Sunday Afternoon With the Girls

As the self described "mean Aunt", I have some rules about my yard. Rachel is good about following them and her friends think she's cool because her aunt has fancy chickens 1/2 a block from the Elementary school.

My niece, Rachel is collecting feathers to make me a fan.Chicken tricks - they'll jump for a treat, but it's hard to catch on camera...
I promise - they're about to jump
Okay, whatever - Elisa decides she's out of here and flies away...

Last May 1st I was home in the afternoon cooking dinner for my spring employee party. I heard noise in the front yard and went to investigate. Mrs. Seiter's had her elementary school class on my front walk where she was teaching them a valuable lesson.

I know this for a fact because she taught my children second grade, me piano lessons for several years while I was in middle school, I babysat her children, her daughter is best friends with my sister, I made her daughter's wedding cake, she lives 3 doors up from me.... Suffice it to say that I know she is a wonderful person and enthusiastic teacher.

Each year on May Day I find a "May basket" of flowers on my front door handle. It's one of my favorite things about living here because my brother and I used to make May baskets and leave them for neighbors when we were children.. The beauty of it is there is no note, it is a simple anonymous kind gesture.

Sometimes receiving is as good as giving when one has given themselves and can appreciate the significance.

So back to May Day 2008 - I went to my front door to find a class of giggling children delivering baskets and invited them to my back yard to see the gardens. "YOU HAVE CHICKENS!" They exclaimed. A couple of the little girls told me they had chickens too.

The boys loved stomping around in my large stand of bamboo. Much to their dismay, I made them get out of it and explained about it's growth pattern. Mrs Seiter's took a picture of one of the children handing me the May basket for the local paper - and they were on their way.

It was very sweet.

I would love to schedule classes to come by and see how it is possible to have a few chickens in the middle of town. It is increasingly important for people to understand their food, where it comes from and how they can control some of it. The college and high school are working on it, I'm not sure about the elementary school, but I plan to volunteer.

Tomorrow night is the Community Council meeting. 7Pm, open to the public, chickens are on the agenda, should be fun, stop by.

The Beginning of a New Year

My audience... "Now girls, listen up. The Community Council meeting is on Monday and the future of all Sewanee Chickens is at stake."

Here in our little college town, the freshmen are arriving today. All over campus people have been getting ready for the new school year.

Students from the organic garden who were back in town early, came by my workplace and dug compost out of our yard and took many of the hundreds of glass bottles we've kept for potential recycling. They're putting the bottles to use in a landscaping project. Our county doesn't recycle glass so it's a haul to get it done. I'm so happy to see students with innovative, earth friendly ideas taking the initiative. They are full of enthusiasm and energy!

I work with about 30 students. I love them. They come to my house for dinner a couple times a year. They love getting out of the dorm, and coming to a real house with home cooked food. In the spring we eat outside if the weather is nice. They can't BELIEVE I'm having a problem with my chickens.

There is a prep school on your way into town http://www.sasweb.org/home/ . I have friends & neighbors who work there and my children and siblings have attended over the span of many years. St. Andrews has long been in the forefront of "going green" and is growing some of their own produce for the dining hall and hoping to raise chickens.

Doesn't this sound like a town where it shouldn't be a problem to have backyard chickens???

Box Turtles and "Underground Chickens"

Antoinette learns that turtles lay eggs too!As a gardener, I've had the privilege of watching a box turtle lay eggs in my flower bed twice. The most recent time was this summer. Even though I mark my calendar, I have yet to see the eggs hatch. While reading up on our local turtles, I learned that they want to stay within the same area where they were born. If one is moved more than a half-mile from its territory, it may never find its way back; but may spend years unsystematically searching. I feel TERRIBLE! When I used to see one on the side of the road, I would bring it home to show my children and then let it go in the yard. Now I understand why I don't have a yard full of turtles - they all set out trying to find their way back to the Jump Off Road! Over the span of their lifetime, female turtles will lay hundreds of eggs, but only 2-3 of these offspring will survive to adulthood. Wow. Who knew.

Today a recent graduate of the university came to visit me. He'd just returned from his 3rd summer helping people in a developing country and will go on to graduate school in Europe soon. He was a merit scholar, athlete, volunteer and all around great guy. Unfortunately he never expressed interest in marrying one of my daughters. He's been following the Sewanee chicken story and came to tell me about his mother's "underground chickens".

Apparently it's not exactly legal to keep them where he grew up. Nevertheless, his mother got four and her neighbor got two. The chickens wandered happily between the yards visiting - as chickens will do. I guess they wandered too far one day and someone complained. An official from the city was sent to deal with the problem. The chicken mothers said they would fence the birds in, but the official said he could not leave unless they promised to get rid of the hens. He didn't seem concerned with whether they actually removed them - just that they said they would. So, (these were very smart women) they said they would, fenced in the chickens and lived happily ever after.

Who DOESN'T have chickens???

Here's a link to a "stealth chicken coop" designed to look like a trash can. http://henspa.com/hencondo.htm

Silkies Make Great Pets

Natasha departing the porch of the original chicken house.

