Help UC Davis with the California Backyard Poultry Census

February 16, 2016

If you’re a California backyard chicken enthusiast the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Cooperative Extension has a short survey they’d like you to fill out. The purpose of the survey is to get an estimate of how many backyard flocks are out there and, “bridge the communication gap between poultry experts and backyard poultry enthusiasts.” The survey is confidential and contact info will only be used for educational purposes. Last year...

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The Best Way to Get Bees For Free

Mr. Homegrown

April 12, 2016

Animals, Bees

5 Comments

...haphazardly, upside-down, in a large plastic pot that was half filled with chicken litter. I intended to throw the box out at some later date. Then, a few days later, as a neighbor was telling me about his favorite climbing roses, Kelly called me from the porch, saying there was a”bee situation” going on in the back yard. I ran up the stairs and behind the house to see one of the awe inspiring miracles of nature: a hive moving into their new home–...

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Designing the World’s Most Pretentious Garden Shed

Mr. Homegrown

September 13, 2016

Design, Gardening

11 Comments

...do” list is a much needed garden shed to store tools, pots, fertilizer and chicken feed. After years of dragging my heels for years, the project went from napkin sketch to construction in under a week. I set as my goal to build the world’s most pretentious garden shed and, as much as possible, to use salvaged materials. Yes, I’m crazy. I have to admit that when British hedge fund manager Crispen Odey tried to build a $250,000 neo-classical chicken...

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Anima: Animals, Faith, Compassion

Mr. Homegrown

June 11, 2018

Animals, Thoughtstylings

6 Comments

...relationship to our fellow creatures is what is important. Home gardeners, chicken keepers and permaculturalists well know the difference between stewardship and dominion, the difference between working with as opposed to our culture’s mad control freakery. A personal note. I had, in the past few months, fallen off my ethical eating wagon and taken to occasionally consuming what I knew to be factory farmed chicken. In some sort of digestive karmic...

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Hen Pecked in Missoula

Mr. Homegrown

November 15, 2007

Animals, Chickens

1 Comment

...Apologies, for the poultry fixation this past month, but we had to link to this story. It seems Missoula Montana is currently in the midst of a urban chicken controversy. New West Network’s Anne Medley and Jonathan Stumpf profile the dust-up in this video....

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