With a big sigh of relief, I turned in my Conditional Use Permit to the City of Oakland. I’ve been told that it will take 6-8 weeks for them to review my plans, and then I might just be legal. Based on my experiences with bureacracy, I’m sure it won’t be that easy. Oh, and for those wondering, how much did the CUP cost? $2858.13. Holy shit, that’s a lot of money to grow a garden and keep a few ducks. I actually felt like a total ass writing that check. But I know that the wider community raised the money, and the farm has social value over the small amount of money it might bring in. Thanks again to everyone who chipped in their hard-earned dollars and sent words of support.
Frankly, I was just relieved to stop filling out paperwork. Thanks so much to my lawyer, Janelle Orsi who made everything make sense.
Today I was out watering the garden and I actually felt really angry again, not just exhausted, as I have been for the past few weeks. I have a lot more to add, but I think I’m going to keep very very quiet until the process is over and I have my CUP in hand. Look for a call to action around July 4, eh?
The Urban Orchardist 
Your frustrations are felt all around the Bay, hell, all around the country. You have had such a positive impact on so many of our lives. I know that doesn’t quell your frustrations, but your support base is wide and massive. When we get the next two chickens, whichever one is the more badass is getting named Novella. You rock woman!
Thank you for inspiring us all and for blazing this trail.
Do you have to pay that amount annually, or is it a one-time thing?
Good luck with the bureaucracy. I posted a nontraditional photo of Ghost Town Farm with some comments about your situation. The comments I got back are all supportive of your efforts.
congrats!
don’t let those people have any more of your energy – shake off their negative cloud ;>
Hey, woman, knock off the anger. If you are pissed, they have won. Just keep fighting the good fight and know that you have tons of us out here in the heartland rooting for you and your farm! 🙂
Urban Farmer Independence Day!
This is one of those things that seems more like late latent Regonomics than anything really to do with Dellums, the CUP price is total bullshit. But you know the problem with the GOP is once they have a terminator unit in Sacto then they’ll want a Silon upgrade or augment, whomever that might end up being. I’m sorry you had to pay so much, it’s not fair.
Hope it all works out for you. It’s wrong for authorities to demand payment to grow your own food on your own land, but don’t get an ulcer or high BP over it. Hopefully all you have done will help get people informed to change some of these stupid laws and regulations that are on the books. Remember to take a breath and enjoy the garden and all the rest. How are the bees doing, did they settle in and start making honey?
♥
Maybe this will be the end of it. Cudos to your community for helping.
you’re certainly not an ass for writing the check! I hope it all goes smoothly. and I’d be angry, too.
This registered Republican and TEA Party sympathizer loves your book and your cause. Keep fighting the good fight! Thank you for your thank you note, I received it last week and it sits out where I pass by it several times a day.
I hate having that kind of anger…the kind that seeps in when you are quiet for a few minutes! I hope you’ll be able to shake it soon! You did what was needed to carry on right now. In the future, there may be a less invasive way…we all hope. I love the idea of naming a bad ass chick Novella! May just have to have one of those here in Watsonville too! Looking forward to the call for action….
question: is the CUP for growing a garden or keeping a few ducks? it was my understanding that one can still grow a garden on empty lots in oakland. livestock needs CUP. please clarify.
from your previous blogpost:
[begin quote]Water under the bridge, though. I asked the City guy what I should do. Luckily, in two weeks, April 14, the Phase 1 of Oakland’s new urban ag laws will take effect, making it legal to grow vegetables on empty lots. What will still be illegal is my bodacious chicken/duck/rabbit palace–Phase 1 doesn’t cover livestock.
If I want to keep livestock (which I do, very important to have manure for the garden, but also a great source of eggs and meat and happiness), I have to apply for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) which will cost $2500. That’s sucky. If I want to sell produce, I should apply for a business license which costs $40 (no worries). I’m going to do all of this and become so sparklingly legit I can’t be targeted by haters.[end quote]
I loved the postcard you sent, Novella. It’s right on the wall by the phone. My grandchild said, “What’s Ghost Town Farm?”, and so I told her the short version of the story. We agreed that the city of Oakland people are just big meanies. Happy farming, and let us know if you need any more help.
