what i've learned from a year with chickens

A year ago today I picked up five baby chicks from Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply and excitedly brought them home.  Being the reader and researcher that I am, I knew a lot going into this adventure, but there is nothing that compares to real life experience.  After a year of being a chicken mama, I feel that I can confidently say that I understand chickens!  Obviously, there is still more to learn.  But as for the basics, I've got them!  So, here's a little of the good and the bad that I've learned about raising chickens in the city...

Let's start with "The Bad":

1. Chickens make a HUGE mess of your landscaping and gardens!!!  My aunt warned me about her chickens' habits of kicking mulch out of her flower beds...but I underestimated their destructive natures...by the end of last fall, they had turned most of my Hostas into shredded greens, kicked most of our mulch into the grass, dug holes in the yard, eaten my carrot tops which completely prevented any carrots from forming, helped themselves to the kale every time it finally got big enough for us to use, scratched in my ground covers, and pooped everywhere...literally everywhere.  What we learned was that free-range chickens and beautiful urban gardens cannot peacefully coexist without proper fencing and limitations...this year proper fencing and limitations will be added to our small little city lot and my dreams of a Better Homes and Gardens urban paradise will be renewed.
2. Organic chicken feed is not cheap.  My friend Bre tried to warn me that keeping chickens and feeding them organic feed was not economical (when compared to just buying eggs).  I doubted her because at times my confidence levels in myself are a bit too high and I assumed I could find a cheaper way...well...I haven't.  There may still be a cheaper way, but I have yet to find one that easily fits into our current lifestyle (ie. dumpster diving may be cheap, but who's got time for that?!?!).  The truth is, feeding an organic diet to a small flock with little foraging space is not cheap, but for us, it's still worth it.  The eggs that we get don't compare in color or flavor to the most expensive local eggs that we can find at our co-op.  We could easily feed them for a lot less on conventional feed, and that would be cheaper than most grocery store eggs, but to us the cost is worth the benefits of the eggs we receive.
3. They poop sooooooo much!!!  I was a bit unprepared for the amount of waste that comes out of their behinds...I thought it was a lot when they were chicks, but oh my, it has multiplied as they've grown!  As it has mostly been cold in Minnesota since they have become full grown, we have yet to fully experience their poop in the heat of the summer...so...I'll get back to you on how bad it really is.  Because, not only is there a lot of it...but it can get kind of stinky....so...stay tuned....
4. They are louder than we expected.  We picked out breeds that were supposedly quiet and great for city life...but they still get a bit squawky at times, especially when they want out of their coop or want the food that someone else has.  However, when they are content, they quiet right down.  Our neighbors don't seem to mind, and compared to the neighborhood dogs, the chickens are hardly noticeable! 

Now, "The Bad" is kind of a bummer...but the good news is that "The Good" makes "The Bad" so worth it!!  So...here's "The Good":

