you got a what?

I've gotten two very distinct reactions from people when the subject of acquiring a flock of chickens comes up. Either I get "oooh, I love chickens!! I would love to get some myself! Fresh eggs are great!" or I get **blank stare** "You got WHAT? Why would you do that?".

So here is a brief explanation of why we have chickens.

If you know me at all you know that food is very important to me. I think about it a lot. I love it. It makes me happy. What makes me even happier is fresh, just picked, local, organic and the best of all...home grown or home raised. I feel very passionately about, whenever possible, knowing where my food comes from. I feel nearly giddy thinking about the farmers market opening this summer. Being able to see the actual person growing the food, listening to them talk passionately about their plants like they are members of the family, knowing that that food didn't spend days or weeks on a truck or airplane to get to me, knowing that it was picked the day before or even that morning. Ahhh, bliss.

It is important for me to teach my daughter this as well. I grew up in a place where having gardens and small farms was the norm. I remember my uncle, who lived behind us, had a small chicken coop and a beautiful vegetable garden. We would go over there, pick beans, and go home to cook them for dinner. I don't want Lucy to think that food comes from the grocery store. I want her to experience the thrill of growing it yourself and eating it fresh off of the vine.

In a perfect world, I would live on a 50 acre farm and grow or raise most of the food we eat. That isn't possible at this point (I won't say it will never happen because, hey, ya never know) but there are few things I can do to get a little closer to knowing where my food is coming from. One easy way I have found is raising chickens. We were lucky enough to move to a pretty rural area where many people around us have small vegetable gardens and a small flock of chickens. But there has been a great number of people who are able to have a couple of hens in the city. The previous owners of our house also kept chickens and left their portable chicken coop. I'm in the process of getting a more permanent run built off of our shed as well but for now the ladies are loving getting out in the chicken tractor on sunny afternoons.

They're still little now but I am so looking forward to those fresh eggs that will be coming this fall. We got them 3 weeks ago as day old chicks. I chose a small variety...two Araucanas (aka easter-eggers because they lay colored eggs) and two black cochin bantams (not great egg layers but they stay little and have funny feathered feet). And nothing beats fresh eggs. I mean, like, go out to the coop in the morning, pick up your eggs and go inside to make an omlette. Um, yea, that's fresh.


Here's some pics of the ladies...