Hey, guys!
Today I attended the Backyard Chicken Caucus. Don’t giggle. What sounds like a cute thing is a legal group formed during Covid on Facebook to change the law.
The backstory is as follows. There are many “backyard farmers” in the state. The first thing that comes to mind is someone who has a large garden or chicken coop. Citizens grow vegetables and chicken in small sustainable spaces. It turns out that in Baltimore County, you can’t build a chicken coop if your yard is less than 1 acre. It turns out there are hundreds of backyard chicken coops in Baltimore County that don’t meet that requirement and are closed or at risk of being closed. (Incidentally, most of these sheds are for eggs, or as the group calls it, “farm, not table.”)
This is Chelsea Armstrong.
Bored during lockdown, she started talking to others about her chicken coop hobby. They decided to band together and enlisted the help of Eric Romboy, a friend of the group who was a state employee at the time and understood the legislative process. (He is pictured with Chelsea, another organizer Kim Beard, and her daughter Ella.) They joined forces to change the law in Baltimore County, and now the 10,000-sq.-ft. If you have a garden, it is legal to have a chicken coop on your property.
And the amazing thing that happened on WJZ at 9 o’clock this morning was that no one had ever met in person, it all happened online. I think it’s pretty cool. If you try hard enough, you can move mountains. In this case it’s the county. (Incidentally, it is estimated that there are thousands of home chicken coops in the state!!) For more information, please visit his website, which was set up by a Facebook group. You can follow us. We’ll tell you all about starting and raising your own chickens and coop.
It’s Friday, everyone! TGIF is 1000% true. K2 and I want everyone to find something fun to do, stay safe, and enjoy a relaxing Sunday morning watching the Ravens.
Marty B!