1. The eggs are amazing!!!  We constantly play the game of "guess which eggs are from our chickens" as we crack store-bought and home-grown eggs into the frying pan.  The color of our ladies' yolks is bright orange and they are so big and firm.  The amount of yolk compared to the white is fantastic.  You know how the white in store-bought eggs sometimes gets so stringy where you can't seem to get it to release from the shell??  That doesn't really happen with our eggs.  And when you drop them into the frying pan, the whites stay in tack and don't spread across the pan, making the most perfect fried egg.  Then there's the taste...yum...they are SOOOO flavorful!!!  The color also tells of their nutrients.  Because our chickens eat so many of our table scraps and good organic feed, their eggs are packed full of great things, which in turn nourish our bodies.  There is also nothing quite as lovely as the pretty collection of eggs varying in shades of brown and blue which sit on our kitchen counter.  Love, love.  
2. They are very easy to take care of!  Besides strategizing ways to keep them from destroying the gardens, not much work goes into their care.  There are days when we do absolutely nothing with them, especially in the heart of the winter when the days are short. Most days, we check on them, gather eggs, give them a few scraps from the kitchen, and let them out into the yard.  Then about once a week we fill up their food and water and clean up their coop and run a little bit.  (Honestly...the cleaning doesn't always happen...and we all survive just fine....)
3. They can survive a normal Minnesota winter without a heater.  We worried our way through through December and January as the temps and windchill dropped, but we decided not to heat our coop and are so glad that we didn't.  Our chickens did just fine in their insulated coop and with their 6-12 inches of straw bedding.  They are cold-hardy birds and they adapted to the cold temps that Minnesota threw their way.  Their egg production dropped and for January and February they pretty much stopped, but that's natural and normal for cold weather birds.  We did encounter a bit of frost bite on their red combs, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to better prevent that next year, now that I know when to expect it.
4. They are SO MUCH FUN!!!  I can't even describe how much we enjoy these chickens.  They are hilarious.  They do funny and stupid things.  We could sit on our deck and watch them for hours.  We stand at our kitchen window and watch them perch in their run.  We laugh as they run for cover when geese fly overhead.  We hold them and pet their silky feathers.  We nervously laugh as they sing their obnoxious egg songs each day that they proudly lay their eggs.  We wake up and think of chickens.  We shut down the house for the evening and think about chickens.  We love having chickens.  THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN.   
5. We are somehow working to make our broken food system better.  We still buy eggs in the heart of winter and still drive to the grocery store just as much as we did before...but we understand so much more about how food is grown and raised because of our chickens, which makes us so much more mindful about how we eat, use, and waste the food that finds its way into our kitchen.  With our compost pile and our chickens we don't really throw away any food.  In fact, we often bring our trash outside because it smells bad (from meat wrappings) long before it's full.  Wasting food is something that rarely happens in our house now, and I love that.  I makes spending money on quality food much easier to do--because the food all serves a purpose.  It no longer sits in our fridge for two weeks and then gets thrown into the garbage.  It's being used to its full potential--each and every bit of it.  

So, with all of that, we've both agreed that we'd do it all again.  We may do a few things differently, but we don't at all regret raising chickens.  It's been well worth the cost and time.  We even have two new chicks arriving in less than two weeks to add to our flock!  Urban chicken keeping is definitely for us.  And for that I'm so very thankful for the episode of The Splendid Table that I heard over 4 years ago that first introduced me to the idea of backyard hens.  Our ladies are a wonderful addition to our exciting and fun-filled lives. 

valentine

While Valentine's Day has become quite the commercial Hallmark holiday, in our house it is truly a day to celebrate love.  This year, we started the day with a delicious breakfast of easy sourdough pancakes (A new favorite from The Nourished Kitchen cookbook.  Here is a similar version to what's in the cookbook.), then moved on to a day of relaxing, complete with a surprise professional massage for me!  I came home from my massage to find Dan cooking away in the kitchen--his Valentine's Day tradition.  We ended the day with some wine, a movie, double-chocolate raspberry brownies, and our tradition of exchanging cards.  

One way we fight the commercialism of Valentine's Day is to support local businesses in our Valentine's pursuits.  Our cards are from one of our favorite local shops and my massage was from a local shop not far from our house.  We find that Valentine's Day is a great way to celebrate how much we enjoy one another and to just be together.  I hope your Valentine's Day was great as well. However, if you are finding yourself despising the day due to the commercial monster it has turned into, then do something about it and make next year about what it should be about--being with those you love. 

meal planning

This past fall was a hard semester for me.  I constantly felt behind--like several weeks behind.  While these feelings mostly came from work related things, they blended over into my home life as well.  I especially felt them when it came time to make dinner each night.  You see, I'm a planner and a strategist, even in the most basic things like dinner making.  However, because I was feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and behind at work, I felt that I didn't have time to plan out meals for us to eat at home.  The result of that, though, was me feeling directionless, uninspired, and last-minute.  Now, some people thrive in the last-minute side of life (my husband and best friend being two of them), however, I am not one of those people.  So, in the end, my lack of meal planning added to my feelings of being stressed, overwhelmed, and behind.

