One fine balmy day almost two years ago, readers of a certain neighborhood weekly near the southwestern edge of Lake Michigan opened up the latest edition to find this:
Moah's Ark Urban Farm Sprouts Life in Empty Lot
ROGERS PARK — After [name deleted to protect privacy] converted her old Chevy truck into a chicken coop behind her single-family home on [address omitted to protect privacy], she purchased an empty lot one building over and started an urban farm called Moah's Ark.
"[The lot] has been sitting here empty for a long time, so I think everyone had their little fantasy of what they could do with it," said [name deleted], wearing overalls in front of a temporary greenhouse filled with basil and tomato seedlings.
The rest of her farm, at [address deleted], nestled between two-flat apartment buildings, has been a work in progress since [name deleted] and her husband purchased the property two years ago for $125,000.
Near the street, [name deleted], layered twigs, logs and other plant debris — dropped off by neighborhood landscapers — to create a long-lasting fertilizer base.
She said it'll be 15 years before the debris completely breaks down, but in the meantime, she hopes to plant apple trees and other permanent crops to
create a small orchard. By the alleyway, she has plans to build a 20-by-40-foot barn.
[name deleted] describes the farm as her "brick-and-mortar retirement plan."
"I'm going to sit on my rocking chair under the eaves of my barn and talk to my chickens," the [age deleted]-year-old said. "I'm really into this for the solitude."
Her 10 chickens live behind her house and split their time between bobbing around the backyard and laying eggs in the Chevy truck.
The former art student, who sports a few dreadlocks in her short, white hair, raised five kids in [neighborhood deleted]. [name deleted] said she grew up in [name of town deleted], where as a child she gardened with her dad.
Now she spends every day working on her farm — although she's quick to point out that she doesn't fit a crop-tending stereotype.
"I'm not one of those 4-o'clock-in-the-morning farmers," she said. "I sleep too much."
Her neighbor's reactions toward the urban farm have been mixed, she said.
"It runs from they think I've completely lost my mind this time to this is the coolest thing [they've] ever heard of," she said.
[name of neighbor deleted], [age of neighbor deleted], has lived next door to the lot for [number of years deleted] years with her husband and four children.
"[name deleted] has been so gracious," she said. "She's done quite a bit to revitalize the land."
[name of neighbor deleted] said the lot had been unkempt before [name deleted] took over, and she's happy that her kids can see something not usually done in an urban environment.
"Living in a big city like Chicago, they go to school and tell their friends — and they don't believe it," she said. "We love it."
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Never let a primitive allege franksolich isn’t respectful of privacy.
Anyway, this folks, is the Top DUmmie of 2014; the cream of the crop, the sans peer, the ne plus ultra, the außergewöhnlich, the extraordinario, the eccezionale of Skins’s island this past year--the unsurpassable Big Mo, the “mopinko†primitive.
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Big Mo’s about 60 years old, having subtracted a few years for the newspaper reporter, with a soon-to-be-ex-husband and three daughters.
She got into deep doo-doo with the primitives earlier this year:
mopinko (42,800 posts) Fri Jun 13, 2014, 01:29 AM
This message was self-deleted by its author
This message was self-deleted by its author (mopinko) on Sat Jun 14, 2014, 09:55 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.
537 replies, 24273 views
But fortunately, the DUmpster, always performing a public service for the Good of Humanity, had saved what’d been erased over there:
mopinko (41,302 posts) Fri June 13, 2014, 01:29 AM
well, i narced out my tenant. leaving the kids home alone while she works.
not a bad person. a home health aid. single mom with 2 sweet boys.
works the graveyard shift and has gone through several roommates to have
someone there while the kids are sleeping.
but i know that she has no one now most nights.
then she comes home and sleeps, while the 5 yo is stuck in the house with the shades down.
and she has had the gas turned off since march, meaning no hot water and no cooking gas. i have tried to hook her up with some help, but she is pretty, well, not working it.
microwave cooking, period.
plus, she is just not a good mom. i try to get her to let the little one hang out with me, and she just wont let him.
so, of course, the usually not there roommate turned out to be home tonight when i called the cops to report them home alone.
but she backed me up, and told them that she was leaving at 6, and mom did not get off till 7.
they said they couldnt do anything, but i made it clear that i expected to see the there at 6 am.
sarge is still sitting in front of the house, tho, and talking to dcfs.
fun times. great to be a property owner!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025090842
http://conservativecave.com/index.php?topic=96622.0
After initial kind words from CaliforniaPeggy, it turned pretty sour for Big Mo pretty quickly, the primitives ganging up on her. And her good pal Skippy, betraying a lack of masculine gallantry, took a Hell of a long time coming to her defense.
If one wants the full version, it’s miles and miles long, but it’s well worth the time. For the Reader’s Digest condensed version, the thread here in the DUmpster’s recommended.
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And there was this going on too:
"farmin' with Big Mo"
http://conservativecave.com/index.php?topic=96639.0
“an open letter to mopinkoâ€
http://conservativecave.com/index.php?topic=98511.0
franksolich
Scourge of the Primitives
Posts: 48171
an open letter to mopinko
« on: October 08, 2014, 12:10:36 PM »
Hiya, mopinko, Big Mo!
How’s it hanging, Sweets?
(http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad335/photoatcc/misc/mp9_zps351fec64.jpg)(http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad335/photoatcc/misc/mopinko9_zps61db432b.jpg)
Alas, it doesn’t look as if things are going particularly well for you at the moment, Sweets, given all your problems with the housing and zoning authorities in Chicago.
However, I urge you to be of good cheer; it’s through adversity that one learns, and prospers.
But Sweets, dear, I continued to be utterly mystified about something. This reminds me of your late colleague grouchy old Don, “NNN0LHI,†who was constantly thwarted by the machine in his attempts to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Grouchy old Don had supported the machine all through his adult years, and perhaps supposed that if he took care of the machine, the machine would take care of him.
Yeah, right.
In grouchy old Don’s case, he learned a certain lesson far too late in life.
Now Sweets, when are you going to get around to seeing the light; that your unconditional and unceasing support for a corrupt Democrat machine, is exactly, precisely, the root cause of your problems?
The machine cares about only itself and its operators; it doesn’t give a damn about common ordinary average run-of-the-mill citizenry trying to express themselves in their pursuit of harmless activities, in your case, attempting urban agriculture.
And if the machine can make money off of harassing people such as yourself, it will.
Sweets, you’ve got to consider voting the machine-free straight (R) ticket this November.
Otherwise, your world’ll never change.
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To make a long story short, it was too much to expect Big Mo to vote non-machine this past election; she pulled the lever for the straight (D) ticket.
Some people got only themselves to blame for their problems.