Listen, it’s no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I’m a crazy chicken lady. If you give me even a second to talk about them, I will take it and run with it.
So imagine how excited I was when I received an invitation to join Omlet for a full Saturday of chicken fun at the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck, NY.
To be honest, it WAS A BLAST. I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to talk shop about poultry all day with likeminded people before, so it was a really great experience.
Great conversations. Great people. All brought together by a shared love of the humble chicken.
Which got me wondering – chickens can be more than just a food source. They can be source of joy, relaxation, and surprisingly human connection. Everywhere I go, most people either keep their own chickens or have unique stories to tell about their experiences with chickens.
I have yet to meet a person who outright DOESNT like chickens.
In fact, chickens have played a major part in helping me interact with people and readjust to life here in the US. In 2022, after six glorious years we had to say goodbye to living in Japan and came back to New England. This was just post-COVID, and it was harrowing for me. The next year or so after is a straight blur of anxiety, trauma, and resentment. I genuinely thought I was going to live the rest of my life in Japan, so to be pulled suddenly back to the US was truthfully one of the worst experiences of my life. And social anxiety that lingered from growing up “different” in rural Ohio didn’t really help either.
I just didn’t know where I belonged anymore.
But then we got chickens.
Inspired by the farming video game Stardew Valley, my partner and I decided to take the plunge and get a chicken coop and six chicks to raise for eggs. We initially bought our house in the woods with the intent of going the self-sustaining route if the world went to hell, but we got six wonderful and unique friends that happen to pop breakfast out of their butts instead.
Then six grew to our current flock size of ten.
And I’ve been making new friends since.
Human friends, that is.
Old ladies stop at the house and let me know they love seeing our birds when they drive by. It brings back good memories.
I’ll go to Town Hall to pay my property taxes and someone notices my chicken tote bag. Turns out they’ve got a flock at home, and are considering getting more.
Complete strangers at the fairgrounds stop me to complement my chicken sweater, and are surprised when I tell them where I got it. They’ve got chickens too.
Even my new friends at Omlet – they all traveled out here from the UK to promote and bring awareness to their products that are designed for the keeping of chickens. We talked a lot about the ups and downs of chicken keeping, and the birds’ impact on the wellbeing of their tenders.
Connection like this is what helps us stay human, stay grounded in this wild universe that we exist in. That not all people are out to cause harm. These people are all neighbors and friends, and most love to talk about chickens. Chickens have been domesticated by humans for thousands of years, and it shows in our shared love of them. Second only to cats and maybe dogs, historically speaking. I’m really grateful to Omlet for inviting me out to Upstate NY to connect and talk more about these goofy little dinosaurs that we all adore so much.
Leave a comment