Comments on: Eating Women

By: PhDork

PhDork — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:52:38 +0000

Rachel_in_WY: you’re totally right about comparing apples to oranges. Or eggs to, uh…other eggs. I think the super-crunchy eggs were something like $5/dozen at the greenmarket, last time I looked.

And in cold storage for SIX MONTHS? Really? Holy cow. Or chicken.

By: Rachel_in_WY

Rachel_in_WY — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:52:57 +0000

Also, anyone bought cage-free, hormone-free, organic eggs lately? For less than $4 a dozen? Keeping chickens isn’t cost-effective if you’re comparing your cost to the unsustainably produced $.99/dozen grocery store eggs that were raised on gov’t subsidized corn and have been in cold storage for a good 6 months before they even reach your grocery store. But that’s comparing apples to oranges.

By: Rachel_in_WY

Rachel_in_WY — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:48:13 +0000

Coming late to the discussion… but I had a small flock of chickens running around my backyard for a few years and it seemed pretty easy to me. We got tons of cruelty-free, organic eggs for about $8 a month, got lots of great material for the compost pile, and supplied the local food bank with extra eggs we couldn’t use. Also, I thought it was fun to observe chicken culture. That whole thing about the rooster running the henhouse and defending the hens? Um, no. My flock was totally matriarchal, and whenever one of my cats got into the chicken run the hens got together and rushed it, pecking and squawking to run it off while the rooster lazily pecked around as if nothing was out of order. Also, I designed a chicken coop that was really easy to clean out and gather eggs from, so maybe my experience is the exception rather than the rule.

By: KJ

KJ — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:24:55 +0000

I raise chickens. And it isn’t that hard. Feed, water, collect eggs, shut the run at night. It also isn’t that nasty if you have a limited number of hens and live in a relatively dry area. Here in the southwest, where it rains rarely, it is easy. I live in a urban neighborhood in a small city. I’m not raising them to be trendy. I like the eggs, I enjoy watching the chickens, it is fun. Yes, it is ‘inefficient’ but so are other hobbies.

By: Red Herring

Red Herring — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:27:43 +0000

agreed Av0gadro, there is definitely an unwritten rule that any hobby or profession that is dominated by women can only be taken seriously once men get involved.

women interested in fashion = frivolous
men interested in fashion = art

I bet if men started quitting their jobs to grow crops and raise chickens nobody would be calling it a silly privileged people fad.

By: JennyK/Benevolent_Dictatrix

JennyK/Benevolent_Dictatrix — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:29:09 +0000

@Bellacoker- LOL, you just summed up my whole view on this issue. If people want to garden, can, or raise chickens as a hobby, I say more power to them. But don’t pretend it’s not incredibly inefficient.

By: Av0gadro

Av0gadro — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:51:05 +0000

But we all know it’s only a thing if white people do it. Then it becomes a thing to mock if/when lots of ladies do it.

Yeah, I hate the ‘Ooh it’s a trend because upper class women are doing it’ pieces as much as anyone, but it’s not actually those four women’s fault their friend talks about them, and not upper class stay at home moms’ faults in general that mainstream media fetishizes them. Comments like “But as solace for the ills of those rich white girls who quit working … “ make me a little uncomfortable – though to be fair, that could just because I’m an upper class stay-at-home mom.

Yes, krismcn, it’s Eugene for me. It’s not immigrants here, but with the hippie culture here, it’s not bored housewives (see, I do it too!) either.

By: Ms. M

Ms. M — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:49:31 +0000

Gah! As someone who grew up on a working dairy farm (with huge garden, canning, etc), it galls me to read about this romanticization of growing your own ‘X’. And yes, it’s a great story when upperclass white women do it. Gah.

By: krismcn

krismcn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:28:54 +0000

But of course, immigrants in the outer boroughs who raise animals for food aren’t a trend piece for the Times the way soccer moms in Berkley are. This. Where I grew up (Seattle) I saw backyard flocks and hutches (and the occasional goat) a bunch of times in predominantly immigrant neighborhoods. But we all know it's only a thing if white people do it. Then it becomes a thing to mock if/when lots of ladies do it.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:59:43 +0000

@annimal: I’ve always been around urban chickens…when I first moved to Brooklyn in 1996, my Puerto Rican neighbors had a couple, including a rooster who was despised by the whole neighborhood for his incessant crowing and aggressive policing of the sidewalk outside their house. Then I moved to a Greek neighborhood in Queens, where my neighbors kept laying hens and rabbits (the bunnies were for meat). People were super-resourceful about keeping them, and the city never seemed to hassle anyone about it.

But of course, immigrants in the outer boroughs who raise animals for food aren’t a trend piece for the Times the way soccer moms in Berkley are.