Small Flockers Blog is gaining traction

We are slowly gaining interest in our Blog and the issues discussed here.



  Keep up the good work of passing the word.  Most of us have a long list of friends in our email address book.  DO any of them eat chicken?  Perhaps they'd be interested to learn why they pay so much for chicken.

Some recommended actions to help spread the word:

• Sign our on-line petition (link in right column)
• Follow us on Twitter (link in right column)
• Share our posting on Facebook to your Friends (link in right column)
• Tweet one of our postings (link in right column)
• Subscribe to our RSS Feeds (link in right column)
• Add us to one of your Google+ Circles (link in right column)

• Recommend us on Google+ (link in right column)
• Email your friends a link to this Blog, and your recommendations to read and learn.

For those more mathematically inclined, we are doing exponential growth in the viewers of this Blog, as we must do at this stage of our life.

When dealing with exponential growth, "doubling time" is a useful concept.  Doubling Time is the time taken to double the measured quantity.  This is how bacteria grows, not that I'm comparing this Blog to a growing slime in the corner of somebody's shower stall.

The following graph shows this Blog's doubling time:



So far, we have almost had 10 doublings in the 13 days that this Blog has been alive.  Very quick out of the gate we were, at a hyper geometric growth rate (ie. an exponential of an exponential).  We have now settled into our steady pace for the marathon, currently adding 0.1 doublings every day.  To me, that's pretty good.

For this Blog to touch the lives of 8.4 million people (ie. the number of eligible voters in Ontario), we need 23 doublings to occur.  At our current instantaneous doubling rate of 0.1 doublings per day, we will need another 130 days to add an additional 13 doublings (23-10)/0.1= 130

That aggregate total of 23 doublings in another 130 days equates to a interim finish date of July 5, 2013  We'll see if we can keep up this exponential growth rate until then.  Press on, my faithful Blog Hounds, we have work to do!

For all of Canada, we'll need 35 doublings, which is 250 days at our 0.1 doublings per day, finishing on Nov. 2, 2013 at our current rate.

See, that's not impossible.  It can be done, and it won't take the rest our our lives to accomplish.  The light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel.

Keep moving, don't ever stop.

We're Not Alone

They want us to think we're all alone.  That's called "Divide & Conquer"

I hope their plan fails in that respect.

Just like the Arab Spring, we have the Internet.

There are people who are watching what happens, and telling others about it.

Check out some of our friends and faithful scribes who are reporting the significant happenings:

http://agri007.blogspot.ca/   Jim Rohman has been a reporter on everything Agriculture for more than 30 years.  He has been doing his Blog for almost 3 years.  When I discovered Jim last week, and saw his postings, I realized that was the way to go.  I've been feeding Jim my info, and he has faithfully worked overtime to include some of it in his daily postings.  Thanks Jim!

Last night, I read a very interesting report on Canada's Supply Management systems, sponsored by the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario ("CFFO")   http://www.christianfarmers.org/images/discussiondocuments/smjw12.pdf   Since they commissioned the report written by the consultant they hired, then had nerve enough to post the report for all the world could see, they must have a stake in the game.  I read the report and learned a lot.

Neither the consultant of the above report, nor CFFO want to destroy Supply Management.  I don't necessarily want to destroy it either.  They feel, and I agree, that the system is not perfect.  I believe that any imperfect system must be willing to change for the better.  I also believe that Supply Management is not a right, it is a public trust, and must be run for the greater good of the public, not to create nor benefit special interest groups at the detriment of the public.  Recommended reading.

Pat Learmonth is a Director at Farms at Work.  http://farmsatwork.wordpress.com/  She recently shared with me that her organization feels, "...that supply management in and of itself is not the problem. It is the WAY that it is being applied that makes it impossible for mixed farm producers/pastured producers (and anyone outside the big barn system) to participate. Including the fact that the market has determined the value of quota and is therefore driven by forces that are not relevant to non big-barn production methods. As a result it is entirely inaccessible to the non-privileged, and there are no other options provided.

The concept of supply management is not all bad, has protected Canadian producers from dumping from the US in various commodities for years and could be viewed as relating to food security ie ensuring we are producing what we eat."

Practical Farmers on Ontario's small flock exemption campaign http://www.practicalfarmersontario.ca/small-flock-campaign.html has been going for about a year now.  Sean McGivern has been very helpful and supportive.  I believe we have similar, complementary approaches to the same problem.

Sustain Ontario http://sustainontario.com/small-flock-exemptions has been busy for a while on the locally produced, sustainable, and affordable food issue.  I think they make a great partner to work with the Small Flock Poultry Farmers.  See their Flocking Options website as well, their on-line petition, and MPP postcards, it all helps:   http://sustainontario.com/small-flock-exemptions

Eat Local Sudbury http://www.eatlocalsudbury.com/ has been busy for some time encouraging the 100 mile diet, as well as a retail store to showcase those local products.  They have had to import chicken from Southern Ontario because of the chronic shortage of locally grown chicken.  They now have a campaign We Want Northern Chicken that is trying to gain awareness, and solutions.

I got a call from Susan Mann at Better Farming magazine http://www.betterfarming.com/homepage  Susan did an article on the launch of my struggle over a year ago, and came back for a second helping with my re-launch.  Since they are the medium with the largest farming circulation, they should be able to aid in us getting the word out.  Susan just posted an article summarizing my CFO complaint at http://www.betterfarming.com/online-news/manitoulin-island-farmer-takes-chicken-farmers-task-small-flocks-policy-11744

That's all for now, I've got to get to bed.  If you know anybody else, send me your suggestions.