July 4 is a terrific choice for a call to action – especially considering what takes effect on July 3 –
Mary says “Your frustrations are felt all around the Bay, hell, all around the country.” I suspect you can go further than that….I bet I’m not the only one who responded from another country. How far afield are your adoring fans?
Pretty soon, I suspect, the wonderful madness of the growing season will replace that anger.
Cheers Novella
Julie, right after I posted my comment, I thought to myself that this issue probably has surpassed the borders of this country. Thoughtless of me to think otherwise. I bet you are right, you are not the only one who responded from another country.
I’m glad you found a way to survive, in this day and age, your predicament is ridiculous. Where I am, in suburbia, you cant even have 1 chicken, it is such a silly law and made worse by them refusing to change it last year. I live 2 minutes from homes that are classed differently and can have them. It makes no sense.
I’m far away in another country (Wales, UK), but can feel your anger and frustration in recent posts. It’s all about control isn’t it? These wallies in concrete boxes hate it when someone has control of their lives and worse still GROWS THINGS!!! Glad that you have a good solicitor on your side.
Good news about the bees too – I’d be no good with them, as I’m not a calm person by nature – but I like to read about other folk having joy with theirs.
Anger. Yeah. Sometimes it’s better to spit than swallow.
Remember to aim.
I know a thing or two about that anger. Breathe your way through it. Like one writer said, growing season’s coming. I keep your postcard on my desk. Best of luck.
This Republican Grannie sends her support and wants to tell you how much I enjoyed your book. Read it last night and finished this morning.
i’m so glad to find your blog again. i think this is at least the third incarnation. but i am sorry to find you in the midst of so much hassle. i used to live in Oakland (one of my favorite cities!) and had a much smaller but insanely productive garden so your blog fulfills two important vicarious, sentimental functions for me. keep it up.
i really miss your sisters’ blog Garlic Breath. she really inspired me to change the way i ate and cooked. can’t wait til you’re legal and posting regularly again.
Thank You.
OMGOSH you made the San Francisco Chronicle today!!! Titled
Oakland urban farming prompts plan to redo rules . http://xr.com/bca9
“I can raise $2,500,” said Carpenter, whose permit fees roughly equal what she makes per year off her farm. “But what about other people who can’t?” Oakland planning officials said they are about to embark on an ambitious plan to revamp the zoning code to incorporate the increasing presence of agriculture in the city. The plan is to develop rules and conditions allowing anyone to grow vegetables and sell produce from their property without a permit. The Oakland plan would go beyond that of other cities, including San Francisco, because it would also set up conditions for raising farm animals without a permit.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/08/BA7O1J74O5.DTL#ixzz1LpqiacQ7
I am sorry you had to go through these hassles with the City of Oakland and I think it is wonderful that you’ve obtained support here and donations. I have been through some legal “wringers” myself and it’s clear to me that Oakland and many other cities, perhaps most cities, have so many “codes” which badly need to be gotten rid of. Many laws and codes are applied by a blindfolded justice system, blindly, “by the letter of the law” with a blindness to context, motivation, or good intent, and create huge fines/penalties for ridiculously tiny “offenses”, which, as in your case, really aren’t “offenses” at all but virtues! (I’ve heard horror stories, where someone for instance built a retaining wall without a permit, and got fined by the city, ignored the fines, and ended up having to pay $30,000 in permit and late fees….there is no excuse for such extortion on the part of City authorities towards people doing what they want with their own property in a way that hurts no one….)
Here you’ve done such good for yourself (your own health and way of life), your local community (bringing life and vitality and the earth to an often blighted and vegetation-poor inner city environment), and the city and larger community (supporting the whole back to the earth movement and urban farming), and all the City of Oakland can do is come and cite you. The City deserves a slap in its blind letter-of-the law face. Alternatively, perhaps the city needs some education about the value of urban farming. On the positive side, I was happy to read in the SF Chronicle today, where the article on you appears, that at least someone in the Planning Dept is aware of how the city codes are really being misused in this case, as someone is trying to use the city to try to force their own ethics, values and beliefs upon you by trying to stop you from living YOUR values and ethics and beliefs. And more, that the City is actually looking at changing out of date and inappropriate codes to accomodate urban farming. YEA!