With all that in mind, I decided to be more intentional this spring about making time to really plan things out in the food department, which will hopefully leave us better fed, better nourished, and better satisfied in life.  People plan meals out very differently and my way is in no way a science, it's just what works for me.  I like to plan out a list of meals around the beginning of the month (when my grocery budget is full...ahem...) and shop for most of the ingredients at that time.  I add in produce and dairy as needed throughout the rest of the month in my weekly co-op trips.  This style of planning does two things for me.  One, it provides me with flexibility.  I usually pick out a few of the meals each week, depending on the time they take to make, the time we have at home in the evenings, and on the produce I have.  Because I've already shopped for the main ingredients (meat, root veggies, and grains), it doesn't take long to pick up any additional ingredients I need.  The second thing it does for me is it helps me to add variety our meals.  When I'm flying by the seat of my pants I tend to make whatever is easy and convenient and not what is best for our bodies.  Planning options out in advance helps me to be more mindful of the types of food I'm filling our bodies with.  Are we getting enough dark greens?  Are we getting enough good fats?  Are we eating a variety of grains and not too much of them?  Are we getting enough protein?  

Sitting down to make the list can take awhile, but in the end I always feel excited to get cooking!  Having good cookbooks, and not too many of them, is my key to success.  I wrote a post awhile ago about the cookbooks that I keep in my kitchen for day-to-day cooking.  This Christmas I added a new one to the list, The Nourished Kitchen, and I'm loving it!  It focuses on traditional food styles and recipes, which is quickly becoming a great interest of mine.  I also find that having a cookbook or two that is organized by season is very helpful for me both in inspiration and helping me to cook with more locally sourced ingredients.  

I got back into my meal planning routine last week and my time in the kitchen this week has been so much more enjoyable!  Hooray!  I do so love the simple things that make our lives just a little easier and help them to run just a bit smoother.  

organic

A few weeks ago, I starting writing about how our eating habits have changed a bit over the past year and a half (healthy bodies, happy lives and food, real food).  One of the changes was that we started buying more and more things labeled "organic."  Now, the label "organic" is quite an interesting one as it encompasses everything from carrots to cookies and kale to cupcakes.  What also makes the "organic" label interesting and at times unappealing is the price tag that often accompanies it.  For that reason, it took quite a bit of research to transition me from a conventional buyer to an organic one.  

First off, let's talk about the "organic" label.  Just because something is labeled as "organic" does not make it healthy.  In our house, we start first with whole foods and when we buy those whole foods, we buy organic versions when possible.  Because we live in a big city, we can usually find an organic version of any kind of food we're looking for.  I've realized recently that this is not the case for many who live in smaller towns and for that I've become very thankful for the resources that I have and also more passionate food issues in our country.  But, that's for another day.  However, even with access to almost any organic foods we could possibly want, we do not, by any means, buy only organic foods.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, we can't afford it.  With a limited grocery budget, it's just not affordable to buy only organic items.  Second, there are plenty of great foods out there that do not have an "organic" label.  It can be expensive for small farms to become certified organic and for that reason, many of them don't.  I find that it's more important for me to know how the food is produced, than it is for it to have the "organic" label on it.  Third, there are times when it's more important to me to buy locally grown food, then certified organically grown food.  Locally grown food has a direct impact on the local economy and it also hasn't had to travel across the country to get to our house--which, for produce, means it is likely more nutritious compared to the produce that has spent days or weeks in a refrigerated truck being transported from California or Mexico.  Harvard School of Public Health has a great little article on the nutritiousness of locally grown food.  

This leads me to the second reason that we try to buy organic--nutrition.  Organic farming practices require farmers to take a more holistic approach to the nutrients in the soil. The idea is that if your soil is full of nutrients, then your produce will be too.  The scientific field is not in agreement over whether organic produce is more nutritious (but the scientific field also brought us margarine...so there's that...); however, a recent study has shown that organic produce is higher in antioxidants (read/hear more about that in this NPR report).  From a gardening perspective, I know that if my soil is healthy, living, and full of organic matter (compost), then my plants grow better and produce better food.  So, for us, since better soil means better produce, buying organic produce rather than conventional produce is a way to know a little bit more about how our food is grown.

