Who knew, three years ago when I suggested that we get chickens for my daughters 4th birthday, that we were part of the trend!
I just wanted to give my kids an experience that I KNOW most of the rest of the world shares; that life doesn't necessarily revolve around the grocery store.
Living in the middle of a residential neighborhood seems an unlikely place to have a small flock UNLESS you have HAD chickens before. Quickly, many a neighbor stopped to admire the hens, 'the girls' as many small flock owners lovingly refer to them. As I suspected, people from the Midwest States or from other countries would reminisce their connection to chickens. Having chickens and a garden are standard procedure, just about anywhere else in the world.
None the less, I enjoyed my neighborhood celebrity status, until recently. Turns out someone nearby has a goat and I saw a woman with a pig at the park in the next neighborhood over! I'm not sure if she plans to make a freezer full of ham hocks and bacon with what I am sure is a beloved pet, but I am hoping the gal with the goat is getting creative with the milk, or at least has a lawn to mow.
I too, am trying to mentally prepare for trading in the pet names for something more practical such as, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I DO want to be true to what I feel is the nature of having chickens. Treat them lovingly, give them space, bugs, and grass. Enjoy and give thanks for the delicious eggs they give us, and complete the circle to the dinner table. I am not a vegetarian, though a vegetarian diet is my staple. I buy chicken to eat (not just ANY chicken mind you). Why WOULDN'T I eat the chickens from my back yard?
Because it is near impossible if you don't LIVE in that circle! Oh, what to do...?
I haven't really seen much in the way of eggs in months, long before the light started to fade - a natural indicator to chickens to taper off their egg production and keep the energy for their own body during the winter months.
So, I guess it is that I start this blog with the moral dilemma - to dine or not to dine?
On a side note - I had to create this blog after visiting with friends for what is always dinner par excellence. The kids had eaten and excused themselves to play (I like to think that they used their manners instead of just bolting from the table, but those things get blurry in retrospect), the kid's leftover bits were referred to as 'mompost,' lest any of the extraordinary edible vittles be lost before their time!
So here's to urban farming, good food, good friends, healthy kids, and working together to change the linear resource thinking of the dominate paradigm. 'Working' from the heart & home.
Peace,
Lesley Sue
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