Chicken Lessons

by Laura Frerichs - Tastemaker in Residence - Written by team member Katharine Ostrowski

Chickens. They are an inquisitive bunch. Giving themselves dust-baths amidst our home’s overhang. Chasing our german shepherd for unbeknownst reasons. Even skirting through the electric fencing for our lambs while eliciting the most wild cackle. You’d be sure someone was pursuing them for the soup pot. 

But don’t be alarmed our chickens aren’t the stewing kind. They are our happy-go-lucky not a care in the world egg layers. They roam free, occasionally lay an egg in some obscure spot we don’t find till two weeks later and love to run at us in hopes we are bringing out the compost bucket for a mid afternoon snack. 

I don’t think our farm would be the same without them. It’s funny how something as simple as a chicken can bring so much life and joy to a farm. I often find myself just staring at them…in a daze. It’s a bit of therapy to see a little animal so connected with its own little world it hasn’t a care for what crazy things are creating mass chaos across the globe. Whatever the news they are unscathed. They just continue on scratching, pecking and searching for bugs. 

So here-in lies the “chicken lesson.” If you’re feeling stressed out these days consider going out in nature. You don’t have to have chickens, barn animals or even a pet for that matter. The entire natural world around us keeps doing its thing. They all have their own self-sustaining agenda and haven’t a care that so-and-so is doing this or this country did that. 

Be kind to yourself this spring. Remember the natural world and ground down in its beauty and its agenda to continue forward without the weight of the world. It’s hard not to fixate on global problems and our own excuses and stories but it is possible. Be in the moment, be free and if you’re up for it evoke the chicken spirit with a little scratch and peck routine this spring. It’s hard to focus on tweets and Facebook when you look like you’re doing some crazy aerobics in your backyard. And who knows maybe your neighbors will get a bit of a belly laugh too. Stress release for all.