{"id":328,"date":"2025-07-16T05:21:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2025-08-10T10:04:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:04:35","slug":"the-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/the-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"The Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The most popular book in our house right now is “Go, Go, Tractors!<\/a>“. In fact, every other book is tied for number two. We are using “Go, Go, Tractors!<\/a>” to try and teach someone to talk. We point to the pictures and repeat words like “cow” and “silo” over and over again. I am looking forward to the day when our family is out driving down Dairy Road, and my little pupil points at this scene –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and shouts “silo!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my biggest fears is that those silos will be gone before I ever get to hear that shout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There seems to be some confusion regarding my position on agricultural land around Fairhope, so let me be clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t want Baldwin County to lose another square foot of farmland to development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers struggle with bad weather, market volatility, high taxes, children who grow up and leave, and a million other heartaches that would break most other people. We should support them any way we can. Go to our Farmer’s Market<\/a>, buy local<\/a>, and learn about groups<\/a> that<\/a> are trying<\/a> to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is not much farmland within the city limits of Fairhope, so the Council does not have a whole lot of control over this issue. But we are not without power and influence. I will gladly be a voice and a vote for protecting the rural character of this corner of the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, in the Napa Valley, the minimum parcel size to build one house on agricultural land is 40 acres<\/a>. That’s some serious preservation. I’m not sure how well that would go over here, but I’m willing to push hard for a debate and see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may or may not be true that these views are extreme. I guess we’ll find out on Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(UPDATE) How could I forget B&B Pecans<\/a>? Another Fairhope institution that deserves our business. My apologies. Their pecans make a great icebreaker<\/a> if you ever have to meet with the Mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most popular book in our house right now is “Go, Go, Tractors!”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t