The saga continues......Keeping a Journal........Agriculture laws

Note: If you are trying to be responsible and do the right thing by gardening, raising chickens etc. It's possible you will have trouble from government officials or neighbors. "A lawyer" will tell you to keep a "Journal" of every incident so you can defend yourself if necessary. We blog to Journal, help others, let the people be the judge, (for they are rightful government), and to encourage people to not give up or give in to bully's, government KGB/terrorist. You are not alone, join groups like the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fundhttp://www.farmtoconsumer.org/, Urban farming.org, http://www.urbanfarming.org/and there are several others, form you own group like God's Lit'l Acre. It takes very little time with big impacts!

          With any government official their goal is to keep the peace "not" for individuals but peace for the "big guys"... the companies and corporations who run the government since most revenue comes from business interest. Don't ever be fooled by the "nice smile" of a government employee, behind those smiles are evil intentions, they are there to destroy your freedoms that come from God.

ugh... well Happy Birthday Michelle from your favorite neighbors, who again, have contacted the county in an effort to eliminate one (or all) of our agriculture structures. Last "red sticker" we received was in the middle of August. We put out a sign explaining our rights with the sticker attached...

We took down the signs and then suddenly the sticker appeared again... ha... it says "possible building without permit, please call to set up a time for us to come inspect..." or something to that effect) So... we've already spoken to the county and we've been cleared 4x... this is getting tiresome but you know you're doing something to make the devil mad when he keeps using people to come at you. We have one theory which is, our big gray building got a HUGE tear right in the top of it about a week ago. We've been trying to contact the company but they went out of business. (go figure).

 We bought the polytunnel from Menard's which said we must contact them by mail..ha... in order to see if they will honor the warranty. Sooo, in the mean time. I came up with what I thought was an ingenious idea, that that was to drape an inexpensive large tarp over it and tie it down to keep things dry in there. Good news: IT WORKED!! Bad news? It seems our temporary fix has awakened the beast in our neighbor to complain again... ( county is only coming out based on complaints)... guessing.. a yes, this is just an educated guess, that mr. tip toe to see into your back yard neighbor has made yet another phone call because well, that polytunnel is giving him a heart attack.

Thank you to all our WONDERFUL neighbors who don't even notice our ag buildings and if you do, you love them!!! smile emoticon We truly don't put up buildings on a whim to anger neighbors!! However, a wall of black bags filled with leaves might be in order....now that will be pretty! ha!

Agricultural Activities in Ohio can be Exempt from Local Zoning

Peggy Kirk Hall, Asst.  Professor, OSU Extension Agricultural & Resource Law Program

Spring brings an increase in agricultural land use activity and with it comes a surge of inquiries about Ohio’s agricultural zoning laws.  Here at OSU, we repeatedly hear a common question from agricultural landowners and local zoning officials:  can zoning regulate this agricultural situation?  That’s a question without a short and simple answer.   A review of Ohio Revised Code sections 303 and 519, which contain the “agricultural exemption” from county and township zoning authority, is the first step toward understanding whether a county or township can regulate an agricultural land use (note that different laws apply for cities and villages).   Here’s a summary of Ohio’s agricultural zoning laws:

Agriculture is exempt from rural zoning authority in many, but not all, situations.   While Ohio law grants counties and townships the authority to utilize zoning, the law limits how much authority these local governments have over agricultural land uses.  Generally, a county or township may not prohibit the use of any land for agricultural purposes in any unincorporated area, with a few exceptions that are noted below.  This exemption applies in any zoning district, whether residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural or otherwise.

An exempt activity must be in the definition “agriculture.”   Ohio agricultural zoning laws apply to “agriculture,” which the law defines to  include:  farming; ranching; algaculture; aquaculture; apiculture; horticulture; viticulture; animal husbandry, including, but not limited to, the care and raising of livestock, equine, and fur-bearing animals; poultry husbandry and the production of poultry and poultry products; dairy production; the production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, flowers, sod, or mushrooms; timber and pasturage.  “Agriculture” also includes activities involving the processing, drying, storage, and marketing of agricultural products if those activities are conducted in conjunction with but secondary to actual production of those products.

