow and tell them it was my land first, government stole it. That usually shuts them up.
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