Mainely Cochrans in Presque Isle

On Tuesday night Tim and I will be going before the Presque Isle zoning board to fight to keep our chickens. Unfortunately we have one very vocal neighbor who appears to hate anything chicken and has been bending the the code enforcement officer's ear multiple times over the last year. Because of her insistance that she has become ill from our chickens (200 feet away from her apartment) and her threats to "hire a lawyer and go to the newspaper!" he decided to tell us to get rid our feathered ladies. We've hired a lawyer to help represent us.

Needless to say, I am very upset about this. We (especially Jeremy) love the eggs. I also love their poop which has made my garden the best it has ever been this year. Denise loaded up some pictures or our set up, a few of our girls, and my garden from early in the summer.

Here is my proposed statement I plan to read to the board:

Good evening. My name is Mari Cochran, and I am the owner of 65 Dyer St, the property often referred to as the old Moscowitz house. My husband, Tim, and I believe the keeping of chickens in the city supports a local, sustainable food system by providing an affordable, nutritious source of protein through fresh eggs. The keeping of chickens also provides free, quality, nitrogen-rich fertilizer; chemical-free pest control; animal companionship and pleasure; weed control; and less noise, mess, and expense than dogs and cats. We purchased our lovely old house, in part because of the large piece of land it sets on—1.4 acres, one of the largest in Presque Isle. There are no houses or residential properties abutting the back yard, but instead, other large grassy areas, or a very large parking lot. When I retired from the Air Force, we moved here in large part because of my memories of my wonderful garden when I was stationed at Loring Air Force Base in the early 1990s. As I have matured, I have found gardening, and specifically organic gardening, to be my passion. Over these last few years, my husband has built me a lovely area of 31 permanent raised beds and two grow houses. We have compost bins, but it has been difficult to accumulate enough organic matter to adequately feed a garden of this size. In years past we have had dump loads of manure, but in addition to be rather smelly, I found this often seedy. And getting my husband to get enough manure for my garden was tough. I am speaking of my garden so much because setting up the chicken coop with my lady hens is an integral part of my garden plan. Chicken waste aged with the pine shavings bedding produces the near perfect compost with a 20 to 1 carbon to nitrogen ratio. As illustrated in the “How to Make Compost” from Mother Earth News, my coop is next to the garden. The hens love the kitchen scraps, and many of the waste portions from my garden—radish or turnip greens, the ends of broccoli and other cruciferous plants, to name a few. The city of Presque Isle, with the Pay as you Throw garbage system has challenged the residents to reduce waste accumulating in the land fill. With our hens, we have virtually no kitchen waste going into our garbage bags, the exception being bones from meat. The chickens get first pick of our wastes, and the rest goes to the worm farm in the cellar, or out the enclosed composter.

The second major point behind our desire to raise chickens is for the health benefits of pastured chicken eggs. As a physician with my own private business on Main Street, every day I hear patients complaining of ailments that were basically unheard of or very rare when I was in medical school in the 1980s. Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Asperger’s and Autism spectrum disorders, mitochondrial disease, as well as the rise in many cancers have become a plague on our society. The cause behind many these diseases are as yet unknown. I have very definite concerns about the rise in use of chemicals in our food supply to include, preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, dyes, pesticides and herbicides and what they may be doing to our bodies. I have a strong desire to protect my two teenage children and to offer them the safest food supply that I can realistically. We work very hard to limit prepared foods and dyes from coming into our home. Our pastured chicken eggs are hormone, antibiotic, herbicide and pesticide free. Their waste is also chemical free, so I know what is going into my garden. In addition, studies show that chickens living in the traditional backyard-pastured set up have much greater in the essential omega 3 fatty acids—much more heart healthy as opposed to warehouse raised chickens which produce eggs with higher omega 6 fatty acids. As a mother and a physician, I would never expose my family or neighborhood to a potential hazard. Instead of forcing us to give up our chickens, I believe our backyard chicken coop/garden set up should be used as a model for a much healthier lifestyle.

How do you weigh in with neighbors keeping chickens in their backyard?

A few days ago I returned home from my fourth trip to Seoul, South Korea to visit my daughter, Stephanie, and her family. I arrived on the 11th, just hours after she gave birth to her daughter, Emmalyn Elizabeth Puffenbarger, "Emma" for short.

I found my way from the airport to the airport bus 6030, to the Capitol Hotel, and then walked to my daughter's home where my grandson, Marc was waiting with a babysitter. The babysitter went home and quickly I was thrust into "grandma duty" - assuming primary care of this silly little boy that began entertaining me immediately.