Day 170
Let me tell you about my friend Anne. Anne is not a big walker. In fact I am pretty sure Anne hates walking. When I meet her for coffee up the block at the Bluestone Cafe, Anne drives. When she comes down the block for dinnerc cocktails at my house, yes, folks, SHE DRIVES.
But what Anne does do is raise chickens…bake her own bread…tear out her own kitchen cabinets, ceiling, and floor, and rebuild themherself, by hand, from the ground up. Anne even cleans her own house. (Yes, I can hear the gasps all the way from California!)
You might think Anne sounds like an earthy-crunchy Birkenstocks+granola-with-a-chainsaw kind of gal. And she is. But she also is definitively NOT. When I describe her this way — OK, Anne, you bake your own bread, have a mixed race family, are raising your own chickens and remodelling your kitchen yourself — Anne says, that is so not me you are describing, that is some other woman.
And Anne has a point. It would be equally correct to describe Anne thus: OK, Anne, you make a damn fine Cosmo and a fabulous Vodka Gimlet, you’re fluent in French, you’re really really smart and can always translate the minutiae of Washington to me, you commuted back and forth to Paris when you were working in the financial industry, you’re very savvy even though you can’t remember people’s names, and you have a lot of very cool shoes — surely Anne would say YES, yes, that is me.
In fact, Anne is so savvy and current, what she’s doing in her own yard has been twice chronicled upon the altar of all that is cosmopolitan and cool — first in the Business Section and more recently in the Sunday Magazine(!) of the New York Times in a piece cleverly titled “The Femivore’s Dilemma.”
But Anne, kid, you’re not in Paris anymore. That we can say with absolutely certainty. And if you don’t believe me, we can walk outside and ask the chickens.
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This reminds me of my 7 year old daughter pleading with me to get chickens and my refusal due to the fact they would scratch up my flower beds. One week later she is back to announce she has found a type of chiken that doesn’t scratch – furry footed chickens!!! Yes she is animal mad and from the time she could crawl she has been a sponge for all information concerning them.
Good for her! I was just talking this morning about having chickens and goats. I would love it!
Have you checked into guinea fowl? They do not scratch up the flowers, they eat bugs…like japanese beetle larvae, and their “poop” is more like rabbit pellets than slippery yuck.
I won’t raise any livestock in my urban neighborhood, but I have plenty of rats roaming the streets, and pigeons flying overhead, and the occasional homeless guy resting on my front steps, or passed out in front of my garage!
Would I raise chickens in my backyard? Our city just updated the law for chickens in our backyard from five hens – no roosters – they are not needed anyway for eggs - sorry, guys to five hens and five chicks… My daughter and I bought five chicks of various kinds, leghorn like the cartoon, black one, Rhode Island Red, one is colored like a Quail and one lays colored eggs – blue, green.. So much for their scientic names.
Would I raise chickens in my backyard? Our city just passed a law that changes the law from five hens – no roosters – they aren’t needed for eggs anyway – “Sorry, guys” – to five hens and five chicks. My daughter and I bought five chicks of various kinds – one is a leghorn like the the cartoon, another is black, one is a Rhode Island Red, one is colored like a quail, and the unique one lays colored eggs – blue, green.. So much for scientific names. They had to be kept warm at first, so we put them in a cage with a “mechanic’s light.”
It is hilarious to watch them. My great-grandchildren named them Biggy, Pumpkin changed to Peanut, Two are their names and ours is Bossy. Bossy lives up to her name and tries to rule over the others – first to fly on top of the cage. Biggie is a racer – squats down and takes off on a “dead run” across the floor…. When it is warmer, we will move them to a shed in the backyard which has electricity. We have bought a small farm, but they will be in the backyard until we are able to be there…
My daughter works full-time at an engineering company, and I retired two years ago after working for 38 years. I changed careers after twenty years and at 48 years young, started working for a day planning comany which was a turning point in my life… At 55, I was hired by a health insurance company doing spreadsheets, reports..
ddianelockard@aol.com Blogspot.com “Is Your Bag Packed?” Traveling and lifelong learning
Diane – thanks for your update! Anne’s chickens all have great names, the fanciest one with an elaborate comb is Antoinette (as in Marie). I can distinguish her eggs from the others, and believe they are the tastiest. I couldn’t believe i was eating chocolate bread pudding made from eggs laid by chickens that I knew by name!
I was raised on a farm in Montana, but we didn’t name our chickens. We named our cows…
When I was in high school, I was so mad at Betsey. I had my “good dress” hanging on the laundry line close to the house; Betsy’s horns hadn’t been removed. She wandered into the yard and put her head with horns through my dress!
On Sat., a friend and I had a tea party for our Red Hat members in her backyard. One table was decorated with custom-made china from Ireland, and other tables were each arranged with matching china settings.
Tea from China – Chinese Jasmine Pearls that look like seeds… Sandwiches made with cucumbers, shrimp, egg with caviar: strawberries dipped in chocolate, mini cupcakes, cheesecake… We had a display of teas from around the world, and teapots/cups set on the side tables.
My friend was a stewardess with TWA and went around the world, a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Dept., and after that wanted to become a doctor. The school said, “She was too old “– Luckily that has changed. She went into another medical field. Talk about a Vibrant Woman.
Meanwhile in my backyard, our chickens are doing great and are going on three months. One flew into a small wading pool and if chickens could have expressions, she looked like, “What did I do that for?” Their chief protector is an almost year-old puppy who herds than around the yard. Our neighbors have joined the “backyard chicken raising.” A month ago, we heard “chicken sounds” from next door and asked them, “Did they have chickens too?” The father of two girls held up one of his chickens for us to see, so the idea is spreading.
Our university has scheduled a class, Coup de Ville – Raising Chickens in Your Backyard” for June 30 – July 7. “Find out how to do it right from the start to finish in this class.”