Agricultural buildings and structures can also be exempt from zoning authority.   If a building or structure is directly related to an agricultural activity on the same parcel of land, then Ohio zoning law does not allow a county or township to require a zoning certificate or prohibit the construction or use of the building.  For example, local zoning cannot require a zoning permit or prevent the construction of a barn being built for housing cattle or storing farm machinery that is used for farming on the same property.  Also, zoning may not regulate or prohibit any building or structure that is used primarily for vinting and selling wine that is located on land where grapes are grown.

Special rules for farm markets.  Ohio law also says that local zoning cannot prohibit the use of land for a farm market in any industrial, residential, commercial or agricultural zoning district if 50% or more of the market’s gross income is from produce raised on farms owned or managed by the farm market operator.   But where necessary to protect public health and safety, local zoning may regulate the size of the farm market building, parking area size, set back lines and access to the market.  This provision is commonly known as the “farm market 50% test.”

Special rules for on-farm energy production.  Several energy production activities are not subject to local zoning if they occur on land qualified for CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Valuation).  These activities include biodiesel, biomass energy, electric and heat energy production, as well as biologically derived methane gas production of less than five megawatts.

Some agricultural activities can be regulated by local zoning.  There are a few exceptions to the agricultural exemption.  Local zoning may regulate agriculture in the following situations if the parcel of land is five acres or less andis located in a platted subdivision containing 15 or more lots:

• On a lot that is one acre or smaller, zoning may prohibit or regulate all agricultural activities.
• On a lot between one and five acres, zoning may regulate set back lines, height and size of buildings used for agriculture and may prohibit or regulate dairying and animal/poultry husbandry if 35% or more of the lots in the platted subdivision are developed.

Unfortunately, a summary of the zoning statute doesn’t answer all questions about agriculture and zoning.  Look for our future articles for continued analysis of Ohio’s agricultural zoning laws.  For additional zoning information, also see our zoning library, here.

Property Values Verses "Home Value"....and Wonderful Visiting Neighbors.

Recently we've had an extraordinary flow of new, random visitors to God's Little Acre! Whew! Night and day wonderful little people, old(ish) people, teenage people, 20 something folk... have overwhelmingly blessed us with visits full questions asking (and sometimes giving!:) advice about a wide range of

Visits from young farmers Kath, a local new friend  and Chris, who recently completed his appreticeship at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm

farming/homesteading endeavors!!! From chicken coops, blacksmithing, greenhouses...to homemade whole wheat bread, kombucha, keifer, yummy diy chocolate... Praise the Lord! And yet, in the midst of the 90 and 9 that stop by with good intentions and cheerful exciting encouragement to join in our endeavors...there lurks that nasty ongoing burden...it's not even the governmental bodies that have set themselves against natural living... there are those who wish to use and abuse our government to trump the law of nature... So, here we begin our inquiry:

"I say men, for in a state of nature no man can take away my property from me, without my consent. If he does, he deprives me of my liberty, and makes me a slave. If such a proceeding is a breach of the law of nature, no law of society can make it just..." James Otis

Property Values...Home Is Where the Heart Is  

This is kind of a commentary about Property Values but not in the way we traditionally view them in modern America. You see, a home is first a home... a roof over your head, a place of safety, a place to eat and sleep. Home is where people live out their lives. It gets used!  Or, it should!

As you can imagine, (if you've been following along with our saga).... our internal radar is up all the time now. It seems someone is always checking out the window, watching the road for trespassers. We watch to see if the government is driving by with telescopic cameras trying to catch us doing something. If I leave a shovel or rake out past dark my first thought is "am I going to be sited if I don't put it in the shed overnight?" Ugh... Nuisance laws mean they "arbitrarily" think something is wrong in their eyes or someone else's eyes with no moral, ethical, or higher standard or authority other than themselves. 

What is Right or Wrong? For everyone to be treated equally we must have a standard, morals, ethics that we have all agreed upon like the Constitution. It is a covenant between men before God which keeps the peace.