Natasha as a young lady in at rare quick paceNatasha was a "silkie". A silkie's feathers don't bind together like regular feathers, they're sort of frayed and therefore fur-like. They are very soft like a kitten, small, have pom poms on their heads, fuzzy feet and lay cute silly little eggs. They can't fly because their feathers don't work and they really can hardly see with all that fur on their face. She reminded me of a Russian princess so I contacted my favorite Russian professor and asked for name suggestions. Natasha (actually named for a Countess rather than a Princess) was very happy and very sweet, but I thought she was a little dumb until I trimmed around her face - exposing her eyes - and with sight, she became noticeably less ditsy! She was always the most vulnerable and one day when I had her out of her cage, I came home to find a hawk eating her.

Word spread quickly among my friends. People would walk cautiously up to me and express their condolences. I even received a very sappy sympathy card in the mail.

Yes, it was very sad, but the life of a chicken mother is not always as carefree as it appears. To appease my guilt I decided that it's better to have a short happy life than a long miserable one and I was glad I allowed her to take the dust baths in my garden that she so loved and were ultimately her demise.

Small Town Living

My mother just got a "pocket" dog. This is my new brother, Joe. Yesterday my brother called to say that our dad was alright. Last time I got a call like that was in November when Dad and Grandfather were on a National Geographic ship touring the Antarctic. Another ship was sinking and we were relieved to know it wasn't theirs. Like last time, I was delighted to know that he was okay, but not sure why the information was necessary. It seems Dad experienced some chest pain while baking a chocolate cake. After finishing the cake and no doubt eating some of it, he decided to go to the emergency room. Although Mom says you get right in when you say you're having a heart attack, there was still a wait, during which the nurses wanted to know how the chickens were doing...

They determined there was no heart problem, kept Dad around for observation, then sent him home to his cake. Meanwhile I went to the hospital to help. Had I known then about the cake, my priorities might have been different - after all - I already knew he was alright...

At the hospital desk there were three nurses I'd never seen before. I said, "I understand you have my dad." They replied, "He was released just a few minutes ago." Not - "who is your dad?" or "what is your name". I love this town.

I pulled into my parent's driveway and cracked up. Dad was in the yard watering plants. We all ate cake and lived happily ever after.

Thank goodness he'll be in top form for the Community Council meeting next week!

Sewanee Leases

Professor's dog (party animal Moe) dressed up for an important event...

Pink Flamingos and a ZEBRA on campus.

What's so weird about chickens??? Sewanee: the University of the South is comprised of 13,000, primarily forested, acres of land which we call the "domain". It is in middle Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau about 2000 feet above sea level. There are countless bluff views, waterfalls, caves and trails. The university has roughly 1600 students and the town has maybe 2000 residents. The campus, which originated just before the civil war, has many sandstone buildings of Gothic architecture and is covered with large old growth trees. It's just beautiful.

The town is called Sewanee and the university owns all the land. Consequently, we own our homes, but lease the land. There is a Lease Committee which among other things, approves the removal of trees, construction of home improvements, colors, fences, sheds, signs, rentals etc. Similar to a historic district or homeowners association, when homeowners want to make a change, they are required to go through a committee. The lease superintendent must field calls relating to dogs, trash, cars, shrubs, yard maintenance, noise, businesses, neighbor disputes...

I'm told that the process with the lease committee can be tedious and frustrating. I don't doubt that, but have sympathy for both sides. I'm sure that as a result of my effort to officially legalize backyard chickens - I have created many hours of unforeseen work and controversy. I hope some of it has been amusing for those in the middle and I never intended to be a problem. All I wanted was a few unobtrusive pets who would be great for me, my family, our lifestyle and yard. Fortunately, I expect that the outcome will be clear rules that will be comfortable and beneficial to all residents of this very special town.

Chickens on Vacation

I am on vacation at the beach in N.C. with a group of smart, interesting women - all but one of whom I did not know before this week. We're doing all the usual - eating, drinking, swimming, walking, cooking.

This morning over coffee, sitting on the porch overlooking the ocean, the topic of chickens came up. One of the women here, who I'd not met until last night, is considering getting a few to keep in her yard in Knoxville. Ironically, she brought with her a cook book I'd never seen called Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes. This is the first cook book I remember seeing that devotes a section to growing your own eggs. It's a beautiful book, full of enticing pictures and delicious sounding recipes.

We made the fish tacos tonight for dinner. They were outstanding - they'd probably even be good if we weren't eating them to the sound of the waves - although the fresh fish cooked on the grill certainly didn't hurt!

I promise, I did not bring up the topic of chickens, I'd never heard of the cookbook, I'm on vacation, the chickens are at home. I do not live and breath chickens.

Nevertheless, here I am ... So I looked up the cook book on the internet and here's a review I found: http://nikas-culinaria.com/2008/06/01/blue-eggs//

"The author, Jeanne Kelley, has decades of experience writing for Bon Appetit, Cooking Light magazine and many of her recipes have been published in LA Times Magazine, Natural Health, Islands and Spa Magazines.

Her professional life and her home life come together in Blue Eggs Yellow Tomatoes as she writes about how she raises some of her own food (chickens, vegetables) at her suburban home in Los Angeles and shares recipes that yield simply delicious concoctions that should satisfy anyone, whether you are growing your own food or if you go to the farmer's market."

Later I'll tell you about MY chicken, Eva, who laid blue eggs...