I have talked about you and your book to many of my 6th/7th grade students and their parents, and it was one of them who told me about the article in the Chronicle. I hope you are as proud of yourself as so many of us are for you. You are actually being the instrument of change you want to see in the world. Right on to that and to you!
if there’s an urban agriculture political movement in the works can it’s name PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE be the Bee Party?
Excellent article about Novella and the farm in this past Monday’s (May 9) SFGate — find it here http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/09/BA7O1J74O5.DTL comments are interesting as well!
Just want to let you know that you have fans at a small rural Canadian high school, and your book is in our library. I hope this will be a tiny drop of happiness to offset some of the misery of what you are going through.
There are people in a nearby city fighting for the right to keep sort of free-range chickens (a coop at night) in their yards. They want free eggs from happy birds. I hope they win that right.
It burns my butt that the governments allow companies such as Monsanto to do their dirty deeds “legally”, but a dedicated urban farmer has to fight for the right to grow healthy food on her own land. It burns me even more that animals are raised in cages and killed in slaughterhouses with very little concern for their welfare but someone who cares enough to dumpster dive so that her pigs were fed a healthy diet has been challenged. Everything seems to be upside down.
Good luck with this, N, and I hope you get a ton of publicity so that those in power will be too ashamed to try to take away what should be a right for everyone.
What you have is different from what all of us neighbors are experiencing in our quiet residential neighborhood. I would have to agree with you that the City of Oakland does not have clear cut codes/regulations in order. When one buys a piece of property in a residential neighborhood the zoning of that property comes with clear expectations for the land use. While I support Urban organic farming, I do not support having farm animals in residential neighborhoods.
Our neighbors have advertised themselves as the first working farm in Montclair, established in 1918 which included 5o chickens and goats. They are advertising that their property and the adjacent property is 1/2 acre each when in truth each property is less than one half acre.The truth is that the land was owned by the Darmsteads and they built their residential home in 1918 and raised their family there. They owned a sizable amount of property and sold off much of it in their later years. Their property consisted of an apple orchards. The Darmsteads were artists of sorts in that they had a building, that still stands today, that was used for glass blowing. They lived well into their eighties and I saw this property one year after Mr. Darmsteads death. Their property was beautiful and full of natural beauty and looking at it would take one into the quiet peaceful time of the past. Now the goats have eaten it up and the beauty of the original property has disappeared with various chicken coops and structures for the goat milking/cheese making activities. The natural vegetation is chewed up. We live with the barnyard smells and the flies.
We have been subjected to living with a herd of goats that have numbered upwards to ten goats, have had a male goat, and have bred the goats. At the end of March 2011,we all were subjected to listening to one of the goats cry out in agony in the middle of the night, for seven hours, between the hours of 11:30pm and 6:30pm, until the goat died.
Having farm animals comes with serious responsibilities, like being educated on the care of goats, or any farm animal, for starters. How does one advertise themselves as the “educator” when clearly they are only beginning to learn themselves.
All this has been developed without any input or feedback from the surrounding neighbors. We were not taken into consideration.
I have serious concerns when it comes to health and safety issues with keeping farm animals in residential neighborhoods. Every citizen in a densely populated city should have concerns. Because of health and safety issues these activities need clear cut regulations.
I realize that my viewpoints may not be the popular viewpoints, but I would like what I am saying to all of you, to be considered.
The late actor Jimmy Stewart and his wife Gloria had chickens in Beverly Hills, so its not even about having small livestock in a city area, but how said animals are cared for. We have had folks here in the Sierras whose goats, horses, chickens were housed in horrid conditions. And city folks who have back yard flocks of chickens (no roosters), or a couple goats for brush removal shouldn’t have a problem as long as the animals are cared for. At least said animals will have free roam of the area they are in, unlike horse carts in places like NYC where horses have to deal with car exhaust etc. and live in stables with no area to run free.
And when someone buys property in the city they need to educated themselves and ask about Grandfather Laws, since these laws often allow property that has had chickens, goats etc in past decades/centuries to be protected and as such, permit chickens, goats etc. When I have to travel to the bay area I find all the car exhaust, litter, noise etc to be far more of an irritation than the sounds and smells of chickens, goats etc. And if you want to see flies, drive behind some Berkeley, Oakland restaurants and grocery stores. At night you will even see rats.
