Hi, Tom here… Lyanda’s away on a writing retreat so I am hijacking her blog for a few days. In Seattle it’s a snow day–we are having our annual “snowpocalypse,” when a few inches of snow completely shuts down the city and sends cars skidding into the curbs and children flocking into the unfamiliar white [...]
Entries Tagged as 'urban farming'
Chickens Versus Snowpocalypse
January 18th, 2012 · 20 Comments
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Return of the Prodigal Chicken: A Holiday Story
December 8th, 2011 · 8 Comments
Most people ate turkey on Thanksgiving. Us? We came home from the holiday feast with a live chicken. Last May, our older chickens went into Urban Chicken Retirement at my Uncle Joe’s farm in Maple Valley. We’ve taken our aging flocks there in the past, where they nibble away their golden years in wide sun-dappled [...]
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Autumn Scenes from an Urban Smallholding
September 28th, 2011 · 7 Comments
I love the idea of a “smallholding.” It’s a term still used in England, one I re-discovered while leafing through a favorite book the other day, The Freedom Manifesto by Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson (also love The Idler…). A smallholding is a modest parcel of land, usually just one-family’s-worth, that supports some farming and other [...]
Tags: chickens, food, fruit trees, garden, urban farming
A Cool Coop: Caring for Chickens in the Heat
August 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments
Well, we’ve finally had a few sunny days in Seattle, and even though it hasn’t hit 80 degrees yet, I’ve noticed the chickens are seeking shade, and panting a little–nothing to worry about. But in much of the country it’s a great deal hotter, and I’ve been receiving questions from folks about caring for urban [...]
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Urban Chicken Retirement: What to do when older chickens stop laying?
July 26th, 2011 · 48 Comments
We were a host once again this year for Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour, and one of the main questions would-be chicken keepers voiced was what to do with older chickens after they stop laying, or slow way down? The numbers vary by breed and individual, but most chickens lay really well [...]
Tags: chickens, urban farming
Kelly and Erik From Root Simple: Bees, Bread, And Radical Home Economics
May 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments
A guest post from Tom: In a perfect storm of mismatched calendars, Lyanda was doing a reading in Portland this week while Kelly and Erik of the blog Root Simple (formerly Homegrown Evolution) were in the Seattle area, doing events in support of their great new book Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer [...]
Tags: bees, books, food, urban farming
Buff Orpington: Our Favorite Backyard Chicken Breed
March 22nd, 2011 · 21 Comments
In my “Chickenomics” post a couple of weeks ago, I promised to share some thoughts about favorite backyard chicken breeds, but I realize now I should have said breed, singular. Because although there are lots of good chickens out there, my choice for our own little backyard flock is–far and away–the Buff Orpington. We’ve been [...]
Tags: chickens, urban farming
Eat More Kale: A Kale Manifesto With Recipes
October 12th, 2010 · 20 Comments
I have received more comments about this shirt than any piece of clothing I have ever owned: my spiffy, turquoise EAT MORE KALE t-shirt. People stare, laugh, turn their heads to watch me pass on the street, nudge their companions, make grimmacing kale-is-yucky expressions, and–best of all–stop to talk. I hear that folks love kale, [...]
Tags: canning/preserving, garden, recipes, urban farming
Chicken Tour: Not the “New Black”
July 12th, 2010 · 9 Comments
We had so much fun being one of the Host Coops on the Seattle Tilth City Chicken Coop Tour this weekend. It was a warm sunny day, and there was a very strong turnout, about 150 people came through our backyard during the tour hours. It was great to “talk chicken” with so many wonderful [...]
Tags: chickens, garden, urban farming
Seattle Tilth City Coop Tour July 10th!
July 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments
We hope to see you Saturday, July 10th, on Seattle Tilth’s City Coop Tour. The Tangled Nest coop is one of nearly fifty coops throughout the city open for touring, chicken-visiting, question-asking, community-building, and overall inspiration. Seattle has become a world-class city for backyard chickens and other urban livestock. On the tour, you’ll see every [...]
Tags: chickens, urban farming
