Tossin' the Tube and Havin' Some Fun

This definitely beats The Office or 30 Rock


Cyndi Lauper might not approve...but then again, she just might. After all, fun comes in all sorts of sizes and flavors, especially if it has a touch screen or amaging graphics has surround sound. Madison Avenue has sold us "fun" since World War II ended, and we have bought into it wholeheartedly. I am no exception. Just today I was relating a madcap, rib-tickling story of how we used to wait for an operator before we could call someone on the phone! (this was in response to a question about how long cell phones have been around...kids today!) Anyway, so the latest craze to hit Los Angeles, where all the new, hip trends begin, is to fascinate oneself by watching ...chickens.
"Plainly said, chickens are just fun," says Dave Belanger, editor of Backyard Poultry Magazine . Don't tell me you haven't read it? The centerfold of that hen this month is...well, you've just got to see that for yourself.
Anyway, Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyle, authors of The Urban Homestead, have decided that raising chickens is beneficial on many fronts. Knutzen says that the chickens are "hypnotic" and more fun than television. He indicates that he couldn't get any work done because he spent so much time watching chickens. (I think when their eyes start going around in cirlces and turning red, they're trying to hypnotize people (that was on the South Park Thanksgiving special), but I'm just guessing since my poultry knowledge is limited to "dark meat or white meat?"
Diehl has even begun a blog to chart the progress of her raising chickens experiment: greenfrieda.blogspot.com I know you'll want to check it out.
But surely, I hear you say, there are more beenfits to chickens than just the fun factor, and you are right. In fact, chickens have been mentioned a number of times in the environment class I'm taking as the next substitute for beef: they cost very little in terms of environmental pressure (raising feed, water, pasture land, manure and urine washing into the groundwater, methane pouring into the ozone are all problems associated with beef production), they're small and easy to keep. Plus, there's the fun factor. I mean, cows are simply NOT entertaining with all that one-sound mooing; they won't be my alarm clock, and all that plops of the rear end is poop or other cows, thereby increasing the "no fun" quotient. You just won't find me cackling over cattle.
On a serious note, raising chickens is on the cutting edge of environmental awareness...some would say "keeping abreast of the green trends." Here are the facts:
1. Chickens eliminate garbage because they will eat your scraps (of course, I know a guy who will pick stuff out of the garbage to eat at home so...that's a push.
2. Chickens will eat insects and caterpillars in your vegetable gardens. Of course that would mean one would have to also grow vegetables, but I've watched "VeggieTales," and they're gun to watch, too.
3. Chicken manure makes great material for you composters out there. I mean, you WILL need fertilizer for your veggies, and I don't picture you providing that material yourself (just to give you the straight poop). BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
4. There are always eggs, in addition. Local farmer's markets would be a great venue for your "free range chicken eggs" business. Add in your vegetable surplus, and you have veritable cornucopia for the locals. You'll be wealthy in no time...and YOU'LL BE HAVING FUN!
Diehl and Knutzen have one word of warning, however: do NOT name your chickens because you will get attached, and in case you ever get sick and want chicken soup...it's best not to know.
Of course, it's not just in L.A. either. I happen to know that in Madison, Wisconsin, the law permits keeping up to five chickens in your home coop! Say what you want about the Midwest, but there are SOME trends we're on top of.
Personally, this story is creeping me out since two weeks ago in Daytona, Florida (the place where trends end up last), I noticed a billboard which featured a cow with a paintprush in his or her mouth just above the simple statement: "Eat more chik'n." Creepy!