Oh and any one who hears an animal be it a goat, dog, cat, etc crying out in agony in the middle of the night, for seven hours, between the hours of 11:30pm and 6:30pm, and they dont call animal control out of concern, isnt an animal lover! Would that person sit and do nothing if it were a human they heard?
First of all, the air in our neighborhood is clean , smog free and lovely due to the wind currents….we are truly blessed..and…we plan to keep it that way.. this is where we bought our homes(sorry for the problems addressed in other parts of the city)
this property never had chicken and goats…it’s all a fabrication to market themselves….or to think they could be grandfathered by re-writing history(didn’t think there were teabaggers in our liberal bay area)
animal control was called….no accountability….that’s right..the actual owners were with this goat the whole time(apparently) . and a correction..it was between 11:30pm and 6:30Am….. ..so ARE they animal lovers?? or are they in it for the business. If one wants this kind of home operation, they might consider where they are purchasing the property and if their actions will bring harmony or discord to their neighbors.
BTW: we see more rats now…….
As I noted ‘city folks who have back yard flocks of chickens (no roosters), or a couple goats for brush removal shouldn’t have a problem as long as the animals are cared for’. And I also noted ‘Oh and any one who hears an animal be it a goat, dog, cat, etc crying out in agony in the middle of the night, for seven hours, between the hours of 11:30pm and 6:30pm, and they dont call animal control out of concern, isnt an animal lover! Would that person sit and do nothing if it were a human they heard?’. So obviously the owners are NOT animal lovers! Its why I said ANY ONE.
A year ago I was looking to purchase a ‘cow share’ here in the Sierras where I live and did a web search and found a family nine miles from me and drove by to see the place, and said NO WAY. The place wasnt clean like I wanted a milk cow place to be. Not horrid conditions, just junky. So I went some place else. I do my own vegetable garden, chickens, and use a CSA for items like fruits we dont grow and for meat, and milk and if those places dont allow me to check them out I dont buy from them.
Ms Carpenter keeps a clean place and she allows visitors and isnt hiding anything from what I know. Most cities/towns require chickens as an example to be kept a certain distance from a neighbor, and the area has to be kept rodent/fly free.
But having lived in the bay area where none of the neighbors had any animals outside you still could see rodents in even the best areas.
I am considering what you are saying, and I think that if you live in a residential neighborhood with tiny backyards, your points have merit. Too many farm animals in small yards would be overwhelming and unhealthy.
However, if you live in a yard that is large enough to have coops and animal shelters, I believe you should be allowed to grow your own food and raise animals. Our planet is small, and we need to make effective use of what we have. Although flower gardens are lovely to look at, they do not feed us. And, where I live, they are kept looking lovely by the use of insecticides that end up in the water table and from there in our well water.
As for consulting the neighbors, what would happen if the neighbors said no? Would that really have any effect?
My neighbors live close enough to me that I can hear them talking when they are outside. When the people next to me decided to start raising meat birds, they did not consult me. I cannot imagine why they would. They are not carrying on some horrible/illegal activities. They are feeding themselves. Their birds live a free-range existence and are often on the road in the early morning. I find that adds to my life. As for goats, they are fertilizing the land as well as using it. They are not permanently destroying it. Some people near me have all sorts of animals and many children enjoy visiting and having the opportunity to get up close and personal with a pig.
Of course, not being in your shoes, it is just too easy for me to not really understand what you are going through. Perhaps you live in a very established neighborhood with small yards, sidewalks, stop signs, and curbs.
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I think the days of living in McMansions and owning acres of land that just sit there (aside from preserves, of course) are coming to a close. The recession has made people aware of just how fragile their existence is when they cannot even produce a pea to feed themselves.
Urban farming by ethical people is to be celebrated. These are the people who eschew the use of chemicals. These are the people who would rather cut out a bit of blight than have a perfect carrot full of insecticide. These are the people who are enriching the soil, attracting bees and birds, and using land in a sustainable way.
Unfortunately, as in any group, there will be those who do not behave ethically and will allow an animal to suffer for hours rather than pay to have it put out of its misery. However, let us hope they are the exception. Karma will bite them in the ass. Most of the urban farmers evoke the back-to-the-land movement of the 60s and 70s. Their produce is going into the bellies of their kids–they want the food they grow to be healthy for their kids.
