The Tour de Coops

Before I swear not to talk chicken anymore (OK.  We all know that's a lie.  How about "not talk chicken for a few weeks?"), I have to say:

The TOUR de COOPS was an AMAZING event.  Thank you to all of the folks involved!  Believe it or not, over 500 people registered at Broad Ripple Park for this tour!  Jason & I can't wait to do this again next year.

I guess that I didn't have a firmly-fashioned vision of how the Tour would unfold, but I never dreamed we would be as busy as we were.  We didn't keep count, but my guess is that we saw a few hundred tourists that afternoon.  Especially since Rocky Ripple is a bit farther west than most of the other stops on the tour, I had no idea that we would have such a crowd.  In fact, since we were #9 on the suggested route everyone received upon registering, we figured that we would have to wait a while for our first tourists to show up.

Um, nope.  At precisely 2:01PM, while I was dashing to print signs to help direct the traffic flow in and out of the backyard, the first car pulled up.  I had thought that I would still change clothes/make sure my hair wasn't a completely crazed mess, etc., and at the very least I had intended to set up some water and cups for thirsty bikers.

Instead, I jumped right in to talking about all-things-chicken, while walking people around the backyard, the outdoor run, the coop inside the garage...and I didn't stop until 6PM.  I saw Jason out of the corner of my eye doing the same--he was almost hoarse by the end of the afternoon. It doesn't help, of course that both of us are talkers, yet honestly every time I finished and said goodbye to one person or group, I would turn and run directly into someone new.

I know that a few of the people who were hosting other stops along the way had to field all of the tourists on their own--in this I was extremely fortunate to have not only the Red Rooster himself--my darlin' Jason, but also my younger sister Christiana, her boyfriend Josh, and my older sisters Marti and Julie here as witnesses, tour guides, and general helpers. 

The best part of the whole day, though, were all of the great people that we met, most of whom had very thoughtful questions and were obviously having a fantastic afternoon.  We heard, several times, someone say something along the lines of, "This is great--we have so many good ideas now.  We can do this ourselves!"  And, really, isn't that the point of the whole thing?  We are so proud and happy to be a part of spreading the word:  backyard chickens are something that anyone can do!

Here are a few more of our favorite pictures:

Chicken Mania

Well, folks, it is almost time.  Hard to believe that September 18th is looming large on my horizon--and yet here we are, just about ready to put the 14th to bed.  (Ack!)

Time for what, you ask?  Why the Tour de Coops, of course!  Over 200 hundred people, largely on bicycles, coming to meet my chickens and see how we've set up our flock accommodations.  For those of you who already get it, that last sentence won't sound strange...for the rest of you--well, you really need to hug a chicken.  Then it should all become clear.  [Ramona says that you can hug her, if you'd like; just make sure to bring treats.]

This is going to be a short post, I'm afraid.  If I had everything cleaned, weeded, organized, painted, washed (quit digging in the compost, ladies), sorted, pruned, and arranged, then I would post pictures all over here to show off. 

As it is, I have only one bit of business in a show-off state--the picnic table that Jason & I built this week.  We are very pleased with this massive structure, and are currently having fun imagining all of the meals we will share with friends, outside under our beautiful hackberry, in the years to come.

All told, this probably cost us around $40 to build--and most of that was spent on the shellac we used to seal the wood.  The lumber was free, the plans were free, and we had the necessary tools already.  If only I could build for myself all of the items that I covet at the garden and hardware stores!

So, at least when the hordes of chicken fans come clamoring through the gate this weekend...we will have a snazzy table for them to sit at.  :)

There is one interesting bit of business--aside from the table (and the messy garage)--in the following picture:

Those white panels in the back, on the left, are the future (i.e., before the 18th) roof of the girls' outdoor pen.  I had primed the plywood panels and left them to dry in this picture.  Now, however, they are being decoratively painted by my dear little preschoolers at Meridian Street Preschool Cooperative.  I love the way that all of these different aspects of my life are coming together.  Modern art by four-year-old gardeners, famous chickens...tomato, tomahto.  The urban homesteader takes it all in her stride!

Once the roof art is complete, then all I have left to do is:

-seal and assemble said roof
-clean and organize the garage (again)
-clean and paint the coop
-weed the mulch around the yard, so that the mulch is visibly brown, rather than green
-do *something* about the flower bed that I supposedly protected from the chickens with my quaint little stick fence (where the hussies continue to dust bathe and crush all of the flowers.)
-do something with the woodpile/truck camper-top/stacks of windows-waiting-to-become-a-greenhouse arranged around the garage with a distinctly "hillybilly" feel
-did I mention weeding?

Oh good grief.  Time for a medicinal glass of wine on the couch.  Wish me luck.