John lock explains "how" the "arbitrary law" *enforcer* is "at war" with the other. It's a hassle having to guard your own home from government or neighbor intruders, trespassers invading your privacy without any legal right to do so! We have a lot of people just stop by who sincerely compliment what we are doing and have lots of question on "how to". We love these spur of the moment visitors, they are very welcome. 

vig·i·lan·te

ˌvijəˈlan(t)ē/

noun

plural noun: vigilantes

1. a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.

It's the visit by vigilantes with violence in their hearts, using aggressiveness, holding clubs with their hands raised high that we have to protect ourselves from.

This is a commentary about Property Values verses "Home Value". A home is first a home. A roof over your head, a place of safety, a place to eat and sleep. Home is where people live.

Home noun

1.the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.

noun

1.a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.

2.the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.

In the last century government forgot it's place. The desire for wealth and money has driven men completely insane. Men will do anything, anything for money, riches. Being wealthy and lusting for money is an individual choice to sin, it is not a "right".

We have a new administrator for our twp. In his acceptance speech or interview with the home town paper he boasted and was proud that he was going to bring in businesses and, in turn, bring in tax revenue!

In America we have homeowners associations, neighborhoods with "laws" to protect property values. But this is an obsession not a "right". It borders on insane. Governments are not in place to protect the value of something. The free market does that. Trends come an go. 

A mansion in the inter city that once was the most expensive house now sells for $19,000. It's letting nature takes its course. No one is guaranteed the value of what they have will remain. Most things lose value. Cars, a radio, equipment, they get old.

Government's rightful place is to protect a citizen's right to live in peace in their homes. Sound minded individuals pass their homes on to the next generation. A home isn't about being an investment but a place to love each other, raise children, live in peace and safety from storms, inclement weather. I do not have to live and be concerned that hanging my cloths out to dry or that if I painted my house purple it is going to lower my neighbors property value. Men do not live to be "people pleasers." Or to be abused and walked all over by the whim of someone else. God calls all men to live their lives pleasing God.

I don't place my time, effort and industry on or into the "value of my home."

I have a different set of Values: I value my life, my happiness, my privacy and my personal freedom, (especially to choose what I value), that owning a house gives me. My home is where I live and love my family. My home protects my most priceless possession: myself and my family.  

My land provides my food. It is a working machine, always busy. It's a place that keeps working while my family and I sleep; it protects us, gives us a feeling of peace and safety.

I value my health and my family's health above all things. What good is money or wealth if you are sick, or get sick and die of cancer from poisonous food. A home is a place where you can be yourself and you don't have to pretend to be someone you're not. A home can provide all that a human being needs to live a happy, successful life with "love" at the heart of everyone's priorities. What good is living if you have no one to love? What good is life if there is no one who loves you?

Government's, like the township's, first priority is to make sure the people feel safe in their community. To make sure the people are healthy and can live in peace.

Governments were never formed or created to "bring" in revenue. The Exception is when tyrants and kings are in power. Governments were never formed to protect a citizen's greed or lust for increasing their wealth, interest, capital gains, etc. Governments were not formed to make sure there are good schools, good roads, salted roads in the winter time, etc. Example: When realtors and homeowners put a home on the market, they work on "curb appeal" to make sure the property looks good to bring insiders in to sell homes etc. Government might have turned into an interior/exterior designer for homeowners to follow but it's not supposed to do that. It's wrong!

Governments are formed to protect people and their families from criminals: from thieves, murderers, cons, violent abusive people, etc. It is designed to bring justice when a crime is committed. The Government and the people are simply lost today. Through God it can all be brought back to serve the needs of happy, healthy, (not wealthy) but abundantly supplied families.

I end with a common theme preached in every New England pulpit before the Revolution... Reverend Stephan Johnson was one such preacher... Referring directly to John Locke, he said that any attempt to take away their natural rights constituted a state of war where the people are free to assume their rights and defend them. "May we not ask," he told his congregation, "who is the aggressor, he that invades the right of free people, or they that defend what is only their own?" --- thanks to Mary Elaine Swanson for her book on John Locke