The time will come when those who want to live “in little boxes” with backyards full of grass and flowers will have to live only in gated communities with Residents’ Councils that forbid such things as using the wind to dry clothing, leaving a garage door open, keeping a chicken, or painting the trim on a house in an unapproved color. And you know, if that’s what they want, more power to them. Me, I prefer to hang clothes on the line, keep a few chickens, and enjoy the sight of my neighbor’s free-range meat birds taking a stroll through the neighborhood.
Wow, it just stuns me that the city could be so stupid! Let a block go to ruin, and it’s fine. Tidy it up to grow some food, and suddenly you have to pay a fortune for a special permit?
They should be paying you!
@Dear Neighbors, you have a marvelously extreme view of the options available. Either we’re back-to-the-land, salt-of-the-earth, best-ever-parents, down-to-earth, humble-as-heck, anything-but-pretentious urban farmers saving the world, or we’re stuck-up, shallow, materialistic, busy bodies that can’t be bothered to consider the world beyond our grassy lawns and perfect paint colors. Yikes! I’m awfully glad I don’t live in your world. More importantly, I’m glad these caricatures you describe don’t actually exist anywhere but in your imagination.
All these fans saying how unfair and mean the city of Oakland is for making poor Novella pay to grow vegetables on her own land, aren’t comprehending what’s gone on. Oakland residents can, and do, grow vegetables on their own land without having to pay for a permit. It is not really in keeping with Novella’s community-minded persona to continue allowing folks to perpetuate this myth. She needs a permit to grow food that she sells and profits from because that makes Ghost Town Farm a business. This is a simple matter for all other folks that open businesses in Oakland and cities all over the country. There isn’t any single thing about the CPU requirement that’s novel. The only novelty in this story lies in Novella’s incredulity over being expected to function like the business she is. What’s especially shocking about this situation is her behavior considering prior to this farm, Novella opened another business that required all kinds of special negotiations with the city and state, special permitting, and lots of contracts with lots of legalese. She’s not some bumpkin farmer who hasn’t a clue about starting and running a legal business or dealing with the big bad government meanies. When it comes to Novella’s businesses, she knows exactly what’s expected, required, and how to get it done for the sake of the bigger picture.
As for farm animals in urban, residential neighborhoods, if Novella’s farm was not previously zoned for housing and killing farm animals, then the neighbors have a right to object. If it was zoned for it, well, then she wouldn’t have a problem, so that’s likely not the case. Because Novella wants to raise animals to kill does not mean that her neighbors want her to and she is but one person inside of that community. Because she has a book and a blog and fans, does not make her a more meaningful, valuable, or worthy citizen in her neighborhood. Some of her neighbors may not want the smells of farm animal waste wafting up into their kitchens and bedrooms and baby’s nurseries. Others may not want to hear the sounds the various animals make all day and night. Some, especially the children, may not want to wake on a Saturday morning to the sounds of (what they knew to be) Novella’s sweet, fuzzy, friends crying out in fear and pain as they are cut to pieces in their neighbor’s backyard. Others still may be sick of the attention Novella has brought to their block and the increased traffic that will come with the fully-permitted farm. Of course, plenty of Novella’s neighbors don’t want to share the rodents and insects and predators that her farm animals attract.
Let’s discuss the cost associated with medical care for farm animals. The Oakland animal shelters are overwhelmed with abandoned animals they cannot care for. Budgets have been cut, people are not adopting animals they cannot afford, they abandon sick animals, and the system is stressed to the limits. That’s the current state of affairs. If Novella forces the city of Oakland to allow citizens to raise farm animals, countless hobbyists will rush out and get animals they are ill-prepared to care for. When illness befalls an animal, the city of Oakland won’t be ready with an army of farm-animal veterinarians. The fact is, there aren’t a lot of farm animal vets that have been trained to save animals since farm animals are usually for killing anyway. The shelters will be overrun with farm animals that Oakland’s naive, well-intentioned, but ill-equipped nascent urban farmers will be compelled to rid themselves of when they become too complicated and expensive for urban life.
