Urban Chicken Movement- is it for me?

One night last fall I was browsing the internet as I frequently do. I don't know how I came across it, but I ended up on the Mother Earth News web site and there was an article for finding your dream homestead. It caught my eye and led me down a very interesting browsing path. I eventually came across an article, I don't remember where, that mentioned a chicken tractor with a link. I had no idea what a chicken tractor was so of course I had to follow the link. I found it so fascinating that I ended up spending several hours looking at photos of them, plans for them, advice on how to maintain them, etc. Now, I enjoy trying new things, experimenting and trying fun things. I like to think of them as my little adventures in an otherwise dull life so the thought occurred to me then that I could get a couple of chickens for my back yard.

After doing some research I decided I probably don't have the lifestyle or attention span to take care of poultry. Plus, I can't actually eat eggs as they sometimes make me sick, so it's probably not a bright decision for me. However, I encourage anyone who thinks they'd like to get into the movement to do so. The poultry industry in this country has some of the most disgusting and horrific practices that raising your own chickens would be a very wise health and environmental decision.

I did discover that where I live (Omaha) you can legally own two chickens without having to get a special permit, but that's not the case everywhere. However, several grassroots efforts have passed laws in their city to allow chickens so there is hope. A good site to start your own research is Urban Chickens http://urbanchickens.org/.

You'll want to be sure you don't get a rooster, but if you do, well, there's always Coq Au Vin.

Like Dave Cieslewicz (Mayor of Madison, WI) said "...it's no yolk. Chickens are really bringing us together as a community. For too long they've been cooped up."

The Flexitarian Viking?

I have been a flexitarian for about 10 years, which might be about 10 years longer than the word has been in existence (according to wikipedia it's been around since 1992). Today I discovered that there is a diet book based on the flexitarian diet. Which I find highly amusing. I have to admit it is partly annoying and yet a source of pride seeing my passion suddenly become mainstream. Having spent all my life so far trying NOT to be mainstream, it's a strange sensation. The words "tree-hugger" and "environmentalist" were not always ones I liked to bring up in public to describe myself, but now I shamelessly assert my opinionated self on others letting them know how they can live in a more sustainable way.

The Shakespeare Hotel - Stratford-u-Avon

The Shakespeare hotel used to be three separate houses that have been joined into a single building and turned into a hotel. It's decorated in the original Tudor style and has several large open fireplaces. The beds and the couches in the lobby were overly soft. I loved them! Each room is named after a character in a Shakespeare play. The first room we had was called "Two Gentlemen of Verona." It was a nice room with a large bathroom, television, and looked out over the front street on the second floor.

Vicks and I dumped our stuff there and then took off to explore more of the town. When we returned around 8:00 the room SMELLED. There was a horrible sewage smell in the room! Even I was disgusted and I worked at smellicos... so we requested to be moved to a different room. Unfortunately at that time there were no more double rooms. They offered to put us in a room where we could share a bed. HA! Like that was going to happen! So, they put us in two single rooms in the back of the hotel, on the third floor in a (deserted) quiet part of the hotel. The windows looked out over gardens and an alley. Vicki's room was "Moonshine" and mine was "Pyramus."

The manager who took us to our new rooms kept telling us that if we hear someone waling up and down the hallway that it was just the "night porter." After about the 3rd time of him saying that we asked if the hotel was haunted. He shared with us a few ghost stories. Apparently there was a man who lived in one of the homes and he kept his daughter in the attic where she died. Now people who stay in the room that was his home, they hear scratching in the walls and see a small girl skipping up and down the hallways. Her name is Lucy.

As we moved into our new rooms we noticed that no one was in any of the other rooms on the floor and to note, we were in the attic! So, we got ourselves freaked out a bit especially since we were in our own rooms, alone. The next morning the manager asked if we heard anyone... we said we had. He told us the night porter wasn't on duty last night...

Stratford-upon-Avon Weather

After arriving in a snow shower, the weather turned a bit nicer. It was generally cold but sunny in the mornings then cloudy and damp in the afternoon. On Friday afternoon and Saturday it got really cold and windy! We were lucky to miss the rain for the most part. It misted and spit on us but not for extended periods of time... again, after the first night.