The third reason that we buy organic produce whenever possible is that it contains fewer pesticides.  Once again, the scientific field does not agree on the safety of synthetic pesticides, but for us, we've decided that we're not fans.  In general, we don't like the idea of eating chemicals, putting them on our bodies, or using them in our house.  So, for us, buying organic food is a way to reduce our exposure to unwanted synthetic pesticides.  You can read more about pesticide use in the U.S. on the Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce.  

I've talked a lot of about organic produce (fruits and veggies), but what about organic grains, meats, and dairy?!  For us, when it comes to buying organic, we focus primarily on fruits and vegetables.  Beyond that, it depends on the food and the price.  I buy some organic grains.  We buy organic yogurt and butter.  However, the milk we buy is from a local creamery that uses great farming practices yet isn't certified organic.  Also, the chicken we buy is also not certified organic, but it is a much better option than its conventionally raised counterparts.  So, when it comes to organic foods, we start with produce and work out way out from there.  

If you're looking for more information on organic foods, the Environmental Working Group is a great place to start.  There are also a lot of great documentaries out there.  See my food, real food post for links to a few good resources.  Navigating this food system we live in can be a complicated and overwhelming process.  But, I think the benefits of learning to effectively navigate it far outweigh the frustrations.  

walls filled with books

I've always kind of had an obsession with books.  I love them.  I love how neat and organized the words are on each page.  I love the designs on the covers, be they old and simple, or new and beautiful.  And I love the smell.  I think I've probably smelled almost every fiction book that I've ever read.  Not just a little whiff, but a nose-to-the-binding deep inhale.  Ah, I love books!

New books are great--they smell like new paper and glue and they are crisp, clean, and all mine to break in.  Used books, though, they are my favorite.  They tell a story, not just with the words on their pages, but with their smell, with their dog-eared pages, and their stained covers.  They tell the stories of those who have devoured their words before me.  They tell the stories of those who love to read.  

This love for reading has prompted me on many occasion to head to the book isle when I'm in need of a gift--especially a gift for a beloved niece, nephew, or other little one.  I long to share this love with others, especially those whose imaginations have not yet been stunted or forced into hibernation by the realistic world in which we live. In the past, though, I've found myself so disappointed with the book selection I find in big stores.  The prices are just so-so, and the choices of literature and stories leaves much to be desired.  I often leave these excursions wishing I'd had more forethought and ordered something online.

However, this last excursion was far different; it was truly wonderful.  I visited a new little used bookstore in my neighborhood and completely fell in love.  It was quaint, charming, and filled with books.  What I had meant to be a quick trip turned into an hour of pursuing shelves and brushing my fingers across bindings.  There were so many classics!  So many books I'd never heard of.  And so many books I longed to buy.  

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I eventually found my way to the children's section and was able to pick out a few favorites for our nephew's second birthday.  When I finally walked out of that store, I felt a little like I had walked out of a fairytale.  I know, a little dramatic, but stay with me....

Books, like so many things in our society, have become things that we buy new, use, and then discard.  While the digital world is definitely taking over a bit in the book selling business, it has not stopped newly printed books from appearing on bookshelves.  These new books are wonderful, but I think they cheapen the quality of the written word. The thing that I loved so much about this little used bookstore was that the shelves were filled with good books--books that someone had taken the time to decide if they were worth selling or not.  There were also so  many books that had lovely hard covers, just waiting to be opened on someone's lap.  (Fact: it's much easier to knit while reading if you have an old hard cover book with a broken-in binding...)

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So, with all that...I must say that I felt a little bit like Belle as I walked out of that shop...I may have even considered saying bonjour to people standing outside of the taproom across the street...ok, not really...but that would have made for a great story!