One last thing to consider about the spread of this urban farming trend in densely populated cities like Oakland is the waste. Just imagine if 50% of Oakland’s population decided to raise goats and chickens and rabbits and pigs. Where would all their waste go? What would happen to the toxic components in the animal’s urine? Would any of it get into the water ways? Would any of it get into a neighbor’s yard? All the things that come out of animals back ends have negative impacts on multiple parts of our already delicate environment. Oakland doesn’t need loads of people without any knowledge of pathogens and their proper handling and treatment, handling a bunch of pathogens.
People can and should feed themselves from their own land. Luckily there are massive quantities of plant foods that folks can grow—especially in sunny, warm Oakland. And, though Novella would never admit to it, it is actually quite possible, and many would say, favorable, to grow fruits and vegetables without animal feces. And luckily, all the people who live in Oakland are currently able to do just that—use their land to grow food to feed themselves and their families. Thank goodness, things aren’t as dire as Novella’s got you all believing.
Oh, and in case anyone from the city of Oakland is reading this. I was in the process of searching for a home and rental property to buy in Oakland. I am now waiting to see how this issue resolves. I will not buy property in a city that will require me to allow tenants to raise and kill animals on my property. I am opposed and I would never ask another tenant to endure all I outlined above. Additionally, I will not risk investing in a home when I know my neighbors could at any time choose to place animals in cages under my bedroom window and/or cut their heads and skin off under that same window. I am nauseated just thinking about it.
Golly gee I hope this ignorant person doesn’t move to my rural area where we have animal urine/waste, smells and noises LOL. Not to mention even in the suburbs if you have a backyard flock of hens they cannot be near a neighbors home. Get informed before making stupid comments.
As for ‘Where would all their waste go? What would happen to the toxic components in the animal’s urine? Would any of it get into the water ways?’. Toxic components in the urine? Like what? And manure is sold at Lowes, HomeDepot. I assume you don’t like your neighbors using this BOUGHT fertilizer in their yard/garden.
I REALLY doubt this person has even considered buying property in Oakland. Hope they don’t let the door hit them in the ass when they leave this group…
Thank the authors write, the share great is perfect.
Here is the Grand Jury’s take on our city government
The Grand Jury report on Oakland Building services starts on page 63 at this link. http://www.acgov.org/grandjury/final2010-2011.pdf
Quote from the report
“The Grand Jury is appalled by the actions of the city of Oakland’s Building
Services Division and its impact on property owners of Oakland. The significant
contradictions between the testimony of Building Services employees and the testimony of property owners and contractors are disturbing.”
I too have come into this issue with the lovely city workers of Oakland. I however have a mortgage. Which they threatened to red tape me out of my own home. I love the city and most of the residents of Oakland. I however have developed a strong hatred towards its city workers. Which few of actually live in our city.
I think I can relate to how you are feeling. I damn near sold all my possessions to buy a little house in the middle of East Oakland. So I can live a honest, simple, and healthy life style.
I think the reason why we get picked on is because they are insanely fucking bored and spend our tax money oh so appropriately. These reasons are certainly why government shouldn’t be so damn big and bossy.
What they don’t take into consideration is the amount of education and resources your putting out there. You show people how cool and smart it is to do things, which would otherwise be considered or maybe frowned upon, by six figure earning people of the bay area.
I’ve read your book. I’ve attended some of your public speakings, I’ve read your blog over and over again. I’ve learned quite a bit from your successes and your errors. And I appreciate you!
Since my experience. I’ve wanted nothing more than my house to burn down. I’ll go back to living in my Jeep rent and tax free. Wake up to a different scene almost everyday. As I did for four month prior to purchasing my house. I have lived in 48 states. Some of which I don’t remember. But it seems as if California is half ass backwards.
My opinion on these self proclaimed vegan liberal hippies is harsh. They remind me of lonely socially inept stokers. Who think in their little worlds are fighting crime on behalf of a unspoken animal. While they putz around in a smog exempt car. That shoots out more pollution than some suburban douche bag in a lifted full size work truck.
Gotta love the hypocrisy in California. Both in the people and its government.
Read the Grand Jury report about City of oakland Building Services Division here
Click to access GrandJuryBuildingServices.pdf
And here http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/28/BAQ91K3C69.DTL