Two and a half years ago now, Bemidjian Sam Kvale’s one hundred chickens were given 24 hours to be removed from Bemidji city limits. This public event helped launch an ongoing dialogue regarding how town-dwelling community members interested in growing their own food could responsibly be permitted to raise laying hens and meat-birds.
What’s happened since then is an inspiring story. Sam, along with Shannon Murray and other community members, began to sit down and work with Bemidji’s city planner Mel Melander. Together, they looked at examples from other communities and began to come up with an effective city policy and process to allow interested individuals the chance to raise chickens in town while still being mindful of the needs of others.
Tonight is your chance to hear the 2.5 year update about this issue! If you’ve been curious about what happened to the famous Bemidji chickens or what’s changed in respect to city ordinances, come down to Sustainable Mondays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Rail River Folk School (303 Railroad St SW, Bemidji)! Join us for a discussion with Sam Kvale and Mayana Rice, Bemidji’s city planner, regarding what’s happened. They will share their story and also field questions about zoning and raising chickens within the city for the first half hour of our evening.
Then, Kelly Larson of Northern Flights Farm will share her workshop on the introduction to the basics of raising healthy chickens for meat, eggs, and feathers. Formerly of Northern Flights store, Kelly has been an active bird-lover her whole life and an educator regarding chickens for over the past five years. She will bring her own birds and cover the basics about breed selection, successful chick brooding, housing, nutrition, predator control, egg handling, butchering and breeding!
We guarantee that everyone who attends will leave inspired to raise their own hens and with a desire to find out more! So, whether you already have your own coop or are curious about what the first step might be to hand-harvesting your own eggs in the morning, tonight’s program is for you! We look forward to seeing you there!
Bemidji Thanks J. Drake Hamilton!
Last Monday night, Fresh Energy’s Science Policy Director J. Drake Hamilton delivered an impressive presentation at Sustainable Mondays. Thoughtful, articulate, and impassioned, J. presented on the history of significant Minnesota legislation that has helped our state become a leader in green energy production and the current challenges that we face in maintaining this leadership. Active in working with energy providers and Minnesota’s Public Utility Commission, J. spoke about the importance of everyone to be informed and involved in dialogue with our energy providers, especially with public comments periods energy utilities are hosting regarding how we want to get our energythat are up and coming.
We thank J. for her inspiration and for anyone who missed the wonderful talk who is interested in notes from J.’s presentation, email Brett (bcease@bemidjistate.edu)
We hope this beautiful snowy day is treating you well and as always, we deeply appreciate your input and feedback. If you have any questions or ideas for programming let us know!
Sustainable Mondays is a partnership program with the Indigenous Environmental Network, MN GreenCorps, Rail River Folk School and BSU’s Sustainability Office
For more information contact:
Simone Senogles, 751-4967, simone@ienearth.org
Brett Cease, 755-3765, bcease@bemidjistate.edu
