apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just devoured this article, thanks!

Interesting, but this story bugged me on a lot of levels. First, he seems to have missed some of the points of the Eat Local movement.

Eat locally helps the local economy. Your money goes to your local farmers and out of the hands of giant corporations who use suspect practices to grow their animals/food. Your local farmers are very likely 100% invested in their crops and depend on their crops as a source of income. Eating locally also encourages the farms to stay and not get bought out by land developers and those big corporate farms.

Second, the rabbit incident can only be described as woeful neglect. In trying to envision how maggots can overtake a rabbit, I've come to the conclusion that he must've had them caged very low to the floor so that failing to remove their feces on a regular basis would have them sitting on it. The bowl issue could've been resolved with exterior mounted water bottles. And the heat issue couldn't be resolved because he put them in a garage...in the summer. I imagine it could get stifling in there. My family kept rabbits for several years in the Texas heat and never a lost a rabbit to the issues he described.

Third, did he even consider how his family would survive the winter? The bounty of his "farm" probably would have lasted only a few months at best.

Fourth, he was just a bad neighbor. Between the smell and the sounds of chickens, I would've started looking through my homeowner's association bylaws or the deed restrictions to find a way to force him to remove the animals. Livestock need space for more reasons than just room to roam!

I agree about the rabbits, that neglect bothered me as well. However, I think he mentioned that his goal was to feed himself for a month, not his family.

Everytime I see that cover I am irritated that it's not the excellent community farming project (also in Red Hook Brooklyn) run by http://added-value.org/

They sell produce to local restaurants, and at the farmer's market on Saturdays. It's not trendy, it is sustainable, and it's not a me-me-me localvore-du-jour setup.
http://added-value.org/initiatives.php#urban-agriculture

I think that rather than diving headfirst into this project with a self-imposed deadline, maybe Manny should have joined the Added Value project for a year. Then planned his farm along with a network of support they could have provided.

I understand learning curves, but I think with animal care it is best to avoid mistakes that others can show you how to avoid.

I was surprised there was no book deal announcement at the end of the article :)

I like Cathy's take on it at Not Eating Out In New York.

interesting blog, "Not Eating Out in New York."

As far as the urban farming experiment goes, sometimes people can be overly ambitious and not have the experience to be successful. I myself went through that this year with my balcony garden. I dove headfirst into something that I didn't have much experience with. I lost a lot and gained a little and am wiser from the experience. Next year, I'll know what things will work and what will not.

But this guy! What the hell was he thinking? Animals and crops in his backyard? I have to say that there must be a slight bit of arrogance on his part to think that he could take on such responsibility (especially with living creatures) and be able to handle it without any experience or help.

It seems like he didn't give enough respect to something that takes a whole set of learned skills. I work in restaurants and I see the same thing with owners who open restaurants because they always loved food and cooking. But without the skills and knowledge that it takes to run a successful restaurant many of these people end up failing.

Maybe if there weren't animals involved I wouldn't feel like this experiment were such a big deal.

art, matt, verily
really a pleasure to read your comments here
:)

I happen to be a Brooklyn container gardener too
This was a good year for Asian herbs -- rau-ram, shiso, Thai basil, and a ton of chile peppers.
No rabbits harmed (although a few mental daggers thrown at the squirrels...)