“Tell me what I should be worried about. Salmonella? Poop?” she said.
“Well, chickens only have one hole that everything comes out of, so…”
“Wait, what? Chickens only have one hole?” She stopped cooking and looks at me, incredulous.
“Yup. The vent. Just one hole for eggs and for poop.”
Her husband enters the room, and she questions loudly, “Hey, did you know that chickens only have one hole?!”
I don’t know if I was aware of that particular fact until I started raising chickens. We really don’t know anything about our food. At least many of us city folk don’t. I can’t speak for everyone, of course. Then, there’s …show more content…
It’s a recorded conversation, and it’s worth a listen. The city police say that they can seize his chickens. Then a clerk says she’s sure there’s an ordinance against it. One lady says, “You can’t just raise chickens.” She says it like he’s planning on hitting a bank or something. They even try to get his address, presumably thinking he’s a troublemaker of some sort. Those crazy chicken people! At the end, we find out that there is no city ordinance per an attorney who works for the city. Surprise, surprise. Why the legalities? (Chadhols).
If you want to raise chickens, you will have to obey your city’s ordinances, which range from non-existent to absurd. I just want to eat good food, live in peace with my neighbors, and take care of what I’ve been given. Why does it have to be so difficult? I believe that God created the earth, and we have a connection to the world around us because we see Him there, evidence of his touch. I see out my window into the small wild space I occupy: design, love, care, beauty. Do you ever wonder why things in nature strike a deep longing and sense of peace where human made things do not? Do we not create things with great symmetry, things that perfectly serve our purposes? Should they not give us peace and comfort then? Yet the redwood trees strike us with wonder and a longing for more, not the concrete and steel giants of the cities. God gives …show more content…
It 's my small way of changing the world. I often feel like I can 't do much, but I can do some things. That is my goal: to do what I can and to teach my children the same. I don 't want to raise children who are unaware that the earth is a delicate thing that we need to care for. If we need clean food, we need to raise animals responsibly. If we want clean water, we must take care not to dump poison in the water supply. If we want to have clean air, we must plant and care for trees, and cut down on our pollution. If we want ground that is safe to live on, we must recycle, use less, re-use more, practice sustainable manufacturing practices, and desire less “stuff.” Chickens are a tiny step toward using my own incredibly local resources, but it’s one I can make.
That 's a big call, but it is ours as humans. It 's practical, not spiritual, but you cannot love God without caring for what He has given us. In that respect, caring for the earth is as important as any other aspect of spirituality. We love each other and care for our future as humans sharing a space, and that means that we do things responsibly. Someday I will do more, but for now, I’ve started with raising