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Backyard Eggs for a Healthy Woodcreek

As COVID-19 unfolded, and I began to see the shortages of toilet paper and eggs, it got me thinking. If the pandemic has showed us anything, it is how fragile our food networks are. You need a strong immune system and that requires nutritious food, clean air, water, and sunshine. So I have expanded my raised beds and now consider them Victory Gardens. I’ve looked around my yard and considered what more I could do with my sunny spots: Is there space for one more fruit tree?

All this has given me a sense of being one step closer toward comfort, self-sufficiency, and independence.

Now, I’m thinking about eggs. But I live in the City of Woodcreek, which has an ordinance that does not allow backyard hens. The City should allow citizens the ability to create a sense of security when it comes to food production. So I did some research and had some online chats in “chicken groups,” and they all pointed to the idea of starting a petition to help move the City to take up the issue.

“Find others in your community who see the value in this effort” was a common comment.

A list of some positives for backyard hens includes, fresh organic eggs with greater nutritional value, educational value for children and adults, free fertilizer for garden beds, reduced food waste (chickens love table scraps), fewer pests (they are bug eating machines), and therapy and entertainment value. Hens could also build a better sense of community. As with gardening, we often share bounty harvests with our neighbors. The consensus is three egg-laying hens for every two members of your family.

I believe cities should encourage and allow their citizens to raise a few hens, build a garden, and grow as much clean food as possible.

I looked at other cities ordinances that allow backyard hens. I found many consistencies. Not surprisingly, NO ROOSTERS was on top of the list. Besides, you don’t need a rooster to get hens to lay eggs.

So I created a SAMPLE ordinance to begin the conversation and put it into a petition.

If you are a resident of the City of Woodcreek, please consider reading and signing this petition. You may be unopposed or very supportive to the idea of allowing your neighbors the ability to raise a few hens in their backyard, or want to raise some hens yourself.

Normally, I would go door to door with a petition to ask people to sign it, but during this crisis, I decided that the best way would be to create an online petition. And then present it to the Woodcreek Council.

Here is the online address for the petition: http://chng.it/5wG7ZJG6

Please consider it, and share it with your Woodcreek neighbors. If you want to take one further step, consider writing the Mayor and Council, and ask that it be added to the agenda.

Here are their official email addresses:

[email protected], [email protected],aurora. [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

Thank you,

Chrys Grummert

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054