Chicken Fever
If its possible, lets for a moment forget that this megalomaniac of a president, his corrupt administration and the spineless Congress will soon pass a bill that shreds the Constitution. Can we put aside the marriage of big government and big corporations exploiting and stealing from the U.S. population for a moment and talk about some REAL news?
That’s right… chickens!
There has been a lot of attention lately in this little city of ours in the past couple of weeks on the topic of backyard chicken flocks. Starting off with an article in the local newspaper, followed by a popular radio show, followed by a few appearances at Farmers’ Markets, etc. by Rochester Chicken Club members, city chickens are in the spotlight in Rochester. Whether propelled there on the wave of the “green living” trend, or just a genuine curiosity of the unusual, this author couldn’t be happier that folks in this city are talking chickens.
But the first question (followed by many others) that people have is simply: Why chickens?
A short while ago, a local community activist, blogger, and fellow chicken club member wrote an articulate post on her blog HandCrafted Life which in many ways gets to the heart of the matter. And rather than be redundant, here is Julie’s post “Why Chickens?”
I would like to add my thoughts though to this conversation, because despite the fact that its fun and crazy to talk about keeping chickens, there is something truly revolutionary about this phenomenon. It is a fundamental, integral part of our culture’s understanding of the world that humans live above the ecological laws that govern life on this planet. Keeping a backyard chicken flock undermines this suicidal worldview regardless of the extent that people realize it.
Yes, properly raised chickens provide us with a wholesome, nutritious and truly natural food source. And having that food source come from one’s backyard is a beautiful enough reason to keep chickens. But if one looks closer, there is something even deeper and more important than that fact.
Because there is not an ecosystem on the Earth that operates without animal influence. And while having a monocrop lawn devoid of diversity, manicured to “perfection”, may be symbolic of so-called progress and the suburban ideal, it is also a symbol of our excessive waste and aversion to life. Even conventional vegetable gardening practices, with their linear rows and chemical fertilizers, usually do not flow with the cycles of the natural world.
Enter chickens. An early successional species that fits perfectly into their niche in a garden ecosystem, which often mimics an early successional landscape (meadow). A simple ecological principle which triggers something as near magical as any other natural system.
All of a sudden you have an instant and constant source of fertilizer as manure recycles. You have one more factor that greatly aids in keeping pests in balance. They can till and keep grass short. They’ll eat your leftovers. By keeping the right amount of chickens for your family and land, you have stimulated a variety of cyclical, harmonious relationships that also provide a variety of lessons.
And lessons from nature are what our modern species needs right now a lot more than organic Pepsi and Palmolive Eco.
To have a backyard chicken flock is to withdraw support from an unsustainable food system. It is taking one step closer to self-sufficiency. It is embracing ecological diversity, productivity, and life itself.
But the most important reason to me is that when my children go to our backyard, their play space is not a dead “lawn”. Instead it is living community where energy is recycled, food and entertainment are abundant, and a host of true and valuable lessons await. A glimpse of hope of a new cultural paradigm that actually works as the rest of Nature does.
And if you get ahead of yourself by getting too many, and it gets too cumbersome or expensive to keep chickens, don’t worry. I hear something about how the federal government now is in the business of bailing folks out.
